Ex.2 Read the sample of Acknowledgments and analyze it according to the list of the common elements in Acknowledgments.

Acknowledgments

This thesis would not have been possible without the generous support of the Rothermere Foundation. In 1986, I received the Rothermere Foundation Fellowship, which is awarded yearly to a graduate student of Memorial University. The Fellowship permits the recipient to study at any institution in the United Kingdom, and has supported many distinguished scholars in the years since it was first instituted in 1956 by Viscount Rothermere who was then the Chancellor of Memorial University. At the time of my application, I was fortunate to come to the attention of Dr Deirdre Wilson, who agreed to act as my supervisor. In the years during which this research has wound its leisurely way to a conclusion, she has provided guidance, support, understanding and professional and personal assistance of the most valuable kind. I wish also to acknowledge my gratitude to the Department of Linguistics at University College London for the patience and courtesy. To Dr Abbas and Mrs Shomais Afnan, and to Ms Sahba Akhavan, I owe a considerable debt. Their openhearted hospitality allowed me to return to the United Kingdom and complete the work on and the writing of this thesis. Dr Peter Baehr was kind enough to share his own work with me. For the opportunity to read ‘Founders, Classics, and the Concept of a Canon’ (Baehr and O’Brien 1994), and to discuss the connections between his research and my own, I am very grateful.

(Neil Murray and Geraldine Hughes. Writing up your University Assignments and Research Projects. A practical handbook, Open University Press, New York, 2008)

Listening

Script 21

Ex. 3 Match the words with their definitions. Listening to the tape will help you.

Different parts of an acknowledgement can be separated as follows:

1. financial	A. providing access to tools, technologies, facilities, and also furnishing technical expertise, such as statistical analysis;
2. instrumental/technical	B. recognizing the support of family, friends etc..
3. editorial	C. recognition of extramural or internal funding;
4. conceptual	D. providing advice on manuscript preparation, submission, bibliographic assistance etc.;
5. moral	E. source of inspiration, idea generation, critical insight, intellectual guidance, assistance of referees etc.;

 

Ex.4 Write a suitable Acknowledgments section for one of your pieces of work. If necessary, invent some forms of assistance to expand the section.

In-class Writing Assignment

What would you do as a parent to prevent a generation gap?

Because parents and their children are from different generations, they have different values and perspectives (points of view about life). Such differences can cause conflicts between the two generations. What are some things you would do as a parent to prevent conflicts between yourself and your children? Identify two or three things you could do. Explain them with examples and details (700-800 words, every other line).

Vocabulary

integral	to occur	financial support	sponsor
acknowledgments	to provide	thanks	advisor
to display	to benefit	disclaimer	supervisor
politeness	common element	source	committee member

Unit5
Support in Expository Paragraphs

Unit Topics:

An overview of essay development:

The introduction

The body

The conclusion

An overview of essay development

Objectives In this unit you will:	know how to write the introduction, the body, the conclusion;
	know what essay outline framework is;
	learn what essay development is;
	discover ten sequential steps in writing an essay.

Starting up

Ex. 1 Read the following extract and develop your version of writing the essay.

Essays are clearly organized according to the standard classical approach in which a paper has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Learning this approach will provide you with a solid foundation in your writing. As you mature as a writer and develop your reading skills in English, you will see ways to vary this classical approach.

 

Introduction

An overview of essay development

Essays consist of more than one paragraph and have three major parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. A complete essay contains all of the following elements. (Those elements considered optional have been underlined.)

The introduction contains (usually in this order):

• background information, which attracts or "hooks" the reader

• a thesis, which limits the topic and states a precise opinion

• a list of the subtopics.

The body paragraphs contain:

• topic sentences which follow the MAP points in the thesis

• transitions introducing each subtopic

• repetition of the essay topic and precise opinion from the thesis

• relevant and generous convincing support (unity) and coherence

• a closing remark (final comment) showing the relevance of the support.

The conclusion contains:

• a paraphrase of the thesis

• a summary of the main points

• a closing remark (final comment).

 

The Introduction

The main point of a longer paper is found in the introduction, which is the material at the beginning of the paper. The length of the introduction depends on the scope of the topic. If your paper is three pages, the introduction will probably be only one paragraph. If your paper is fifteen pages long, the introduction may be more than one paragraph. (The element considered optional has been underlined.)

The introduction:

• attracts and holds the reader's attention (hooks the reader)

• introduces the general paper topic

• limits the topic to a manageable focus for the assignment

• indicates the writer's purpose (to show, to convince, to prove, to entertain, to demonstrate, to inform)

• presents the writer's opinion or attitude about the limited subject in a thesis statement

• indicates how the topic will be explored (basic enumeration, comparison, contrast, causal analysis, development by example, process, definition, classification)

• provides a MAP (the essay subtopics) for the reader of how the discussion will proceed.

 

Hooks

Most academic papers begin with a hook, which gets the reader's attention and introduces the topic. Hooks are not required on essay tests; due to the time limit, a strong thesis and MAP are usually all that are needed. There are five kinds of hooks, which can occur alone or in combination: question, quotation, dramatic, funnel, and refutation.

The Question Hook

Asking a question will cause the reader to think about the topic. However, limit your hook to one question. If you ask too many questions, the hook is not effective.

Example

The House of Life

How many decisions do people make in their lives? There could be thousands of decisions in one person's life. However, only a few of them will have a great influence. A metaphor of building a house shows how the five most significant decisions are related to one another and reflect on people's lives. The five most important decisions concern education, career, marriage, residence, and religion. [65 words] (Adapted with permission, Yungjing Hsieh, Taiwanese)

 

Thesis Statements

Just as a single paragraph has a topic sentence which introduces the paragraph topic and the writer's opinion and method, so a thesis statement is the most important element of an essay. Thesis statements contain the writer's limited subject, opinion or attitude, and possibly a MAP, which will be discussed in the body of the essay. The MAP is not required, but it is highly recommended because it will enable you to control the topic so that the readers will not get lost.