Vocabulary
What is the meaning of the word toast?
A piece of sliced bread that has been browned (cooked) on both sides.
What are the six characteristics of academic writing?
1. Audience
2. Purpose
3. Organization
4. Style
5. Flow
6. Presentation
What is FANBOYS? How does it relate to flow?
for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
These words help to demonstrate a clear connection between ideas.
What is a simple sentence? Explain what makes it simple. Then, share an example.
Answers will vary
Subject + Verb + Complete Idea.
What is the organization pattern of a summary paragraph?
1) Author, Title of Article, Main idea
2) Key points
3) How the author concludes or restate the main idea
Scientists are looking into innovative drug delivery systems that can transport and deliver a drug precisely and safely to its site of action.
1) What is a better choice of vocabulary instead of "are looking into"?
2) Why should phrasal verbs like this one be avoided?
1) investigating
2) phrasal verbs are informal
Why is it important to keep your audience in mind when you are creating a piece of writing?
You want to appeal to the interest/expectations of your audience.
Answers will vary.
Situation: You are going to give a presentation about a topic in your discipline to colleagues who work outside of your discipline. How would you change the discipline-specific language you usually use so that your message is understood?
Make sure to provide clear context to give your audience foundational knowledge on the topic. Specialized terms, if used, need to be defined. Explain in more simpler language that can be understood by all.
What is a compound sentence? Explain what makes it compound. Then, share an example.
Answers will vary.
Subject + verb + complete idea, + CC + subject + verb + complete idea.
What is the organization pattern of a problem-solution piece?
1) situation
2) problem
3) solution
4) evaluation
*5) solution 2
*6) evaluation 2
1) Come up with a term and 2) provide a definition for the rest of the class.
Answers will vary
What are all of the parts of a well-organized paragraph? There are 4.
Main idea
Supporting points
Details
Concluding Sentence
What kind of stylistic choices do you generally want to avoid when writing in an academic context?
Passive Voice
Contractions
Personal Pronouns
Coordinating conjunctions that start sentences
Imperatives that start sentences
What are the 8 parts of speech?
Noun
Pronoun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection
What are 3 reading strategies to help you better understand difficult, lengthy articles? Give an examples of each.
1. preview
2. scan
3. annotate
Answers will vary.
What is the meaning of high- vs low-context culture? How does the term low-context apply to Chinese culture? Can you give an example?
Answers will vary.
What is one way in which a writer can achieve flow in their writing? Give an example.
Answers will vary.
Conjunctions + transitions + referring to previously stated ideas with a pronoun
What is one stylistic choice that can make your language more academic?
Choice of various parts of speech.
Verbs (phrasal), nouns, other features (i.e. "I," won't, not..any/much/many, etc, "you")
What are the two types of question formations in English? Give an example of each.
yes/no + information (wh-)
Answers will vary.
What is the difference between a noun clause and a noun phrase?
Noun phrase: includes a noun and modifiers (no subject + verb)
Noun clause: includes a subject and verb (not a complete idea)
What is cultural ethos and how does it help us understand culture? Provide a brief explanation.
Cultural ethos is a broad set of beliefs, moral values, and norms - the expectations or rules of behavior - that belong to a particular group of people.
Answers will vary.
Choose 3 of the 6 characteristics and explain how they help you position yourself as a writer?
Audience: appeal to who will read your writing
Purpose: understand your reason for writing
Organization: organize your writing based on discipline standards
Style: use language that appeal to your discipline
Flow: establishes connection between ideas for reading ease
Presentation: format and grammar fit expectations of discipline
Based on what we have talked about in relation to high-context vs. low context cultures, how do you think these communication styles can affect the way people write? What are some possible cross-cultural differences in approaches to writing?
Answers will vary.
Change the following question into a sentence that uses a noun clause:
What time does your mother need to be at the airport tomorrow?
I wonder what time your mother needs to be at the airport tomorrow.
Edit the sentence below for grammatical accuracy to improve presentation. There are three errors:
The Cultural Dimensions Theory, a theory developed by Hofstede, are mint to describe the focus on competitive and achievement in some cultures in contrast to cooperation in others.
are -> is
mint -> meant
competitive -> competition