ACADEMIC WRITING UNIT I

English for Physics Principles of Paragraph Writing

Improvements in health, education and trade are essential for the development of poorer nations. However, the governments of richer nations should take more responsibility for helping the poorer nations in such areas. Todays world has been divided into developing and industrialised countries which the main difference between them is the amount of money that governments apply in important sectors such as education, health and commerce. Most of the poorer nations are buried in debts as a result of their unbalanced finances which are reflect in a failed health care, an unstructured education system and a weak international trade. This vicious cycle will continue indefinitely unless wealthier nations show interest in minimizing the worldwide economic differences, as well as taking more responsibility for assisting unfortunate countries.

Example

Most of the African countries live in sub-human conditions because of the extreme poverty, upheaval, hunger, disease, unemployment, lack of education and both inexperienced and corrupt administrations. The devastating consequences of the AIDS epidemic in those countries could improve if the infected populations receive free drugs to control the disease, have access to health professionals and get information on how to prevent its spread. But this can only be achieved through international help programs in which leaders of the worlds richest countries donate medicine and also send doctors and nurses to treat and educate those in need. Moreover, most of the poor countries rely on selling agricultural products and raw material to rich nations and buying industrialized products from them resulting in a huge financial deficit. Consequently, they borrow a significant amount of money from the World Bank to try to improve their broken economies, but sometimes the money disappears with no significant changes and they cannot even pay the interest to the bank. Regarding this issue, last year the G8, which is comprised of leaders of the eight richest nations, decided to forgive billions of dollars worth of debt owed by the worlds poorest nations. In addition, they developed adequate loan programs to financially assist those countries.

In conclusion, leaders of the industrialised countries play an indispensable role in assisting developing nations deal with essential areas such as health, education and trade. Also, their aid is the key to breaking the vicious cycle, which results in poverty and death. This is an amazing essay, looks like Band 8 to me, nothing to improve here.

Principles of Paragraph Writing

Topic Sentence and Controlling Ideas Supporting Sentences Concluding Sentence

Topic Sentence and Controlling Ideas

A paragraph is a series of sentences about one idea called the TOPIC. The topic sentences tells the reader what the paragraph is going to be about. It contains words that need to be explained, described, and supported in the sentences that follow in the paragraph. These words are called controlling ideas. Ex: Computers make some jobs easier (How? What jobs? In what ways?) Since that, the topic sentence should not simply be a statement of fact. Ex: Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. Abraham Lincoln was President of the U.S. during the Civil War. Compare with it: Although Christmas is celebrated on December 25th when exactly Jesus was born is not known. Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery because he strongly believed that all men are created equal.

Exercise A
1.

2. 3.

4. 5.

What is the controlling ideas? Photosynthesis is a chronological process. There are two ways to lose weight. Learning to use the university library is necessary. Doctors wives lead unusual lives. Violence on television reflects life.

Exercise B

Write a topic sentence for each paragraph and make sure your topic sentence is general enough. Use your reading (Journal, Proceeding, Article, Newspaper, etc)

Supporting Sentences

While the topic sentence introduces the topic and controls the information given in the other sentences in the paragraph, the function of these sentences is to add details to the topics. These sentences in the paragraph are called the supporting sentences.

Exercise D

Recognising Irrelevant Sentences, Identifying it and explain why? 1. There are several reasons why many American women are waiting until they are 30 years old and older to have their first baby. Some women have good jobs and want to continue their careers. Many American couples have two children. Other women dont want the responsibility of having children until they are older. Still others are waiting until they are financially secure before they start a family.

2. The packaging of many products is very wasteful. Often the packaging is twice as big as the product. Packaging is used to protect things that are breakable. Many food items, for example, have several layers of extra packaging. Most of these extra layers are absolutely useless.

Concluding Sentence

1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

The sentence that ends the paragraph is called the concluding sentence. It usually uses one or more of the following techniques: Summaries the material in the paragraph. Offers a solution to the problem stated in the paragraph. Predicts a situation that will result or occur from the statements made in the paragraph Making a recommendation concerning material presented in the paragraph. States a conclusion to information given in the paragraph.

State a conclusion
Several signs can be observed before and during the passage of a cold front. The first sign of changing weather is the wind that starts to blow from the southwest. Normally, it brings into the area warm and the wet air that makes us feel uncomfortable. At the same time, the air pressure degrades gradually as the cold front approaches. Next, in the northwestern sky we can see the penetration of high level clouds named cirrus clouds, followed by other middle level clouds called autocumulus clouds; these will be followed by thunderstorms that will drop snow or rain. This is the passage of the cold front itself. At this time, the temperature, which rose with the initial southwest winds, begins to decrease rapidly. Thus, the name describes what happens: a cold front.

Offers a solution

Continued progress in advanced technology is not necessary. Already the technical progress in our world has caused severe pollution in the air and in the water. Although the technical progress in previous years has been helpful, recent technology has significantly increased pollution. Another reason to stop technical progress is that many inventions which were developed for good causes are also used for powerful weapons or have been found to have serious side effects. For example, pesticide put inside particle board to prevent termites has now been found to be toxic to human life. (Technology does not always bring good effects). For example, computers do much work faster than man, but the man loses his job to a machine. Because no man can guarantee that technology will have only effects and will be used only for the benefit of man, we should suspend the continued development of technology.

Prediction

There are three reasons why solar cell energy generation has not developed more rapidly. First, the cost per watt of solar cell generation is more expensive than that of steam power or nuclear power generation. Second, nature plays a large part in solar cell generation. For example, some days are cloudy and rainy; because there is not always fine weather, solar energy cant be generated every day. Finally, building plants for solar cell generation is extremely expensive: A very large space is needed, and the need for maintenance is constant. For all these reasons, it is very difficult to develop solar cell plants and make solar energy available to the general public for a competitive price. Despite all these problems, I believe the day will come when we use solar energy cells because they are a form or clean energy with no pollution.

Exercise C

Underline the concluding sentence from your reading and classify it. Make a paragraph contains of summary and making a recommendation.

TASK 4

Make 5 paragraphs Reveals the topic sentence, controlling ideas, supporting ideas, and the concluding sentence.

More About Supporting Sentences

In order to communicate successfully, a paragraph must be about a single idea. In order for the paragraph to be complete, the topic sentence must be supported; That is, the controlling ideas in the topic sentence must be explained, described and/or proven with specific supporting detail. The four basic techniques of supports are facts, examples, physical description, and/or personal experience. One or more techniques of support must be used in any paragraph that you construct.

Examples for Facts

Any piece of information that can be easily verified can serve as actual support. Included are numbers (percentages, number of miles, etc.) and statistics as well as facts that can be found in books, newspapers, and magazines. Milk is one of the most important sources of nutrition for human beings and animals. It is the first food provided for newborn babies because milk contains a large variety of nutritional constituents, and at the same time it is easily digestible. Milk is about 13% solids, and the solids contain 3.3% protein, 5% carbohydrates, 4% fat, and many vitamins and minerals. Moreover, milk protein contains all of the essential amino acids like casein and lactobacillus. Lactose is the principal carbohydrate of milk, and milk is the only source of lactose in nature. Milk also contains all of the known vitamins: A,B,D,E, and K. For all of these reasons, milk consumption is the keystone of human beings and animals.

Examples

Example can explain or define a controlling idea, or they can prove an idea or a point made in the topic sentence. Sometimes a series of short examples is effective evidence for a topic sentence. Other times, a single extended example can serve as solid support in a paragraph.

Advertisements are one of the most frustrating parts of watching television. In the first place, the advertisements waste time. For instance, about 15 minutes is lost watching the advertisements during a single news program. In the same way, the watcher wastes his time watching advertisements during a good movie. Second, advertisements interrupt the viewers. For example, the viewers may forget the situation or show during the advertisements. Even worse, during a good movie, the watcher loses his feeling when the ad comes on, and that has bad psychological influences. In the third place, the advertisements make many products look more appealing than they really are. For example, an expensive car is made to seem luxurious, or a bad product like deodorant is made to look very good by showing a beautiful amazing lady taking a shower. Accordingly, the television viewer must be aware and critical of the ads in order to endure them.

Physical description

Still another way to support a topic sentence is by using words and phrases that appeal to the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. These are often used to explain or describe controlling ideas in the topic sentence.

I like to remember my old house from Dieng, in Wonosobo, because there I enjoyed the fresh air and the garage. Even it is a small house but I felt big. I can played soccer with my cousins and friends. I remember each of the corner of my old house, and I have favorite corner the window of the living room. I could see the rain, watch the beautiful moon. Moreover, from this window, I could admire the stars in the dark sky. For all these reasons, my old house occupies a special place in my mind.

Personal Experience

Description about someone experience for something in the past. In scientific writing it is vary rare to be used. The first time Alif falling in love was very dramatic. He was attracted by Uly in the first sight. First of all, he approached her using an old trick. He pretends borrowed her book, so that he could find her boarding house. That is why every Saturday night he came to her and brought special chocolate. Second, he asked her to be his soul mate and she accepted it. Unfortunately, by the end year, she did apologize because she will marry with Didik. Thus, Alif promised to him self not to falling in love anymore.

Warning!

Often a topic sentence will be supported by more than one technique of support. For example, a personal experience will contain physical description, or an example will contain some facts. Multiple forms of support are often more interesting for an audience and provide stronger evidence for the controlling ideas in a topic sentence.

Example

The international student needs much money to study at a university in Indonesia. The cost can be divided into three categories. First of all, the expense for rent house. For example, the cost for one house with single bedroom and a kitchen is 300.000 rupiahs a month. But, a single bedroom only expense 150.000 rupiahs. Second, the cost for food usually expense 15.000 per day it depends on the person. For instance, my friend need 30.000 rupiahs per day. Finally, we should pay for tuition fee, but it also depends on the university we take. For UNS 1.3 million rupiahs per semester, it is cheaper than UGM need 1.5 million rupiahs per semester. Thus, we should spent more money to have some entertainments besides all of that facts to study in Indonesia.