Welcome back!

Today is 9th anniversary of 911 Incident.

Part One - Review
Consolidation
 Review - Genres
• 4 main genres
• Descriptive
• Narrative
• Expository
• Persuasive
 Review - Process Writing

• 8 Steps of • Reviewing

Process Writing • Proofreading

• Prewriting • Final Draft

• Drafting • Publishing

• Conferencing

• Editing
Task 4 Keys
Ahem, did you do it?
 Part Two - From
Paragraph to Essays
Thesis statements & Topic sentences
Activity #1
 Thesis Statement

• It is the soul of the whole essay.

• It states your position (stance, standpoint).
• It guides readers with observation &
analysis.
• It connects all parts of the essay.
 How to make a good
thesis statement?

• Unified in ONE main idea

• Specific to show your stance
• Obvious prediction of essay structure
 What are the 3 types
of thesis statement?

• Analytical - breaking a topic down

• Expository - explaining a process
• Argumentative - asserting, reasoning,
contradicting
Topic + Controlling Idea
The golden formula of a thesis statement.
 Example.

The failure of the rescue (T) is due to the PNP’s poor

coordination, primitive equipments and lack of hostage
rescue rehearsals (CI).
 Extra! Predictor.
• 3rd part of a thesis
statement

• Shows:

• How many body

paragraphs

• Content of body
paragraphs

• Refer to the previous

example...
 Why isn’t my thesis
statement sound?

• IMPORTANT:

• Argument
(interesting) VS
Fact (boring)
“Tell me something I don’t know!”
Smoking can cause health problems.
Smoking should be listed as a crime.
(Well, someone must not agree...)
 Small cars get better fuel mileage than 4 x 4
pickup trucks.

The government should ban pickup trucks except for work-

related use. (If I had a Hummer, I wouldn’t be for it.)
On average, people with college degrees earn more
money in the workplace.

A college degree should not be needed for

______ profession. (Yes? Is it true?)
 Foul language is common in movies
The amount of foul language in movies is not in proportion to
that in real life. (Do you think so?)
 Task Four.
• Russell Crowe
(Gladiator) won the Best-
Actor award in 2000.

• Hanks was only the

nominee.

• “Should have” implies

something did not
happen at all.
 Task Five.
• Technology changes us:

• We find information
faster through the
Internet.

• We live longer with

medical advancement.

• We get further away

from nature.
 What’s wrong then?

• Too ordinary: observation/fact only (boring)

• Too vague: underdeveloped (lame)
• Too general (lame...)
• Out of topic (confusing)
 My mom is a woman.
1. My mom is the most incredible woman in
the human race. (arguable)
2. My mom is an incredible woman because
she has brought me up by herself. (concrete)
3. For 20 years, Mom is so amazing that she
has been a hardworking housewife for
116,900 hours. (very specific)
 Solving digression
4. When deciding what to do in summer
holiday, we do not know whether to go to
the beach or not, and we are confused
since it is too hot. (two ideas occur here)

Speaking of the summer holiday spree, hot weather

and individuals’ wishes are the concerns which
affect our decision on whether we go to the beach
or not. (one main idea)
 Surprise quiz!
Joking. Remember the 3 criteria of a
GOOD THESIS STATEMENT?
• Unified with one main idea
• Specific to show your position
• Conspicuous to show the structure
 Task Six.

• A good friend: A friend who

• is there whenever you need help.
• shares his feelings with you.
• is like a mirror reflecting your personality.
 Task Seven.

• Watching TV news programmes can be

beneficial.
• “... can make a person knowledgeable and
responsible.”
 Task Eight.

• Violent Sports
• Specific: what sport?
• Controlling idea:
what to do to this
sport?
 Example

Boxing (topic) should be banned (controlling idea)

because it has bad influences on children and can cause
injuries or even death. (predictors)