My Power Point

Eli Power Point

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Where I was... Where I am...

When I first came I couldn't write an essay without errors. I feel better now, and more confident about my writing. This class was really helpful in every thing I did through the semester. In other classes I had to do writing, and I took some of the things I learned here, and apply it to those classes. My reading, writing, and pronunciation had improve a great deal since I came. I constantly talked in class and that helped my pronunciation. I also expand my Vocabulary a 15% more than the first day.
I also did a Power Point that I think is the best of every thing I've ever done. I spend a lot of time looking for the pictures to match the information. When I was done, I presented it to the class, and I felt great because i knew my material was good. My class really liked it and I felt I made another accomplishment.
Now people had told me that my English has improve a lot and my writing is beautiful.
I feel I need more because I want to get to the point that everything I write is perfect. Not just perfect in what I say but in how I wrote it. The first semester is the hardest of all but I learned more in 5 months than what I did in a whole year of high school. I feel like I accomplished this and I want to do even more now that I got the tools.

Eli's Movie

Presentation Practice

How to write an Effective Paragraph

The first thing you need to do when writing an effective paragraph is set up your topic. After you have a good topic to write about you write your thesis based on your topic and why is important. Your first sentence should link and mathc your thesis and topic. Also it should summarize what you will be talking about in the next sentences. Another important thing is the examples that you give to the reader to help him understand what you are talking about. The last and most important is the citations, ideas don't always come from your head and you need research. If you talk about what you research in your paragraph you should cite them to avoid plagiarism but also to let the reader know where it comes from.

The Writing Process

The first thing I did to start my essay was to pick my topic and check if I liked it. I check in my mind what I already knew about it to make it easier for me to write about it. The second thing I did was to do a brainstorm and find topics within my topic to make it more interesting. After this I did some research about my topic and choose a good web site from where I could get more accurate information. In order to find a good and reliable web site I used the CRAAP test from the California State University. Finally when I knew that my information was good I was ready to start writing my first sentence which was going to grab my readers attention.

Expository Essay

Some of the important characteristics of an Expository Essay are;

• Introduction= It needs a good Introduction that catches the readers attention and make him wanted to read more. Give definitions or explanations to help the reader understand.
  
• Thesis= An opinion of what the writers thinks about the topic. Giving facts, definitions and examples of the information.
• Third Person= Don't give personal opinions or personal experiences about the topic. Not proper to use I or me.
  

Most expository essays build on a similar structural pattern:

• Introduction (including the thesis statement)
• Supporting body paragraphs.
• Conclusion.
  

An expository essay also has 4 ways to develop it:

• Topic: This is the (What?). The text you will write it's about...

• Time Order: Is how chronological the topic its going to be. (first, second... few years ago, now...).

• Space Order: Giving the main information at the middle of the context.

• Informative Process: It is like "how to" of an essay or demonstration.

What is a Summary?

A summary is a short explanation of something you read. Is a completely different way to say the Main Idea and the important points of the reading. Is when you paraphrase and give more explanation about the facts without using your personal opinion. Keep it short and sweet. The summary should be just enough to cover the main points and not include too many details.

Strategy in Action

I used the strategy of highlighting my text to find answers for my questions. I did this in ESL and SPAN 131 class. By doing this I can go back and review the information. Is a good way to review for tests and to learn information by reading it again and again. I always highlight the most important things and try to remember things in my own words.

Strategies

• QICS: Is mostly used after you read something. Is very helpful to understand the reading. When you make Questions, have an Idea, make a good Connection and the reading gives you a Surprise.
  
• VIP/MVP: Is a good way to help you summarize the information you already read. You can pick some Very Important Points and later on find the Most Valuable Point. Is like the main idea of all and with this you can easily write a good summary.
• Text Guide: Reading guide of what to look for (definitions, examples, important people, explanations)
• Graphic Organizer: Visual representation of the parts of a concept.
• Language Starters: "What does the author mean by...?" "The author states on page 123 that... it makes me think of..." " Stress is defined as..." An example of the presences of stress could be..."-hedges...
• Building Background Knowledge: Using simpler readings (websites) before the academic reading.
• CLOZE Exercise: To highlight text structure, providing a source, and general to specific structure of academic texts.
• Stop-Look-Reflect - Blog it!: Stop to gather strategies and reflect on the 4W's and an H - put it in the blog...