EXPOSITORY WRITING
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Objectives
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
1
use a variety of techniques to generate ideas for writing (P4)
2
write unified paragraphs with appropriate supporting points
and details(C5)
3
compose coherent essays using different rhetorical modes (A3)
4
evaluate essays critically (A3), and
Synopsis
 This course involves experiencing the processes of
creating and criticising; content generation;
organisation and rhetorical ordering; sentential skills;
proof reading and editing; interaction of writer, text,
and audience; and feedback in the process of revision
and evaluation.
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Required Texts:
 Oshima, A and Hogue, A. (2006, 4th ed.). Writing
Academic English. New York: Pearson Longman.
 To get the book, you need to contact Mr Tan Yun Chun
(012-2808241/tancyprinsip@gmail.com)
 Please take note that exercises for the course
assignment are taken from the prescribed
textbook.
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Evaluation
 Mid-Semester
40%
 Assignments:
-Task Portfolio
-Personal Reflection
 Final Examination
20%
10%
30%
 Total
100%
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Format of Evaluation
 Mid-Semester Test: Structured Questions and MCQs
(Topics covered from Week 1- Week 7)
- Identifying topic sentences
- Writing topic sentences
- Writing supporting sentences
- Identifying Types of sentences
- Coherence devices
- Outlining
-Writing an extended paragraph
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Assignments: Task Portfolio and Reflection Exercise
Week
1
Assignment: Task Portfolio (20 marks)
The Writing Process
Read pp. 265- 270 (Textbook)
Do the following practices as found in your
textbook (pp.266-270).
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2
practice 1
practice 2
practice 3
1) Think of a topic of your own interest and
narrow it.
2) Use one brainstorming technique that you
learnt to generate your ideas.
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Paragraph Structure and Topic Sentence
Read Chapter 1 (pp.2 -11)
Work on the following exercises as found in your
textbook.
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Practices 1 A and 1B(p.6-8)
Practice 2 (p.9)
Practice 3 (p.10-11)
Supporting Sentences and Concluding Sentence (pp. 1117)


Practice 4 (p.11-12)
Model (paragraph supported with examples:
Language and Perception (p.13)
 Practice 5 (15-16)
Read The writing Process, Step 2: Planning (Outlining) (pp.
271-272)
Based on a topic of your own interest, write an extended
paragraph outline. Your outline should have a topic
sentence, main supporting points, supporting details and
a concluding sentence.
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Unity and Coherence
Read Chapter 2 (pp. 18-19).
Work on the following practices as found in the textbook.
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Practice 1 A, B & C (pp. 19-20)
Practice 2 (p.23)
Practice 4 (p.25)
Practice 6 (p.29-30)
Practice 7A, B & C (p.30-32)
Practice 9 (p.33)
Types of Sentences
Before you write your paragraph, it is important to know that to make
your paragraph interesting, you need to use a variety of sentences.
Read Chapter 10 (pp. 162-178) on Types of Sentences and work on the
following practices.
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Practice 1 (pp.163-164)
Practice 3 (p.167)
Practice 4 A, B & C (p.167-168)
Practice5 A, B, & C (pp. 170-171)
Practice 6 (p.171)
Practice 7 (p.171)
Practice 8 A & B(pp.172-173)
Practice 9 (p. 174)
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Sentence Problems
Work on the following practices as found in the textbook.
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
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
Practice 2 A & B (pp.184-185)
Practice 3 (pp.186-187)
Practice 4 A, B & C (pp. 189-190)
Practice 5 (p.191)
Writing an extended paragraph
 Based on the outline that you have done on the topic
of your interest, write an extended paragraph.
 Make sure your sentences are correctly written.
 After you have written your extended paragraph,
look at Self-editing Worksheet 2 (p. 319) and edit
your work.
 Then, write your second draft of your essay.
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Essay Writing
Read Chapter 4 on the structure of an essay
(Introduction, Body and Conclusion)
Introductory paragraph
 Practice 1 A (p.62-63) Types of
Introductory paragraphs
 Practice 2 B (p.64: A and B ) Thesis
statements
Body Paragraphs
Read pp. 64-66
 Practice 3 (p.66-67: A, B, C) Thesis
statements for logical Division of Ideas
 Practice 4 (p.68)
Concluding Paragraph (p.72)
 Practice 6 (p.73-74) Concluding
paragraph
 Practice (p.74-75) Writing concluding
paragraphs
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Outlining an Essay
 Practice 8 (p.76-77) Essay
outlining
Writing an Argumentative Essay
Read p: 142 on Argumentative Essays
 Practice 2 (pp.148-149)
 Practice 3 (p. 149)
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Writing an Argumentative Essay
 Choose a topic of your interest for
the
writing
of
an
argumentative/persuasive essay.
 Then, select a brainstorming
technique to explore your ideas.
 Write an outline of the essay.
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Writing an Argumentative Essay
 Write your first draft of your essay.
 Next, use Self-Editing Worksheet
9 (p.329) to edit your work.
 Then, write your second draft of
your essay.
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Reflection Exercise (10 marks)
• Write your reflection on your process of
learning how to write an essay.
•Look at the handout on Reflection
Exercise and use the questions as a guide
on how to write your reflection.
*Submit your Assignment to PPL
together with your two reflection
exercises
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Revision
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Revision
Reflection Exercise (10 marks)
In about 150 words, write your reflection on your learning
experience of writing an essay. You can use the questions
below to guide you in writing your reflection.
 How is your experience of writing an essay different from that
of writing an extended paragraph?
 Now that you have completed writing your essay, did you face
any challenges while writing it? Explain the challenges that
you had faced.
 While writing your essay, did you consciously follow the steps
of the writing process?
 Did you consciously use some of the coherent devices to make
your essay coherent? If yes, what were they?
 In writing your essay, did you consciously use varied sentence patterns?
What types of sentence patterns did you use most of the time?
 When editing your own work, what aspects of writing did you normally
edit? Ideas? Sentence constructions? Grammar?
 How do you feel about your edited piece of work?
You may begin your reflection by writing:
Dear ……..,
I find writing ...
Yours sincerely,
………………….
 Final Examination: MCQ and Structured Questions

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(All topics but pay particular attention to topics
covered from Week 8-Week 13)
Identifying sentence problems
Identifying and/or writing thesis statement
Identifying and/or writing topic sentence
Write selected paragraphs (Introductory, body
paragraphs or concluding paragraphs)
Cohesive devices
Send your Task Portfolio and Reflection Exercise
to PPL.
For any enquiries, contact:
Pn Helen Tan
Jabatan Bahasa Inggeris
Fakulti Bahasa Moden dan Komunikasi
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 Serdang
(helen@fbmk.upm.edu.my)
Tel: 03-89468711
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What is writing?
 a complicated cognitive process
 recursive – involves several activities; setting goals,
generating ideas, organising information, selecting
appropriate language, making a draft, reading and
reviewing it, then revising and editing.
Hedge, T. (2003) Teaching and learning in the
classroom.
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What good writers do?
 “ They consider purpose and audience. They
consult their own background knowledge. They let
ideas incubate. They plan. As they write, they read
back over what they have written. Contrary to what
many textbooks advise, writers do not follow a
neat sequence of planning, organising, writing and
then revising. For a while a writer’s product – the
finished essay, story or novel – is presented in
lines, the process that produces it is not linear at
all.” (Raimes 1985:229)
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Audience Awareness
“…successful writers are aware of their readers and
seek to produce ‘reader-based’ prose (Flower and
Hayes 1980).
Successful writers think about what the reader
needs to know, how to make information clear and
accessible and what is an appropriate style (for
example, formal, friendly, or persuasive).
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How to begin writing?
Meyer,A. (2005) – 6 stages
 Explore ideas
- Consider subject, purpose, audience
 Prewrite
- Brainstorming, clustering, freewriting
 Organise
- Select, Outline
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Write a first draft
Write quickly to record your thoughts
Put notes and new ideas in the margins
Revise the draft
Read aloud
Add or omit material, and move materials around
Produce final copy
Edit
Copy over, or print a clean copy
Read carefully for errors, and then print another clean copy
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Stage 1:Exploration of ideas
- Consider subject, purpose, audience
Subject
- What do I know about the subject?
- What do I want to say about the subject?
Purpose
- Why am I saying about the subject?
- Is it to persuade, to inform, etc.
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Choosing and Narrowing a Topic
 Environment
 Pollution
 Air pollution
 Effects on people’s health
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Stage 2: Generation of ideas
 Brainstorming Techniques
 Listing
 Clustering
 Freewriting
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 Listing
- Write down the general topic at the top of your
paper.
- Make a list of every idea that comes into your mind
about the topic. Keep the ideas flowing.
- If you write down information that is completely
off the topic, don’t worry about it because you can
cross it out later.
- Use words, phrases, or sentences, and don’t worry
about spelling or grammar
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 Freewriting
- Write the topic at the top of your paper
- Simply write about the subject without worrying about
sentence structure, spelling, logic, and grammar.
- Write as if you are speaking so that you can get your
ideas down fast.
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 Clustering
- Write your subject in the middle of the page and then
circle it.
- Write related ideas around the circle as they occur to
you.
- Circle the ideas and connect them to you subject
circle.
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Stage 3: Organize/ Outline
 From your brainstorming notes:
 Identify relevant point
 Communication Problems
 1. Poor verbal skills




2. Americans difficult to understand
lack vocabulary
use incomplete sentences
new language
unclear expressions
poor pronunciation
Americans talk too fast
lack confidence
use slang and idioms
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Categorize your ideas into sub categories. For example:
 1. poor verbal skills
 - lack vocabulary
 - poor pronunciation
 2. Americans difficult to understand
 - use incomplete sentences
 - use unclear expressions
 - talk too fast
 - use slang and idioms

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Stage 4: Write your draft
 A Paragraph : What is it?
 A basic unit of organization in writing
 Consists of a group of related sentences that develop
one main idea
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An Extended Paragraph: What does it contain?
 Introduction
-Topic sentence
 Body
-Main Supporting Sentences
-Supporting details
 Conclusion
Summary
Additional Elements
Unity
Coherence
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What is a Topic Sentence?
 Presents the main idea
 Suggests how the remaining sentences will develop that




idea
Gives the paragraph a direction
Is the most general statement
Makes a claim about the topic
Expresses an opinion/judgement
 Position of topic sentence in a paragraph
- usually but not always at or near the beginning of
paragraph
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How to write a Topic Sentence?
 Topic + controlling idea
Eg: Learning to outline will improve your writing for
three reasons.
Topic: Learning to outline
Controlling idea: will improve your writing for three
reasons
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Examples of a Good Topic Sentence
 1. People can avoid burglaries by taking certain




precautions.
(The precautions for…)
2. There are several advantages to growing up in a small
town.
(The advantages of…)
3. Most US universities require a 550 point TOEFL
score for a number of reasons.
(The reasons for…)
4. Fixing a flat tire on a bicycle is easy if you follow
these steps.
(The steps for…)
5. Effective leadership requires specific qualities that
anyone can develop.
(The qualities (or characteristics or traits) of…)
Functions of Supporting Points
 Develop the topic sentence through:
 giving explanations and
 providing examples
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Examples of supporting points
TS: Learning to outline will improve your writing for
three reasons.
A. It will help you organize your ideas.
B. It will help you write more quickly.
C. It will help you improve your grammar
Improved organization, speed, and grammar
make learning outline well worth the effort.
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Examples of specific details
TS: Learning to outline will improve your writing for three reasons.
A.
It will help you organize your ideas.
1. you will not include irrelevant ideas.
2. You will not leave out important points.
3. Your supporting sentences will be in logical order.
B.
It will help you write more quickly.
1. Seventy-five percent of the work is done.
2. You do not worry about what you are going to say.
C.
It will help you improve your grammar
1.You will be able to concentrate on writing appropriately.
2. You will have time to self-correct any wrong grammar used
Improved organization, speed, and grammar
make learning outline well worth the effort.
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Functions of a Concluding
Sentence
 It signals the end of the paragraph.
 It summarizes the main points of the paragraph.
 It gives a final comment on the topic and leaves the
reader with the most important ideas to think about.
Eg: In conclusion, improved organization, speed, and
grammar make learning outline well worth the effort.
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“Cohere” (Latin): “hold together”
 Repetition of key nouns
 Use of Consistent Pronouns
 Transition Signals
 Logical arrangement
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Repetition of key nouns
 Gold
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important
characteristics. First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is
resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins,
and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished and
will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin
remains as untarnished today as the day it was minted twentythree centuries ago. Another important characteristic of gold is
its usefulness to industry and science. For many years, it has
been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most
recent use of gold is in astronauts’ suits. Astronauts wear goldplated heat shields for protection outside spaceships. In
conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for
its utility.
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Use of Consistent Pronouns
 Help establish a clear connection between ideas.
Pronouns replaces nouns and refer back to them.
Eg: First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is
resistant to corrosion. Therefore, they are suitable for
jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. (X)
First of all, gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to
corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable for jewelry, coins,
and ornamental purposes. (/)
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Exercise 1: Correct the pronouns used to make
the use of pronouns consistent
 Olympic Athletes
Olympic athletes must be strong both physically and mentally. First, if
you hope to compete in an Olympic sport, you must be physically
strong. Furthermore, an aspiring Olympian must train rigorously for
many years. For the most demanding sports, they train several hours a
day, five or six days a week, for ten or more years. In addition to being
physically strong, he or she must also be mentally tough. This means
that you have to be totally dedicated to your sport, often giving up a
normal school, family, and social life. Being mentally strong also means
that he or she must be able to withstand the intense pressure of
international competition with its attendant media coverage. Finally,
not everyone can win a medal, so they must possess the inner strength
to live with defeat.
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Important Use of Transition Signals
 Explains relationships between ideas.
(See p. 297-299, Oshima & Hogue) Transition Signals
and other Connecting Words
 Helps to make your prose engaging to the readers
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Compare paragraph 1 and 2
Which is easier to understand?
 Britain withdrew from Singapore in 1971,the tiny
island nation at the tip of the Malay Peninsula had
no way to support itself. Its resources was people.
From the start, the Singapore government
determined that the country’s survival would
depend on foreign investment and expertise. The
government itself would need to play an active role
in guiding economic development. Singapore
developed one of the most productive economies
in the world.
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Paragraph 2
 When Britain withdrew from Singapore in 1971,the
tiny island nation at the tip of the Malay Peninsula
had no way to support itself. Its resources was
people. From the start, the Singapore government
determined that the country’s survival would
depend on foreign investment and expertise.
Furthermore, the government itself would need to
play an active role in guiding economic
development. As a result of these strategies,
Singapore developed one of the most productive
economies in the world.
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Logical arrangement
 Arrange your ideas in logical sequence
Types of logical order:
 Chronological order eg: first, next, after that, finally,
before, etc.
 Logical division eg: The most important…,
Another important…, etc.
 Comparison/contrast eg: in contrast, unlike, different
from/ similarly, as expensive as, just like, etc.
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A Sample of a Unified Paragraph
(TS) A carefully thought out topic sentence will serve
two important functions. First, it will provide you, the
author, the means to stay focused on your objective. It
is a lot easier to write if you know what you are going
to write about! Second, a clearly stated topic sentence
will provide readers with the tools they need to clearly
understand what you have to say.
These are
important reasons to carefully consider topic
sentences before beginning writing (CS).
Summary of Writing an Extended Paragraph
What have you learnt?
 structure of an extended paragraph
 process of writing (choosing and narrowing a topic,
idea generation, outlining, drafting, editing,
redrafting, proof reading)
 how to write a good topic sentence, supporting details
and concluding sentence
 outlining
 coherence in writing
Exercise




Choose a topic from the list given.
In pairs/or groups of three, brainstorm for ideas.
Write one topic sentence.
From the topic sentence, outline the paragraph.
List of topics:
custom
celebration friends television
family
computers
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