EAP 4
From Paragraph to Essay
Which noun phrase occurs most frequently in this introduction to a text?
When the first Europeans came to the North American continent, they
encountered the completely new cultures of the Native American peoples of
North America. Native Americans, who had highly developed cultures in many
respects, must have been as curious about the strange European manners
and customs as the Europeans were curious about them. As always happens
when two or more cultures come into contact, there was a cultural exchange.
Native Americans adopted some of the Europeans’ ways, and the Europeans
adopted some of their ways. As a result, Native Americans have made many
valuable contributions to modern U.S. culture, particularly in the areas of
language, art, food, and government.
Which noun phrase occurs most frequently in this introduction to a text?
When the first Europeans came to the North American continent, they
encountered the completely new cultures of the Native American peoples of
North America.
Native Americans, who had highly developed cultures in
many respects, must have been as curious about the strange European
manners and customs as the Europeans were curious about them. As always
happens when two or more cultures come into contact, there was a cultural
exchange. Native Americans adopted some of the Europeans’ ways, and the
Europeans adopted some of their ways. As a result, Native Americans have
made many valuable contributions to modern U.S. culture, particularly in the
areas of language, art, food, and government.
So what’s the topic of this introduction? What should the title of the text be?
When the first Europeans came to the North American continent, they
encountered the completely new cultures of the Native American peoples of
North America. Native Americans, who had highly developed cultures in many
respects, must have been as curious about the strange European manners
and customs as the Europeans were curious about them. As always happens
when two or more cultures come into contact, there was a cultural exchange.
Native Americans adopted some of the Europeans’ ways, and the Europeans
adopted some of their ways. As a result, Native Americans have made many
valuable contributions to modern U.S. culture, particularly in the areas of
language, art, food, and government.
Native American Influences on Modern U.S. Culture
When the first Europeans came to the North American continent, they
encountered the completely new cultures of the Native American peoples of
North America. Native Americans, who had highly developed cultures in many
respects, must have been as curious about the strange European manners
and customs as the Europeans were curious about them. As always happens
when two or more cultures come into contact, there was a cultural exchange.
Native Americans adopted some of the Europeans’ ways, and the Europeans
adopted some of their ways. As a result, Native Americans have made many
valuable contributions to modern U.S. culture, particularly in the areas of
language, art, food, and government.
Which sentence is the THESIS STATEMENT?
Native American Influences on Modern U.S. Culture
When the first Europeans came to the North American continent, they
encountered the completely new cultures of the Native American peoples of
North America. Native Americans, who had highly developed cultures in many
respects, must have been as curious about the strange European manners
and customs as the Europeans were curious about them. As always happens
when two or more cultures come into contact, there was a cultural exchange.
Native Americans adopted some of the Europeans’ ways, and the Europeans
adopted some of their ways. As a result, Native Americans have made many
valuable contributions to modern U.S. culture, particularly in the areas of
language, art, food, and government.
How many paragraphs will follow this introduction? What will be the subject of
each paragraph?
Look at pages 58 – 59 of Writing Academic English to see if your predictions
were correct.
Can you locate the topic sentence in each paragraph?
Body Paragraph 1 : First of all, Native Americans left a permanent imprint on
the English language.
Body Paragraph 1 : First of all, Native Americans left a permanent imprint on
the English language.
Body Paragraph 2 : Art is another area of important Native American
contributions.
Body Paragraph 1 : First of all, Native Americans left a permanent imprint on
the English language.
Body Paragraph 2 : Art is another area of important Native American
contributions.
Body Paragraph 3: In addition to language and art, agriculture is another are in
which Native Americans had a great and lasting influence on the peoples who
arrived here from Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Body Paragraph 1 : First of all, Native Americans left a permanent imprint on
the English language.
Body Paragraph 2 : Art is another area of important Native American
contributions.
Body Paragraph 3: In addition to language and art, agriculture is another are in
which Native Americans had a great and lasting influence on the peoples who
arrived here from Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Body Paragraph 4 : Finally, it may surprise some people to learn that
Americans are also indebted to the native people for our form of government.
Body Paragraph 1 : First of all, Native Americans left a permanent imprint on
the English language.
Body Paragraph 2 : Art is another area of important Native American
contributions.
Body Paragraph 3: In addition to language and art, agriculture is another are in
which Native Americans had a great and lasting influence on the peoples who
arrived here from Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Body Paragraph 4 : Finally, it may surprise some people to learn that
Americans are also indebted to the native people for our form of government.
Note the lexical threads in each paragraph related to its main topic.
Model Introduction Styles
-Funnel introduction
-Dramatic, interesting, or funny story
-Surprising statistics or facts
- Historical background
Your introductions
Nowadays in rural China, families typically have four or five children. In the
1980s, the government encouraged all families to have only one offspring in
order to control the booming population. Since then, of course, the trend has
been towards having fewer and fewer children, with most choosing to have
only one offspring.
In China, the government has imposed a law known as “one child, one family”.
Because there is a large population in my country – about 1.3 billion,
constituting 1/5 of the total number of people in the world. But China did not
use to be like this. My father and mother have their own brothers and sisters.
Your introductions
There is a trend in the world which is that many families choose not to have
children or they want to have just one. According to history, we all know that in
Europe, especially in the UK, there were many huge families which might
contain eight or even ten children, and this was very common, which surprised
me a great deal.
Your introductions
With the development of society, more and more people pay attention to the
child. Some people think that just one child in the family is a good idea for a
happy family. But others think that we should provide a child with siblings.
This is better for the child and the family. In my opinion, I agree with the latter
argument. I will now explain my idea.
There are many advantages and disadvantages of having siblings within a
family. I believe that the negative effects outweigh the positive. I will give my
reasons below.
Your introductions
Nowadays, many families in the UK are becoming smaller and smaller. They
don’t want to have too many children. But my country has a different trend.
As we know, China has a large population, which past governments did not
control well. However, in China the population grew very fast. So now the
government have made a law that requires every family to have only one child.
Is it good for our life? In my opinion, I suggest every family should have two or
three children. Children can grow up better with siblings.