Composition

Composition

Styles of communication:

People have different styles of communication. They depend on the cultural background, gender (men or women), age groups and also individual personalities. What seems impolite in one group can be accepted in another.

Writing:

1. Comparative essays:

Often we are asked to compare and contrast two ideas, objects or people. This si an essay that is very common in school subjects. We use the essay to:

• To determine the superiority of one thing over another,
• To explain something unknown by referring to something we know
• When we want to show that 2 things which look similar are different in significant ways.
• Top show how something has changed or evolved.

Tips:

• when writing comparative essays, it is better to restrict the elements to be compared and contrasted to something between two and four. You need to be selective and choose the most significant points of c/c by deciding which are the most relevant.
• You need to decide whether you will spend more time I the comparison or contrast. IOf the two things you are working or have obvious similarities, then focus on showing the differences. If you are comparing different things, acknowledge the contrasts but emphasise the similarities.

How to organise a c/c essay:

1. pattern A (point by point): used for complex topics (see example p.9)
2. pattern B (all of one and then all of the other): you discuss a number of characteristics of one object and then you look at the same characteristics in the other object (see p. 10)

C/c essays need to use transitionals:

1. Transition in phrases: in contrast to, also differ, unlike X, eventhough both.., similar to, different from,
2. Coordinating conjunctions as transitions: but; yet
3. Transitional expressions between sentences: in addition; moreover, etc
   1. Additive transitions: first, next, besides, moreover, furthermore, in addition
   2. Transitions to indicate similarity: likewise, similarly, in the same way.
   3. Transitions to indicate difference: on the other hand, conversely, in contrast, however, in fact. If you use on the contrary, you mean that the two ideas cannot be true. EG: It’s not very hot. On the contrary, it is cool.
   4. Transitions in phrases: because of; as a result of. They are followed by nouns
   5. Expressions in sentences: results from, caused by. Verbs that express cause or effect.
   6. Coordinating conjunctions as transitions: for, so. See p. 20
   7. Transitional expressions between sentences: thus, therefore, consequently, as a result of, for this reason

Study the checklist on the last page of the Chapter

B) The Cause and effect analysis essay

When we analyse a process, or causes or consequences we are trying to understand how an event had an influence over others. We try to understand how a relationship among events brought about an outcome (result). If we anise the effects, we look at the results of some actions. In any of these cases, the relationships we establish are not chronological (like when we explain a process or how something works) but causal. When we have a problem we try to examine what caused it or predict how it can affect other things. To solve a crime, to cure a patient, to understand people’s reactions are all issues in which we are trying to explain things in terms of causes and results. When writing these essays you need to follow a logical structure.

In general, for a 300/500 word essay there is only time to look EITHER at causes OR effects. There are three tipes of cause and effect papers:

1. Multiple factors and one effect: when there are several factors that relate to one effect and each one is not independently sufficient to produce it (see example of causes for obesity on p.6). You should spend a paragraph on each of the factors and you need to explain very clearly how that cause contributes to the effects (eg: how lack of exercise contributes to obesity). Because the factors are not related to one another, you need to decide how to organise them in your essay, You can choose between:

1. Order of familiarity (obvious to less obvious)
2. Order of interest (less interesting to most interesting)

Related causes: sometimes the causes are related and one cause would not have contributed to an effect if other circumstances had not existed. A good example is WWI where the murder of the Archduke would not have led to WWI had there not existed other causes such as the alliances and the arms race. In this case you can divide the causes into:

3. Immediate causes (Sarajevo)
4. Remote or indirect causes

Two ways of organising your ideas are to start with the immediate and then go to the remote or from less important to most important. The thesis of the essay does not need to be persuasive. You need, however, to state clearly which effect you are analysing and which causes will be taken into consideration.

Being analytical in your essay means you need to avoid fallacies such as “President X was elected in January. There was a crisis 3 weeks later. Therefore President X caused this crisis”

2. Cause and multiple effects There can be multiple effects to one cause. For example the excessive use of sugar can lead to blood sugar imbalances, tooth decay, hyperactivity, and weight gain. In this case you need to use a paragraph for each of the effects and you need to show how it connects to the cause.

The organisation of an effect essay is similar to a cause essay. Effects need not to be related to one another, they may only be related to the cause. Also, there are immediate effects and remote effects of a cause. You need to decide which of the two is more important. Also, if the effects happen at the same time as the cause (eg. Earthquake and casualties) then it is good to order effects according to importance. If there are immediate and remote effects, start with the immediate.

Reminder: identify whether the effect was remote, immediate, major, minor to the reader.

The thesis statement does not have to be persuasive. It can be something like “The tax increase can bring benefits to our country”. “Tax increase” is the topic and “can bring benefits” is the central idea.

3. Causal change: the difference in this type of essay is that the causes are all related; they are linked. One effect becomes a cause of another effect which in turn becomes a cause of another and so on. (See example p14). It can be used in science to analyse causal chains.

Study the checklist on the last page of the Chapter (p 24)

COMPOSITION SKILLS.

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS

The dramatic entrance:

• A particularly interesting example to illustrate your thesis or present the topic.
• A cause in an effects essay or an effect in cause essay. (see example p. 17)
• A relevant quotation

Argumentative essay

It is used to look at a problem carefully, analyse it, evaluate all sides of the issue and draw a conclusion. The essays show different perspectives of an issue, but the opinions need to be supported by facts.

The argumentative essay wants to persuade the reader. The purpose is to convince the reader that your position is the best. Many take the form of “should”: “Students should participate in the selection of teachers” but not everything that starts with should is argumentative. You need to be able to develop both sides of an issue.

You have to assume that the reader disagrees with you and that you need to persuade him to change his mind. But don’t treat the reader as he was less intelligent than you only because he does not seem to agree with you. Ou have to write logically and respectfully.

To convince a person you need to start by trying to understand what arguments he has to believe in what he does. You need to argue against those views; you will not convince someone just by showing your reasons – they need to be shown as better than the opposite views. You have to prove him wrong and show why you are rights as well.

There are two logical processes you will use in this type of essay:

1. Induction: you go from the examples to a general statement. You analyse several public and private schools to show that education is better in private schools
2. Deduction: you begin with a generalisation and you apply it to a specific case. Eg of a syllogism:

All men are mortal . (major premise)

Socrates is a man (minor premise)

Socrates is mortal (conclusion)

Deduction is used more often to argue a side of an issue. It is a good idea to start your essay at a point where both you and your opponent agree:

Major Premise: “Only safe sources of energy should be developed” (Most people will agree with this)

Minor premise: Nuclear power plants are safe sources of energy

Conclusion: Therefore, nuclear power plants should be developed.

The minor premise is what you have to persuade the reader about.

There is no special way to organise your argumentative essay:

• anything you think will help persuade is a valid order but you have to make sure you more from the major premise to the conclusion using details and supportive examples: facts that have been proved such as historical, statistics or scientific data.
• You can also use your personal experience to support your point but this cannot be too vague.
• You need to have a sufficient number of examples.

The argumentative essay should:

1. Introduce and explain the issue or cause: define any ambiguous term if necessary
2. The essay should offer reasons and support for those reasons: prove your points.
3. It should refute opposing arguments: you don’t only have to prove your case but also that the other view is wrong. Do it respectfully and with specific data.

Organisation of the argumentative essay:

1. Introduction: introduce the problem and the thesis in one paragraph. In another paragraph, explain additional information, provide definitions and give background information if necessary.
2. Reasons: spend one paragraph on each. 2/3 reasosna re enough.
3. Refutation: It can take 2 or 3 paragraphs
4. Conclusion

Read “Coherence review”