Tackling Essays

Writing Tackling Essay Bibliographies Screening for Describing Visual

Creative Writing
Paragraphs Questions and Plagiarism Useful Resources Data

Describing
Topic Para 1 - Intro Tables
Sentence
Further

Para 2 - Body 1 Line Graphs

Providing
Reasons

Para 3 - Body 2 Bar Charts

Defining and
giving Examples

Para 4 - Body 3 Pictographs

Para 5 -
Pie Charts
Conclusion
 TOPIC 5 –TACKLING ESSAYS

WRITING PARAGRAPHS

Paragraph – group of sentences that is self-contained and focuses on particular idea/point to

develop topic. Consist of topic, supporting & concluding sentence.

No Sentences Definition
1. Topic general statement of topic
2. Supporting support topic sentence, which provide more information
about the topic sentence
3. Conclusion summarises the whole idea for the paragraph
(introductory – main point of following paragraph)

The main point is emphasizes at the beginning of the sentences (important in topic sentences)

No Emphasize Example
1. Time Last night, I …
Yesterday, I
2. Place At Library,
At School,
3. People Police Officer
Judges
4. Issue Traffic offender
Drug addiction

Steps to develop topic sentence

No Topic Sentence Example
1. Describing the Topic I received a beautiful diamond ring for my birthday.
Sentence Further (Later, describe the ring)

2. Providing Reasons This bank is better than that one

(Later, compare it with other bank rates)

3. Defining & Giving Technology has made it possible to put GPS on your mobile phone
Examples (Later, give characteristics + examples that enables GPS to do so)

4. Cause & Effect Haze causes difficulty in breathing

(Later, provide evidence of breathing problem due to haze)

5. Listing Down Details Unemployment Rate in Malaysia

(Later, provide further details of the issue)

6. Drawing Analogies Does Pilates & Yoga really contribute in health?

(Later, state both similarities between the issue)

5. Comparing & Development differences in rural vs urban areas

contrasting (Later, describe & compare of both development)
TACKLING ESSAY QUESTIONS

a) Read the questions twice to ensure that essay is according the question requirement
b) Interpret questions by underlining key words that may consist of more than 1 questions
c) Gather & research more on the topic information
d) Write the facts according to subject matter
e) Re-analyse the question to determine what genre the essay would be, which help in
creating appropriate essay outline
f) Draft the classic 5-paragraph essay – Introduction, 3 Body, Conclusion
g) Multi-part essay – each body contain a part of the questions & transition words are used
to signal changes in direction of the essay to accommodate other parts of the answer

CREATIVE WRITING

a) Does not have specific rules, forms or outlines to follow

b) It can be fiction or non-fiction (poetry, short stories, novels)

BIBLIOGRAPHIES & PLAGIARISM

a) Bibliographies
Definition – list of writings with time and place of distribution in preparing a document (give
credit to source of research and include it in the list of bibliographies of the report to avoid
accusations of plagiarism)

No Term Definition
1. Modern Language used in fields like humanities, history, literature, rhetoric &
Association (MLA) communication
2. American Psychological used in social sciences
Association (APA)
3. In-Text Citation documenting sources within the paper for immediate view
4. Works Cited Page last page of the paper that lists all the sources cited

Term Condition MLA APA

Placed directly after a quotation from another source, or
In-Text Citations NA
a reference to intellectual property owned by others
MLA (Books, 1 author (Last Name, Page) (Last Name, Year)
Magazine, (Last Name and Last Name, (Last Name and last
2 author
Newspaper, Page) Name, Year)
Journals) (Last Name, Last Name and (Last Name, Last Name
3 author
Last Name, Page) and Last Name, Year)
APA (All Sources) 4 author (Last name et al) (Last Name et al., Year)
Encyclopedia Any authors (Encyclopedia Names) NA
(“Article Title”, Year)
(Last name, Year, p.#) –
Magazine/Newspaper No authors NA
direct quotes
 Term Condition MLA
Book Last name, First Name.
Title. City: Publisher, Year
Magazine Last name, First Name.
“Title of Article.” Title of
Magazine Date published:
page numbers.
Newspaper Last name, First name.
“Title of Article.” Title of
Bibliography Entries
Newspaper [City] Date
published, Edition, Section:
(easy bib entries:
page numbers.
www.bibme.com
Website Last name, First name.
www.easybib.com)
“Title of Page” Title of Site.
Editor._Date and/or version
no. Date of access <URL>.
Journal Last name, First name.
“”Title of Article.” Title of
Journal Volume number.
Issue number (Year): page
numbers.
APA
Last name, F. (Year).
Title. City: Publisher
Last name, F. (Date
published). Title of Article.
Title of Magazine,
Volume, page numbers.
Last name, F. (Date
published). Title of Article.
Title of Newspaper,
volume, page numbers.
Last name, F. (Date
published).Title of
Website/Article, Retrieved
date, from URL
Last name, F. (Year). Title
of Article. Title of Journal,
Volume, volume (issue),
page numbers.

b) Plagiarism
Considered serious crime – stealing someone else’s idea or words claiming to be own

Definition
 steal & pass off as one’s own
 use other’s production without crediting the source
 commit literary theft
 present as new and original (idea/product) derived from existing source
 claiming other’s work as own
 copying words or ideas from other’s without giving credit
 failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
 giving incorrect information about the source of quotation
 copying many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of work,
either with credit or not

SCREENING FOR USEFUL RESOURCES

Abstract – summary of points (as of writing) usually presented in skeletal form (summary done by
author)

Precis – concise summary meaning (summary of abstract rewritten using own words)

Introduction – screen materials & resources to see its relevance by reading introduction in stages
a) topic sentence – general statement of the essay
b) supporting details – explanation, definition or description of subject matter
c) preview or scope – what to expect in next paragraph, what the topic will uncover
DESCRIBING VISUAL DATA

Google “interpreting charts & graphs” to learn how to interpret it

Types of graphic normally used in academic writing

a) Tables
b) Line graphs
c) Bar charts
d) Pictographs
e) Pic harts