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LETS WRITE
Writing is a process that will lead us to a product
Writing is a form of communication of ideas, feelings, beliefs, opinions, facts and
information. The process involves: negotiation, discovery and voices articulation.
The purposes of writing:
1. General writing purposes
4 common writing
process

2. Specific writing purposes

Having a specific purpose:

To
To
To
To

inform
persuade
express yourself
entertain

Assists you at every stage of the process

Helps you to:
a. define audience
b. select the details, language and
approach.
c. avoid going off in directions that
wont interest them.

Points to be considered when writing:

WHAT

WHEN

TO WHOM

WHY

HOW

This course will approach the following types of writing: Argument, Description and
Narration.

PLANNING AND DRAFTING YOUR PAPER

understanding the assignment

zeroing on in a topic
gathering information
organizing information
developing a thesis statement

writing the first draft

Understanding the assignment

Some instructors specify the topic, give you several topics to choose from, offer you a
free choice, dictate (or not) the length and format.
be sure you understand the assignments before you go any further
consider the project yours

Zeroing on a topic
Subject = a broad discussion area Topic = one small segment of a subject
It you choose your own topic:
pick one narrow enough (to develop it properly within the limitations)
choose a familiar topic or one you can learn enough (time available)

Gathering information
Once you have a topic, you'll need things to say about it.
supporting material (facts, ideas, examples, observations, sensory impressions,
memories)
strategies (brainstorming., reading, talking to others)
the more support you gather, the easier it will be for you to write a draft
time spent gathering information is never wasted

Organizing information

your topic determines the approach you take

Ex narrating a personal experience - trace events in the order they occurred,
describing a process - report the procedure step by step
strategies: formal outline, flexible notes

Developing a thesis statement

Thesis statement = the main idea (usually in one sentence)

reasons: it points you in a specific direction: it helps you stay on track and out of
tempting byways; it tells the reader what to expect
Features: it focuses on just one central point or issue: it tailors the scope of the issue to
the length of the paper: it provides an accurate forecast of what's to come: it is precise.
often previewing the organization of the paper

Writing the first draft

Stack your thesis statement, flexible notes, and written plan in front of you.
Skip every other line (double-space) and leave wide margins.
Write quickly; capture the drift of your thoughts.
Concentrate on content and organization.
Get your main points and supporting details on paper in the right sequence.
Don't spend time correcting grammatical or punctuation errors, improve your language,
or making the writing flow smoothly.
Take breaks at logical dividing points, for example when you finish discussing a key
point. Before you start to write again, scan what youve written.

ARGUMENT
Characteristics

A paper grounded on logical, structural evidence, that attempts to convince the reader to
accept an opinion take some action or do something. Successful arguments rest on a firm
foundation of solid, logical support.
May include emotions because it can play an important part in swaying reader opinion.
Possible appeals
1. The rational appeal:
Reasons are the key point youll use to defend your conclusions;
To convince readers, your reasons must be substantiated by evidence.
1. establish truths (historical, scientific, geographical fact)
2. opinions of authorities
3. statistical findings
4. personal experience (reinforces other kinds of evidence)
5. induction (moves from separate bits of evidence to a general
observation)
2. The emotional appeal:
although effective arguments relies mainly on reason, an emotional appeal
can be a powerful reinforcement
3. The ethical appeal:
before logic can do its work, the audience must be willing to consider the
argument. If a writers tone offends the audience, perhaps by being arrogant
or mean-spirited, the reasoning will fail to penetrate.
If the writer comes across as pleasant, fair-minded, and decent, gaining the
readers support is much easier.

DESCRIPTION
Characteristics
Effective description creates sharply etched word pictures of objects, people, scenes,
events or situations.
Sensory impressions reflecting sight, sound taste, smell, and touch form backbone of
descriptive writing.
Main features to reflect upon:
Purpose
Selection of details
Sensory impressions
Arrangement of details

NARRATION
Characteristics
Real events (i.e., history, biographies, stories), or
Imaginary events (i.e., short stories, novels)
Main features to reflect upon:
Purpose: a narrative makes a point or has a purpose which always shapes the writing.

Action: plays a central role in any narrative. Other kinds of writing only suggest action,
leaving readers to imagine it for themselves. Narrations suggest a great deal of action: it
does not present the action narration creates and re-creates it.
Conflict: events are always shaped by conflicts that need to be resolved. For this
reason, conflict and resolution are crucial to narrative because they motivate and often
structure the action.
Key events: indicate the action development and lead the reader from the beginning to
the end of the story.
Point of view: it may be expressed by the 1st person (the participants tell what
happened) or by the 3rd person (the story teller stays completely out of the action).
Dialogue: animates many narratives, by keeping the action alive, and helping draw the
reader into the story.

LETS READ
Reading techniques
1. Skimming / Scanning
Skimming consists of reading a text very quickly in order to have a general idea
of what it is about.
Scanning, on the other hand, consists of reading a text very carefully in order to
look for details, absorb new words and expressions and fully understand the text.
2. SQ3R (Survey Question Read Recite Review)
Survey means to glance over the title, headings, and subheadings. This process
will give a general idea of what the text is about.
Question means to take each title, heading and subheading and turn each one of
them into a question.
Read implies in reading the text keeping in mind the questions you formulated in
step 2.
Recite means to say to yourself (or write down) the answers to the questions you
formulated in step 2.
Review means to go back over the process. Reread the headings and
subheadings and the questions you have formed from them; reread or say to
yourself your answers to these questions.
3. Academic reading
Academic reading implies in a text more formal and scientific. For this reason, it is
easier to be read by Portuguese speakers. Due the advent of the Industrial
Revolution new words had to be created in order to describe new techniques,
products, machines etc. These new words were created from Latin and Greek.
Apart from that, word elements (parts of words that carry meaning) were also
incorporated to English. When you know the meaning of a particular word
element, you can make an intelligent guess as to the meaning of the word that
contains the element. Therefore, you will be able to continue reading without
having to stop to look up in your dictionary all the words you dont know. In the
table bellow you can check some of the word elements that will help you when
reading a text.
Ab-al
analyst
anthropo
-ated
bio
course
dict
existent
-fy
iatrist
InInter-

Not
Adjective suffix
A person who studies the part
of
Human
Possessing
Life
Behavior
Say, tell
Having being
To make
Doctor
Not (sometimes = in)
Between

-ist
-logy
-logical
-logist
Magnimorphic
NonPhysio
PostPrepsycho
sophistic
therapy

A person who
Study of
About the study of
A person who studies
Large
Having the shape of
Not
Nature
After
Before
Mind
Wise
treatment

More tips (needless to say that these rules have exceptions!!!!):

o Rule #1: for words in Portuguese that end in DADE (like cidade), take
DADE out and add TY. So, cidade becomes city.

o Rule #2: for words that end in O, take out O and add TION. So,
the word nao becomes nation.

o Rule #3: for words that end in MENTE, take out MENTE and add LY.
So, the word naturalmente becomes naturally.

o Rule #4: for words that end in NCIA, take out NCIA and add ENCE.
So, the word essncia becomes essence.

o Rule #5: for words that end in AL, do not change anything. So, the word
natural will remain natural.

Text 1 Practice the Skimming / Scanning exercise

Text 2 Practice the SQ3R technique

Text 3 Practice the Academic Reading technique

350 BC - by Aristotle
METAPHYSICS - Book I
ALL men by nature desire to know. An
indication of this is the delight we take
in our senses; for even apart from their
usefulness they are loved for
themselves; and above all others the
sense of sight. For not only with a view
to action, but even when we are not
going to do anything, we prefer seeing
(one might say) to everything else. The
reason is that this, most of all the
senses, makes us know and brings to
light many differences between things.
By nature animals are born with the
faculty of sensation, and from sensation
memory is produced in some of them,
though not in others. And therefore the
former are more intelligent and apt at
learning than those which cannot
remember; those which are incapable
of hearing sounds are intelligent though
they cannot be taught, e.g. the bee, and
any other race of animals that may be
like it; and those which besides
memory have this sense of hearing can
be taught. The animals other than man
live by appearances and memories, and
have but little of connected experience;
but the human race lives also by art and
reasonings. Now from memory
experience is produced in men; for the
several memories of the same thing
produce finally the capacity for a single
experience. And experience seems
pretty much like science and art, but
really science and art come to men
through experience; for 'experience
made art', as Polus says, 'but
inexperience luck.' Now art arises when
from many notions gained by
experience one universal judgement
about a class of objects is produced.
For to have a judgement that when
Callias was ill of this disease this did
him good, and similarly in the case of
Socrates and in many individual cases,
is a matter of experience; but to judge
that it has done good to all persons of a
certain constitution, marked off in one
class, when they were ill of this
disease, e.g. to phlegmatic or bilious

people when burning with fevers-this is

a matter of art. With a view to action
experience seems in no respect inferior
to art, and men of experience succeed
even better than those who have theory
without experience. (The reason is that
experience is knowledge of individuals,
art of universals, and actions and
productions are all concerned with the
individual; for the physician does not
cure man, except in an incidental way,
but Callias or Socrates or some other
called by some such individual name,
who happens to be a man. If, then, a
man has the theory without the
experience, and recognizes the
universal but does not know the
individual included in this, he will
often fail to cure; for it is the individual
that is to be cured.) But yet we think
that knowledge and understanding
belong to art rather than to experience,
and we suppose artists to be wiser than
men of experience (which implies that
Wisdom depends in all cases rather on
knowledge); and this because the
former know the cause, but the latter do
not. For men of experience know that
the thing is so, but do not know why,
while the others know the 'why' and the
cause. Hence we think also that the
masterworkers in each craft are more
honourable and know in a truer sense
and are wiser than the manual workers,
because they know the causes of the
things that are done (we think the
manual workers are like certain lifeless
things which act indeed, but act
without knowing what they do, as fire
burns,-but while the lifeless things
perform each of their functions by a
natural tendency, the labourers perform
them through habit); thus we view
them as being wiser not in virtue of
being able to act, but of having the
theory for themselves and knowing the
causes. And in general it is a sign of the
man who knows and of the man who
does not know, that the former can
teach, and therefore we think art more

truly knowledge than experience is; for

artists can teach, and men of mere
experience cannot. Again, we do not
regard any of the senses as Wisdom;
yet surely these give the most
authoritative knowledge of particulars.
But they do not tell us the 'why' of
anything-e.g. why fire is hot; they only
say that it is hot. At first he who
invented any art whatever that went
beyond the common perceptions of
man was naturally admired by men, not
only because there was something
useful in the inventions, but because he
was thought wise and superior to the
rest. But as more arts were invented,
and some were directed to the
necessities of life, others to recreation,
the inventors of the latter were
naturally always regarded as wiser than
the inventors of the former, because
their branches of knowledge did not
aim at utility. Hence when all such
inventions were already established,
the sciences which do not aim at giving
pleasure or at the necessities of life
were discovered, and first in the places
where men first began to have leisure.
This is why the mathematical arts were
founded in Egypt; for there the priestly
caste was allowed to be at leisure. We
have said in the Ethics what the
difference is between art and science
and the other kindred faculties; but the
point of our present discussion is this,
that all men suppose what is called
Wisdom to deal with the first causes
and the principles of things; so that, as
has been said before, the man of
experience is thought to be wiser than
the possessors of any sense-perception
whatever, the artist wiser than the men
of experience, the masterworker than
the mechanic, and the theoretical kinds
of knowledge to be more of the nature
of Wisdom than the productive. Clearly
then Wisdom is knowledge about
certain principles and causes.

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Lets Talk
Introduction
This course stands for years of research o reduced forms. Its an updated, easy to
use material that teaches the most common forms needed to understand natural
spoken English. It presents each reduced form contextualized in practical examples.
Reduced forms are the pronunciation changes that occur in natural speech because of
the environment or context in which a word or sound is found. The amount reduction
depends on how fast the word or sound is spoken.
EXAMPLE:
Slow speech
Want to

fast speech
want *ta

faster speech
*wanna

We are going to focus on faster speech, according to research this kind of speech is the
most common in natural spoken English.
To remind the students that the reduced forms are not to be used in written English an
asterisk (*) is used with every reduced form.

MOST COMMOM REDUCED FORMS

YOUR / YOURE = *YER
Youre a great student. * Yer a great student.
How is your family? How is *yer family?
YOURS = *YERS
My job pays really well but yours is interesting. My job pays really well but *yers is
interesting.
FOR = *FER
Im looking for a new car. Im looking *fer a new car.
OF = *A
What about a cup of tea? What about a cup *a tea?
YOU = *YA
How do you use the internet? Well, first, you find your internet software on your
computer screen.
How do *ya use the internet? Well, first, *ya find *yer internet software on *yer
computer screen.
ING ENDINGS= *IN
I am looking for a pair of jeans like yours. Im *lookin *fer a pair *a jeans like * yers.
WHAT DO YOU/WHAT ARE YOU = *WHADDAYA
What are you doing this weekend? *Whaddaya *doin this weekend?
What do we need? Whadda we need?
What do they want? Whadda they want?
WANT TO = WANNA
What do you want to do? *Whaddaya *wanna do?
GOING TO + VERB = * GONNA

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Im going to love you for the rest of my life. Im *gonna love *ya *fer the rest *a my life.
CAN = *KIN
CANT = *KANT
Cant you just wait a minute? *Kant *ya just wait a minute?
Yes, I can. Yes, I *kin.
GET = *GIT
Can you get me some apple juice? *Kin *ya *git me some apple juice?
TO = *TA
Im going to the mall. Im *goin*ta the mall.
TO AFTER A VOWEL SOUND = *DA
I want to go to Spain. I *wanna go *da Spain.
GOT TO = *GOTTA
HAVE TO = *HAFTA
HAS TO = *HASTA
Ive got to find one.Ive *gotta find one.
I have to study. I *hafta study.
It has to be taken care of. It *hasta be taken care of.
USED TO = * USETA
SUPPOSED TO = * SUPPOSTA
I used to cook on Sundays. I *useta cook on Sundays.
What do you mean,men arent supposed to cook? *Whaddaya mean,mem arent
*supposta cook?
HE = *E
HIS = *IS
HIM = *IM
HER = *ER
THEM = *EM
I want them to get it as soon as possible. I want *em *ta *git it as soon as possible.
I sent him the package last month. I sent *im the package last month.
AND = *n
Ill need your name and a credit card number to hold that car. Ill need *yer name na
credit card number *ta hold that car.
OR = *ER
Do you want a chocolate or a lemon birthday cake? Do *ya want a chocolate *er a
lemon birthday cake?
DONT NO = DONNO
If you dont know what to do, you have to talk to somebody. If *ya *donno what *ta do,
*ya *hafta talk *ta somebody.
T + YOU = *CHA
T + YOUR/YOURE = *CHER
Cant you find an apartment? *Kant *cha find an apartment?
Tell me what are you looking for. Tell me what *cher *lookinfor.
D + YOU = *JA
D + YOUR = *JER
Could come here ? Could * ja come here ?

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Did your car break? Did *jer car break?

WH QUESTION + HAVE = *AVE
+ HAS = *AS
+ HAD = *AD
What have you done? What *ave *ya done?
Where has your sister been? Where *as *yer sister been?
When had she become a doctor? When *ad she become a doctor?
SUBJECT + HAVE = *AVE
HAS = *AS
HAD = *AD
HAVENT = *AVENT
HASNT = *ASNT
HADNT = *ANDT
I have to stay home today. I *ave *ta stay home today.
I hadnt planned for that. I *andt planned *fer that.
SHOULD
*SHOULDA
COULD
*COULDA
WOULD
HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
*WOULDA
MUST
*MUSTA
MAY
*MAYA
MIGHT
*MIGHTA
SHOULDNT
*SHOULDNA
COULDNT
HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE
*COULDNA
WOULDNT
*WOULDNA
You could have gotten directions here. *Ya *coulda gotten directions here.
We wouldnt have missed the gas station if you hadnt been talking too much. We
*wouldna missed the gas station if *ya *andt been talkintoo much.
WHAT ARE YOU = *WHACHA
What are you doing this afternoon? *Whacha *dointhis afternoon?
LET ME = LEMME
GIVE ME = GIMME
Give me some water. *Gimme some water.
Let me guess. *Lemme guess.
ABOUT = *BOUT
BECAUSE = *CAUSE
COME ON = *CMON
I cant because I have to finish the report. I *kant *cause I *hafta finish the report.
What are you talking about? *Whaddaya *talkin *bout?
Come on, lets go. *Cmon, lets go.
WE ALSO CAN DELETE THE FIRST
QUESTIONS ;
Do you want some *WANT SOME
Are you going to see *GONNA SEE
Would you like to *LIKE TO
Have you seen the *SEEN THE

ONE

OR

TWO

WORDS

OF

THESE

In small groups, practice the following situations using reduced forms:

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a) Do you think a husband and wife should stay married forever if they have
children?
b) What should people do when theyre lost? What do you usually do? Explain.
c) What is an unusual job for a man/woman? How would you apply for this job?
Explain.
d) How would you explain to an Immigration Officer the purpose of your trip?

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