Welcome to Paragraph Writing, which is, as the name suggests, a skills course designed with the specific focus of improving your skill in crafting paragraphs for academic writing.

The aim of this course is continued development of students' English writing skills. In addition to time spent on vocabulary, style, and structure, this course includes learning about and using language corpora. Having written a total of seven essays that will constitute his or her writing portfolio, each student should complete this course with both the knowledge and confidence to create robust, effective paragraphs en route to completing various types of high-quality academic essays.

If you would like (for some inane or perhaps insane reason), here is the course syllabus for your reading pleasure. Of course, I reserve the right to amend it, so please treat this as a guideline.

For those of you that have taken courses from me, you will recall that we have had no textbooks, and in the present course we will also have no textbook. Class material will be available on both Dropbox and Google Drive, and feel free to download, save, print, or otherwise use it. I seldom make paper handouts, but if you prefer paper, please take care of printing files yourself.

You might be wondering about the course requirements. Not wanting to scare people away, I have wisely included them way, way, way down at the bottom of the page in 2-point font. Actually, you will find them hiding down below, but just not in 2-point font. Let's cover some admin things, just for fun.

Our Google Meet information:

---

Hereafter you will find a reasonably detailed synopsis of the various class meetings ("sessions") that we will enjoy this term.

To meet, Good People, you will need the Meet code, which is the following: https://meet.google.com/lookup/amdepvzyjx

Moreover, the class code is https://classroom.google.com/c/Mjk0OTEwMjQ2MDI4?cjc=qwzsn5x

Sure, you were about to ask, right? That, Good People, is a sextant, a very necessary tool for navigation in the pre-GPS age.

---

Before Session #1 ...  

Good day, everyone! To get our class off to a flying start, I would like you to contact me by email before our first class on May 12.

One of our goals this term is for you to become comfortable writing polite email in English, and this is your first chance to do so. A video on how to write polite email in English   is now available; your homework is to watch the video and then write and send me such an email. (Note: If you are taking both my Paragraph Writing class and my Understanding Other Cultures class, you will need to send only one email, not two.)

Second, you will need to be familiar with WebEx, which we will use for our class.

Third, you will also need to be familiar with both the Chiba Portal and the Chiba Moodle system (if you're reading this message, then you obviously can use Moodle to an extent).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by email.

Session #1 (April 20) — Introduction; Paper Format; Word Advice 

As often happens on the first day of class, we'll be speaking in somewhat general terms about our course and some of the topics therein. First, note that this course includes all four skills that appear in academic work: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. There are, of course, certain requirments for this course, as is true for every course; please scroll down to the specific courrse requirements for your enlightenment.

Homework:

Session #2 (April 27) — Paragraph Structure 

This morning we'll begin with a look at the structure of the humble paragraph. This all begins with the topic sentence, which I explain in more detail here. In the meantime, however, I would like you to keep four key points in mind, please:

In the second half of our session this afternoon, I'd like to provide a brief introduction to corpus linguistics. Forgoing a (boring) theoretical introduction, I'd like to just dive in and provide an example of a technique called genre analysis, in which a collection of samples is culled from a database and then examined for patterns. To do so, we'll be using one piece of my own writing (Elwood, 2009) and an essay on the continued importance of handwriting instruction by Deborah K. Reed, the director of the Iowa Reading Research Center.

Because this is a large and growing area in our field, I've opted to add a separate page to only begin to scratch the surface. Follow this link to our resource page with some information on corpus linguistics.

Class Material & Homework:

Session #3 (May 11) — Paragraph Structure; Punctuation; Corpus Analysis Workshop 

Good morning, everyone. Today I would like to begin by spending some time looking at that important paragraph that begins each essay—the introductory paragraph. This should, of course, do much more than simply state your topic. Below we'll find some details about what I expect ...

In the second half of our session this afternoon, I'd like to provide a brief introduction to corpus linguistics. Because this is a large and growing area in our field, I've opted to add a separate page to only begin to scratch the surface. Follow this link to our resource page with some information on corpus linguistics.

Let's begin with a look at the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), which comes to use courtesy of Brigham Young University in the US. You will recall that I mentioned a series of very helpful YouTube videos on using this corpus, the first of which is at this link.

Finally, we need to be aware of punctuation, which is often given little attention.

Homework:

Session #4 (May 18) — Punctuation; Coherence 

Our first task today is to look quickly over English punctuation, which is an important yet seldom studied part of writing. Lest you question that statement, have a look (even a quick look) at the writing in the Sherlock Holmes stories. You will find that, for example, semi-colons were used much more extensively than they are now.

This morning I would like to have you good people consider how your fine paragraphs work together. Recall that we spent some time on topic sentences, with which you should all be quite comfortable. Those will, of course, begin your magnificent series of paragraphs, but those paragraphs must fit together into a coherent entity that will be transparent for your reader.

As we've mentioned in class, you will use various discourse markers (e.g., however, therefore, and so on) to indicate relationships. You will also employ sequential markers (first, second, etc.).

Class Material:

Session #5 (May 25) — More Coherence; Clauses 

OK, Gentle Students, today we will look in some detail at how to knit together all those fine paragraphs you are writing or will have written. Our illustrative example is the Elwood and Bode (2014) paper in the materials section below.

Our second task this morning is to look briefly at dependent clauses, which are sometime used poorly.

Class Material:

Session #6 (June 1) — Transitions & Flow 

Class Material:

Homework:

Session #7 (June 8) —  Documentation; Corpus Followup 

In today's session we will spend about half of our time looking at documentation skills, which you should employ in your Cause & Effect paper. As you will know from class, we will be using APA format for our references; this particular format is by far the cleanest and most consistent (in my humble opinion).

We will also delve some into the world of corpus analysis today.

Class Material:

Session #8 (June 15) —  Cause & Effect (on demand) 

Session #9 (June 22) —  Cause & Effect 

Good morning, everyone. Today our class will be devoted to considering cause-and-effect papers, which are an important tool in the writer's arsenal.

Note that you will need to create a corpus analysis addendum about some point in your cause-and-effect paper. Details are below in the video.

Class Material:

Session #10 (June 29) —  Consultations 

This class will be devoted to consultations with individuals. I invite you to come to class and talk with me individually about your writing, but this is strictly optional. If you would prefer, you may spend this time working on your cause-and-effect paper or exploring the corpus analysis websites.

Note that you will need to create a corpus analysis addendum about some point in your cause-and-effect paper. Details are below in the video.

Class Material:

Session #11 (July 6) —  Persuasion 

First, please hand in your Cause & Effect paper with this File Request (C&E paper).

In our class today we will diving into the world of persuasive writing. Your task, of course, is to craft a paper on one side of an issue that convinces your reader (me) that your position on that particular issue is the correct one.

To help you on your journey:

Your homework is to begin working on your masterpiece, which will be due on July 27.

On-Demand Material—  Refutation 

As I mentioned last week, in your persuasive paper it is important (dare we say crucial?) to briefly address the other side of your topic. In doing so, you provide yourself the opportunity to (a) demonstrate that your knowledge of the issue is balanced and (b) refute the other side's point(s) to an extent. Of course, this ultimately functions to make your paper more persuasive.

A second point for your consideration today: As you're crafting your magnum opus, consider using the strength of corpus data to enhance your work. One source is, of course, your basic dictionary, which will provide you with concise definitions, examples of usage (to an extent), as well as synonyms and antonyms. If you google your search term using "define [term]", you'll find several online dictionaries, among which the Free Online Dictionary and Merriam-Webster are quite useful. For a more extensive set of examples, you would do well to consult some of the corpora available online; I would suggest BYU's corpus resources.

 Class Material: 

Session #12 (July 13) —  Consultations 

Good day, everyone. Today in class you will have time to work on your persuasive papers, which should be progressing. I will be returning some papers and providing feedback, so while I am doing so, you are to be working on your masterpiece.

Recall that I mentioned how important support is for your persuasive paper. Please include at least five sources (not Wikipedia!), and you are expected to use correct format for the reference section (where you list your sources). Please see the example papers from our earlier classes.

Session #13 (July 20) —  Abstracts 

Today I would like to talk some about abstracts, which are just short, stand-along summaries of your manuscript or report. An abstract describes what is in your paper (i.e., the thesis, main points, conclusion) and is written after you finish writing the paper. Plan to write 'enough', but a good target would be 100-200 words.

Readings & Homework:

Session #14 (July 20) —  Editing 

Homework:

Session #15 (July 27) —  Consultations 

As you will have cleverly surmised, in this final class I will be available for a consultation. This is optional, but I would be happy to provide feedback on your persuasive paper.

Homework:

1. Regular and active participation in class. I expect you to be physically present and mentally engaged. Questions? Always good, as are opinions, comments, and even random thoughts you have. (10%)


2. A series of essays that will include the following:
• Self-introduction (10%);
• Contemporary Japan paper (15%)
• Cause-and-effect paper (15%)
• Persuasive paper (20%).