Industrial

REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA.
UNIVERSIDAD RAFAEL BELLOSO CHACÍN.
ESL LANGUAGE CENTER.
WRITING AND REDACTION WORKSHOP.

WRITING A PARAGRAPH.
Introductory Unit.

Lcda. Anna Tridente.

Introduction.

1. General Rules.
1.1. Before you write.
1.2. When you write.
1.3. After you write.

2. Transitional Signals or Linking Expressions.
2.1. To show Addition.
2.2.To show Time.
2.3. To show Contrast.
2.4. To Illustrate or Give Examples.
2.5. To show Location.
2.6. To show Cause and Effect.
2.7. To Summarize or Conclude.
2.8. To Illustrate or Give Examples.

3. Punctuation Rules.
3.1. Full Stop or Period.
3.2. Comma.
3.3. Quotation Marks or Inverted Commas.
3.4. Question Mark.
3.5. Exclamation Mark.
3.6.Colon.
3.7. Semi-colon.
3.8. Dash.
3.9. Hyphen.
3.10. Brackets, Parentheses.
3.11. Apostrophe.

4. Capitalization Rules.
4.1. First words.
4.2. Personal names.
4.3. Places names.

5. Parts of a Paragraph.
5.1. Topic Sentence.
5.2. Supporting sentences.
5.3. Closing Sentences.

INTRODUCTION.

If you want to develop your writing ability it is necessaryfor you to keep in mind the following aspects:

* Write every day. Take 10 – 20 minutes a day to write any ideas or thoughts that strike your mind. Do not try to get a perfect PRODUCT or cover all the characteristics a good written piece should have; the aim is to write ANYTHING that keep your ideas flowing into a piece of paper. This will help you gain confidence when facing a blank page.* Remember that to write is to think. Every time we face a blank page to fulfill an assignment, the first thought that comes to our mind is “I don’t know what to say”. However, after some minutes thinking and scribbling in a piece of paper, a lot of ideas begin jumping and popping. It means then that for writing we need time and thinking. Your progress in writing will be determined by yourprogress as a good thinker. It is also a good exercise to think about the language that you are learning. How does the language work? If you want your readers to pay attention to your ideas, pay attention to the language that expresses those ideas!
* See writing as a pleasure and as a part o you, not only as assignments. Enjoy your writing. It helps you to get to know yourself. It is YOU who givesany writing a personal approach. It is YOU who produces the piece. It is YOU who revises and redoes any part of your essay.
* Having no grammatical errors does not mean good writing. There are other aspects of grammar to consider like vocabulary, punctuation, cohesion of ideas, and so on. If you find it difficult to produce a written piece, remember the following:
a. You are not alone;you’re entitled to get help, so do it!
b. Reading carefully will help you learn standard ways of writing.
c. If you keep in mind your audience, your purpose, and your central idea, you will avoid some errors.
d. Reading your essay aloud and slowly will help you spot errors.

1. GENERAL RULES.

1.1. Before you write.

The prewriting stage is when you think carefully and organizeyour ideas for your paragraph before you begin writing. For this process, keep this in mind:

* Who am I writing to? This will help you to determine the tone and degree of formality.
* Why am I writing? It is a good idea to note down your main message before starting. This will help you to stay focused and also to determine which means of communication is the most suitable for yourpurpose.
* What does my correspondent know? Never assume the other person has all the background information necessary to understand your message. Think about what details you need to put into your essay to help readers understand it.
* Write down your ideas, in an organized, concise and clear way. It will help you to determine if what you have in mind is really important or related to your...