1. Writing Skills The topic sentence
- Every good paragraph has a topic sentence.
- It indicates the main idea of a paragraph.
- It is a helpful guide to both the writer and the reader.

2. Writing Skills Two parts of a topic sentence
1. the topic: the subject or the main idea
2. the controlling idea: a specific comment about the topic

3. Writing Skills Cautions
Avoid topic sentences that are too general or too specific.
Do not include too many unrelated ideas in your topic sentences.

4. Writing Skills Facts vs. opinions
- Facts are objective statements of truths.
- Opinions are subjective statements based on a person’s beliefs or attitudes

5. Writing Skills Giving support to your opinions - examples - statistics
- statement by authorities

6. Writing Skills The concluding sentence
- It signals the end of the paragraph.
- It summarizes the main point of the paragraph or gives a final comment on the topic.

7. Writing Skills End-of-paragraph signals: A. followed by a comma
Finally, As a result,
In conclusion Indeed,
In summery In brief
Therefore, In short
Thus,

8. Writing Skills A. not followed by a comma We can see that …
It is clear that …
These examples show that …
There can be no doubt that …
The evidence suggests that …

9. Writing a Report Four major parts of a report: - analysis - conclusion
- reference
- analysis
- conclusion
- recommendation

10. Writing a report - reference
In the half-yearly estimates of…
(Six Asian countries) are reviewed in…
The chart compares / shows…

11. Writing a report - Analysis
The comparison reveals a steady rise in …
A has…, while B has grown rapidly
The graph shows A as second only to B.

12. Writing a report - Conclusions
The last (ten yeas) have seen (an improvement) in…
It is clear that A has (risen) steadily as B has…
The figures suggest / show that A’s situation is (serious).

13. Writing a report - Recommendation
(The Government) needs to…
As a first step, we should…
In view of this, we recommend…

15. Describing Trends The population rose The rate went up grew soared
The price increased
The population rose
The rate went up
grew
soared

16. Describing Trends The population fell The rate declined dropped
The price decreased
The population fell
The rate declined
dropped
went down
plummeted

17. Describing Trends The population were erratic The rate
The price fluctuated
The population were erratic
The rate

18. Describing Trends The price remained steady
The population stayed constant
The rate stable
stabilized

19. Describing Trends increased significantly / substantially
decreased considerably
dramatically
swiftly / rapidly
slightly / somewhat
gradually / steadily
quickly / slowly

20. Describing Trends There was a …in …
There was a slow/gradual/significant/substantial increase/decrease/rise/fall
in price of home products.

21. To describe increase an increase to increase an expansion to expand
a rise to rise
a growth to grow
a climb to climb
a leap to leap

22. To describe decrease a decrease to decrease a fall to fall
a drop to drop
a decline to decline
a collapse to collapse
a plunge to plunge
a dip to dip

23. To describe irregular changes
to go up and down
to fluctuate
to be erratic
fluctuations

24. To describe absence of change
to stabilize
to level out
to become steady
to remain stable
stability
no change

25. Adjectives and adverbs
to describe short, fast or sudden changes
dramatic/ally sharp/ly
sudden/ly abruptly
to describe important , large changes
substantial/ly steep/ly
to describe important but not very large changes
significant/ly marked/ly

26. Adjectives and adverbs
to describe small changes
slight/ly slow/ly
noticeable/noticeably
to describe changes that are slow and long
gradual/ly steady/steadily
sustained general/ly
to describe changes that last a short time
short-lived brief/ly

27. Other useful expressions
recovery to recover
a peak to reach a peak
to show an upward/downward trend
erratic movements
to move erratically
the main trend

28. Showing contrasts while: contrasting two related points
While 1998 saw sales grow substantially,
there was little growth during the previous year.

29. Showing contrasts although: showing a stronger contrast
The dramatic increase in 1999 was welcome, although it was short-lived.
Although less than half of households had a car ten years ago, more than three quarters own one now.

30. Showing contrasts even though: showing a still stronger contrast
Even though many households still lack central heating, it is clear that living standards ate rising.
2001 saw an overall rise in sales, even though they were extremely erratic for most of the time.

31. Writing cause and effect
due to
Population ageing is mainly due to a decline in fertility.
We regret to announce that the football match has had to be postponed due to poor weather

32. Writing cause and effect
because of
Elderly women outnumbered elderly men because of gains in female longevity
as a result
The government raised tax on alcohol. As a result, sales declined by 20%.

33. Writing cause and effect
be attributed to
The fall in the number of people smoking can be attributed to education programs.
We attribute our success to being in the right place at the right time.

34. Writing cause and effect
be a direct consequence of
as a consequence of
The high number of visa over-stayers is a direct consequence of economic conditions.
As a consequence of his laziness, he was fired.

35. Writing cause and effect
lead to
It has been clearly demonstrated that smoking leads to heart disease and cancer.
The accident led to many lawsuits.

36. Writing cause and effect
contribute to
Immigration after the Second World War contributed to population growth.
Air pollution contributes to respiratory diseases.

37. Giving Comments Overall comments effective well organized
well developed
generally well organized
adequately organized

38. Giving Comments Overall comments
inadequate organization or development
serious disorganization or under- development
ineffective
undeveloped

39. Giving Comments Overall comments
uses appropriate details to support a thesis
uses appropriate details to illustrate ideas
uses some details to support a thesis

40. Giving Comments Overall comments
inappropriate or insufficient details to support generalizations
little or no detail to support ideas
incoherent

41. Giving Comments Overall comments
displays (consistent) facility in the use of language
demonstrates adequate but possibly inconsistent facility with syntax and usage
a noticeably inappropriate choice of words

42. Giving Comments Overall comments
serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage
severe and persistent writing errors

43. Giving Comments To be positive and encouraging
I was pleased to notice…
You are right in stating …
You’ve given strong support to …
I was gratified to see the improvements you have been making in …

44. Giving Comments To be positive and encouraging
- I am sure you could have done better by giving more examples.
- You could have done better by …
- You’ve made a good point. However, you may need to give it more concrete support.

45. Avoid Plagiarism What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is the use of words, facts, figures, ideas, graphics, etc. obtained from the work of others in such a way as to convey the impression that the material originated with you.

46. Avoid Plagiarism Serious consequences of plagiarism
- loss of jobs and reputations
- serious academic penalties at school

47. Avoid Plagiarism Documentation
Documentation is the use of an agreed format to show which material came from sources other than the report writer and also to show where that material came from.

48. Avoid Plagiarism You document for the following reasons:
  1. Honesty and courtesy:
to give credit to the person who wrote the words you are quoting or developed the ideas, information or graphics, etc. that you are using.

49. Avoid Plagiarism 2. Reliability:
to enable readers to check your accuracy by comparing your material to the source that provided the material, and to enable readers to judge whether your sources themselves are reliable and up-to-date.

50. Avoid Plagiarism 3. Utility:
to allow your readers to find your sources for themselves if they would like more information.

51. Avoid Plagiarism
Whether plagiarism occurs accidentally or deliberately makes no difference to the way your work is judged, since the effect is the same — credit has not been given for the words or information used.

52. Avoid Plagiarism Some examples of acceptable documentation:
  1. Quotation:
"However, our graduates also need to be effective communicators in their personal and social lives. Good communications skills enable people to understand better and to express their opinions, dissent, agreement, concern and knowledge in an effective and useful way" (Smith 23).

53. Avoid Plagiarism 2. Paraphrase plus quotation:
Smith believes that college graduates need communications skills outside the classroom and the workplace, where they must be able to express "opinions, dissent, agreement, concern and knowledge" effectively (23).

54. Avoid Plagiarism 3. Summary:
   
3. Summary:
Smith says college graduates need to be able to communicate effectively in a variety of personal and social situations (23).