The Essence of Writing 1

Preface _ 5

Introduction
What Is Writing? ······ 13
The Essence of Writing: Paragraph ···· 14
The Important Elements of a Paragraph ·· 16
Infographic: Visualizing Information ······ 17

Unit 1: Narration ····· 19
Warm-up Activity ·· 21
What Is Narration? ······· 22
Narration Strategies 23
Sample Narration Paragraph ······ 24
Brainstorm an Idea ····· 28
Draft an Infographic and a Paragraph · 30
Feedback Practice 31
Writing Tip: Make the Subject Do the Action of Verb ·· 33
Narration Paragraph Checklist · 35
Students’ Narration Paragraphs ····· 36

Unit 2: Argument ··· 39
Warm-up Activity ·· 41
What Is Argument? ···· 42
Argument Strategies ······· 43
Sample Argument Paragraph ··· 45
Brainstorm an Idea ····· 49
Draft an Infographic and a Paragraph · 51
Feedback Practice 52
Writing Tip: Avoid Nominalizations · 54
Argument Paragraph Checklist ······ 56
Students’ Argument Paragraphs ··· 57

Unit 3: Comparison and Contrast · 59
Warm-up Activity ·· 61
What Is Comparison and Contrast? ·· 62
Comparison-and-contrast Strategies ···· 63
Sample Comparison-and-contrast Paragraph 65
Brainstorm an Idea ····· 69
Draft an Infographic and a Paragraph · 71
Feedback Practice 72
Writing Tip: Sentence Shaping 74
Comparison-and-contrast Paragraph Checklist ··· 76
Students’ Comparison-and-contrast Paragraphs ······· 77

Unit 4: Definition ··· 79
Warm-up activity ··· 81
What Is Definition? ····· 82
Definition Strategies 83
Sample Definition Paragraph ···· 85
Brainstorm an Idea ····· 89
Draft an Infographic and a Paragraph · 90
Feedback Practice 91
Writing Tip: Be Concise 93
Definition Paragraph Checklist ······· 95
Students’ Definition Paragraphs ··· 96

Unit 5: Cause and Effect ·· 99
Warm-up Activity ······ 101
What Is Cause and Effect? ··· 102
Cause-and-effect Strategies ···· 103
Sample Cause-and-effect Paragraph · 104
Brainstorm an Idea · 108
Draft an Infographic and a Paragraph ····· 110
Feedback Practice ···· 111
Writing Tip: Use Parallel Structure ·· 113
Cause-and-effect Paragraph Checklist ··· 115
Students’ Cause-and-effect Paragraphs 116

Appendices
A. Sentence Types and Connecting Words ··· 121
B. Punctuation Rules ···· 125
C. Capitalization Rules ······· 130

References ···· 132

Writing is used to communicate, regardless of what language we use. To communicate effectively, we should be able to take into account the context, purpose, organization, words, grammar to be used in writing. These elements of writing for effective communication can be acquired in the process of writing. L2 writing is the same to carry out the writers’ thoughts effectively. With these ideas in mind, the Essence of Writing 1: Paragraphs with Infographics, one of the sequels for L2 writing that we co-projected, has been made.

On top of that, we have added a new concept, an infographic to visualize information, to this writing book, in order for L2 learners to practice effective communication. If writing teachers and learners follow the steps demonstrated in the book, they will be able to learn all of the writing elements and create an infographic. Learners can create their own infographic with PowerPoint, or with Piktochart, a tool to create infographics, which is free to use and easy to pick up. What matters is how we organize our thoughts to visualize effectively. Hopefully, this process can help learners to organize their thoughts, which is really important in writing.

At this point, we hope writing teachers and learners discover what we want them to know and more as they use this book.

We have learned publishing one book is a really challenging task. However, in the process, we have realized there are so many different ways to teach and learn L2 writing. We hope this book can guide both teachers and learners to an effective way to
understand L2 writing.