Reporting Verbs
Date: 22 Sep 1997
From: Steven R Brown
To: lion@verb.linguist.pitt.edu
Subject: Research writing: Verbs of reporting
My students need to learn the nuances of reporting verbs like 'claims'. I
give them the following list and have them, in groups, cluster the words
that go together. You might need to build in a dictionary step, where
they look up the meanings of the words either collectively or for
homework. Then we talk about the nuances of some of the words as I
develop a master spider web of associations on the board. The following
list is exhaustive and exhausting -- don't feel you need to use it all.
You do want several clusters of synonyms.
acknowledge
admit
advise
advocate
affirm
allude to
argue
ask
assert
assume
believe
bring to light
caution
claim
concede
concentrate on
conclude
condone
confess
contend
convey
declare
disclose
discuss
doubt
emphasize
endorse
establish
examine
explain
explore
expose
express
feel
find
focus on
give credence to
highlight
identify
illustrate
imply
indicate
insist
intimate
maintain
note
observe
point out
proclaim
propose
question
reason
recognize
recommend
remark
reveal
say
show
state
stress
suggest
think
uncover
underline
underscore
unveil
voice
write
Short Research Essay
Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 09:48:16 -0500 (EST)
From: Lois I Wilson
To: lion@verb.linguist.pitt.edu
Subject: Research Essay
Students with a high intermediate level of English proficiency can
begin to master the skills in writing research papers by writing a short
research essay which includes a small amount of material from outside
sources. The essay should be limited in length, approximately 1-2 typed
pages plus a reference page, and students can have as few as two outside
sources. The students should learn how to incorporate information from
those sources in the form of quotations. They also need to learn how to
write correct citations and references in one of the basic styles, for
example APA.
Indentation Style of APA citations
From Lionel Menasche, 11/5/97
In the textbook "Writing a research paper," the list of books and articles
in the Preliminary Bibliography assignment requires paragraph indentation.
However, in the student example in a later unit, the indentation is of the
'hanging indent' type. (The latter refers to a format in which the first
line of a citation is not indented, but subsequent lines are indented).
This can cause some confusion to students, so some additional information
is in order.
The final product of any published paper in APA style uses hanging indent
style, but a manuscript submitted for publication must have paragraph
indentation (with the hanging indent conversion for publication purposes
being done automatically by clever modern technology).
The APA Manual advises students to check with their instructors regarding
the type of indentation that the instructor wants in the final bibliography.
For students in ESL classes, I would accept either hanging indent or
paragraph indent in the bibliography of their final drafts.
Comments on WRP
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998
From: Doris R Strouse
The step-by-step approach that is used in the book really does
turn the intimidating 'research paper in English' assignment into a
manageable one for students, and using the 'research paper progress sheet'
helps to make grading the various assignments a manageable job for the
teacher too--a 'process at a glance' check sheet for each student.
I found Ex. 1, Unit 14 on transitions to be a good review/reminder
for students if used early in the week when the 2 page part of the
preliminary draft is due. The 'pages of the preliminary draft' assignment
was great for discovering which students were not including the proper
citations for their research information--in spite of the emphasis given
to this point in class! Then, during the next week, when the students
were writing their complete preliminary draft, I used Ex. 3, Unit 14 on
introductions and conclusions as a review/reminder of how to structure the
introduction and conclusion for their papers.
I found the unit dealing with plagarism (Unit 9) to be
particularly useful in presenting this concept to my students. One of my
students commented that one of the most important things he learned in the
course was that 'plagarism is a major crime in the U.S.'
After my students had completed their research papers, I had them
write a final in-class essay about the process of writing a research
paper to reinforce what they had learned during the semester-long process.
This gave them a chance to review and think about the importance of all of
the steps in the process, from choosing their topics to revising their
first drafts, and to reflect on their accomplishment--producing a research