18/08, 19/08 - Thesis Statements, Essays and Abstracts

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This week was all about what makes a good essay. Essays are essential in academic writing, so there is no question regarding the importance of learning how to write a good essay when it comes to a class like this. The first class of the week started with a fundamental part of any essay - the thesis statement. The thesis statement conveys the controlling idea of an essay. Nikhil Sir took us through what encompasses a thesis statement in an essay, the parts of a thesis statement and the do’s and don’t associated with it. He followed up the explanations with a Padlet activity where we tried to identify the elements of a few sample thesis sentences.The activity helped solidify my understanding of the concept. We ended the class with a group assignment to analyse any academic write-up of our choice and identify academic writing elements in the essay using what we have learned.

The second class of the week was taken by Betty Ma'am. She took us through the genres of academic writing, with special focus on the sub-genres of essay writing. She explained how each genre of essay is different and the category of information each of these essays provide. She also explained the concept of an abstract and its function. This in particular caught my attention because I personally had never understood the point of an abstract in an academic essay. It was only after this class that I realised that an abstract essentially functions as a summary that conveys the topic of the essay and the general direction it will take.

The week’s class helped me acquaint myself with the concept of essays and two very important parts of an essay. I learned to distinguish and specify parts of a thesis statement and essays and what kind of essays to write according to the topic at hand.

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