7.

Assignment 3 (Group work – 15%)

Guidelines

• Work in groups.

• Read and analyze the given essay. Pay attention to the following

features: title, unity, coherence, specific support, methods of

introduction and conclusion, method of text organization, use of

transitions, use of external sources.

• Type your answers in the answer sheet. Answer for EACH question

should be 60-80 words long. Each answer should be justified and

supported with examples from the essay.

• Submit your work as a file on your course Moodle page.

• The deadline to submit your work is 06 July at 23:59

• ONLY ONE member of the group should submit the work.

Materials to review

✓ Unity: p. 24

✓ Coherence: p. 26-34

✓ Parts of an essay: p. 78-89

✓ Methods of text organization: p. 40

✓ Using outside sources: p. 48

✓ APA guidelines (in-text citations)

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_sty

le_introduction.html

Preparation for Assignment 3

Read the following essays. Find strengths and weaknesses. Pay attention

to the following features:

- Title

- Unity

- Coherence

- Specific support

- Introduction / Conclusion

My Birthday

Birthdays are considered to be one of the happiest moments in our life. Nothing is better than celebrating a happy occasion with the people you like most. I held a big party at home for my last birthday. It was the loveliest memorable moment in our life. It was an amazing event. We have practiced many activities during the party.

Before the birthday party, we prepared many things. First, we tastefully decorated the big hall in our house with many flowers, colorful balloons and lights. Next, the venue was well-organized. Chairs and tables were set for the guests. Also, the place was filled with yellow and black balloons. Moreover, we had delicious food that was brought from a five-star hotel.

During the party, we practiced many activities. A special program was prepared for the celebration. First, they watched a documentary film about my childhood followed by a short speech by my father to wish me a happy birthday. Next, we sang many happy songs and listened to music. Then, I blew out the candles. After that, all the guests stood around the dining table to have the delicious cake and food. Plates full of food items were handed round. In addition, we played a lot of exciting games. My brother's camera was clicking on all the time. He took many pictures for rare moments.

After the party, I spent several hours marveling my costly and beautiful presents that I had received from my relatives and friends. They were nicely packed in colored wrapping. I was over the moon with joy, happiness, and gratitude.

To sum up, birthdays are great family gatherings. They are a good chance for family members, relatives and friends to socialize and share their happiness. Also, they are memorable meetings that strengthen people relationships. Moreover, birthdays increase people love and cooperation. We should give due care to family celebrations as birthdays because of their great importance in our life.

Strengths: The organization of ideas is clear (process essay). There is a title and 5 paragraphs. Essay has unity. Chronological order is used with transitions (after, during, next, etc.)

Weaknesses: Thesis statement is missing. Conclusion does not summarize all the ideas. Body paragraph 3 is too short and does not provide specific details.

Mobile phone is one of the necessary devices that all people use everyday and everywhere. For example businessmen, college students and parents can use the mobile phone.

Businessmen use mobile phone to schedule their daily agenda. They also use the mobile phone to communicate withe their staff and customers. They depend on the mobile phone to show their new products. College students use the mobile phone to inform their parents where there are. They can use the mobile phone to chat with their friends. They also use the mobile phone to exchange information. Parents use the mobile phone to call their sons. They also use the mobile phone to call for help in necessary cases.

Now, I'm going to talk and write about the benefits of mobile phone. Mobile phone connect the whole world together. People all over the world can have new information whatever the distance is. We get the news in a minute. It makes the world a small village. Mobile phone can enable people to transmit money accounts from one person in a country in Asia to another person in a country in Africa. We can have all the social media through the mobile phone like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other different social media.

On the other hand, mobile phone can have some bad effects if we don't use it in a good way. One of these bad effects is wasting time. For example, the games in the mobile phone can cause addiction to many people especially children. Addiction to mobile phones causes distraction during work. Spending a lot of time on mobile phone can isolate the children from their parents. Students can't concentrate in their studies as they spent many hours on using the mobile phone and this leads wasting a lot of time. Mobile phone can also cause health problems like bad eyesight and sleeping issues. Using mobile phone while driving can cause deadly accidents.

I think that the mobile phone will be a useful device if we use it effectively and efficiently. All people should try to use it in the way that benefit them and their society.

Strengths: Some specific examples are provided.

Weaknesses: Thesis statement is missing. Title is missing. Essay has no unity (body 1 is about the ways of using mobiles; body 2 is about advantages; body 3 is about disadvantages). Organization of ideas is not clear. Transitions are not used effectively. External sources are not used to support the ideas.

An important stage in life University life is a very important stage in life. A lot of students' personalities become stronger and well structured as

they progress in the university. The university life has many positive effects on students such as: increasing students' knowledge, improving students' personalities, and increasing students' happiness.

The first positive effect that university life has on students is increasing their overall knowledge. The students in the university learn the most important skills during their university years. For example, a mechanical engineer learns about all kinds of machines and how do they function. Also, the students gain the experience and knowledge on how to deal with people in a polite manner. That will help them in dealing with people in their academic career after graduating from the university. In summary, university life increases students' knowledge in many aspects.

The second positive effect that university life has on students is improving the way they act and feel. The university teaches students how to improve their personalities by enrolling students in some courses that improves their personalities. For instance, sociology is taught to students who are first years to strengthen their personalities. Also, sociology is taught to students to teach them how to treat people well, regardless of their age and nationality. In sum, teaching courses like sociology improves students' personalities.

The final positive effect that university life has on students is raising their happiness rate. The university increases students' happiness in a way that it makes students want to attend the university everyday. For example, students make new friends with people as they continue their university life, and some of these relationships last forever. In addition, the university raises students' happiness by creating several events and activities for students and they get awarded for entering these events. For instance, some people like football and the university creates clubs for students who like football and they gain championships and new friendships. That increases their happiness in a major way. In short, making activities and gaining new friends increases students happiness.

To conclude, university life has a lot of positive effects on students such as: raising their overall knowledge, improving their personalities, and increasing their overall happiness rate. I recommend every young citizen to enroll into university as it changes the person to the best possible form, and it teaches the skills they need.

Strengths: The essay is very well written. Title is provided. Specific support is provided. Organization of ideas is clear (cause/effect essay, logical division of ideas). Transitions help to link ideas.

Weaknesses: Synonyms are not used in conclusion; the same words are repeated. External sources are not used to support the essay.

A Not-To-Forget Presentation Being a presenter requires having good presentation skills. Developing these skills usually implies exerting considerable

effort. Although some people are born with excellent presentation skills, the majority has to work hard to impress the audience. In order to present well a speaker needs reasonable confidence, convincing methods, and appealing body movements.

First of all, considerable courage is required to present publicly. It is nerve racking to actually stand in front of people and present a point of view. However, the pressure and anxiety decrease after some practice. The presenter should rehearse the speech multiple times till he or she gets satisfied with the way the performance turns. Besides, regular presentations (for example, in front of the class, at the workplace) make a person more self-assured and less reserved. The well-know principle that practice makes it perfect works wonders in case with presentation skills. Also, if one wants to go forward and develop the skills of giving a speech, body language should be controlled.

Another secret of successful presentations is the way the speaker supports his or her arguments. Some use convincing visuals like infographics or photos. Others appeal to the audience by using a variety of tones and intonations. Some skillful presenters possess a collection of wise quotations and sayings that illustrate their point. Another popular technique is socializing with their guests and appealing to their experience. Presenters may also use specific language structures to sound more convincing. All of these really help to convince the audience and make the listeners believe. According to the research by Ginkel, Gulikers, Biemans, and Mulder, students’ presentation skills depend to a large extent on the quality of content-related feedback provided by the teacher. (Ginkel, Gulikers, Biemans, & Mulder, 2017)

To sum up, being a great presenter requires developing the skills of controlling body movements, suppressing anxiety, and finding appropriate methods to persuade the listeners. These skills might be particularly important for those who want to be successful and advance in their careers. Standing up and proving your points and ideas to people isn't always easy. But nothing comes easy. You always have to work for it and put some effort into it.

References Ginkel, S., Gulikers, J., Biemans, H., & Mulder, M. (2017). Fostering oral presentation performance: does the quality of feedback differ

when provided by the teacher, peers or peers guided by tutor? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 953-966.

Strengths: The title is really appealing. Thesis statement is clear. Plan of development is parallel. Specific support is provided. Transitions and synonyms are used effectively.

Weaknesses: One of the body paragraphs is missing. The idea of using body language is not developed. Last sentence in body paragraph 1 is irrelevant. A separate paragraph should be written about body language. The citation in body paragraph 2 is irrelevant. It does not support the idea of the paragraph. APA style is not followed.