Academic Writing Workshop (Part 2)
On May 27, 2023 VMI continued to hold Academic Writing Workshop part 2 with the topic “Arranging Supporting Sentences”. Facilitated by Endah Setya Ningsih (VDMI Alumni – Tanjungpura University/ Fulbright Awardee 2020 – University of Central Florida/ Program Coordinator American Corner, Tanjungpura University, this session attended by thirty-one participants (nineteen grantees and twelve alumni).
Before starting to write, a writer has to decide what he or she is going to write about. In this prewriting stage, a writer chooses a topic. Topic is an original idea that will be discussed in the essay, a short word that states the main idea of the paragraph. Each paragraph has only one topic to introduce the whole idea. After deciding a topic, we will need to brainstorm some ideas to write about in our paragraphs.
In an essay, the main idea of the whole content described in the thesis statement. Thesis statement is a sentence that states the topic and purpose of our paper, summarizes the main point or claim of the writing, and explains in the text by means of examples and evidence. Thesis statement written in the opening paragraphs of the paper, most often as the last sentence of the introduction. An argumentative thesis statement making a claim and states the topic in our paper, our position on the topic, and the reasons we have for taking that position. An analytical thesis statement analyzing an issue and providing the conclusion (s) as a result of that analysis process. Expository thesis statement explaining a topic and list the key aspects of our topic that will be discussed in the paper.
Paragraphs in academic writing consist of topic, supporting and concluding sentences. Topic sentences summarize the main sentence idea of each paragraph or the topic’s explanation. Topic sentence supported by supporting sentences that described the main idea of the paragraph. Claims in the supporting sentences must be supported by descriptions, reasons, or examples. At the end, paragraph enclosed by concluding sentence. Concluding sentence provides a conclusion from a discussion paragraph. It restates the points made and explained in the paragraph. Thus, a concluding sentence should not introduce a new point.
In this workshop, participants were sent into breakout rooms to do exercise. Participants have to choose one topic, a list of two or more of their stances on the chosen topic (whether agree or disagree) including the reasons (it can be two or three reasons), and explain the importance of the reason. Topics that emerged from the small groups were: corruption in Indonesia, bullying, affordable and clean energy, chat GPT, mental health, and Kampus Merdeka curriculum in early childhood education programs. At the end of the session, each group presented their assignment and got feedback from the facilitator. For the final part, participants have to revise and finalize the essay based on the facilitator’s feedback.
