Page 324 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

310 CHAPTER 11
cated academic essay. The structure of written academic discourse and text has not changed during the past two or three decades despite upheavals and revolutions in writing instruction (Johns, 1997).
The advantage of a clear and not-too-complex diagram is that it is easy to draw on a chalkboard, white board, or overhead transparency.
Academic essays usually include an Introduction, which names and briefly describes the topic. The essay must include a Thesis Statement, which specifies how the writer will approach the topic and what support- ing points (1, 2, 3, or more) he or she will use to shore up the thesis. The thesis statement serves as an outline for the rest of the essay: The order of the Points made in the thesis statement always determines the order of Thesis Supports (1, 2, 3, or more). A useful analogy that can be made is that the Thesis Statement is the container that holds the entire essay to- gether and in one place.
THESIS SUPPORT
Each Point made in the Thesis has to be supported. The information to support the Thesis should be divided into Paragraphs, one expanded and developed idea per paragraph (aka onethought at a time}. Each paragraph should include a Topic Sentence that supports the Thesis Statement and is directly connected to a particular Point in the Thesis Statement, in the or- der of the Points.
TLFeBOOK