In the earlier chapters, you have learnt how to read, speak, listen and participate in discussions. Of all the skills you need to acquire, writing is the most difficult and complex. There are many things to take care of: from conceptualizing what you are going to write about and how you will go about it, to doing research, organizing the information, and writing it all down, and then editing and formatting your text for presentation. So before you even begin to write, you need to have a lot of things clear in your head about communication in general. We hope that whatever you've learnt in the previous chapters will help you to think and write better.
Note taking is a method of writing down the crucial items of a lecture, a meeting or a reading text rapidly, briefly and clearly. Studies show that we tend to forget a good part of a lecture within 24 hours. Unless one has excellent memory, one should take notes for future reference. Whether you are a high-school student or a university scholar or a professional, the ability to take effective, meaningful and comprehensive notes is an important skill. Good notes save our study time as they help us review the text for reuse during test preparations, assignments and meetings. At the same time, taking notes helps us concentrate in class and facilitates a deeper understanding of a topic. Two major questions relate to note taking—what to write and how to write.
While taking notes, only the most important parts of a lecture/text should be included. If you try to write down everything your professor is saying, you will not be able to keep up and after a while will lose track of the entire lecture. Listen or read carefully for key words/phrases and jot them down. Try to analyse the relations between points and write down any questions or comments that come to your mind.
Focus on the following:
Although note-taking techniques are specific to different people, you may use the following guidelines for effective note-taking:
Figure A.1 Mind Mapping
Figure A.2 The Cornell System
Go back to the reading chapter and see what we had said about comprehension. One of the best ways to comprehend a text is to make notes while you're reading. Good notes will also help you a lot while preparing for your examinations, when you have to quickly read the main points. Here's how you can make the best notes:
Read the follow passage carefully and make notes on it. Further, supply a suitable title to it. A robot can be defined as a mechanical gadget that performs functions normally ascribed to human beings. Karel Capek introduced the word ‘robot’ while Sir Isaac Asimov coined the word ‘robotics’, which is a science of dealing with robots. The study of robotics includes the selection of material of proper quality for the components, design, fabrication, design of electronic circuits, computers and computer programming and its control. The science of robots is still in the development stage and a lot of research is being pursued to make robots more suitable for working. Depending upon the area in which robots are to be used, robotics is a multidimensional field that includes disciplines such as biology, medical science, psychology, agriculture, mining, various branches of engineering, outer space, etc. At present, robots are mainly used in industries. These industrial robots are reprogrammable and perform a variety of jobs through programmed motions. Basically, there are two types of robots: fixed and mobile. A fixed robot is attached to an immovable platform. It is similar to a human being standing or sitting in a fixed position while doing the work with hands. On the other hand, a mobile robot moves from place to place. The mobility of a robot is due to wheels or legs or other crawling material provided to it. A mobile robot can be given a human shape. However, the actual shape has nothing to do with the real functioning of the robot.
Summarizing is another effective tool that will help you to comprehend your text materials and write them better in your own words. Summarizing essentially means that we reduce a text to its major points. A good summary will give you a clear idea of what a chapter or article is about. Have you seen any scientific article? Many of them have what is called an ‘abstract’ at the beginning (see Figure A.3). Abstracts are similar to summaries, in the sense that they’ll mention in brief what the main text discusses in detail. Some articles also have summaries at the end. Read some abstracts and summaries and see how the main points of the text have been summarized in them.
Figure A.3 Example of an Abstract
The two mistakes we usually make when we try to summarize something is, we either write down everything, and mostly copy the text word for word; or forget to write down the important points and write too little to be helpful. Making good summaries is difficult, but once you know how to do it, it will help you all your life to learn new things.
What are the key ideas in a chapter or passage? Key words are usually marked out in textbooks in bold, and they indicate important points to remember. What are the points raised in each section? Where can you locate the answer in that section? In a well-written article, usually each large paragraph will have at least one important point. Read through paragraphs to identify the point it is making.
A great way to learn to highlight is to read a newspaper or magazine article and highlight only those lines that answer the questions: ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, ‘why’ and ‘how’. Once you get used to this, it will be easier to quickly read and highlight.
From the underlined or highlighted sections, now write down, in your own words, the main points of those sections. If a chapter has 2,000 words, your summary should at the most have 200 words. Start with reducing the size of the summary to 100 words, then to 50, and then as short as you can make it. Can you sum up one chapter in a single sentence?
Imagine that you are putting in an ad, you have Rs 1,000 and you pay Rs 10 for every word you use. Now, go through a chapter you are reading and create a summary within your ‘budget’.
In most interviews, you are asked to say something about yourself. Try this exercise:
Suppose you have been asked to write something about euthanasia (or mercy killing) in India. Your first task would be to research various articles, books, newspaper reports and the Internet to see what you can find.
While doing your research, you need to make notes from each article. Ask the ‘wh’ questions mentioned earlier to write down the important points. Make two columns, one for the notes, and one for your comments on each point. Refer to the box on critical thinking in the group discussion chapter for help with writing down comments and asking questions. Do not copy sentences from the articles.
Then, you need to collate, that is, combine, all the notes and turn them into one set of notes and comments.
Using the techniques given above, conduct research and create notes on
Euthanasia
Stem cell research
Once you have the basic researched material in place and have collated your points, you need to organize the points and your ideas on them in order. There are several considerations you should have while organizing your material.
First, decide: (a) How long should be your essay? (b) Is it analytical [that is, you judge each point and comment on it], descriptive [you describe the points one after another], or chronological [you describe events in time]? (c) Who is going to read it? These are three very important considerations. Once you've identified the kind of write-up you want to do, you need to organize your ideas in order of importance. Write down the main points without writing full sentences; write the key words that you would want to mention under each point. Specify all the examples you would want to add under each point (see Figure A.4).
Figure A.4 Outlining
You can also use the mind-mapping and Cornell note-taking techniques to organize your ideas. The main questions that you should ask when you are organizing your ideas are:
[For a critical piece]
For any topic, try answering these questions in one sentence each.
[For a descriptive piece]
[For a chronological piece]
You will find that you are much clearer about the purpose, audience, and tone of your writing once you've organized your ideas in these formats.
We discussed vocabulary trees in the chapter on speaking. It is important for you to create key word trees or word groups when you are creating outlines for your write-up from your notes. Let's say, for example, that you are writing an essay on a famous architect.
First, write down the key words you would use to describe him:
architect of modern India eminent engineer simple vegetarian teetotaller hardworking honest statesman visionary Bharat Ratna
Then, group the keywords into categories:
Personal | Achievements |
---|---|
simple | architect of modern India |
vegetarian | eminent engineer |
teetotaller | statesman |
hardworking | visionary |
honest | Bharat Ratna |
This kind of grouping will help you develop a clear plan for writing the piece.
Cohesion and coherence refer to the idea that what you say or write should come together as a logical piece; that is, one idea is connected to the next in meaning, each idea follows from another idea, and all the ideas together make up one clear point of view. Cohesion refers more specifically to connections between sentences, while coherence refers to the overall connectedness of ideas in a piece of writing. When audiences/readers ask the question, ‘What was s/he trying to say?’ the answer should be clear in their heads. Refer to what we said in the section on organizing your ideas. Once you have answered the questions given there, the write-up will be automatically much more logically coherent. We'll also discuss the question of coherence later, in the section on paragraph writing.
To make sentences cohesive, you need to ensure the following:
By 2010, OPEC could easily produce half of the world's oil. This is because OPEC members control such a huge share of the world's high-quality, low-cost oil reserves.
All sentences talk about nuclear reactors, but every sentence gives new information.
A nuclear power reactor uses fission reactions to produce thermal energy that is converted to electrical energy.
One common class of nuclear reactor is the light water reactor which uses light water as a moderator and as a coolant.
There are two types of light water reactors: the pressurized water reactor and the boiling water reactor.
In ordinary speech, the word ‘group’ can mean any organization that involves more than two people. It can even mean crowds of people.
In the social sciences, however, it refers to two or more people who have come together or belong together and are aware of their common connections. This awareness differentiates a crowd from a group.
In business communication, we often have to send day-to-day information to a specific set of people. Memos are the simplest form of written material. They are written like letters, but are different from letters in two aspects: they are not meant for one particular person and are therefore less private. Secondly, their format also tends to be less formal than that of a business letter. Figure A.5 shows the basic format of a simple memo.
Figure A.5 Sample of a Short Memo
Memos may also be detailed and provide important information about policies, etc. See, for example, Figure A.6.
Figure A.6 A Detailed Memo
Have you ever told stories to anyone? Narrative essays, or stories, usually follow a chronological order: first this happened, then this, then this. A narrative essay usually recreates an event for a purpose, that is, you obviously have something to say through a story.
Here's how a narrative essay should be organized: Introduction → First event → Second event → Third event → Ending (with main point).
Now, see the story given below. This is from the Aesop's fables collection.
A lark had made her nest in the early spring on the young green wheat. The brood had almost grown to their full strength and attained the use of their wings and the full plumage of their feathers, when the owner of the field, looking over his ripe crop, said, ‘The time has come when I must ask all my neighbours to help me with my harvest.’ One of the young larks heard his speech and related it to his mother, asking her where they should move for safety. ‘There is no occasion to move yet, my son,’ she replied, ‘the man who only sends to his friends to help him with his harvest is not really in earnest.’ The owner of the field came again a few days later and saw the wheat shedding the grain from excess of ripeness. He said, ‘I will come myself tomorrow with my labourers, and with as many reapers as I can hire, and will get in the harvest.’ The lark, on hearing these words said to her brood, ‘It is time now to be off, my little ones, for the man is in earnest this time; he no longer trusts his friends, but will reap the field himself.’
Moral of the story: Self-help is the best help.
What we've given here is a very basic chronological essay. Now, write at least three paragraphs describing:
One of the most frightening experiences in your life.
A funny incident.
Your first day at school.
The lives of your grandparents.
Use the techniques given in the sections on paragraph writing for help.
Have you ever been asked to write paragraphs on a topic? What does this mean? A paragraph is one of the central components of writing. The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines it as ‘a section of a piece of writing, usually consisting of several sentences dealing with a single subject’. A paragraph is ‘a group of sentences or a single sentence that forms a unit’. Ultimately, good paragraphs contain a sentence or sentences unified around one central, controlling idea.
Imagine reading page after page of text without any paragraphs. It would be very difficult to read and comprehend. Therefore, when you are asked to write paragraphs, remember to paragraph often, so you don't scare your readers. Write short sentences, and write short paragraphs, each containing one main idea.
A paragraph begins on a new line even if you have to leave most of the previous line empty. You may leave a line space before a paragraph begins, or you may ‘indent’ the first line of the paragraph.
In this book, we have used an indented style to mark each paragraph.
First line of the paragraph is indented from the left margin
Read the sections on note-taking and organizing again. Those sections will help you a lot to proceed from notes to writing paragraphs.
A paragraph is divided into three basic parts:
Writing a good paragraph or an essay involves some stages. You can use the acronym TOWER to recall the five steps involved in writing a paragraph or essay. TOWER stands for thinking, organizing, writing, editing and rewriting.
Pre-writing stage
Thinking Focus on key words and phrases related to your topic. Think about how much information ought to be included for each topic.
Organizing Organize information using techniques like outlining, flow charts, grouping and mind mapping.
Writing Write the first draft of the paragraph or essay.
Editing Look for mistakes in language and in the arrangement of your ideas.
Post-writing stage
Rewriting Correct all errors and write the final version.
Refer to the previous sections on thinking, making notes and organizing your ideas. We've given here a sample outline for paragraph writing.
Success of reality shows ___________ a few successful shows ___________ provide a platform to the budding talents, amuse us, enhance our knowledge ___________ increase the burden ___________ involve politics ___________ game of power
Reality shows are gaining a lot of popularity these days. In 1995, India's first TV show ‘SA-REGA-MA' was shown on the national channel. As far as TRP (Television Rating Points) is concerned, it was a great success. The show not only had a large viewership but earned a lot of name and fame for its makers. Since then, the reality shows have become a usual practice to gain more and more popularity.
Many shows such as, sa-re-ga-ma-pa, Close Up Antakshari, Meri Aawaz Suno, Indian Idol, Kaun Banega Crorepati?, Bigg Boss, Dus Ka Dum, Star Voice of India, Boogie Woogie and many more have attained a huge popularity. Reality shows are planned according to the taste of the people. These shows are liked as they showcase the talent of the budding artists, provide the audience with healthy entertainment and guide the viewers in the right direction. Shreya Ghoshal, Kunal Ganjawala and Sunidhi Chauhan, the famous singers of the music industry have come from reality shows. Shilpa Shetty gained a lot of popularity as an international artist because of such a show named Big Brother. Some shows give us an opportunity to know the life of the film stars. While laughter shows contribute to the national health by relieving people of their day-to-day stress, the other shows like KBC, Bournvita Quiz Contest enhance our knowledge.
Dance and musical shows provide us with sheer amusement, keep us in touch with the latest trends and at the same time provide us an opportunity to give our judgement. Nevertheless, these shows have many shortcomings too. Such shows have increased burden on children. Not only do their studies suffer but also the pressure of competition gets accumulated them. Besides this, they take us away from our culture. To gain popularity, the show owners include gossip, controversies and fights. It is shown that the people win due to public opinion but it is, in fact, the game of power and money. To conclude, the reality shows are not always real.
Now, based on the above, develop outlines for the following topics: Ragging; The Importance of Technical Education; Engineers: Builders of the Nation.
This stage is when you turn your ideas into sentences.
Use language appropriate for your readers: As we stated earlier, the first question you ask when you begin to write paragraphs is ‘Who is going to read this?’
Let us consider these two examples. The first one is from a report published in Science.1
Mammalian histone lysine methyltransferase, suppressor of variegation 39H1 (SUV39H1), initiates silencing with selective methylation on Lys9 of histone H3, thus creating a high-affinity binding site for HP1. When an antibody to endogenous SUV39H1 was used for immunoprecipitation, MeCP2 was effectively coimmunoprecipitated; conversely, a αHA antibodies to HA-tagged MeCP2 could immunoprecipitate SUV39H1.
This kind of language would be extremely difficult for most students to understand, not to mention being very technical. This is best suited for highly specialized research articles. Now see this:
When a heart attack occurs, the dying part of the heart may trigger electrical activity that causes ventricular fibrillation. This is an uncoordinated twitching of the ventricles that replaces the smooth, measured contractions that pump blood to the body's organs. Many times if trained medical professionals are immediately available, they can use electrical shock to start the heart beating again.
If the heart can be kept beating and the heart muscle is not too damaged, small blood vessels may gradually reroute blood around blocked arteries. This is called collateral circulation.2
For the most part, this sample, though technical in theme, uses everyday words like trigger, twitching and blocked. The two technical words, ventricular fibrillation and collateral circulation, are well-defined.
No matter how technical the subject, try to use simple language so that your readers can understand what you're saying. Avoid using long words: say use instead of utilize; Don't initiate and terminate things—start and stop them.
Use a reasonable sentence length: Long sentences are difficult to read and will bore your readers. Sentences that exceed 40 or 50 words are too difficult for most people to read. Professional writers try to keep the average sentence length at 20 words or so.
Organize your ideas in space and time: This is an important consideration, especially in the description of events or processes. Are you writing about an event? Remember to develop a clear time outline based on how something happened. What are the related stories you want to develop along each point?
Describing an Event | |
---|---|
What happened | Describe the events in brief and give an introduction to the paragraph, including what you plan to do. |
When did it happen? | Develop a detailed timeline of what happened after what. Add subpoints next to each point for your comments. |
Analysis | What is your overall opinion/stance? Summarize and critically review the points to come to a conclusion about the event. Suggest points for action if you wish to. |
Describing a Process | |
---|---|
What are you describing? | Give an idea, in brief, of what you trying to describe. Provide definitions and examples. |
Outlines for the process | Precisely identify every step in your outline, where one step follows from another. Every step should have the following elements: the definition of the process, how it happens, and its functions and uses. Accompany the steps with diagrams and figures, if necessary. Figures should be properly labelled. |
Conclusion | Summarize all the points discussed. |
Ensure coherence: As we discussed earlier, coherence means a logical relationship between the ideas and the presentation. For a paragraph to be coherent, the sentences should be arranged in a logical manner and should follow a definite plan for development. To achieve coherence in a paragraph, you need to use pronouns and linking words appropriately:
Provide citations: If you have taken any material/quote, idea from other sources, do not forget to mention the details of the source. Taking material from other sources without acknowledgement is unethical and should be avoided at all costs. Towards the end of this chapter, we've provided a template of a formatted document. You will see that we have referred to three sources for the text and one each for the table and figure. The details of the text sources are given under the ‘Notes’ section.
We shall discuss citation and references in detail in Chapter 9.
When you've written the first draft of the paragraphs using this chapter's guidelines, it is a good idea, especially if you are writing alone, to share it with a friend or, even better, one of your identified readers. Ask this person to read your draft, check it for accuracy and completeness, and suggest ideas for revision. Then revise it again, if necessary, taking in your reader's suggestions.
If you are writing with others, your team will need to combine your revised individual sections into a common document. It is very important to check such a document for consistency in language, style and overall coherence, since different people have different ways of writing.
Use a sample of your own writing to see whether you can improve it using the guidelines described in this chapter. Identify paragraphs, sentences, or word choices that could be improved. Describe your writing and explain why the portions you have identified need revision, and then revise them.
You must, yourself, check the word choices, spellings, grammar, punctuation, handwriting and form. There should be no long, unwinding sentences, no repetitions, no complex examples or difficult terms. Instead of definitions, give examples and supporting details. No irrelevant information should be given. Read your paragraph again. Make sure each sentence has a subject. See if the subjects and verbs agree with each other. Check the verb tenses of each sentence. Make sure that each sentence makes sense, your paragraph has a topic sentence and your supporting sentences focus on the main idea. Ensure that you have a closing sentence. Finally, see if your paragraph is interesting.
The basic principle of subject–verb agreement is that singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs.
Important points to remember:
The policeman as well as his brothers is going to prison.
The policeman and his brothers are going to prison.
Either my sister or my brothers are going to the market.
Neither my brothers nor my sister is going to the market.
Are either my brothers or my sister going?
Is either my sister or my brothers going?
Find out more about subject-verb agreement in order to be confident about your written English.
Editing and proofreading your draft: Refer to the section on organizing your ideas. We had given a sample of grouping key words to write a paragraph on an architect. Now, after going through the sections on pre-writing and writing, imagine that you have written a rough draft. See this draft given here.
Check and correct all spelling, grammar, punctuation and other errors that you can locate in the document. Rewrite it to make it better and add paragraph breaks wherever necessary. What words would you change and why? We've solved this one for you at the end of the chapter, but refer to it only after you have done the work yourself.
Sir Mokshagundam visvesvaraya was an eminent engineer and statesman who played a key role in building of modern India. He received our country highest honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1955. He was responsible for building the very first electricity generation plant in Asia at Shivanasamudram near Mysore in 1894. He had many acheivement to his credit these include implementing an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan area, designing and patenting a system of automatic weir water floodgates, and supervising the construction of the KRS dam across the Cauvery River from concept to inauguration. The automatic flood gates designed were first installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune. These gates were employed to rise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir to the highest level likely to be attained by its flood without causing any damage to the dam. Based on the success of these gates, the same system was installed at the Tigra dam in Gwalior and the Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam in Mysore. Visvesvaraya achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system to protect the city of Hyderabad floods. He was also instrumental in developing a system to protect Vishakapatnam port from sea erosion. Sir M. V. supervised the construction of the KRS dam across the Cauvery River from concept to inauguration. This dam created the biggest reservoir in Asia at the time it was built. During his period of service with the Government of Mysore state, he was responsible for founding of under the aegis of that government the Mysore Soap Factory, the Parasitoid laboratory, the Bhadravati Iron & Steel Works, the SJ Polytechnic Institute, the Bangalore Agricultural University, the State Bank of Mysore, the Mandya Sugar Mills and numerous other industrial ventures. He also encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Diwan of Mysore.
Once you've edited the draft and made all the changes, you need to go through the text again, that is, proofread the text, to see that all errors have been taken care of. Now your text material is ready to be styled and formatted.
Styling and formatting your text: Even if your text is well-written and edited, it will be difficult to read if the font size is too small or too large. If the write-up is long, then appropriate headings are necessary to break up the text thematically. Follow the basic guidelines of division from the outlines you initially created (Main idea, subpoints, examples, etc.). Add a heading to every main idea, and the paragraphs will be easier to read.
The standard format is to type your text in 12 pt, Times New Roman. Justify the text, provide paragraph breaks in the form of new lines or indents, provide a title to the document and headings for every main idea. The text will be easier to read if you double-space it. Set wide margins so that the text doesn't look very heavy on the eye.
The title should be centre-aligned, in a larger and/or different size, and the headings should also stand out. Let's review the sample document here. Note all the elements that have been formatted. If you have figures, tables, and other elements, they need to be typed in a different font size/type.
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was an eminent engineer and statesman who played a key role in building modern India. He received our country's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He had many achievements to his credit. These include implementing an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan area, designing and patenting a system of automatic weir water floodgates, and supervising the construction of the KRS dam across the Cauvery river from concept to inauguration. The automatic floodgates were first installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune. These gates were used to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir to the highest level likely to be attained by a flood, without causing any damage to the dam. Based on the success of these gates, the same system was installed at the Tigra dam in Gwalior and the Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam in Mysore. Sir Mokshagundam was also responsible for building the very first electricity generation plant in Asia at Shivanasamudram near Mysore, as early as 1894.
Sir Mokshagundam achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system to protect the city of Hyderabad from floods. He was also instrumental in developing a system to protect Vishakapatnam port from sea erosion. The KRS dam was the biggest reservoir in Asia at the time it was built.
During his service with the Government of Mysore, Sir Mokshagundam was responsible for founding, under the aegis of that government, the Mysore Soap Factory, the Parasitoid Laboratory, the Bhadravati Iron & Steel Works, the SJ Polytechnic Institute, the Bangalore Agricultural University, the State Bank of Mysore, the Mandya Sugar Mills and numerous other industrial ventures. He also encouraged private investment in industry during his tenure as Diwan of Mysore.
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