Individual essay: Final version

Appropriate use of Literature in English Teaching

Literature is an art movement that allows people to express their thoughts in a free way. Also, it can be said that “literature is a term used to describe any written material” Lombardi, (2004). The importance of learning how to read gives literature a good place in the educational field. Teachers around the world take advantage of famous literary works in order to encourage their students to have a good appreciation for reading. But when somebody is learning a foreign language, like English, does literature helps? Reading a complex book can be either an obstacle or a great tool, it depends on the level of the students. Literature might be a good element to teach English, but there are several points to take into account before deciding to use it.
The first point is the purpose. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2006) defines this word as “an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions”; so, it is very important for the teacher to state the reason why he is going to apply a literature resource in his class. He needs to know what are those students to learn through that resource, is it pronunciation? Is it a specific grammatical structure? The purpose is the most important point of the class, is where everything starts and through it, the class will take its course.
As soon as the teacher knows the purpose of including a literary material in his class, it is time to look for a suitable one. There are many kinds of literature that can be applied in an english class such as, poetry, essays, newspaper articles, narrative books and others. What will determinate the kind of literature to use, are the purpose of the class and the level of the students, since those who are 10 years old have not the same comprehension level than students of 20, also, the topic is an important issue. A student of 15 years old is likely to be attracted to a magazine article that talks about a famous rock band, while a 30 years old student can be interested in a newspaper article that talks about economics. So these two points must be in the teacher’s mind when he is searching for a paper that is adequate to his students.
Another important point is how interesting the resource is. If is a very long work without an interesting fact, the students will lose interest in the class because that kind of literature requires more time and concentration; therefore, they can be considered boring by the students. Of course, the length of the material is a point to think about, if the class lasts 2 hours, the reading cannot be a 10 pages essay, because the students will need more time to read than the provided by the teacher. The idea of using new materials in a class is to make it more interesting and interactive for the students, so it can be a 15 lines paragraph and will be an excellent resource since there will be time left for the discussion and the class itself.
In simpler terms, teaching English through literary works can be easy and useful. As with other resources, there are things that must be taken into consideration before using it in the classes, but when it is use by the teachers in a proper way, it is an excellent tool.

Appropiate use of Literature in english Teaching

Literature is an art movement that allows people to express their thoughts in a free way. Also, it can be said that “literature is a term used to describe any written material” Lombardi, (2004). The importance of learning how to read gives literature a good place in the educational field. Teachers around the world take advantage of famous literary works in order to encourage their students to have a good appreciation for reading. But when somebody is learning a foreign language, like english, does literature helps? Reading a complex book can be either an obstacle or a great tool, it depends on the level of the students. Literature might be a good element to teach english, but teachers must know the appropriate way to use it.

Using a literary work to teach english in a proper way can be something easy, but there are several points to take into account before deciding to use it. The first thing is the purpose, it is very important for the teacher to state the reason why he is going to apply a literature resource in his class, what are those students to learn through that resource, Is it pronunciation? Is it a specific grammatical structure? The purpose is the most important point of the class, is where everything starts and through it, the class will take its course.

As soon as the teacher knows the purpose of including a literary material in his class it is time to look for a suitable one. There are many kinds of literature that can be applied in an english class such as, poetry, essays, newspaper article, narrative books and others. What will determinate the kind of literature to use, are the purpose of the class and the level of the students, since those who are 10 years old have not the same comprehension level than students of 20, also, the topic is an important issue. A student of 15 years old is likely to be attracted to a magazine article that talks about a famous rock band, while a 30 years old student can be interested in a newspaper article that talks about economics. So these two points must be in the teacher’s mind when he is searching for a paper that is adequate to his students.

Another important point is how interesting the resource is. If is a very long and boring work without an interesting fact, the students will lose interest in the class. So the teacher must take into consideration how interesting the resource that he is going to use for his class is. The length of the material is another point to think about, if the class lasts 2 hours, the reading cannot be a 10 pages essay, because the students will need more time to read than the provided by the professor, so the time must be taken into consideration too. The idea of using new materials in a class is to make it more interesting and interactive for the students, so it can be a 15 lines paragraph and will be an excellent resource since there will be time left for the discussion and the class itself.

In simpler terms, teaching english through literary works can be easy and useful. As with other resources, there are things that must be taken into consideration before using it in the classes, but when it is use by the teachers in a proper way, it is an excellent tool that makes easier to learn the language.

Punctuation

Your score is 100%.
Questions answered correctly first time: 10/10

Show questions one by one
<= 10 / 10=>

1.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the comma, Between items in a series:
1. ? In the last, 3 years I have traveled to, Canada Japan Brasil London France and, Italy.
2. ? In the last 3 years, I have traveled to, Canada, Japan, Brasil, London, France and Italy.
3. :-) In the last 3 years I have traveled to Canada, Japan, Brasil, London, France and Italy.
2.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the comma, Between items in a series:
1. :-) Mariana ate this morning, toast bread with butter, eggs, cereal, orange juice and coffe.
2. ? Mariana, ate this morning toast bread with butter, eggs, cereal, orange juice and coffe.
3. ? Mariana ate this morning, toast bread with butter eggs cereal orange juice and coffe.
3.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the comma, Between two or more adjectives preceding a noun:
1. ? The burnet tall man, told me that the store was closed.
2. :-) The burnet, tall man told me that the store was closed.
3. ? The burnet tall man told me, that the store was closed.
4.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the comma, Between the clauses of a compound sentence:
1. ? The cat chased, the mouse and the mouse ran away.
2. ? The cat, chased the mouse, and the mouse ran away.
3. :-) The cat chased the mouse, and the mouse ran away.
5.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the comma, Between the clauses of a compound sentence:
1. :-) He never arrived, so I went by myself to the party.
2. ? He never arrived so, I went by myself to the party.
3. ? He never arrived, so I went by myself, to the party
6.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the semicolon:
1. ? My husband; went to the beach I went to a party.
2. :-) My husband went to the beach; I went to a party.
3. ? My husband went to the beach I; went to a party.
7.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the semicolon:
1. ? In the trailer; we packed our sleeping bags which were very heavy.
2. ? In the trailer we packed; our sleeping bags which were very heavy.
3. :-) In the trailer we packed our sleeping bags; which were very heavy.
8.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the semicolon:
1. ? As; I was studying the postman rang twice.
2. :-) As I was studying; the postman rang twice.
3. ? As I was studying the postman; rang twice.
9.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the semicolon:
1. ? Summer in the desert is very hot the cactus plant; is well adapted for survival there.
2. ? Summer; in the desert is very hot the cactus plant is well adapted for survival there.
3. :-) Summer in the desert is very hot; the cactus plant is well adapted for survival there.
10.

Choose from the list above the correct alternative for the use of the semicolon:
1. ? I have often tried to grow; African violets I have never been successful.
2. :-) I have often tried to grow African violets; I have never been successful.
3. ? I have often; tried to grow African violets I have never been successful.

II.- I don't understand this exercise

III
Your score is: 100%.
Questions answered correctly first time: 10/10

Show questions one by one
<= 10 / 10 =>

1.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Colon (:) to announce a list?
1. ? The things that I need to bring are:
food, potatoes, drinks and napkins.
2. ? These are the things that I need to bring: food, potatoes, drinks and napkins.
3. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! I need to bring for the trip the following things: food, potatoes, drinks and napkins.
2.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Colon (:) to announces an explanation?
1. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! The music was perfect: it was soft, chilli and relaxing.
2. ? The music was perfect: Because it was soft, chilli and relaxing.
3. ? Everything was: soft, chilli and relaxing.
3.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Colon (:) to announces a list?
1. ? On weekends, these are the things I prefer to do: Reeding, Writing, Sleeping
2. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! These are the things I prefer to do on weekends: Reading, Writing and Sleeping
3. ? What I prefer to do on weekends is: Reading, Writing and Sleeping
4.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Colon (:) to announces a quotation?
1. ? So, what I recall is that Mark Said: "I' ve been here for a long time"
2. ? What I recall that Mark said: is that he had been there for a long time
3. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! So, what I recall is something that Mark Said long time ago: " I' ve been here for a while.
5.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Colon (:) to announces an explanation?
1. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! When we arrived there everything was quiet: There wasn't any disturbing sound or the chaos of the city. It was Perfect!
2. ? You can't imagine how perfect to be there it was: There wasn't any disturbing sound or the chaos of the city.
3. ? Everything was perfect quiet there when we arrived: There wasn't any disturbing sound or the chaos of the city. It was Perfect!
6.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Dash (-) to interrupt or show a sudden break in Throught in the sentence?
1. ? Hey- my friend--come here
2. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! My friend, come here--Hey Tom!, try to arrive earlier.
3. ? Hey Tom--try to arrive earlier
7.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Dash (-) to interrupt or show a sudden break in Throught in the sentence?
1. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! As I was telling you, my mom is very nice--Look! there she is.
2. ? As I was telling you--my mom is very nice.
3. ? My mom is very nice--As I was telling you.
8.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Dash (-) to set off a parenthetical element?
1. ? It is clear what I want in life--to live in peace.
2. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! Students with a 90 points quotient-- no less than that--will be awarded.
3. ? Only the students--with 90 point quotient--will be awarded
9.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Dash (-) to emphasizes an appositive?
1. ? What I want in life is--to live in peace
2. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! It is clear what I want in life--to live in peace.
3. ? What I want for life to live in peace--is to die.
10.

Which of the following senteces represent the correct use of The Dash (-) to emphasizes an appositive?
1. :-) Congratulations! Well Done! She only likes one thing--to drink beer.
2. ? The only thing she likes is to drink-- beer.
3. ? the only thing she likes to drink--is beer.

Education as a tool to prevent internet plagiarism.

The last decade has been of evolution. Each day the society is improving thanks to technological advances, but do those advances work for learning? Everyday technology makes life easier. Nowadays there is an invention for almost all people’s needs and professors cannot avoid the opportunity of using the new technological advances on their classes. On the Internet, for example, there are many utilities that can make the learning process funnier and more entertaining. Also, there it can be found a great variety of information which students can use for their researches. But what happens when students use this information improperly? A very important issue is that high school students can take advantage of internet to avoid their assignments by plagiarizing the information that they find on the internet, which restricts their learning process and will probably affect their professional ethics. So professors need to educate their students about plagiarism and ways to write a proper work.
What does plagiarism mean? This word refers to “the presentation or submission of the work of another, without citation or credits, as your own work” (University of Northern British Columbia, 1997). Plagiarism in high school can bring negative consequences. Student can fail the subject, but the moral consequences are even harder. Those students who plagiarize, can be rejected by their own classmates or colleagues since they might be afraid of being accused of plagiarism too. If there are negative consequences, why do students plagiarize? Many researches have been done about this question, one was made by Joan Gajadhard in 2005 with a population of 25000 students from 29 high schools around the United States. The results were that 70 percent of the students gave the answer “laziness or avoiding work”, 20 percent answered “the desire for a higher mark or quality of work” and 10 percent answered “I am not aware of the consequences of plagiarism” But, do students know that copying and paste from the internet is plagiarism? According to Wood (2004), students do not consider cut and paste from the Internet as a kind of plagiarism. Certainly, this is a big problem for professors, if their students are not producing their own works they will not learn anything. So what can they do? Educate them.
As it was said by Wood (2004), students do not think than copying a paper from the internet is plagiarism, so the first thing that high school professors must do, in order to avoid plagiarism, is educate their students about that topic. The professor must give them a speech or can look for a specialist in plagiarism that can explain to the students what that word mean, the consequences of plagiarism, when a student is plagiarizing and everything related to the topic. About this issue Harris (2004) says that students must be clear in the fact that “When you use someone else's words, you must put quotation marks around them and give the writer or speaker credit by revealing the source in a citation. Even if you revise or paraphrase the words of someone else or just use their ideas, you still must give the author credit in a note”. It is very important for professors to be aware of the proper use of citations and explain to the students how they can use internet sources.
As soon as the students know the meaning of plagiarism, the professor can work on the classroom with the group. Now the professor has the responsibility of giving to the students, handouts, guidelines and any useful material about writing in an appropriate way. Nobody was born with all the knowledge and people learn when they have the necessary information, so the professor must provide all the material that he can and teach the students how they can take advantage of that information. In that way, the students will be able to understand how to write having as a base their own ideas and internet sources as a support to those ideas.
Finally, the productive work comes. Now that students are able to understand any theoretical topic about plagiarism they can start writing. And, what better place to start than the classroom? It is a good idea if students start writing at the classroom, where they have the professor to help them and to clear any doubt about proper use of internet sources. Also, it is a way for the professor to be sure than that work was written by that student and it is not a plagiarized work. Furthermore, writing at the classroom can be a way to motivate students to produce a paper by themselves, no matter it is not perfect; it was made with the effort of that student which can be increase the appreciation for writing in a proper way.
As has been said, plagiarism is a big problem for today’s teachers but there are ways to prevent and eliminate it. It is in the hands of the professors to apply the strategies against plagiarism at the classroom If they do, students will try to learn, the proud feeling of writing something by themselves will be their stimulus.

Parts of the Essay and Tips about it

*Introduction:The introduction to your essay is probably the most important part of your text. It gives your reader an indication of what to expectin terms of quality, substance and interest.-ChallengesMany students find that writing an introduction is often the mostdifficult part of the essay because of:The importance of the introduction to the essay's structure.The difficulty of "getting started", a phenomenon.experienced by most writers

*Tip: The introduction two-step
Your introduction will probably go through numerous rewrites. Forconvenience this can be considered as a two-stage process, theintroduction two-step:a 'draft introduction' (in use while you are working throughthe various drafts of your essay)a 'polished introduction' (written once the body of youressay and its conclusion has been completed)This will enable you to:tailor your 'final introduction' to the actual directionthat your essay has taken.make minor adjustments to the text of the body andconclusion of your essay.-FeaturesBoth introductions will have the same basic features, thoughthe 'polished introduction' should exhibit these in a much moreclearly and effectively than the 'draft introduction'.There are a number of features that should form part of any goodintroduction:A strong opening sentence thatprovokes your reader's interestcaptures your reader's attentionsets the stage for you to get quickly to the point of youressay.Sometimes this can be achieved by using a provocative quotation or arelevant anecdote. At other times an unexpected or provocative claimcould be put forward to focus your reader's attention.Appropriate explanatory information where you discussbrieflybackground context of your essay in which you note thesignificance of your topicyour key terms or concepts (this might also involve anoutline of your conceptual framework)the limits of your discussion where you specify theintellectual boundaries of your essayA statement of the aims of the essay in which you specify assuccinctly as possiblethe problems or issues your essay discussesthe point of your essay (This should not be a restatement ofthe essay question or topic)While your statement of aims or purposes should certainly berelevant to the topic as set they should nevertheless arise from,and be clearly linked to, the content of your essayAn overview of the essay discussionProvide a brief outline of the key points to be covered by yourdiscussion. This gives your reader a preview of where you are goingto take them. This also enables you to show the reader that youressay is structured logically and that it has a thematic unity.Note that some aspects or even all of the explanatory information(noted earlier) might be included as part of your overview of theessay discussion.

-Example of introduction:# Essay Topic 1:"Critically discuss Karl Marx's claim that socialism is anhistorical inevitability".-Statement of essay aim/purpose:The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that Marx was wrongabout the inevitability of socialism. In addition, it will bedemonstrated that Marx's method was inadequate to the task he sethimself.-An Alternative StatementIt will be argued that the sense in which Marx argued about thehistorical inevitability of socialism retains some contemporaryrelevance. However, it will also be shown that his approach needssome renovation to take account of more recent developments.

*Essay Body:The essay body contains your discussion in which you present themain points of your argument. Like the introduction and conclusion,the essay body is divided into paragraphs. Paragraphs enable you toorganise your ideas and key points. They also help you to developyour points so that they are linked in such a way as to ensurelogical and thematic continuity.

* Tips: Using paragraphsEach paragraph should develop one major point, or a series ofclosely related minor points that together support a major point.Each point that you develop should be directly relevant to yourtopic as set by your lecturer. Each one should contribute to yourtask of answering the question.The first sentence of a paragraph, the topic sentence, should statethe point to be developed in the paragraph. The rest of thesentences, the supporting sentences, provide the relevantinformation and evidence to support the main point. The supportingsentences:explain the point being covered.provide the details needed to understand your point.include the examples, illustrations or quotations needed tosubstantiate your point. Make sure that your example, illustrationof quote is directly relevant to the point being made.

-Paragraph size:Check that there is a reasonable balance between each paragraph interms of length. This does not mean that each and every paragraphmust be exactly the same length. Rather, your aim should be toensure that the amount of discussion devoted to each point is inproportion to that point's importance for the essay as a whole. Donot use one-sentence paragraphs.Review your writingAfter you have written a draft of your essay it will be necessary toreview what you have achieved. An effective method is to readthrough each paragraph in the order that they appear in your draft.Write a one sentence (only one sentence) summary of each paragraph.Compare each summary with what you intended (from your essayplan) to say.If there is a discrepancy then a rewrite of the paragraph might beneeded.Read each summary sentence, one after the other.If there is no logical connection or continuity between each summarysentence then a rewrite or reordering of the paragraphs might beneeded. This might also be needed if there is no thematic continuitybetween them.

*Conclusion: The conclusion ties together the main threads of your argument. Itshould not be used for introducing new information. The point of aconclusion is to provide a sense of closure for your essay.However, depending on the topic and/or subject area, you can use theconclusion to reflect on future developments in the field or theramifications that your findings might have for future research inthe area.While there should be a reasonable consistency, logically andthematically, between the conclusion and the introduction, therewill probably be some differences between them. If the conclusiondoes not appear to answer the question then it will be necessary toretrace your thought process as it has developed through the body ofthe essay to the conclusion. If the conclusion provides a summaryanswer to the question as set then you can rewrite the introductionaccordingly.In essence, the conclusion sums up your main ideas. It reasserts theaims of your essay. Fundamentally, it should leave the reader in nodoubt that you have demonstrated what you set out to do.