Making a Graduation Report
Seminar Students, please do in this order!:
1) Decide the organization (Authentic or ESL first)
2) Find your paragraphs and put them in a document in the order your organization scheme requires.
3) Write two introduction paragraphs and send them to me by email.
For more details, see below.
Organizing your graduation report
* The paragraphs you wrote, and which I pasted on the Lifelong English website, will be called “topic paragraphs” for the purpose of explaining how to make your final graduation report.
Organization; Organize topics by Authentic & ESL Materials
Assembling your graduation report (part 1)
Writing an Introduction to your graduation report
Answer as many of the following questions as possible, then try to put some of the ideas together into a paragraph. If you can add more information, it’s even better. Remember, you must write a paragraph! You can’t just write the answers and make a list.
Second Paragraph
These ideas are not in any particular order. Just try to make a paragraph that leads from the introductory paragraph to your topic paragraphs.
Assembling your graduation report (part 2)
5. There should be a sentence at the beginning of each topic paragraph that explains what you are going to talk about. Look at Maya’s topic paragraph below:
Maya - 9/15/2015
I used jango and installed it on my iPhone. I had used only YouTube before, but now I like jango better than YouTube because jango has various kinds of music and the sound is clear. I use this app everyday when I go to school. I like Taylor swift, so I often listen to her songs on jango. I learned new vocabulary from her song, 'Shake it off!' This expression means 「ドンマイ!」「気にしないで!」in Japanese. I want to listen to various music more!
If you start your paragraph like this, it will seem too sudden or random (突然あるいはランダム). You should add one or two sentences, like ...
Streaming Radio is an authentic way to practice listening skills. There are many streaming radio apps for smart phones. I used jango and installed it on my iPhone. I had used only YouTube before, but now I like jango better than YouTube because jango has various kinds of music and the sound is clear. I use this app everyday when I go to school. I like Taylor swift, so I often listen to her songs on jango. I learned new vocabulary from her song, 'Shake it off!' This expression means 「ドンマイ!」「気にしないで!」in Japanese. I want to listen to various music more!
Add one or two sentences like the above to each of your topic paragraphs to explain what you’re introducing. If you already have a sentence like that, then you don’t have to do this step.
6. Look at each of your paragraphs and make sure they agree with the main points in your introduction. If they don’t, you need to edit them and make sure they agree with your introduction.
7. Add one or two academic quotes in the appropriate places in your report. For example, if you believe Authentic Materials are essential, add a quote about it before or after one of your paragraphs that use authentic materials.
8 . Write a conclusion. Your conclusion will repeat some of the main ideas from your introduction, but hopefully using different words. (More about conclusions below.)
9. Write a bibliography. This is a list of all the sources, hard sources or online sources, you used during the year. Many of your sources will be URLs. I’ll show you how to do that later. Be sure to include the source for the quote or quotes you used in #7 above.
Writing a Conclusion
Bibliography
The bibliography comes after the conclusion.
Title this section: Bibliography
The order should by alphabetical.
Sample bibliography:
Bibliography
ALC (2015) http://www.alc.co.jp/
Aung Than, G. (2015) Zen Pencils. Quote by Ray Bradbury: "Jump!"
http://zenpencils.com/comic/54-ray-bradbury-jump/
Elllo (2015) http://elllo.org/
Essberger, J. (retrieved 2015). English Club; Matching Adverb Games.
https://www.englishclub.com/esl-games/grammar/adverbs.htm
Hadley, A. O. (1993) Teaching Language in Context (Teaching Methods). 2nd edn. Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Imgur.com (retrieved 2015) http://i.imgur.com/oPH0rOL.jpg
Izak Smells (2015) http://www.izaksmells.com/comic/equal-opportunity/
JTW (2015) http://www.just-the-word.com/
Kinney, J. (2009) Diary of a Wimpy kid: Dog days. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
LIVE365 (2015) http://www.live365.com/
Miller, K. (2015) Lifelong English Seminar http://lifelongenglish.weebly.com/
Ogihara, K. (2015) My Favorite Songs, “Little Mix” http://ko201.blogspot.jp/2015/01/vol-11-
little-mix.html
Reddit (2015) https://www.reddit.com/
Watchmojo (2015) http://watchmojo.com/
Watchmojo (retrieved 2015) “Top 10 Animated Disney Songs”
http://watchmojo.com/video/id/11503/
What and how to reference
1) Academic quotations
example: Hadley, A. O. (1993) Teaching Language in Context (Teaching Methods). 2nd edn. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
2) Graded Readers
example: Collins, A. (2009) Macmillan readers: Princess Diana (beginner level). Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann ELT.
3) e-reader book title
example: Carroll, L. (1865) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. [Kindle version] Retrieved from Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11
4) Movie (a movie you watched at home on DVD on TV or on your PC or tablet)
example: Eastwood, C. (producer), Eastwood, C. (director). (1992). Unforgiven [motion picture] United States.: Malpaso Productions.
5) YouTube video
example: Unforgiven (1992) Official Trailer. Posted on YouTube by Movie Clips Trailer Vault, May 14, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftTX4FoBWlE
6) ESL website
example: Beuckens, T. (2015) elllo. http://elllo.org/
7) Online Comic
example: McElfetrick, D. (2015) Cyanide & Happiness., "Halloween", http://explosm.net/comics/4094
8) Zen Pencils Comic
example: Aung Than, G. (2015) Zen Pencils. Quote by Stephen Fry: "Ultimate self-help book" http://zenpencils.com/comic/89-stephen-fry-ultimate-self-help-book/
9) Collocations
example: Essberger, J. (retrieved 2015). English Club; Matching Adverb Games. https://www.englishclub.com/esl-games/grammar/adverbs.htm
10) Lifelong English Seminar website
example: Miller, K. (2015) Lifelong English Seminar. http://lifelongenglish.weebly.com/
11) Your blog
example: Takasaki, K, (2018). My Favorite Japanese Comics, http://keigocomic.blogspot.com
12) Your blog post
example: Takasaki, K, (2018). My Favorite Japanese Comics, “Vocchi Men”, http://keigocomic.blogspot.com/2018/04/comic-vocchi-men.html
When you’re finished, look at your word count. Do you have over 2,500 words? Is every word in your report spelled correctly? Are there any grammatical errors? Did you list all sources in the correct format? If so, you’re finished!
Congratulations! You will (probably) graduate this year!
1) Decide the organization (Authentic or ESL first)
2) Find your paragraphs and put them in a document in the order your organization scheme requires.
3) Write two introduction paragraphs and send them to me by email.
For more details, see below.
Organizing your graduation report
* The paragraphs you wrote, and which I pasted on the Lifelong English website, will be called “topic paragraphs” for the purpose of explaining how to make your final graduation report.
Organization; Organize topics by Authentic & ESL Materials
- Authentic – streaming radio, Reddit, e-readers, reading newspapers, magazines or online articles, watching movies or movie trailers, online comics, etc.
- ESL – graded readers, Xreading, on-line ESL sites, ESL on YouTube, LyricsTraining, etc.
- Which of these do you favor? Put that one first.
Assembling your graduation report (part 1)
- Decide your organization.
- Find all of your topic paragraphs on the Lifelong English website, and copy and paste them onto a document. Google Drive is best, as it will always be available in the cloud (you can access it from any computer).
- Be sure to paste the topic paragraphs in the same order as your organization concept.
* Your best blog post will be one of the topic paragraphs. You may have some small photographs, but they will be printed in black & white. - Write an introduction for your report. (See below re. how to write an introduction.)
Writing an Introduction to your graduation report
Answer as many of the following questions as possible, then try to put some of the ideas together into a paragraph. If you can add more information, it’s even better. Remember, you must write a paragraph! You can’t just write the answers and make a list.
- Why did you become an English major?
- Is your English ability good enough? Are you satisfied with your own progress?
- How is English important in your life?
- How will English be important in your future?
- Do you expect to use English in your career?
- Will you continue learning English after you graduate?
- Will you study English on your own (i.e., not in a class)?
Second Paragraph
- What are some of the topics we covered in this class?
- How do the topics we did in class connect with the things you wrote in your introduction?
- How will your topic paragraphs be organized?
- What are the best ways for you to study English?
- What resources (online or paper) are the most effective? Enjoyable?
These ideas are not in any particular order. Just try to make a paragraph that leads from the introductory paragraph to your topic paragraphs.
Assembling your graduation report (part 2)
5. There should be a sentence at the beginning of each topic paragraph that explains what you are going to talk about. Look at Maya’s topic paragraph below:
Maya - 9/15/2015
I used jango and installed it on my iPhone. I had used only YouTube before, but now I like jango better than YouTube because jango has various kinds of music and the sound is clear. I use this app everyday when I go to school. I like Taylor swift, so I often listen to her songs on jango. I learned new vocabulary from her song, 'Shake it off!' This expression means 「ドンマイ!」「気にしないで!」in Japanese. I want to listen to various music more!
If you start your paragraph like this, it will seem too sudden or random (突然あるいはランダム). You should add one or two sentences, like ...
Streaming Radio is an authentic way to practice listening skills. There are many streaming radio apps for smart phones. I used jango and installed it on my iPhone. I had used only YouTube before, but now I like jango better than YouTube because jango has various kinds of music and the sound is clear. I use this app everyday when I go to school. I like Taylor swift, so I often listen to her songs on jango. I learned new vocabulary from her song, 'Shake it off!' This expression means 「ドンマイ!」「気にしないで!」in Japanese. I want to listen to various music more!
Add one or two sentences like the above to each of your topic paragraphs to explain what you’re introducing. If you already have a sentence like that, then you don’t have to do this step.
6. Look at each of your paragraphs and make sure they agree with the main points in your introduction. If they don’t, you need to edit them and make sure they agree with your introduction.
7. Add one or two academic quotes in the appropriate places in your report. For example, if you believe Authentic Materials are essential, add a quote about it before or after one of your paragraphs that use authentic materials.
8 . Write a conclusion. Your conclusion will repeat some of the main ideas from your introduction, but hopefully using different words. (More about conclusions below.)
9. Write a bibliography. This is a list of all the sources, hard sources or online sources, you used during the year. Many of your sources will be URLs. I’ll show you how to do that later. Be sure to include the source for the quote or quotes you used in #7 above.
Writing a Conclusion
- How did the topics covered in the Lifelong English Seminar help your English?
- Will the resources you used help you in the future?
- Which resources are most effective? Least effective?
- Will you continue to use any of these resources? (Please try to be positive!) Which ones?
- What do you need to spend more time on?
- How do you imagine your study habits in the future?
Bibliography
The bibliography comes after the conclusion.
Title this section: Bibliography
The order should by alphabetical.
Sample bibliography:
Bibliography
ALC (2015) http://www.alc.co.jp/
Aung Than, G. (2015) Zen Pencils. Quote by Ray Bradbury: "Jump!"
http://zenpencils.com/comic/54-ray-bradbury-jump/
Elllo (2015) http://elllo.org/
Essberger, J. (retrieved 2015). English Club; Matching Adverb Games.
https://www.englishclub.com/esl-games/grammar/adverbs.htm
Hadley, A. O. (1993) Teaching Language in Context (Teaching Methods). 2nd edn. Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
Imgur.com (retrieved 2015) http://i.imgur.com/oPH0rOL.jpg
Izak Smells (2015) http://www.izaksmells.com/comic/equal-opportunity/
JTW (2015) http://www.just-the-word.com/
Kinney, J. (2009) Diary of a Wimpy kid: Dog days. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
LIVE365 (2015) http://www.live365.com/
Miller, K. (2015) Lifelong English Seminar http://lifelongenglish.weebly.com/
Ogihara, K. (2015) My Favorite Songs, “Little Mix” http://ko201.blogspot.jp/2015/01/vol-11-
little-mix.html
Reddit (2015) https://www.reddit.com/
Watchmojo (2015) http://watchmojo.com/
Watchmojo (retrieved 2015) “Top 10 Animated Disney Songs”
http://watchmojo.com/video/id/11503/
What and how to reference
1) Academic quotations
example: Hadley, A. O. (1993) Teaching Language in Context (Teaching Methods). 2nd edn. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.
2) Graded Readers
example: Collins, A. (2009) Macmillan readers: Princess Diana (beginner level). Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann ELT.
3) e-reader book title
example: Carroll, L. (1865) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. [Kindle version] Retrieved from Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11
4) Movie (a movie you watched at home on DVD on TV or on your PC or tablet)
example: Eastwood, C. (producer), Eastwood, C. (director). (1992). Unforgiven [motion picture] United States.: Malpaso Productions.
5) YouTube video
example: Unforgiven (1992) Official Trailer. Posted on YouTube by Movie Clips Trailer Vault, May 14, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftTX4FoBWlE
6) ESL website
example: Beuckens, T. (2015) elllo. http://elllo.org/
7) Online Comic
example: McElfetrick, D. (2015) Cyanide & Happiness., "Halloween", http://explosm.net/comics/4094
8) Zen Pencils Comic
example: Aung Than, G. (2015) Zen Pencils. Quote by Stephen Fry: "Ultimate self-help book" http://zenpencils.com/comic/89-stephen-fry-ultimate-self-help-book/
9) Collocations
example: Essberger, J. (retrieved 2015). English Club; Matching Adverb Games. https://www.englishclub.com/esl-games/grammar/adverbs.htm
10) Lifelong English Seminar website
example: Miller, K. (2015) Lifelong English Seminar. http://lifelongenglish.weebly.com/
11) Your blog
example: Takasaki, K, (2018). My Favorite Japanese Comics, http://keigocomic.blogspot.com
12) Your blog post
example: Takasaki, K, (2018). My Favorite Japanese Comics, “Vocchi Men”, http://keigocomic.blogspot.com/2018/04/comic-vocchi-men.html
When you’re finished, look at your word count. Do you have over 2,500 words? Is every word in your report spelled correctly? Are there any grammatical errors? Did you list all sources in the correct format? If so, you’re finished!
Congratulations! You will (probably) graduate this year!