PLANNING ESSAYS AND

PRESENTATIONS
 Subject:
English for Academic Purposes
Date & Time:
June 25, 2019
 Writing is an activity that requires
organization. Although it sometimes
starts as a chaotic process, much
preparation is needed. Therefore, as
ideas arise there are two important
components to consider – the thesis
statement and the outline.
 The thesis statement is the overall
idea or argument of your work. It is a
general statement that presents
essential points that leads the reader
to the right direction. Your thesis
statement makes all parts of your
work stick together.
 A good thesis statement
should be focused and succinct,
and must be framed as a
declarative sentence. Ideally, the
statement should have at least
three ideas that will be developed
in succeeding sections of the work.
Consider the following example:
 “The ASEAN region is a dynamic system
because it capitalizes on cultural diversity, rich
resources, and a variety of perspectives.”
This thesis statement contains the main idea
that the ASEAN region is a dynamic system. In
order to support this, there are three points that
need elaboration – cultural diversity, resources,
and a variety of perspectives. These three points
will then be developed in each paragraph in
order to make the main idea a well elaborated
one.
 A thesis statement is different from a topic
sentence in two aspects.
First, the thesis statement is the main idea of an
essay. This means that since an essay has several
paragraphs, the thesis statement covers the
main idea of the essay. On the other hand a
topic sentence serves as the main idea of a
paragraph.
Second, the thesis statement contains at least
two supporting points which are developed in
succeeding paragraphs. A topic sentence usually
has just one supporting point.
Example:
Automated elections should be improved to
minimize fraud, facilitate faster turnout, and
maximize voter participation.
The lakes of Laguna are grand spectacles
worth seeing.
 Think about it!
1. Creating comics involves several steps.
2. Despite some risks, online businesses
can be sustainable models for doing
business since they minimize operating
costs and provide greater options for
consumers.
 Outline is a helpful tool for organizing your
work. It shows logical arrangement of ideas to
be included in your essay.

In preparing your outline, there are two

things to remember- outline format and
principles. With regards to format, there are
two types: traditional and standard. The
traditional uses roman numerals, letters, and
numbers while the standard system uses
numbers. Consider the following examples.
 Traditional Format Standard Format

Title of work: Units of a Research Title of work: Units of a Research

University University
I. College of Medicine 1.0 College of Medicine
A. Community Medicine 1.1 Community Medicine
B. Pathology 1.2 Pathology
II. College of Engineering 2.0 College of Engineering
A. Industrial Engineering 2.1 Industrial Engineering
B. Chemical Engineering 2.2 Chemical Engineering
C. Mechanical Engineering 2.3 Mechanical Engineering
III. School of fine Arts 3.0 School of fine Arts
A. Painting 3.1 Painting
B. Sculpture 3.3 Sculpture
IV. College of Liberal Arts 4.0 College of Liberal Arts
A. Political Sciences 4.1 Political Sciences
B. History 4.2 History
C. Literature 4.3 Literature
 For principles, consider the following:
Parallelism – Entries should observe the same language
structure (e.g., words, phrases, sentences).
Coordination – Entries should observe levels of
importance. In the example above, note that colleges are
labeled as major ideas because they carry the same level
of significance in the research university.
Subordination – Entries should observe differences of
importance (which ideas should be classified as minor
and major ideas?). In the same example, the different
units under colleges are labeled as minor ideas since they
differ in scope from the colleges.
Division – Entries should at least be two be sure that
supporting points of a major idea are adequate.
 Like thesis statements and outlines, writing
essays requires preparatory steps. An essay is
similar to research in that it requires planning
and execution. Presented are some steps for
planning an essay.
1. Determining the topic, purpose, role, and
audience for the work. To help you in
understanding these three aspects, you must
constantly ask these questions:
a. What am I writing about? How long will the
piece be?
b. Why am I doing this piece? Is to inform? To
persuade? Or to argue a position?
c. Who am I writing this for? Is there a specific
type of knowledge my readers need to
understand the piece?
d. What role am I taking in writing this piece?
As an expert? A friend? A member of the
community?
2. Expanding subtopics
3. Collecting sources and making notes
4. Brainstorming, forming the thesis statement,
and outlining.
5. Drafting
6. Peer evaluation and revision
 Since the outline helps in organizing ideas, it is
important that entries that comprise subtopics
are well tough out. Essay usually require an
introduction, body, and conclusion. The outline
therefore should manifest these as important
parts of the work. The sample outline below
shows some questions to consider in writing
your outline.

1.0 Introduction
1.1 What is the topic about?
1.2 What is the purpose of the essay?
1.3 What is covered in the essay?
1.4 What is the thesis statement?
2.0 Body
2.1 What is the first major topic?
2.1.1 What is the first supporting idea?
2.1.2 What is the second supporting idea?
2.2 What is the major topic?
2.2.1 What is the first supporting idea?
2.2.2 What is the second supporting idea?
2.3 what is the third major topic?
2.3.1 What is the first supporting idea?
2.3.2 What is the second supporting idea?
3.0 Conclusion
3.1 What are the main points of my essay?
3.2 What course of action would I like my readers
to take?
 Preparing notes will help you expand the points in your essay. As these
notes are taken from different resources, you will need a way to account
for them. Accounting for resources is an important aspect of academic
essays or papers. the system of American Psychological Association (APA) is
used in preparing a list of references. The following are guidelines for
organizing your reference list.
1. Entries should be arranged alphabetically with the surname of the authors as points of reference. In
case where there is no author, the title of the work becomes the first part of the entry
2. The hanging indent format should be observed when writing entries. This means that the first line of
the first entry is not indented while the succeeding lines are indented.
3. The following are some example entries for books, periodicals, and online sources. For other sources,
you may refer to www.nait.ca/libresources/Citations/APA_Examples.pdf.
BOOKS
General format
Author’s surname, Initials (year of publication). Title of work (set in italics).
Place of Publication: Publisher
PERIODICALS (JOURNALS, NEWSPAPERS, AND MAGAZINES)
General format
Surname of author/s Initials (year of publication). Title of the article. Title of the periodical, volume (issue
numbers), page numbers.
Online sources
Author, Initials or institution. (date of retrieval). Title of work. Retrieved from
Web site.
Greenworks. (May 4, 2014). Methods of extraction of minerals. Retrieved
from www.greenworks/methods.html.
The Introduction is composed of background
information (who, what, why, when, where, and
how), the thesis statement and the scope.
The body of the essay contains the major ideas
confined in the thesis. In addition , different
rhetorical modes such as description, cause and
effect, comparison and contrast, and examples
are used to achieved the purpose of the author.
The conclusion is the section that summarizes the
main points of the essay. Likewise, it is a strategic
section for the writer to restate the thesis for
readers to recall the purpose and escape of the
essay.
 Excellent written work makes it worthy for presentation. It
Is important on your end to disseminate good ideas in worthy
venues. Conferences, seminars, and workshops are good
opportunities for you to participate in discussions and share
your ideas. Also, meaningful inputs can be shared with other
participants, which can lead to improvements of your piece.
however, simply reading your paper is not a good way of
sharing your work. It is important that the written output be
effectively designed for oral presentation. This means that
only the salient points are presented. The following are some
tips to help your presentation:
Before the presentation
1. Familiarize yourself with the mechanics of the
presentation.
2. Prepare.
3. Rehearse your presentation.
4. Select appropriate attire for your presentation.
During the presentation
1. Relax.
2. Elaborate.
3. Establish eye contact.
4. Start and finish strong.
After the presentation
1. Thank the audience.
2. Refer to your work.
THANK
YOU