SYNOPSIS:

Advanced Writing is the first in a series of books designed to develop the expository and argumentative writing skills that EFL learners need to express their ideas effectively. Through highly illustrative examples, model paragraphs, and carefully constructed exercises, students complete, step by step, activities that enable them to understand and fully appreciate the writing process.

Units one, two, and three will familiarize the students with the rudiments, format, and overall structure of the paragraph; unit four deals with techniques of support; units five through eleven deal with the rhetorical patterns most commonly found in expository writing (enumeration, chronology, process, description, definition, cause and effect, and comparison and contrast); unit twelve treats argumentation not as a rhetorical device in and of itself, but rather as a kind of writing which often employs a variety of rhetorical devices; finally, unit thirteen provides a number of dos and don'ts that enable the university students to revise and enhance their paragraphs.

The effective course-book/workbook format provides students with a powerful five-step approach to paragraph writing. Students will accomplish the following tasks that lead to clear, effective, and concise paragraphs:

Deduction: the initial step, in which the internal structures of different kinds of paragraphs are discussed.

Exposure: the second step, in which students read at least a model paragraph.

Analysis: the third step, in which students gain greater understanding of the structure of the model paragraph.

Planning: the fourth step, in which students make outlines for their own paragraphs based on their understanding of the models.

Writing: the final step, in which students write original full paragraphs.

The book covers the fundamental techniques and methods of paragraph writing, yet the format allows the teacher to insert additional exercises and assignments that are both class-specific and provide for the individual teacher emphasis. This flexibility should give the experienced teacher a focus for materials and the newer teacher a pedestal on which to build.

Because the course is based on paragraph writing, it does not pay much attention to grammatical structures. Naturally, EFL students, even at the advanced level, continue to have grammatical weaknesses. Advanced Writing deals with grammar problems that are specifically related to paragraph writing: punctuation, sentence structure, and so forth.

SYNOPSIS:

APA Style and Research Report Writing is designed to foster in undergraduate students the skills they need for success in their research courses. The book consists of three distinct sections: APA style, Library Research, and Reports and Theses.

Section one presents the basic concepts of APA style in five chapters: general presentation, tables and figures, footnotes and quotations, references, and APA intricacies. Since the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association published by the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). is a large and very detailed book, many undergraduate students find it a bit intimidating to use. Therefore, the five chapters of this section have been prepared in such a way as to make the task of complying with APA style easier for undergraduate students. A step-by-step, user-friendly, and interactive guide to the major aspects of Microsoft Word XP that students need to know is also incorporated to this section so that they can use the software for typing their final research report.

Section two is composed of two chapters: The Library, and Note Keeping. Chapter six discusses the rudiments and the basic concepts of library research. It covers such topics as the sources available in the library, different library search methods, the importance of library research, and a few important hints for the library researchers. The focus of chapter seven is on the most popular library search method, note keeping. Two types of notes are discussed: bibliographical notes, and subject notes. Examples of each type are provided. In addition, the intricacies of note taking for each type are elaborated on. Plagiarism is discussed as the major pitfall in library research. Finally, a few hints are provided for the library research worker as to how they should approach the task of paraphrasing.

Section three, too, is composed of  two chapters: The Research Report, and The Thesis. Chapter eight focuses on the detailed format that a modest research report should have. The different sections of the research report are discussed, along with visual illustrations to foster in undergraduate students the skills they need  for writing their research reports. The final few pages of the chapter elaborate on the differences between student research reports and journal papers. Chapter nine is most useful for graduate students. A brief synopsis of the differences that exist between short research reports and masters' theses or PhD dissertations is presented. The discussions of the chapter are enriched with visual illustrations that are helpful to the graduate student in the process of writing his thesis or dissertation.

SYNOPSIS:

A course in phonology is designed to support EFL learners in achieving native-like pronunciation. The first chapter deals with the history of phonology and phonetics and provides a brief overview of the impact of philosophy and psychology on the emergence of phonology. The second chapter defines the notion of phoneme, describes IPA phonetic alphabet, and distinguishes between broad and narrow transcriptions. Chapters three and four provide an in-depth account of traditional and systematic articulatory phonetics respectively. Chapter five discusses the place of suprasegmentals in phonology. Chapter six seeks to explain phonemics. Chapter seven provides a brief introduction to the rudiments of acoustic or physical phonetics. Finally, chapter eight introduces the reader to the notion of auditory phonetics.

The book is designed for use in undergraduate classes of phonology and phonetics. The fifth chapter is also useful for students of conversation classes. Teachers at high school level may also find the fifth chapter valuable. The step by step approach of the book towards its subject matter makes it is easy for the reader to follow the line of discussion without the help of a phonology teacher.