Video summary

Intermediate English Writing - Week 1 - Introduction to Course and Basic Essay Writing

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / lessons from the video

Course purpose and expectations

  • The lecturer introduces an Intermediate English Writing course.
  • Students are expected to write more than one paragraph, with a target of 5-paragraph essays.
  • The course covers multiple essay genres:
    • Descriptive
    • Recount
    • Comparison/contrast
    • Persuasive
  • This builds on earlier courses where students wrote mainly single paragraphs.

Week-by-week study plan (course structure)

  • Week 1 (this video): course introduction, tips for extending writing, and understanding the basic five-paragraph essay.
  • Week 2: language features for the descriptive essay (e.g., adjective and adverb clauses).
  • Week 3: structure of the descriptive essay.
  • Week 4: first assessment: descriptive essay (10%).
  • Week 5: language features for the next genre: recount essay (e.g., present perfect and simple past tense).
  • Week 6: structure of the recount essay.
  • Week 7: discussion and examples for recount essays (schedule/topic may shift slightly due to grammar/exercises).
  • Week 8: second assessment: midterm exam (recount essay) (15%).
  • After midterm: comparison/contrast essay
    • Week 9: learn conjunctions (as language features).
    • Week 10: inversion (types of inversion).
    • Week 11: structure of comparison/contrast essay + quiz (10%).
  • Week 13: connectors and modality.
  • Week 14: structure of persuasive essay.
  • Week 15: discussion of persuasive essay + course debrief.

Assessment breakdown and what is graded

  • Active participation: 25%
    • Based on class participation and book completeness (students complete exercises and keep notes).
  • Assessment 1: descriptive essay = 10%
  • Assessment 2: comparison/contrast essay = 10%
  • The lecturer also references comparison/contrast essays again later as an assessed task.
  • Midterm exam: recount essay = 15%
  • Final exam: persuasive essay = 15%

Grading criteria for writing assessments

  • Content authenticity and content delivery
  • Spelling, punctuation, capitalization
  • Handwriting (all assessments are handwritten; legibility matters)
  • Grammar
  • Cohesion and coherence
    • Ideas must stay linked sentence-to-sentence.
    • Correct use of connectors/conjunctions supports this.

Course rules

  • No phone during class
  • No online/digital dictionary during class
    • Dictionary use allowed only during quiz and assignments
    • No dictionary during midterm/final exams
  • Attendance requirement: at least 75%
  • No plagiarism
    • Includes AI use for the writing work (“any use of AI”)
  • Bring a notebook
    • Not binder/tiny books; use a standard notebook
  • All assignments are handwritten
  • A Grade A requires extra effort and attention to detail in graded aspects

Project expectations (detailed checklist)

Project overview

  • Students work in groups to create a storybook consisting of 8 essays per group.
  • The project is based on fictional characters / folklore / fairy tales / popular characters.
  • The story/characters must be fictional, but each essay must match one of the course essay categories.

Grouping rules

  • The course has 8 groups on the slide, but the lecturer requests 7 groups in class.
  • Target group size: 5–6 students per group.
  • Minimum group size should not be 4 (lecturer asks coordinators to maintain this).

Essay requirements inside the project

  • Each group produces 8 essays.
  • Each essay must be one of these types:
    • Descriptive
    • Recount
    • Comparison
    • Contrast
    • Persuasive
  • Equal distribution of essay types is encouraged.

Example distribution across 8 essays:

  • 2 descriptive
  • 2 recount
  • 1 comparison
  • 1 contrast
  • 2 persuasive

No copying the existing story pattern

  • Students should innovate/modify the story rather than reuse the exact original plot.
  • Example: if a character is usually “evil/good” in the original, students can change roles or motivations.

AI policy for the project

  • No AI is allowed for the essay/story content.
  • AI is allowed only to create pictures/images of the fictional characters.

Example illustration from the lecturer (Tinkerbell)

The lecturer provides an example storyline for how essays could be assigned across 8 essays, such as:

  • Essay 1: Description of Tinkerbell (modify—e.g., teacher/nurse/athlete rather than only the original fairy archetype)
  • Essay 2: Description of Tinkerbell’s friend
  • Essay 3: Recount (e.g., how Tinkerbell gets admitted to a “tax accounting program”)
  • Essay 4: Comparison (e.g., comparing butterfly-wing vs dragonfly-wing costumes for a prom event)
  • Essay 5: Persuasive (e.g., why teamwork matters when playing drama)

The lecturer notes the full project will have 8 essays, not just the example types shown.

Basic essay writing methodology (detailed instructions)

1) Start with a topic and understand the prompt

  • Writing is guided by a prompt (a question or statement your essay answers).
  • Identify the subject words in the prompt.
  • Be careful with connector words in the prompt:
    • If the prompt uses “and”, you must discuss both sides/topics.
    • If it uses “or”, you choose one side/topic.

2) Form a claim (especially important for persuasive essays)

  • A claim is the author’s statement/position about the subject.
  • In persuasive contexts, the claim can be somewhat biased, but it must still be supported with the required content implied by the prompt (including multiple components when “and” is used).

3) Use the basic essay structure (burger model)

  • Introduction (top bun)
    • Provide background information and explain why the topic matters
    • Include your claim
    • Add an outline (as described in the video)
  • Content (meat/filling)
    • Include supporting evidence + reasons
    • Typically:
      • evidence 1 + reason 1
      • evidence 2 + reason 2
      • evidence 3 + reason 3
    • These supporting points may fit into one paragraph each—which is why 5 paragraphs can work.
  • Conclusion (bottom bun)
    • Restatement: restate the main claim in different words
    • Add a closing sentence tailored to genre:
      • Descriptive: conclude with a remark about the subject/object
      • Persuasive: conclude with an invitation/persuasion to readers

4) Paragraph targets across the semester

  • Start at 3 paragraphs, grow toward 5 paragraphs.
  • By the end of the semester, students must write at least five paragraphs.

Tips for extending writing (practical expansion strategies)

  1. Expand individual paragraphs

    • Ask yourself how and why to elaborate.
    • Goal: add 2–3 sentences to each existing paragraph.
    • Add more concrete examples/evidence
      • Use personal experience, knowledge, reading, etc.
      • Make examples clear for readers.
      • Add details like time/place and numbers (e.g., “in December 2025 or August 2025…”).

  2. Expand the introduction and/or conclusion

    • Add main ideas or concrete examples from the body into the introduction.
    • Draft first (allowed): write in the back pages, then move to final pages.

  3. Add a closing/summarizing sentence at the end of each paragraph

    • Prefer a sentence that summarizes the paragraph’s point and how it supports the essay.
    • Avoid adding contradicting ideas, which can confuse the overall argument.

  4. Write new paragraphs

    • If a paragraph contains more than one idea, split it into two paragraphs.
    • Optionally address opposing views/perspectives.
    • Define unfamiliar key terms and give examples (helps readers and naturally increases word count).

Common mistakes to avoid (with examples mentioned)

A) Word choice: Indonesian–English confusion

Be careful with words that look English but are actually Indonesian abbreviations/terms:

  • “luring”
    • Indonesian meaning: “offline” (network)
    • English meaning is different
  • “daring”
    • Indonesian meaning: “online”
    • In English, “daring” has a different meaning
  • “antri”
    • Indonesian meaning: “queue/line”
    • English uses a different word

Rule: Use correct English words, not Indonesian-looking equivalents.

B) Literal Indonesian translation into English structure

  • Example issue: a phrase using “positive then negative” as a literal transfer from Indonesian.
  • Fix: follow standard English sentence structure (as modeled by the lecturer).

C) Spoken-language words in formal writing

Minimize filler words such as:

  • “actually”
  • “maybe”

Replace them with more appropriate written alternatives.

D) Grammar focus points

  • Tense with “since”
    • Incorrect idea: “gained popularity since 2010”
    • Preferred: present perfect → “has gained popularity since 2010.”
  • Identify the subject of long sentences
    • Ensure the subject is correct (lecturer emphasizes the subject is often the first noun phrase).
    • Example discussed: “Long-distance relationship…” is the subject.

E) Statement vs inversion (structure accuracy)

  • In inversion: auxiliary comes before the subject
  • In normal statements: subject comes first
  • Example caution: placement of “can’t” in a sentence

F) Qualifier agreement

  • Example: “many” should be followed by plural nouns.

Speakers / sources featured

  • Adita Patria — lecturer / course instructor (primary speaker)
  • Course/Institution content referenced by the lecturer (attendance, assessments, university policy). No external named sources or citations were provided.

Original video