2nd week

Task One: Picture Analysis

The professor Asked us to analyse a picture in which a man was using
scientific books as stairs to help him escape a prison; also, he was holding a
book named freedom with a wide smile on his face. the picture symbolises
how knowledge help people escape and free themselves out of ignorance
making them happy, wise, and nable to explore the world.

Task Two

As you can see in the picture we were given an e-mail that was full of
mistakes of punctuation and capitalization. We were asked to identify its
audience, message, and purpose. We were also assigned to rewrite it and
explain the changes that we made.

Task Three
In the third task, we were given different kinds of writing and asked about
how these different situations would result in different kinds of writing. I
chose the research paper. I thought that in this type of writing it is okay to
include your opinion concerning the topic. However, as the professor
explained to me, that in research paper writing the writer must be objective
and avoid passing on judgements.

Practice
When I went home, I tried to practice the rules of writing an e-mail by writing
a real one to the professor. It goes like this:
Dear professor, Echarfy
I hope this email finds you well. I am Abdessadeq Ezzaime, your student from group one,
semester three. You are a great professor who makes grasping the course easy and enjoyable. I
truly appreciate your unconditioned help and effort in trying too teach as such difficult module as
composition. I am writing this email to tell you that me and my classmates are afraid to inform
you that you might have forgotten to send us the slides we discussed in the previous classes. We
will be glad to hear from you soon.

Best regards, your humble student, Abdessadeq

The professor’s feedback

The professor was that the sentence:” I hope this email finds you well. I am Abdessadeq
Ezzaime, your student from group one, semester three” should have been separated
from the text. Also, he continued explaining to me, instead of writing :” I am
writing this email to tell you that me and my classmates are afraid to inform you that you might
have forgotten to send us the slides we discussed in the previous classes. ” I could have said
that “that last time you informed us that you will send us the slides we are looking forward
to receiving from you soon. ”because it would make it more polite and formal.
 Third week

Task 1: Quote Analysis

The first task was about analysing a quote which goes like:” Success is not
the key to happiness, ha is the key to success.” Firstly, we were asked to
identify the issue of the quote. My answer was that the main issue is whether
success is leads happiness. Secondly we were assigned to provide an
explanation of the quotes. I answered that the quote can be explained as
success does not lead to happiness, happiness is the leading cause to
success. Finally the third question was about our opinion regarding the
quote. I disagreed with the quote because happiness, for me, is not the key
to success. To illustrate, if the one is happy, he would be satisfied with what
he has and would not seek success, resulting in failure. For me, without
struggling the one can never achieve his goals.

Brainstorming Methods
After that, we had discussed
different ways of
brainstorming, namely mind
mapping and free writing. The
picture above is an example of
the mind map method, given
by the professor. The professor
told us that is an effective and
easy brainstorming technique.
I will try to use in the future
because it makes getting ideas
about the topic easier.

Discussion
Later on we were asked to discuss what things make us happy with the
student sitting next to us. This picture was taken when I was discussing what
makes me happy with my classmate, Bilal. I told him that what makes me
happy is being surrounded by the people I love. Meanwhile, he told me that
what makes him happy is money, adding that he
 4th Week

During the 4th week the professor gave us feedbacks about the essay that we wrote as a
homework, the causes of happiness. He gave me his feedback about the introduction of my essay.
He told me that my language should be clear, and I should not include extra details and focus
only on The main idea.
The Outline

Introduction 1. Hook: Can money buy happiness?

2. Connection Information: The
answer remains ambiguous
because the cause of
happiness differs greatly
from one individual to
another. In particular, what
makes life fruitful for some
people can be mental health;
meanwhile, others believe
that the key to living happily
is wealth.
Thesis statement: Despite it is
extremely difficult to define
universal causes of happiness,
they can be divided into three
major categories namely
emotional, psychological, and
physical reasons.

Body 1. 1st cause: emotional

2. 2st cause: psychological
3. 3st cause: material
Conclusion 1. Restated thesis: However, these
reasons fall into mainly three
categories: emotional
reasons, psychological
reasons, and material
reasons
Suggest: I suggest that instead of
waiting for the three causes to
come all together, the one should
take advantage of the small
 moments in life including smiles,
praises, or a morning workouts.
2. Opinion: Personally emotional
aspects make me feel
delighted.

Concerning the way of mind mapping I used it is free writing:

My Essay

The Causes of Happiness

One of the most difficult questions to answer is whether money can
buy happiness. The answer remains ambiguous because the cause of
happiness differs greatly from one individual to another. In particular, what
makes life fruitful for some people can be mental health; meanwhile, others
believe that the key to living happily is wealth. Despite it is extremely
difficult to define universal causes of happiness, they can be divided into
three major categories namely emotional, psychological, and physical
reasons.

Firstly, there are numerous examples indicating that the main cause of
happiness is emotional. One example is if the person is surrounded by the
people he loves, as a result, he will feel joyous and comfortable. Another
example is receiving complements; to illustrate, someone, who has had a
bad day at work, can become happy only because of receiving a positive
praise. One last example is friendship. Having honest friends, to whom the
one can reveal his secrets, is a blessing which leads him to stop thinking
about his day-to-day problems and enjoy his life.

Secondly, for countless people, happiness remains in psychological reasons.

To illustrate, being wise opens the mind's horizons and helps making better
decisions, resulting in a limitless internal satisfaction. Additionally,
unfortunately, those people , who struggle with psychological problems as
schizophrenia or depression live meaningless lives; therefor, mental health is
a key to living fruitfully and happily.

Thirdly, the leading cause can be material such as money or well-being. To

begin with, riches enables the individual to enjoy many aspects of life, which
cannot be enjoyed in poverty, such as travelling, shopping, and sports. In
addition to that, having a healthy body is a physically crucial cause of
happiness since it allows the person to perform his daily life activities such
as sleeping, eating, and doing physical exercise without any feeling of pain.
Finally, If the person is both rich and fit in body, he will have, as a
consequence, a lifelong feeling of fulfilment.

As a conclusion, the cause of happiness varies according to each person’s

view of life and conditions, making it extremely challenging to set a universal
reason that works the same for everybody. However, these reasons fall into
mainly three categories: emotional reasons, psychological reasons, and
material reasons. Personally emotional aspects make me feel delighted;
therefore, I suggest that instead of waiting for the three causes to come all
together, the one should take advantage of the small moments in life
including smiles, praises, or a morning workouts.

My Introduction after the feedback:

Can money buy happiness? the answer remains ambiguous. This might be caused by people's
different perspectives about what the word actually entails. Some people see that it is wealth that
make everyone happy. Others believe that the causes of happiness are emotional. Despite the
ambiguity the sources of happiness can be categorised into three major groups: emotional,
material, and psychological.
You can see a noticeable change on the level of language and the clarity of ideas. Also, extra
details were removed.
 fifth week

During the fifth week's session we discussed many topics. Firstly, we learned
techniques to write a strong hook such as asking a question, shocking
information, or imaginary scenario. Additionally, we explore methods of
writing thesis statement. Moreover, we learned about dangling modifiers.

While:

While people drive their cars on the morning, they ignore the cumulative
effect of burning fossil fuels.

Because of:

Because of the controversy of the topic, people's opinions differed.

Although:

Although it is hard to define universal causes of happiness, they can

categorised into three major groups, namely emotional, psychological, and
material.
 6th Week

During this session we were assigned to give the essay we wrote to another
classmate to evaluate it.

In my class mate’s essay this was my feedback:

Positive aspects

1. Clear language
2. No grammatical mistakes
3. Good punctuation
4. Clear thesis statement

Negative aspects

1. No hook
2. Directness
3. The use of dangling modifiers
4. The use of personal pronouns
5. Redundancy

MY classmate’s feedback was:

Positive aspects

1. Accurate examples
2. Good use of connectors

Negative aspects

1. Repetition of vocabulary
2. No variety in examples

While I was discussing with her the feedbacks, we disagreed about the use of
a hook, dangling modifiers, and whether repetition is essential when it comes
to key words.
 Seventh Week

In the seventh week, we were introduced to cause and effect essay taking
the new and old educational systems of Morocco.

We brainstormed the major differences between both :

Traditional educational system Modern educational system

3. Different needs, same tools 7. Collaboration
4. Lack of creativity 8. Creativity
5. Treats students as if they 9. Focuses on soft skills
were robots
6. Focuses on hard skills like
memorization

After that, we were assigned to write a comparison and contrast essay about
both of them and give it to other classmates to evaluate it.
 8TH WEEK

During this session, we got our comparison and contrast paragraphs

evaluated. We also discussed frame of reference, which refers to a set of
criteria based on which we develop our essay, and methods of brain
storming. Taking new and old educational systems as example, they can be
discussed through three major points namely assessment, interaction, and
goals. This would help us focalize our essay, making it more coherent and
unite. By the end of the session, we exercised brainstorming of different
comparison and contrast topics, including identifying the similarities and
differences of each one.

After I went home, I did research about Block & Point by Point methods. I
learned more about the two methods and also about Venn Diagram.

c
 I had also googled some transition words as:

contrasting
However, in contrast to, conversely, while, more than/less than, rather than, unlike,
although, compared with

Similarities
However, in contrast to, conversely, while, more than/less than, rather than, unlike,
although, compared with.
Moreover, this is a template for Point by Point outline method

Introduction 10. Hook

11. Background information
12. Thesis statement
Body Paragraph 1 13. Topic sentence
14. Feature 1 in subject A
15. Feature 1 in subject B
Body Paragraph 2 16. Topic sentence
17. Feature 2 in subject A
18. Feature 2 in subject B
Body Paragraph 3 19. Topic sentence
 20. Feature 3 in subject A
21. Feature 3 in subject B
Conclusion 22. Summary
23. Restated thesis

This is a template for the Block strategy:

Introduction 24. Hook

25. Background information
26. Thesis statement
Body Paragraph 1 27. Topic sentence
28. Subject A’s features
Body Paragraph 2 1. Topic sentence
2. Subject B’s features
Body Paragraph 3‍ 1. Topic sentence
2. Subject C’s features
Conclusion  Summary
 Restated thesis
Block Method Outline Template

Here is an example pf the Point by Point method

Introduction The essay’s purpose: to discuss the differences between fresh and canned foods.
Thesis While canned and fresh foods serve the same purpose, they have noticeably different flavors,
costs, and health benefits.
Body Paragraph The first difference between fresh and canned foods is their flavor.
1
Body Paragraph The second difference between fresh and canned foods is their health benefits.
2
Body Paragraph The third difference between fresh and canned foods is cost.
3
Conclusion the differences between the two foods regarding cost, health benefits, and flavor.
Differences between Fresh and Canned Foods

Here is another example of the block method

Introduction Introduction of the two subjects of comparison.

Thesis There are three main differences between backpacking and staying in hotels: cost, convenience,
and safety.
Body The first point of comparison is cost.
Paragraph 1
Body The second point of comparison is convenience.
Paragraph 2
Body The first point of comparison is safety.
Paragraph 3
Conclusion the key differences between these two accommodation alternatives. These options differ on key
fronts worth a traveler’s consideration: overall cost implications, relative convenience levels, and
safety.
Differences between Backpacking and Staying in Hotels
 9th WEEK

During this session, we were assigned to choose a topic and brain storm
ideas about it using both Point by Point and Block methods. After
brainstorming, we had to write an outline for our essays. When I outlined my
essay I asked the professor to give me his feedback. I was told that when
starting the hook with a WH question I need to give an answer to it in the
connecting information rather than jumping to other matters.

This was my outline using both methods:

This is my final outline of my essay using point by point strategy:

 10th Week

On this session, we assigned to give feedbacks for our classmate essay. He

has done many mistakes in terms of grammar, structure, and punctuation.
After that we were assigned to analyze an argumentative essay by answering
questions in the coursebook. After that, we were ordered to form groups and
discuss one of the topics the teacher gave including sexual education, social
media, teaching religion, marriage, cell-phones. Me and my group members
chose the topic of social media. We had a conflict: Some of us argued that it
is a vital tool in our lives; meanwhile, others including me believed it is the
curse of our time. By the end of the session, we explored the argumentative
essay. I could not get what do refutation and the counter argument mean
and therefore I asked the professor for explanation.

The mistakes in the essay were as the following:

Directness The use of contractions Lack of diversity

personal in expressions
pronouns
Single minded Informal tone No indentation Problems with
goal the hook

Refutation: it means making the opponent’s claim weak and strengthening

yours.

Counter argument: Here the writer tries to anticipate what the opponent
might use as argument. This is to make your essay multi-minded and not
single minded.
 11th Week

During this session we continued working on the topics we had been working
on the session before. Me and my group
members brain stormed ideas about the
topic of social media. Personally, I used
mind-aping for brain storming ideas about
the drawbacks of social media as in the
picture. Next, we were assigned to arrange
our ideas into a table of cons and pros and
to write a refutation and a counter
argument of our essays. Finally, we were given the task of writing an outline
for our argumentative essays, which was overwhelming a little. That might
be caused by the difficulty of writing this type of essays as it requires
brainstorming too many ideas. I mean it is difficult to get a frame of
reference for your essay as it includes refutation and counter argument.

This was my outline:

The Dark Side of Social Media

Introduction:

Hook: Start with a striking statistic, e.g., “Social media users spend an
average of 40 hours a week online.”

Connecting Information: Highlight how this excessive use can endanger

personal relationships, health, and jobs. Acknowledge the opposing view that
social media has improved communication.

Thesis Statement: Despite its advantages, social media poses serious risks
to people’s lives, particularly in psychological, physical, and sociological
aspects.

Body Paragraph 1: Psychological Problems

Topic Sentence: Overuse of social media significantly affects mental health.

Point 1: Social media fosters anxiety and depression through excessive

comparison with others.
Example: Seeing curated posts can make users feel inadequate about their
lives.

Point 2: Cyberbullying is prevalent, leading to emotional distress and long-

term psychological effects.

Example: Harassment on platforms like Instagram or Twitter affects self-

esteem.

Point 3: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) contributes to constant anxiety and

stress.

Example: Users feel pressured to stay updated on trends or events, fostering

a sense of inadequacy.

Body Paragraph 2: Physical Health Issues

Topic Sentence: Prolonged social media use leads to several physical health
problems.

Point 1: Sleep disruption due to screen time late at night.

Example: Notifications and scrolling reduce the quality and duration of sleep.

Point 2: Sedentary lifestyle resulting from hours spent online.

Example: Lack of physical activity increases the risk of obesity and related
illnesses.

Point 3: Eye strain and headaches from excessive screen exposure.

Example: Blue light from devices can harm eyesight over time.

Body Paragraph 3: No Real-World Interaction

Topic Sentence: Social media has hindered real-world communication and

relationships.

Counterargument: Supporters argue social media has improved

communication and connected people across distances.

Example: Platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp allow individuals in different

countries to interact freely.

Refutation: While partially true, social media often weakens face-to-face

interactions and fosters isolation.

Example: People spend more time online than engaging with loved ones in
person, leading to weaker bonds.
Conclusion:

Restate Thesis: Although social media has its benefits, it causes significant
harm to mental health, physical well-being, and real-world connections.

Opinion/Suggestion: Advocate for balanced use of social media by setting

time limits, promoting real-life interactions, and raising awareness about its
risks.

12TH WEEK

During this session, gave our essays to our peers to have them evaluated
based on the questions in the course-book. Some of the questions were
about the structure like the thesis, hook, and connection information, and
others were about the language like the use of pronouns and other
grammatical issues. For the essay of my friend, there are two elements I
need to point out. First, there were some mistakes in terms of punctuation.
Second, he used some transition words mistakenly, like “on one hand… on
the other hand”. This transition word can be used only for contrasting and
not for addition. We had a discussion with the professor and he told me that
you can use it for addition if the arguments were different. However, my
friend is still wrong because his arguments were not that different. For the
problems of my essay, he pointed to the problem of repeated vocabulary.