There is a general assumption that students naturally know how to brainstorm, process relevant information and express their thoughts according the PEEL structure – though very often, students are clueless about it.
Teachers have always asked students to plan – without really teaching the students how to plan.
Students who do not have any idea on how to plan will hence view brainstorming or planning as a time wasting activity and proceed to tackle the paragraph by writing the first thing that comes to their minds – which probably results in an incoherent sounding paragraphs or paragraphs lacking in depth.
In addition, the infamous PEEL, PEEEL (or how ever many ‘E’s teachers wish to include into that acronym) does not teach students what to put into their PEEL.
Good writing consists of both writing technicals and the quality of the content. This step-by-step guide attempts to tackle PEEL or PEEL. As such, this section teaches students the technicals of writing a body paragraph - (1) how to plan and brainstorm before (2) translating their ideas into the PEEL structure.
In particular, this page aims to address the following questions:
Teachers have always asked students to plan – without really teaching the students how to plan.
Students who do not have any idea on how to plan will hence view brainstorming or planning as a time wasting activity and proceed to tackle the paragraph by writing the first thing that comes to their minds – which probably results in an incoherent sounding paragraphs or paragraphs lacking in depth.
In addition, the infamous PEEL, PEEEL (or how ever many ‘E’s teachers wish to include into that acronym) does not teach students what to put into their PEEL.
Good writing consists of both writing technicals and the quality of the content. This step-by-step guide attempts to tackle PEEL or PEEL. As such, this section teaches students the technicals of writing a body paragraph - (1) how to plan and brainstorm before (2) translating their ideas into the PEEL structure.
In particular, this page aims to address the following questions:
- How do students elaborate a main point?
- How do students provide a thorough elaboration of their main point?
- How do students provide links in their writing?
- How do students even write his or her main point?
- How do student engage in a proper thinking process?
- How does a student express his or her ideas into the PEEL structure?
[PLANNING]
Step 1: Establish a relationship using diagramming (Level: Basic)
Step 1: Establish a relationship using diagramming (Level: Basic)
Some students form this mental link automatically and skip this stage. Other students however, require a concrete step to establish such a relationship.
Let's take the following question as an example.
Question: What is the advantage of organising an orientation camp for the students?
Question: What is the advantage of organising an orientation camp for the students?
Some students may take the term “organise an orientation camp” and decide between placing in under “Activity/Problem” ( ○ ) or the “End goal / end objective” ( □ ) .
Upon deciding to place it under “Activity/Problem” ( ○ ), the student would then seek to fill in the other blank ( □ ) upon realising that the answer to the question (Answer: Make new friends)
○ -> □
Organising an orientation camp --> make new friends
However, this method backfires when the student is unable correctly decide if "Making new friends" belongs to “Activity / Problem” or “End goal/ end objective”. They may say that “make new friends” is an activity (which is technically not wrong if you look at it in isolation).
As such, another method would be to allow such students to answer the question first (Answer: Make new friends). With “Organising an orientation camp” and “Make new friends” in mind, the student would proceed to question accordingly.
“Does an orientation camp lead to making new friends? Or does making new friends lead to an orientation camp?”
Thereafter, students will decide the order through reasoning – it makes little sense if making new friends led to an orientation camp. As such, an orientation camp may lead to an end result of making new friends.
Upon deciding to place it under “Activity/Problem” ( ○ ), the student would then seek to fill in the other blank ( □ ) upon realising that the answer to the question (Answer: Make new friends)
○ -> □
Organising an orientation camp --> make new friends
However, this method backfires when the student is unable correctly decide if "Making new friends" belongs to “Activity / Problem” or “End goal/ end objective”. They may say that “make new friends” is an activity (which is technically not wrong if you look at it in isolation).
As such, another method would be to allow such students to answer the question first (Answer: Make new friends). With “Organising an orientation camp” and “Make new friends” in mind, the student would proceed to question accordingly.
“Does an orientation camp lead to making new friends? Or does making new friends lead to an orientation camp?”
Thereafter, students will decide the order through reasoning – it makes little sense if making new friends led to an orientation camp. As such, an orientation camp may lead to an end result of making new friends.
[PLANNING]
Step 2: Brain storming the elaboration
Step 2: Brain storming the elaboration
Many students find brain storming to be a waste of time and does not value add to the quality of their writing. They see no value in mind mapping and would rather dive straight into writing the essay. As such, some schools have made it a requirement for students to include their brain storming / mind mapping together with their essays. In response to this, some students will proceed to work backwards by writing their essays before drawing up their mind map. Or they would insert some courtesy points in their mind map without much thought before writing. Either way, their response totally defeats the purpose of brainstorming / mind mapping in the first place.
Brainstorming and mind mapping are essential. However, this skill only becomes a very powerful skill when fully mastered. Mastery of skills takes time – years - and a lot of effort. Some students probably do not have the luxury of time, good teachers or patience to develop such a skill.
Brainstorming / mind mapping (technicals only) usually occurs on two levels:
Students usually have greater difficulty in tackling the elaboration of paragraphs (the quality of main points not withstanding). As such, step 2 brings you through the thinking process of the in-depth explanation of each paragraph.
Brainstorming and mind mapping are essential. However, this skill only becomes a very powerful skill when fully mastered. Mastery of skills takes time – years - and a lot of effort. Some students probably do not have the luxury of time, good teachers or patience to develop such a skill.
Brainstorming / mind mapping (technicals only) usually occurs on two levels:
- Macro – how the thesis statement leads to the main points
- Paragraph – the elaboration of each paragraph
Students usually have greater difficulty in tackling the elaboration of paragraphs (the quality of main points not withstanding). As such, step 2 brings you through the thinking process of the in-depth explanation of each paragraph.
Level: Basic
THINKING PROCESS (Basic) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
COMPONENTS OF THE THINKING PROCESS |
○ | ELABORATION (In-depth explanation) |
□ | ||
Step A | Step B | ||||
Question | What is the activity / issue? |
Explain a bit more about the activity / issue. |
What action/activity does it lead to? |
What is the end goal/objective? |
|
Answer | Organise an orientation | The orientation camp consists of team-building games |
More interaction among the students |
Make new friends |
Thinking process
( ○ + Elaboration Step A + □)
You organise an orientation camp. It consists of team-building games for students which will allow them to make friends.
( ○ + Elaboration step B + Elaboration step 2 + □)
You organise an orientation camp. It consists of team-building games for students. The team building games let students interact. When students interact, they make new friends.
Admittedly, there are still missing / illogical links. People do not make friends with every person they interact with. In addition, the elaboration is pretty general and vague.
However, this basic, 2-step elaboration is largely passable / acceptable in lower secondary Normal Academic essays. In essence, the student will not fail if they manage to achieve the steps as shown above (I have seen paragraphs with greater incoherence that still managed to make the cut.) Yet plenty of students struggle immensely to even achieve this 2 step method.
In order to provide a thorough explanation, the student should employ advanced questioning techniques (please refer to the next section – “Level: Intermediate to advanced”)
Note to all: You should just aim to attain competency in this basic level of the thinking process and not proceed to the intermediate/advance levels until you are really confident of doing so.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
The following questioning techniques should be applied to almost every sentence that is written in order to form proper linkage between the sentences in each paragraph. Care must be taken to remember to stay within the essay topic in order to sustain the linkage of each paragraph to the thesis statement.
( ○ + Elaboration Step A + □)
You organise an orientation camp. It consists of team-building games for students which will allow them to make friends.
( ○ + Elaboration step B + Elaboration step 2 + □)
You organise an orientation camp. It consists of team-building games for students. The team building games let students interact. When students interact, they make new friends.
Admittedly, there are still missing / illogical links. People do not make friends with every person they interact with. In addition, the elaboration is pretty general and vague.
However, this basic, 2-step elaboration is largely passable / acceptable in lower secondary Normal Academic essays. In essence, the student will not fail if they manage to achieve the steps as shown above (I have seen paragraphs with greater incoherence that still managed to make the cut.) Yet plenty of students struggle immensely to even achieve this 2 step method.
In order to provide a thorough explanation, the student should employ advanced questioning techniques (please refer to the next section – “Level: Intermediate to advanced”)
Note to all: You should just aim to attain competency in this basic level of the thinking process and not proceed to the intermediate/advance levels until you are really confident of doing so.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
The following questioning techniques should be applied to almost every sentence that is written in order to form proper linkage between the sentences in each paragraph. Care must be taken to remember to stay within the essay topic in order to sustain the linkage of each paragraph to the thesis statement.
Advanced questioning techniques to form links between sentences / ideas |
||
---|---|---|
Questioning technique | Classification / Type | |
1. | Justification | Why? |
2. | Clarification | What? |
So what? | ||
How? [ Show, don’t tell. ] | ||
3. | Significance | Highlight the importance. [Why is it important?] |
Address the consequence [Why is it a problem?] |
The following example is just a very simple illustration of brainstorming using the advanced set of questioning techniques.
THINKING PROCESS | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
COMPONENTS OF THE THINKING PROCESS |
○ | ELABORATION | □ |
|||||
Step A | Link Justify |
Step B |
Link Clarify (So what?) |
Link Clarify (So what?) |
||||
QUESTION | What is the activity/ issue? |
Explain a bit more about the activity / issue. (Give more background information about the activity / issue because your reader does not know anything about it.) |
Why must there be team building games in orientation camps? |
What action/ activity does it lead to? |
So what? Does interaction between students DEFINITELY lead to making new friends? You don't become friends with every person you interact with. So upon interaction, what other condition must you meet in order to make new friends? |
Even if students were to understand each other better, it still does not mean that they will befriend EVERY person they come across. What kind of words must you use to show that you are not taking such an extreme stance? |
What is the end goal/objective? |
|
ANSWER | Organise an orienta- tion camp |
The orientation camp consists of team-building games |
To get students to know each other because they have not met before. |
Students can talk among each other. |
More interaction lets students have the chance to get to know each other better. |
Students will have more chances or opportunities to... |
Make new friends. |
|
Refine vocabulary | ||||||||
ANSWER | Organise an orienta- tion camp |
The orientation camp consists of team-building games. |
Introducing the students to each other. |
More inter- action among the students |
More interaction allows students to have greater understanding among one another |
Students will have more chances or opportunities to... |
Foster new friendships |
Some students think that linking means the mere repetition of the main point of each body paragraph in the last sentence of the body paragraph, in hopes of reiterating the main point and addressing the thesis statement. The PEEL structure encourages such an impression of linking as ‘LINK’ is represented as the last component.
Such an impression of linking is incorrect. As shown in the thinking process above, linking is a continuous process, of which each sentence links to the next sentence through the use of questioning techniques.
The table below shows another example of a thoroughly explained paragraph through the use of intermediate/advanced questioning techniques to link the sentences together.
Some students think that linking means the mere repetition of the main point of each body paragraph in the last sentence of the body paragraph, in hopes of reiterating the main point and addressing the thesis statement. The PEEL structure encourages such an impression of linking as ‘LINK’ is represented as the last component.
Such an impression of linking is incorrect. As shown in the thinking process above, linking is a continuous process, of which each sentence links to the next sentence through the use of questioning techniques.
The table below shows another example of a thoroughly explained paragraph through the use of intermediate/advanced questioning techniques to link the sentences together.
PROVIDING A COMPLETE ELABORATION VIA THOROUGH QUESTIONING TECHNIQUES - AN EXAMPLE | |
---|---|
Essay question: What is the disadvantage of allowing students to use technologies in their studies? | |
Elaboration | Students who use technology in their studies may be distracted and will use the technology for other purposes instead. |
Question | Why are they distracted? (Justification) |
Elaboration | Students who use technology in their studies may be distracted and will use the technology for other purposes instead after giving in to temptation. |
Question | What sort of temptation? (Clarification - 'What?') |
Elaboration | Students who use technology in their studies may be distracted after giving in to temptation of checking their social media updates instead of using the technology for studies. |
Question | ( Some writers might even go one step further and address the question of “Why does an individual feel temptation?) (Justification) |
Elaboration | Feeling tempted or falling into temptation is an intrinsic part of human nature. |
Question | So what if individuals get distracted? /What is the consequence of individuals getting distracted by the technology? / Why is such distraction a problem? (Clarification – ‘So what?’ / Significance - Addressing consequence) |
Elaboration | Students who use technology in their studies may be distracted after giving in to temptation of checking their social media updates instead of using the technology for studies. As such, students may waste the time that was originally allocated for their studies. |
Question | So what if individuals waste the time allocated for their studies? /What is the consequence of individuals wasting the time allocated for their studies? / Why is such time wastage a problem? (Clarification – ‘So what?’ / Addressing consequence) |
Elaboration | Students who use technology in their studies may be distracted after giving in to temptation of checking their social media updates instead of using the technology for studies. As such, students may waste the time that was originally allocated for their studies. This results in an inefficient use of their time, and prolonged periods of such distraction may ultimately adversely affect their academic progress. |
Expertise in questioning techniques allows students to demonstrate proficiency in reasoning and achieve a well elaborated paragraph.
[TRANSLATING TO WRITING]
Step 3: Translating the thinking process into the PEEL structure
Step 3: Translating the thinking process into the PEEL structure
Despite having all the necessary points in their heads, some students face difficulty in expressing their ideas in complete sentences as they do not know how to start their sentences. With reference to the advance thinking process in step 2, the table below attempts to show how a student should translate their ideas into a proper sentence.
TRANSLATING THE THINKING PROCESS INTO THE 'PEEL' STRUCTURE [ AN EXAMPLE ] Essay question: What is the advantage of organising a camp for students? |
||
---|---|---|
COMPONENTS OF 'PEEL' | Purpose | Example |
Point | This sentence answers the essay question. If you are unsure of how to construct your sentence, use the exact structure -wording - provided in the question. You won’t go,wrong like that. Decide if the answer involves ○ or □ |
The advantage of organising a camp for the students is to allow students to foster new friendships. |
Elaboration |
Step A: Explain a bit more about the activity / issue. (Give more background information,about the activity / issue because your reader does not know anything about it.) |
2nd sentence: The orientation camp consists of team-building games in order to break the ice and introduce the new students to each other. |
What action/activity does it lead to? | 3rd sentence: This will result in more interaction and promote greater understanding among the students. |
|
What is the end result? | 4th sentence: Such increased interaction and understanding provides more opportunities for students to foster new friendships among themselves. |
|
Example | - | - |
Link |
Some students may write: “Therefore,,the advantage of organising a camp for the students is to allow students to,foster new friendships.” in order to forcibly link the paragraph back to the main point – as taught by their teachers. However, in this case, I would think that the link is a mere repetition of the first sentence and should be omitted. |
- |
* The words in bold shows some of the phrases that you can use to structure the ideas into sentences.
4 mere sentences. It seems like so much effort goes into the thinking process before penning it down into the PEEL format. I can understand why struggling writers hate to brainstorm. In reality though, such “extensive” thinking process occurs very naturally in less than a minute to students who have mastered the skill of thorough elaboration.
This brings me to my other point, even though it is stated that students are required to follow the PEEL or the PEEEL structure, the two most important components are ‘PE’. If the ‘PE’ is written well, it would have linked the previous sentence to the next and the final sentence of the ‘E’ would have linked back to the main point, which in return links back to the thesis statement. As such, the ‘-EL’ may be omitted if the ‘PE’ is tackled well.
4 mere sentences. It seems like so much effort goes into the thinking process before penning it down into the PEEL format. I can understand why struggling writers hate to brainstorm. In reality though, such “extensive” thinking process occurs very naturally in less than a minute to students who have mastered the skill of thorough elaboration.
This brings me to my other point, even though it is stated that students are required to follow the PEEL or the PEEEL structure, the two most important components are ‘PE’. If the ‘PE’ is written well, it would have linked the previous sentence to the next and the final sentence of the ‘E’ would have linked back to the main point, which in return links back to the thesis statement. As such, the ‘-EL’ may be omitted if the ‘PE’ is tackled well.