Before discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the paper, I will provide some points on my writing process.
- Brainstorm topics: I suggest not picking something you know thoroughly, save that for long papers. Use the assignment as a chance to set yourself up for success in classroom discussions and OPIs. The goal is linguistic development.
- Research your topic: I do my preliminary research in Arabic, but I will hit the translate app to get a quick once over of any source (al-Jazeera articles usually have the most accurate translations). Arabic sources are best, the give you a better feel for how the language is used. You also can pick out key vocabulary to include in your paper that is correct as opposed to a direct translation. Keep a spreadsheet open so you can save useful vocab in a thematic list, you may write about this subject again.
- Outline: I write my outlines in English just to get my thoughts on paper initially. It helps me feel like I've made a little progress. In each section I make a word bank of expressions and lexical collocations I want to include. If you have good cultural expressions to throw in that's awesome. If the expression is in dialect this is a good chance to explain the proverb or idiom in MSA which will help if you are struggling to hit a word count.
- Write a thesis statement: It can be a simple statement on the issue or a standard three point thesis statement. Don't reinvent the wheel. If you have a basic issue and you want to dance around the subject for a few hundred words, this is typically acceptable behavior for MSA papers. Fus7a likes to be wordy.
- Body paragraphs: P.I.E. Point, Illustration, Explanation works well. I have a bad habit of going on information overload. When providing evidence in the paper I opted to uses a modified Chicago Style citation. I highly recommend citing your sources, though many students do not. If you use a modified MLA format, this adds to your word count.
- Conclusion: Restate the thesis or offer a solution. Avoid adding new information. I barely have a conclusion in this example because I hit the word count and went to bed.
- Proofread and edit.
ضرب الحبيب مثل أكل الزبيب a beating from a loved one is sweet, like eating raisins and,
المرأة مثل السجادة ما يتنظف الا بالخبيط a woman is like a carpet, it can't me cleaned without a beating.
Both of the expressions came from a USAID campaign called "صحح مثلك", and the first one inspired the paper.
I started off with a clear idea of what I wanted to write about and there was plenty of sources on the open internet. This is not always the case, I wrote a paper about the Yazidis in Iraq and most of the Arabic source material was from "Sputnik" a Russian government run news agency. Given the Russian government's ties with the Assad regime, it is difficult to trust the source material in this case.
Weaknesses in my papers are typically grammar. I frequently forget to follow أنّ with a nominal sentence and I have a few issues with pronouns. Two of the expressions I used are incorrect, one for improper use of the definite article and one for improper use of the gerund. The conclusion is weak and I don't have a clear thesis. These are not major issues as every student makes mistakes,
لكل عالم هفوة
أنا من الجزائر و الحمد لله لم أسمع بمثل هذه الأمثال القبيحة
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