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Academic Writing
Academic writing tasks aim to find out how well you
can research a topic, argue a point of view, evaluate evidence, and organize
your thinking. This article will provide general advice about different aspects
of academic writing and what resources you can use for more specific advice.
There are three steps that most good writers follow in organizing their
writing. You should use these steps when you write short composition: first, what you are going to write; second,
write it; third, tell your reader what you wrote. To look at these steps
another way, your composition should have three parts:
1. A good beginning. This is where you tell the reader
what you are going to write. A good
beginning has certain requirements:
A good beginning is short. Two or three sentences are
enough to tell your reader how you plan to approach the topic.
A good beginning is direct. In this case of a chart or
paragraph, state the relationship between the two charts or the parts of the
chart in your first sentence. In the case of a comparison, state both sides of
the argument in your first sentence. In a short composition, you don’t have
enough time for indirect approaches.
A good is an outline. The second sentence usually
outlines the organization. It gives the reader a general idea of your plan.
2. Several good comments. This is where you write. Good
comments include several points. A short composition may have between two and
five points. Usually, the writer selects three. In the case of a chart or
paragraph, the number may be determined by the number of variables on it. In
the case of a comparison, three reasons is a standard argument.
Good comments are all related. All
of the comments should relate to the general statement in the first sentence.
Good commence are logical. The points
should be on evidence. In the case of a chart or paragraph, the evidence should
come from information on the chart or paragraph. In the case of a comparison,
the evidence should come from sources that can be cited, as a television
program that you have seen, an article that you have read in a magazine, a book
that you read, or a lecture that you have heard.
Good comments are not judgments.
Opinions should be identified by such as, “in my view,” “in my opinion,” or ‘it
seems to me that.” Furthermore, opinions should be based on evidence. Opinions
that are not based on evidence are judgments. Judgments usually use words like
“good,” “bad,” “right” or “wrong.” Judgments are not good comments.
3. A good ending. This is where you tell the reader what you wrote. A
good ending is a summary. The last sentence is similar to the first sentence.
In a short composition, a good ending does not add new information. It does not
introduce a new idea. A good ending is not an apology. It does not apologize
for not having said enough or for not having had enough time.
When thinking about academic
writing, we can divide vocabulary into three general categories:
General vocabulary: this means the very common words that we
find in all types of written and spoken English.
General academic vocabulary: this
means words used in common across a wide range of academic subject areas.
Subject-specific words: this means
words that relate to an academic subject area.
Here are a number of key words that
you need to know well when you begin your essay: analyze, argue, assess,
compare, contrast, define, describe, discuss, enumerate, evaluate, explain,
illustrate, identify, interpret, justify, list, outline, prove, relate, review,
show, state, summarize, trace.
Any academic essay should contain an
introduction, a body of several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each of these
parts has a specific function. Let us look at each of these in turn.
The introduction usually begins
generally and then moves to more specific details. It should contain your thesis statement or claim, an expression of
intend or promise to the reader that states your main idea and sets up an
expectation of what the reader will find in the essay.
You should state clearly what your
position is on the topic of the essay. The introduction may also outline the
key points of the paragraphs that follow in the body of the essay.
The body is a series of paragraph
that build your argument. Each new idea should have its own paragraph.
Paragraphs often begin with a topic sentence that states the main idea of the
paragraph. It needs to be supported by evidence and explanation, and followed
by a comment or a link to the next paragraph.
The conclusion should summarize your
main ideas and restate the thesis statement. It should not contain new ideas as
this is not the place to develop your argument further. Some people find it
easier to write the body of the essay first and then go back to write the
introduction and conclusion accurately reflect the content of the essay.
Linking devices or discourse markers
are used to that your essay is coherent and cohesive. Below is a list of common
linking devices that have been grouped under their usual function: sequences ideas – firstly, secondly…,
finally, first of all, next, lastly; expressing conditions – if, unless, when,
whether; expressing contrast – but, however, nevertheless, yet, on the other
hand. (Be careful with this expression. It should always be preceded by a
statement that begins with on the one hand); adding further support – besides,
also, furthermore, moreover; starting results – thus, as a result, so,
consequently; expressing similarities – likewise, similarly, in the same way;
providing reasons – in order to, so as not to, so that, because; concluding
statements – in summary, to sum up, to conclude; giving examples – for example,
for instance.
Linking devices vary according to
their position in a sentence, frequency, and punctuation. Supplement this list
by noting new linking devices when you are reading academic texts. Learn their
meanings and how to use them well before you try them in your own work.
Once you have identified the
different parts of an essay topic and established a basic framework, it is time
to gather evidence, statistics, and other information. You should start by
surveying a wide variety of books and other material that might be useful.
These are what we call your “sources” – the evidence you will need in order to
write the essay. Your lectures may supply a reading list. Here are some other
things to consider: look for up-to-date books and articles, read the
bibliographies of these sources and look for any useful materials you find
listed there, think carefully about the purpose of the writer and any possible
bias they might have in writing, read selectively, taking brief notes that will
help you to answer your questions, note any areas of disagreement between your
sources (Sometimes experts disagree, and this is worthy of discussion), set a
time limit on your reading to ensure that you start writing early.
In writing an essay, you may be
tempted to copy straight from materials because you do not think you can write
as well as the original writer, or you think that the reader might not know the
original source and that you might get a better mark for your essay. Copying
directly from another writer and pretending that their words or phrases are
your own is called “plagiarism”. You must avoid this as it is a form of
intellectual theft and is treated very seriously when it is discovered. You can
avoid plagiarism by using the correct methods for quoting, paraphrasing, and
referencing.
When you quote someone, you use
their exact words in your text. Keep quotation as short as possible by quoting
only essential part of what the author says. Try to restrict yourself to
quoting only if the original statement is forceful, well written, or contains
ideas that are so controversial that you feel it is best that the exact words
of the author are used, so that there can be no misunderstanding.
Whereas quoting means you use the
exact words of the writer, paraphrasing means restating the words or ideas from
a book or article in your own words. This is helpful as you can make the ideas
fit into your writing style. You need to follow the rules of paraphrasing
carefully in order to avoid being accused of plagiarism. Here is a procedure
you can follow for paraphrasing: read the original passage very closely to make
sure that you are clear about what it says; put the text to one side. Write the main points of the passage down on
a separate piece of paper; compare your notes with the original and check that
you got the main points; check that you have not added anything that is not
mentioned by the writher in the original and check that you have used your own
words and that you have fairly represented what the author stated.
Make sure you include the reference
directly after the paraphrase in your text so that it is clear where you got
the information from. There are many ways of showing that you are reporting the
words of others. You can say that the author: argues, asserts, believes,
claims, concludes, confirms, emphasizes, explains, hypothesizes, insists,
maintains, observes, notes, points out, questions, says, states. You can learn
other ways of reporting and paraphrasing from your reading. You should include
the page number in the reference because you are reporting on a particular part
of a reference.
In-text referencing is used when you
are quoting or paraphrasing sources in your essay. A bibliography is a list at
the end of your essay that shows which sources you have read or used to help
you prepare your essay. Each academic subject has its own rules for writing
references and your lecturer should supply you with clear guidelines on which
system you should use. Be consistent when formatting references. There are two
common formats the American Psychological Association and the Modern Language
Association.
Don’t forget about editing your
writing. Editing is the process you go through when revising drafts of your
essay. It can take a long time so you need to include proofreading and editing
in your timetable. All essays need revising at least once. It is easier to
proofread a printed page than text on a computer screen. One way you can check
your sentence structure is by reading the text from the bottom up to the top.
This may help you focus on the sentences rather than on the content of your
essay. Read your text aloud to yourself or to your friend to find errors in
sentence structure, word choice, and logic. When you want to rephrase a
sentence, you could try writing three versions of the same sentence to help
clarify what you want to say. To avoid overusing words and expressions and to
ensure variety in your writing, note down expressions as you read that you can
use and then consult your dictionary to find out what they mean. Develop a
checklist of the mistakes you commonly
make when writing an essay and use this list to help you check though your
essays, concentrating on one problem area at a time. There are many books that
deal with grammar problem. You should edit not only your sentence structure and
for grammatical errors but mind your spelling and punctuation because wrong
spelling and punctuation distract readers. Computer spellcheckers can be useful
tools but look for differences in American/British spelling, and words that are
not in the computer dictionary. Double-check your essay for errors
yourself.
Having drafting your essay, ask one
or two people to read it and tell you what they think. Make sure that they know
your essay topic, are aware of what kinds of comments you want, and are prepared
to be honest. When you receive feedback: look at it carefully and check that
you understand each key point your reader have commented; evaluate whether it
is necessary to make all of the changes to your text which have been done and
suggested or not, after that read through the essay thoroughly. It might help
to imagine that you are a reader who is picking up the text for the very first
time. When you receive a piece of writing back from being marked, go through
and look at any of the written feedback and notes points that you think will
help you with the next piece of academic writing you do.
References:
1. http://www.allenandunwin.com/eStudy/estudy.asp
2. http://apa.org/journals/webref.html
3. http://vuw.ac.nz/lals/staff/averil_coxhead/academic_wodlist.htm