How to write an academic essay.docx

How to write an academic essay.docx

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Howtowriteanacademicessay

Note3

HowtoWriteanAcademicEssay

TheAcademicEssay

•Aclearsenseofargumentisessentialtoallformsofacademicwriting,forwritingisthoughtmadevisible.

•Theymayvaryinexpressionfromdisciplinetodiscipline,butanygoodessayshouldshowusaminddevelopingathesis,supportingthatthesiswithevidence,deftlyanticipatingobjectionsorcounterarguments,andmaintainingthemomentumofdiscovery.

•MotiveandIdea

•Anessayhastohaveapurposeormotive;themereexistenceofanassignmentordeadlineisnotsufficient.Whenyouwriteanessayorresearchpaper,youareneversimplytransferringinformationfromoneplacetoanother,orshowingthatyouhavemasteredacertainamountofmaterial.

•youshouldbetryingtomakethebestpossiblecaseforanoriginalideayouhavearrivedatafteraperiodofresearch.Dependinguponthefield,yourresearchmayinvolvereadingandrereadingatext,performinganexperiment,orcarefullyobservinganobjectorbehavior.

•ThesisandDevelopment

•Theessay'sthesisisthemainpointyouaretryingtomake,usingthebestevidenceyoucanmarshal.Yourthesiswillevolveduringthecourseofwritingdrafts,buteverythingthathappensinyouressayisdirectedtowardestablishingitsvalidity.

•Guidedbyaclearunderstandingofthepointyouwishtoargue,youcansparkyourreader'scuriositybyfirstaskingquestions—theveryquestionsthatmayhaveguidedyouinyourresearch—andcarefullybuildingacaseforthevalidityofyouridea.

•TheTensionofArgument

•Argumentimpliestensionbutnotcombativefireworks.Thistensioncomesfromthefundamentalasymmetrybetweentheonewhowishestopersuadeandthosewhomustbepersuaded.Thecommongroundtheyshareisreason.Yourobjectiveistomakeacasesothatanyreasonablepersonwouldbeconvincedofthereasonablenessofyourthesis.Thefirsttask,evenbeforeyoustarttowrite,isgatheringandorderingevidence,classifyingitbykindandstrength.Youmightdecidetomovefromthesmallestpieceofevidencetothemostimpressive.Oryoumightstartwiththemostconvincing,thenmentionothersupportingdetailsafterward.

•itisimportanttoreviewevidencethatcouldbeusedagainstyourideaandgenerateresponsestoanticipatedobjections.Thisisthecrucialconceptofcounterargument.Ifnothingcanbesaidagainstanidea,itisprobablyobviousorvacuous.

•TheStructureofArgument

•Theheartoftheacademicessayispersuasion,andthestructureofyourargumentplaysavitalroleinthis.Topersuade,youmustsetthestage,provideacontext,anddecidehowtorevealyourevidence.

•Theessay'sobjectiveshouldbedescribedswiftly,byposingaquestionthatwillleadtoyourthesis,ormakingathesisstatement.

•ThemostcommonargumentativestructureinEnglishproseisdeductive:

startingoffwithageneralizationorassertion,andthenprovidingsupportforit.Thispatterncanbeusedtoorderaparagraphaswellasanentireessay.Anotherpossiblestructureisinductive:

facts,instancesorobservationscanbereviewed,andtheconclusiontobedrawnfromthemfollows.

2:

  DoingAcademicResearch

WhatMakesResearchAcademic?

:

WhataretheRules?

WhydoesAcademicResearchHaveSpecialRules?

WhoHhasToFollowTheRules?

TheAuthorityof Sources:

WhatIsAnAuthoritativeSource?

WhatarethePrimaryandSecondarySources?

HowDoYouTestYourSourceisReliable

OnlineResearch:

WhatareTheMostReliableOnlineSources

AreThereAnyReliableandEasilyAccessibleSources?

HowDoICiteThisSource?

:

HarvardStyle

ChicagoStyle

IsThereAnIn-HouseStyle?

3:

 WritinganAcademicEssay

WhatMakesAnEssayAcademic?

:

AcademiavsJournalismandSales-Pitch

TheoriesandFacts

BeCriticalandExplainYourself

IntroductionandConclusion

TypesofEssays:

ArgumentEssay

Description/ReviewEssay

AnalysisEssay

OtherKindsofAcademicWriting

AcademicWritingisanexcellentcourseforanyoneworkinginbusinessorpreparingforhighereducation

HowtoWriteanAcademicEssay

Parts:

•Understandingtheessayquestion

•Preparingforwritingtheessay

•Writingtheessay

•Finalizingtheessay

•Understandingtheessayquestion

•Understandthequestionaskedofyou.

•Examinethetopicforyouressay.

•Researchthetopic.

•Dothisinthelibraryorontheinternet--orusingbothmeans.Findrelevantinformationthatwillbolsterthecontentofyouressay.

•Writeanoutline

•Anoutlineisanorganizedlistofpointsyouwishtomakeinyouressay,intheordertheymakesenseandshouldbewritten.Gettingyourthoughtsorganizedbeforehandmakeswritingtheactualessaymuchquickerandeasier,sinceyouknowwhatdirectionyou'regoingin.

•Readyourrubricorquestiontohelpyoufigureouthowmanyparagraphstheessaymustcontain,orhowmanypagesitmustbe.

•Divideyourthoughtsintoparagraphs.

•Eachpointonyouroutlineshouldbeitsownparagraph.Aparagraphshouldcontainaminimumofthreesentencestostandonitsown.

•Writethefirstdraftoftheessay.

•Thiswillnotbethefinalproduct,soyoushouldnottreatitassuch.Writewhatfirstcomestomindfollowingyouroutline,itisokayifitdoesn'tmeetthelengthrequirementsquiteyet.

Trytofollowapatternof'Claim'followedby'Evidence'.Thenfollowitwith'Impact'.

•Theclaimisastatement,whichisthensupportedbytheevidencesuchasareferenceoraquotationincontext.

•Theimpactisanintelligentreviewofhoworwhythatclaimisimportantinthecontextoftheessay.The'impact'thenbecomestheclaimofthefollowingparagraph,andsoon.

Writetheseconddraft.

Beefupanyparagraphsthatdon'tprovidemuchinformationorargument.Additionalresearchmayhelpyouinthisprocess.

Usetransitionalphrases.

Atransitionalphraseeasesthereaderfromoneparagraphtothenext.Ifyouroutlinewaswrittenwell,thesephrasesshouldlinkthecontentinoneparagraphtothenext.

Editthedraft.

Afteryou'vewrittentheseconddraft,editit.Startingeneral:

fixspelling,capitalizebeginningletters,addperiods,etc.Ifyouareexperiencedwithgrammar,youcanstartsentencebysentence.

Eliminaterhetoricalquestions,orpassiveverbssuchaswas,were,is,etc,andmakepassivesentencesactiveones.

Writeyourfinaldraft.

Besurethisisinthecorrectformat.Useboththecomputer'sspell-check,andreaditoveryourselfaswell.Ifyouareunsureofyourspellingorgrammar,haveafriend,classmateorfamilymemberreaditbeforeyouprintthecopyyouplanonhandingin.

Outlining

Makingadetailedoutlinebeforeyoubeginwritingisagoodwaytomakesureyourideascomeacrossinaclearandlogicalorder.Agoodoutlinewillalsosaveyoutimeintherevisionprocess,reducingthepossibilitythatyourideaswillneedtoberearrangedonceyou'vewrittenthem.

Beforeyoucanbeginoutlining,youneedtohaveasenseofwhatyouwillargueintheessay.Fromyouranalysisandclosereadingsofprimaryand/orsecondarysourcesyoushouldhavenotes,ideas,andpossiblequotestociteasevidence.

I.POLICYINITIATIVES

II.  VOTERS'CONCERNS

III.  FINANCIALRESOURCES

            A.  Fundraising

                        a.  OriginalIdea

                        b.  McCainQuote/BushQuote

                        c.  McCainStatistics/BushStatistics

            B.  CampaignContributions

            C.  AdExpenditure

IV.  VOTERS'LOYALTY

TakingAStance

•Inhighereducation,youneedtobeabletowritecritically.Aswellasgivingthefacts,youneedtobeabletomakeuseofthesefactstocometogeneralconclusions.

•Theseconclusionsneedtobejustifiedandsupportedbyevidence.Youalsoneedtobeawareofotherpointsofviewthatexistandthismustbedealtwith.

•Inacademicwriting,itisoftennecessarytomakeitcleartoyourreaderwhatopinionyouholdorwhatyourpositioniswithregardtoacertainissue.Thisisoftencalledyour"voice"oryour"position"oryour"claim".Itmaybebasedonotherpeople'sresearch（eg,Smith&Jones）,buttheconclusionyouhavecometoisyourown.

•Asastudent,itisnotenoughtosimplydescribeasituationorrecallthefacts,youneedtotakeastanceorpositionyourselfinrelationtothesituationorthefacts.Thisisparticularlyimportantinassessmentwhenyouhavetoansweraquestion. Ofcourse,youneedtoknowandreproducetheinformation,butyoualsoneedtousetheinformationtogiveananswertothequestion,togiveYOURanswertothequestion.

•Expressingyourvoice

•Youcanshowyourpositionwithrespecttoaparticularissueby:

•Showinghowconfident-ornot-youarewithregardtoyourposition.

•Beingexplicitabouttherelationshipsyouarediscussing.

•Indicatingthestrengthofyourclaim.

•Showingconfidence

•Eg.Itwasclearlyproposednotasapermanentarrangement,butasatemporarymeasureofco-operationbetweendifferentindividual.

WritingCritically

•Itisimportanttobeabletowritedecriptively.Youneedtobeabletodefine,describe,categoriseandnarrate.

•Aswellaswritingdescriptively,youneedtobeabletowritecritically.Aswellasgivingthefacts,youneedtobeabletomakeuseofthesefactstocometogeneralconclusions.Theseconclusionsneedtobejustifiedandsupportedbyevidence.

•Youalsoneedtobeawareofotherpointsofviewthatexistandthismustbedealtwith.Soyouneedtodescribeotherpeople'spointsofviewandcompareandcontrastthemwithyourown,statingtheiradvantagesanddisadvantages.Inthiswayyoucananalyseandevaluateyourworkandothersandcometoabalancedconclusion.

•Writing