what is an academic paper.docx

what is an academic paper.docx

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whatisanacademicpaper

Whatisanacademicpaper?

WritingforCollege

HowItDiffersFromWritinginHighSchool

Oneofthefirstthingsyou'lldiscoverasacollegestudentisthatwritingincollegeisdifferentfromwritinginhighschool.Certainlyalotofwhatyourhighschoolwritingteacherstaughtyouwillbeusefultoyouasyouapproachwritingincollege:

youwillwanttowriteclearly,tohaveaninterestingandarguablethesis,toconstructparagraphsthatarecoherentandfocused,andsoon.

Still,manystudentsentercollegerelyingonwritingstrategiesthatservedthemwellinhighschoolbutthatwon'tservethemwellhere.Oldformulae,suchasthefive-paragraphtheme,aren'tsophisticatedorflexibleenoughtoprovideasoundstructureforacollegepaper.Andmanyoftheoldtricks-suchasusingelevatedlanguageorrepeatingyourselfsothatyoumightmeetaten-pagerequirement-willfailyounow.

Sohowdoesastudentmakeasuccessfultransitionfromhighschooltocollege?

Thefirstthingthatyou'llneedtounderstandisthatwritingincollegeisforthemostpartaparticularkindofwriting,called"academicwriting."Whileacademicwritingmightbedefinedinmanyways,therearethreeconceptsthatyouneedtounderstandbeforeyouwriteyourfirstacademicpaper.

1.Academicwritingiswritingdonebyscholarsforotherscholars.Writingdonebyscholarsforscholars?

Doesn'tthatleaveyouout?

Actually,itdoesn't.Nowthatyouareincollegeyouarepartofacommunityofscholars.Asacollegestudent,youwillbeengagedinactivitiesthatscholarshavebeenengagedinforcenturies:

youwillreadabout,thinkabout,argueabout,andwriteaboutgreatideas.Ofcourse,beingascholarrequiresthatyouread,think,argue,andwriteincertainways.Youreducationwillhelpyoutounderstandtheexpectations,conventions,andrequirementsofscholarship.Ifyoureadon,sowillthisWebsite.

2.Academicwritingisdevotedtotopicsandquestionsthatareofinteresttotheacademiccommunity.Whenyouwriteanacademicpaper,youmustfirsttrytofindatopicoraquestionthatisrelevantandappropriate.Buthowdoyouknowwhenatopicisrelevantandappropriate?

Firstofall,payattentiontowhatyourprofessorissaying.Shewillcertainlybegivingyouacontextintowhichyoucanplaceyourquestionsandobservations.Second,understandthatyourpapershouldbeofinteresttootherstudentsandscholars.Rememberthatacademicwritingmustbemorethanpersonalresponse.Youmustwritesomethingthatyourreaderswillfinduseful.Inotherwords,youwillwanttowritesomethingthathelpsyourreadertobetterunderstandyourtopic,ortoseeitinanewway.

3.Thisbringsustoourfinalpoint:

Academicwritingshouldpresentthereaderwithaninformedargument.Toconstructaninformedargument,youmustfirsttrytosortoutwhatyouknowaboutasubjectfromwhatyouthinkaboutasubject.Or,toputitanotherway,youwillwanttoconsiderwhatisknownaboutasubjectandthentodeterminewhatyouthinkaboutit.Ifyourpaperfailstoinform,orifitfailstoargue,thenitwillfailtomeettheexpectationsoftheacademicreader.

ConstructingAnInformedArgument

WhatYouKnow

Whenyousitdowntowriteanacademicpaper,you'llfirstwanttoconsiderwhatyouknowaboutyourtopic.Differentwritingassignmentsrequiredifferentdegreesofknowing.AshortpaperwritteninresponsetoaviewingofAlfredHitchcock'sRearWindow,forexample,maynotrequireyoutobefamiliarwithHitchcock'sotherworks.Itmaynotevenrequireyoutohavemasteredthetermsimportanttofilmcriticism-thoughclearlyanyknowledgeyoubringtothefilmmighthelpyoutomakeathoughtfulresponsetoit.

However,ifyouareaskedtowriteanacademicpaperonthefilm,thenyouwillwanttoknowmore.YouwillwanttohavecertaintermsinhandsothatyoucanexplainwhatHitchcockisdoinginkeymoments.YouwillwanttobefamiliarwithHitchcock'sotherfilmssothatyoucanunderstandwhatthemesareimportanttohimandhiswork.Moreover,ifyouarewatchingthisfilminanupper-levelfilmclass,youwillwanttobeawareofdifferentcriticalperspectivesonHitchcock'sfilmsandonfilmsingeneral,sothatyoucan"place"yourargumentwithinthelargerongoingconversation.

Whenyousitdowntowriteanacademicpaper,askyourselfthesequestions:

WhatdoIknowaboutmytopic?

∙CanIanswerthequestionswho,what,when,where,why,how?

∙WhatdoIknowaboutthecontextofmytopic?

∙WhathistoricalorculturalinfluencesdoIknowaboutthatmightbeimportanttomytopic?

∙Doesmytopicbelongtoanyparticulargenreorcategoryoftopics?

∙WhatdoIknowaboutthisgenre?

Whatseemsimportanttomeaboutthistopic?

∙IfIweretosummarizewhatIknowaboutthistopic,whatpointswouldIfocuson?

∙Whatpointsseemlessimportant?

∙WhydoIthinkso?

HowdoesthistopicrelatetootherthingsthatIknow?

∙WhatdoIknowaboutthetopicthatmighthelpmyreadertounderstanditinnewways?

WhatDON'TIknowaboutmytopic?

∙WhatdoIneedtoknow?

∙HowcanIfindoutmore?

WhatYouThink

You'lldiscoverasyouconsiderthequestionslistedabovethatyouaremovingbeyondwhatyouknowaboutatopicandarebeginningtoconsiderwhatyouthink.Intheprocessofreallythinkingaboutyourtopic,youraimistocomeupwithafreshobservation.Afterall,it'snotenoughtosummarizeinapaperwhatisalreadyknownandtalkedabout.Youmustalsoaddsomethingofyourowntotheconversation.

Understand,however,that"addingsomethingofyourown"isnotaninvitationsimplytobringyourownpersonalassociations,reactions,orexperiencestothereadingofatext.Tocreateaninformedargument,youmustfirstrecognizethatyourwritingshouldbeanalyticalratherthanpersonal.Inotherwords,yourwritingmustshowthatyourassociations,reactions,andexperiencesofatexthavebeenframedinacritical,ratherthanapersonal,way.

Howdoesonemovefrompersonalresponsetoanalyticalwriting?

Summarize.

First,summarizewhattheprimarytextissaying.You'llnoticethatyoucanconstructseveraldifferentsummaries,dependingonyouragenda.ReturningtotheexampleofHitchcock'sfilm,youmightmakeaplotsummary,asummaryofitsthemes,asummaryofitsediting,andsoon.Youcanalsosummarizewhatyouknowaboutthefilmincontext.Inotherwords,youmightwriteasummaryofthedifficultiesHitchcockexperiencedinthefilm'sproduction,oryoumightwriteasummaryofhowthisparticularmoviecomplementsorchallengesotherfilmsintheHitchcockcanon.Youcanalsosummarizewhatothershavesaidaboutthefilm.FilmcriticshavewrittenmuchaboutHitchcock,hisfilms,andtheirgenre.Trytosummarizeallthatyouknow.

Evaluate.

Theprocessofevaluationisanongoingone.Youevaluateatextthemomentyouencounterit,and-ifyouaren'tlazy-youcontinuetoevaluateandtore-evaluateasyougoalong.Evaluatingatextisdifferentfromsimplyreactingtoatext.Whenyouevaluateforanacademicpurpose,itisimportanttobeabletoclearlyarticulateandtosupportyourownpersonalresponse.Whatinthetextisleadingyoutorespondacertainway?

What'snotinthetextthatmightbecontributingtoyourresponse?

WatchingHitchcock'sfilm,youarelikelytohavefoundyourselffeelinganxious,caughtupinthefilm'ssuspense.Whatinthefilmismakingyoufeelthisway?

Theediting?

Theacting?

Canyoupointtoamomentinthefilmthatisparticularlysuccessfulincreatingsuspense?

Inaskingthesequestions,youarestraddlingtwointellectualprocesses:

experiencingyourownpersonalresponse,andanalyzingthetext.

Analyze.

Thisstepinconstructinganinformedargumentasksyoufirsttoconsiderthepartsofyourtopicandthentoexaminehowthesepartsrelatetoeachotherortothewhole.ToanalyzeHitchcock'sfilm,youmaywanttobreakthefilmdownbyexaminingparticularscenes,pointofview,cameramovements,andsoon.Inshort,you'llwanttoask:

WhatarethecomponentsofHitchcock'sfilm,andhowdothesecomponentscontributetothefilm'stheme?

HowdotheycontributetoHitchcock'sworkasawhole?

Whenyouanalyze,youbreakthewholeintopartssothatyoumightseethewholedifferently.Intheprocessofanalysis,youfindthingsthatyoumightsay.

Synthesize.

Whenyouanalyze,youbreakdownatextintoitsparts.Whenyousynthesize,youlookforconnectionsbetweenideas.ConsideronceagaintheHitchcockfilm.Inanalyzingthisfilm,youmightcomeupwithelementsthatseeminitiallydisparate.Youmayhavesomeobservationsthatatfirstdon'tseemtogel.Oryoumayhavereadvariouscriticalperspectivesonthefilm,allofthemindisagreementwithoneanother.Nowwouldbethetimetoconsiderwhetherthesedisparateelementsorobservationsmightbereconciled,orsynthesized.Thisintellectualexerciserequiresthatyoucreateanumbrellaargument-somelargerargumentunderwhichseveralobservationsandperspectivesmightstand.

ChoosingAnAppropriateTopic

Manystudentswritingincollegehavetroublefiguringoutwhatconstitutesanappropriatetopic.Sometimestheprofessorwillprovideyouwithaprompt.Shewillgiveyouaquestiontoexplore,oraproblemtoresolve.Whenyouaregivenapromptbyyourprofessor,besuretoreaditcarefully.Yourprofessorissettingtheparametersoftheassignmentforyou.Sheistellingyouwhatsortofpaperwillbeappropriate.

Inmanycases,however,theprofessorwon'tprovideyouwithaprompt.Shemightnotevengiveyouatopic.Forexample,inapsychologycourseyoumightbeaskedtowriteapaperonanytheoryortheoriesofself.Your