2. GENERAL
ADVICE ON
ACADEMIC
WRITING
• An essay should have an argument. It should try to prove
something by reasoning and evidence.
• If the assigned topic does not provide you with thesis ready-
made, your efford should be to formulate possible questions
you will sick to answer in your essay.
• Your argument should be presented clearly and persuasively
• Do not try to write an essay from beginning to end, but reather
write what seems readest to be written, even if you are not sure
weather or how it will fit in.
• Write a draft and, rather than merely editing it sentence one by
one, attend to the whole essay and draft and redraft it.
• Once you have a well organized draft, revise sentences and
keep in mind two important considerations: Diction (exactness
and aptness of words) and Economy (the fewest words without
loss of clear expressions.
3. REMEMBER!
Y OU ARE NOT BE ING ASKE D
JUST TO C OLLE C T FAC TS,
BUT TO DE V E LOP AN DISPLAY
Y OUR POWE RS OF
RE ASONING...
• Look for words that define the kind of reasoning you should
be using:
• Analyse: be able to recognize relationships such as cause and
effect, even if it is unstated in what you read.
• Compare means find differences as well as similarities.
• Evaluate. Can you apply your judgement to the results of
your analysis? This asks for an opinion based on well-defined
criteria and clearly stated evidence.
• Argue likewise asks you to take a stand based on analysis of
solid evidence.
4. Writer's block
THIS REFERS TO THOSE GREATER -
THAN -OR DINAR Y BLOCK AGES, IT
OCCURS WHEN A WRITER FEELS
UNABLE TO WRITE.
Are you having trouble
understanding the asignment?
Have you
done enough
research?
Do you have a topic?
Are you worried about sounding smart
enough?
Do you find introductions difficult to
write?
Is outside stress distracting you from your academic
work?
5. • Ask questions about anything that you find new
or confusing.
• If you don't know what to write about, you may
need to do more research
• be sure that you have specific topic: use course
materials, reread lecture notes in areas that
you find interesting, talk about your ideas iwth
a friend, try a mind-mapping exercise
• Leave plented of time for revising and editing
• Don't be afraid to start writing with what you
know. A writing plan, or focus statement is still
a good idea, but you don't need to write the
introdction first.
• When you are writing, work somewhere quiet
where you cannot be interrupted, turn off your
cellphone, and stay off email and the Internet.
6. THESIS STATEMENTS
TYPICALLY, THIS STATEMENT COMES
IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH IN THE
ESSAY. HERE ARE SOME
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD THESIS
STATEMENTS
1. It makes a definite and limited assertion
that needs to be explained and supported
by further discussion
2. It shows the emphasis of your argument
and indicates its methodology
3. It shows awareness of difficuties and
disagreements
7. "EVERY PAPER REQUIRES ONE"
MYTHS ABOUT THESIS
STATEMENTS
"A THESIS STATEMENT MUST COME AT THE END OF
THE FIRST PARAGRAPH"
"A THESIS STATEMENT MUST BE ONE SENTENCE
IN LENGHT"
"YOU CAN'T START WRITING AN ESSAY UNTIL YOU HAVE A
PERFECT THESIS STATEMENT"
"A THESIS STATEMENT MUST GIVE THREE POINTS OF SUPPORT"
8. PARTS OF THE ACADEMIC ESSAY
INTRODUCTION
FIRST PARAGRAPH
SECOND
PARAGRAPH
THIRD
PARAGRAPH
CONCLUSION
The most efective way to achieve it,
is to express the central idea in a
topic sentence.
Demonstrate and develops your topic
sentence through an order, logical
progession of ideas.
Here, you should identify your topic,
provide essential context, and indicate
your particular focus in the essay.
There are useful techniques for
expanding your topic sentences and
develop your ideas in a paragraph.
Provides a sense of closure to the
essay.
9. H O W TO WR ITE IT IN AN
INTER ESTING AND
EF F ECTIVE WAY?
The Introduction
1- Find a startling statistic that ilustrates the seriousness of the problem you will
address.
2- Quote an expert.
3- Mention a common misperception that your thesis will argue against.
4- Give some background information necessary for understanding the essay.
5- Use a brief narrative or anecdote that exemplifies your reason for choosing the topic
6- do not provide dictionary definitions, especially of words your audience already
knows
7- do not repeat the assignments specifications using the professor's wording
8- do not give details and in-depth explanations that really belong in your body
paragraphs.
10. PARAGRAPHS
A paragraph is a group of sentences that suppots one central, unified ideal. The most efective way to achieve
paragraph unitay is to express the central idea in a topic sentence. What's this? We will discused in the next
slide.
There are a number of useful techniques for expanding of topic sentences and developing your ideas in a
paragraph:
ILUSTRATION-----> Supports a general statements by means of examples, details, or
relevant quotations.
DEFINITION PARAGRAPH-----> It defines a term by drawing between the term and
other related ones.
analysis paragraph-----> develops a topic by distiguishing its component parts and
discussing each of this parts separately.
comparison paragraph-----> zeros in on a key similarity or difference between two
sources, position or ideas.
qualification paragraph-----> acknowledges that what you previously asserted is
not absolutely true or always applicable
the process paragraph-----> involves a straightfoward step-by-step description.
11. WHAT IS A TOPIC SENTENCE?
THE TOPIC
SENTENCE
Statesthemainpointofaparagraph:itserveceasamini-thesisfortheparagraph.Youmay
thinkofitasasignpostforyourreaders,oraheadline,somethingthatalertsthemtothe
mostimportantpointsinyouressay.
WHERE DOES THE TOPIC SENTENCE GOES?
They usually apperar at the beggining of paragraphs, is the most logical place for them.
HOW DO I COME UP WITH A TOPIC SENTENCE?
Your topic sentence should do more than just establish a connection between your
paragraph and your thesis. Use a topic snetence to show how your paragraph contributes to
the development of your arguments by moving t that one extra step foward.
12. •CONCLUSIO
N
Provides a sense of closure to the essay while again placing your concepts in a
somewhat wider context.
SOME GENERAL ADVICE:
1- A conclusion is not a summary of your points. If you wish to summarize do so in fresh
languange.
2- The conclusion involves critical thinking. Reflect upon the significance of what you've written.
3- Broaden your focus a bit at the end of the essay. A good last sentence leaves your reader with
something to think about.
4- The length of the conclusion should reflect the lenght of the essay.
How to make it interesting?
13. HOW TO MAKE IT EFFECTIVE
1- If your essay deals with a contemporary
problem, warn readers of the possible
consecuences of nt attending to the
problem.
2- Recommend a specific course of action.
3- Use an apt quotation or expert opinion
to lend authority to the onclusion you
have reached.
4- If your discipline encourages personal
reflection, ilustrate your concluding
point with a relevant narrative drawn from
your own life experience.
5- Return to an anecdote, or quotation
that you introduce in your introduction,
but add further inside that derives from
the body of your essay.
14. HOW MUCH
SHOULD I
QUOTE?
USING QUOTATIONS
WHY IS IT
IMPORTANT TO
IDENTIFY MY
SOURCES?
WHAT VERBS
AND PHRASES
CAN I USE TO
INTRODUCE MY
QUOTATIONS?
HOW DO I LET
MY READER
KNOW I'VE
ALTERED MY
SOURCES?
15. Consider a quoting a passage from one of
your sources if any of the following
conditions holds:
a) The language of the passge is
particularly elegant or powerful or
memorable.
b) You wish to confirm the credibility of
your argument by enlisting the support of
an authority of your topic.
c) The passage is worthy of further
analysis.
d) You wish to argue with someone else's
position in considerable detail.
HOW MUCH SHOULD I
QUOTE?
"We know what we are
but know not what we may
be"
- W I L L I A M S H A K E S P E A R E
16. •Quotations come from somewhere, and
your reader will want to know where. Don't
just parachute quotations into your essay
without providing at least some indication of
who your source is: it shows that you have
done your research and that you are well
acquainted with the literature of your topic.
When you are making decisions about how
to integrate quotations into your essay, you
might imagine that you are reading your
essay out loud to an audience.
17. WHAT VERBS AND
PHRASES CAN I USE
TO INTRODUCE MY
QUOTATIONS?
VERBS:
Argues, states, maintains, suggests, clains,
insists, demonstrates, concludes, observes,
comments, counters, explains, reveals
PHRASES:
Inthewordof X, ...
AccordingtoX, ...
InX'sview,...
18. HOW DO I LET MY
READER KNOW
I'VE ALTERED MY
SOURCES?
If you remove text, then replace the missing text with an ellipsis. For example: In The Mirror And The Lamp,
Abraams comments that the "diversity of aesthetic theories... makes the task of the historian a very difficult one".
(5).
If you need to alter or replace text from the original, enclose the added text within square blackets. You may, for
example, need to alter text to ensure that pronouns agree with their anticidents. Do not write,
Hertrude asks her son Hamlet to "cast your nighted colour off" (1.2.68)
Square brackets allow you to absorve Hertrude's words into your own statement:
Hertrude asks her son Hamlet to "cast (his) nicted colour off" (1.2.68).
19. Paraphrase and summary
Both are indispensable in argumentatibe papers because they allow you to include
other people's ideas without cluttering up your paragraphs with quotations.
Consider using either tool when an idea from one of your sources is important to
your essay but the wording is not. Think about how much of the detail from your
source is relevant to your argument.
Though paraphrase and summary are often preferable to quotation, do not rely to
heavily on them, either. Your ideas are what matter most.
20. HOW DO I PARAPHRASE AND SUMMARY?
Here are some basic principles that can help you to paraphrase more effectively:
1) Refer explicitely to the author in your paraphrase
2) Don't just paraphrase. Analyze
3) Not all of the details from the original passage need to be included in the paraphrase
4) You don't need to change every word. For the sake of clarity, keep essential terms the same.
However, avoid borrowing entire phrases
Summary moves much further than paraphrase from point- by - point
translation.
When you summarize a passage, you need first to absorb the meaning and
then to capture in your own words the most important elements from the
original passage.
Is shorter than a paraphrase
21. SOME PUNCTUATION RULES
ARTICLES EXPRESSIONS OF
QUANTITY
With subjects that introduce
the idea of quantity, some
additional rules of thumb
are needed
VERBS FOR
REFFERING TO
SOURCES
You can indicate your
attitude to the sources you
cite by choosing specific
verbsTHE and A
They are special modifiers that
appear before nouns or noun
phrases. There are only two
articles in the English Language:
23. WITH FRACTIONS,
PERCENTAJES AND
INDEFINITE
QUANTIFIRES
(MUCH, MANY,
FEW), THE VERB
AGREES WITH THE
PRECEDING NOUN
OR CLOSS
THE WORDS
MAJORITY AND
MINORITY ARE
USED IN A VARIETY
OF WAYS
EXPRESSIONS OF
TIME, MONEY AND
DISTANCE
USUALLY TAKE A
SINGULAR VERB
ADJECTIVES
PRECEDED BY "THE"
AND USED AS
PLURAL NOUNS
TAKE A PLURAL
VERB
EXPRESSIONS OF
QUANTITY
SPECIAL CASES OF SUBJECT -
VERB AGREEMENT
1 2 3 4
24. EXAMPLES OF
EXPRESSIONS OF
QUANTITY
1- With a singular noun
or clause, use a singular
verb:
"Much of the book seems
relevant to this study"
With a plural noun, use a
plural verb:
"Many researches depend
on grants from
industry"
2-When majortity/minority mean
an
unspecified number more or less
than 50%, use
a singular verb:
"The majority holds no strong
views"
When majority/ minority refers to
a specified set of persons,
use a plural verb:
"A majority of Canadians have
voted for a change"
3) "Ten dollars is a great deal
of money to a child"
"Six weeks is not long enough"
25. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Profesor Anderson Silber. (n.d) "Some general advice on Academic Essay-
Writing", Toronto-Canada. : University of Toronto
Website: www.advice.writing.utoronto.ca
Jerry Plotnick (n.d). "Organizing an Essay". Toronto, Canada. :, University of
Toronto
Website: www.advice.writing.utoronto.ca
Deborah Knott (n.d) "Researching". Toronto, Canada. : University of Toronto
Website: www.advice.writing.utoronto.ca
