Presentation of L. Lennie Irvin's article 'What is "Academic" writing? done by students of the Academic Writing course of the Languages and Literature course of UFMG.

1. What is “Academic”
Writing?
L. Lennie Irvin
Alex Alves de Paula
Gustavo Garcia
Lígia Domingos
Luciana Rodrigues
Mônica Oliveira
Thiago José dos Reis
Academic Writing – April, 2012

2. The Academic Writing
Task
In order to accomplish the writing task in
Academia successfully, you must know
what you are doing!

3. Seven myths about writing
#1: The “Paint by Numbers” myth.
#2: Writers only start writing when they have
everything figured out.
#3: Perfect first drafts.
#4: Some got it; I don’t—the genius fallacy.
#5: Good grammar is good writing.
#6: The Five Paragraph Essay.
#7: Never use “I”.

4. The Academic Writing
Situation

The biggest problem: freshman writers
have a poor sense of the writing
situation in general.

Consider the differences between
speaking and writing.

5. You should know you
audience

Who is your audience? Professor?
Classmates?

Don’t forget to use punctuation, and
proper word choice to comunicate your
tone!

What is the occasion or context ?

6. Elements of the college
writing “literacy task”
#1. Knowledge of Research Skills.
#2. The Ability to Read Complex Texts.
#3. The Understanding of Key Disciplinary
Concepts.
#4. Strategies for Synthesizing, Analyzing, and
Responding Critically to new Information.

7. Academic Writing Is an
Argument
1) The value of an organized presentation of
your “case”.
2) The crucial element of strong evidence.

8. Academic Writing is an
analysis
Academic
Writing
Analysis
Claim/
Thesis

9. Three Common Types of
College Writing Assignments
In your opinion, do you believe
Hamlet was truly mad?
• Presents two counter claims
# 1. The Closed
Writing • Analysis
Assignment • Determine the more valid
claim
• Support the claim:
argumentation

10. Three Common Types of
College Writing Assignments
• Discuss the role of law in Antigone.
# 2. The • Explain the relationship between
Semi-Open character and fate in Hamlet.
Writing • Compare and contrast the use of
Assignment setting in two short stories.
• Show how the Fugitive Slave Act
influenced the Abolitionist Movement.

11. Three Common Types of
College Writing Assignments
• Analyze the role of a character in
Dante’s The Inferno.
• What does it mean to be an
#3. The Open “American” in the 21st Century?
Writing
Assignment • Analyze the influence of slavery upon
one cause of the Civil War.
• Compare and contrast two themes
within Pride and Prejudice.

12. Picking and Limiting a
Writing Topic
• Choose what to write about from a solid
understanding of your subject.
• Look for things that interest you, as you read and
review your subject matter.
• Look for gaps, puzzling items, things that confuse
you, or connctions you see.
• You’ll write best when you write from both your
head and your heart.

13. Three Characteristics
of Academic Writing
1. Clear evidence in writing that the writers have been
persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in study.
2. The dominance of reason over emotions or sensual
perception.
3. An imagined reader who is coolly rational, reading for
information, and intending to formulate a reasoned
response.

14. Characteristics of the
Critical Essay
• 1. Makes a point and support it;
• 2. The point has to be debatable and open to
interpretation;
• 3. Be organized and needs a support text;
• 4. Publish the sources you used in the essay;
• 5. MLA or APA document format;
• 6. Grammatical correctness.

15. Conclusion
Understanding well the subject you are
going to write about is essential.
Academic Writing requires a lot of critical
thinking, hard work, and practice.