How to write academic essays

1. Academic Essay- Writing
By Daniela Romina Lagrotta

2. General advice on Academic Essay-Writing
★ An essay should have an argument.
★ It should answer a question or a few of them.
★ It should try to prove something.
★ You should formulate the question you will seek to answer in your essay.
★ You should develop a provisional thesis or hypothesis by thinking and
reading.
★ An essay's organization should be designed to present your argument clearly
and persuasively.

3. Planning and organizing and essay
★ You should think about how to organize your paper during the pre-writing
stage.
★ You should ask yourself what type of essay you are going to write or if it
belongs to a specific genre.
★ You should take into account that genres are not fixed, that's why reading
the assignment question carefully for guidance is essential.
★ You must be flexible and ready to come up with any essay structure that
helps you to convince your reader of your position.

4. Planning and organizing and essay
★ The structure of an essay should not be determined by the structure of its
source material.
★ As a potential argument begins to take shape in your mind, you may start to
formalize your thoughts in the form of a tentative plan.
★ Your plan may need to be modified as you critically evaluate your evidence.
★ After completing your first draft, consider using a reserve outline.
★ Just read through your essay, and every time you make a new point,
summarize it in the margin.

5. Advantages of planning Risks of overplanning
★ It helps you to produce a logical
and orderly argument.
★ It's easier to notice whether you
have left anything out
★ It´s allows you to concentrate
on writing issues.
★ It doesn't leave you enough time
to write and revise.
★ It can result in a writing style
that lacks spontaneity.
★ It does not provide enough
opportunity to discover new
ideas.

6. Using thesis statements
★ It makes a definite and limited assertion that needs to be explained and
supported by further discussion.
★ It shows the emphasis and indicates the methodology of your argument.
★ It shows awareness of difficulties and disagreements.
★ Not every paper requires one.
★ Its natural position is at the end of the first paragraph but it is not the
only one.
★ A thesis statement is not one sentence.

7. Introductions and conclusions
A good introduction:
★ Should identify your topic.
★ Provides essential context.
★ Indicates your particular focus in the essay.
★ Engages your readers interest.
★ It could be written in one paragraph but its length depends on the
complexity of your paper.
★ If your essay has a thesis, your thesis statement will typically appear at the
end of the introduction.

8. Introduction and conclusions
A strong conclusion:
★ It will provide a sense of closure to the essay.
★ It will add a stimulus to further thought.
★ It is not a summary of your points
★ It involves critical thinking
★ As with introductions, the length of the conclusion should reflect the length
of the essay.

9. Paragraphs
★ It is a series of related sentences developing a central idea, called the topic.
★ The most effective way to achieve paragraph unity is to express the central
idea in a topic sentence.
★ Illustration in a paragraph supports a general statement by means of
examples, details or relevant quotation.
★ The definition paragraph defines a term, often by drawing distinctions
between the term and other related ones.
★ The analysis or classification paragraph develops a topic by distinguishing
its component parts and discussing each of them separately.

10. Paragraphs
★ A comparison or a contrast paragraph zeroes in on a key similarity or
difference between two positions, sources or ideas.
★ A qualification paragraph acknowledges that what you previously is not
absolutely true or always applicable.
★ The process paragraph involves a step by step description.
★ Very often, a single paragraph will develop by a combination of methods,
★ The best strategy to enhance flow within a paragraph is to show
connections, like for example repeating key words.

11. Paragraphs
★ Strategic use of pronouns keeps the focus on the ideas announced at the
beginning of the paragraph.
★ Specialized linking words can also be powerful tools to put ideas together.
★ Paragraphs are usually between one-third or two-thirds of a page double
spaced.

12. Topic sentence
★ It states the main point of a paragraph.
★ It guides your readers through the argument.
★ It helps you to improve your essay.
★ Topic sentences usually appear at the beginning of paragraphs.
★ Sometimes a transitional sentence or two could come before a topic sentence.
★ Relating it to your thesis can help strengthen the coherence of your essay.
★ Not every paragraph needs one, but most do.

13. Reading and researching
Critical reading:
★ it is to make judgements about how a text is argued.
★ First, you should determine the purpose of the text.
★ Then begin to make judgements about context.
★ Distinguished the kinds of reasoning the text employs.
★ examine the evidence.
★ Evaluate the text.

14. Reading and researching
Research reading:
★ For books, scan the preface, table of contents and index to see the general
outlook and argument.
★ Journal articles usually outline their argument within the first page.
★ Write down complete bibliographical information for each source consulted.
★ If you research on the web, you have to pay attention whether a web page
will be an appropriate source for an academic essay.

15. Using sources
★ Give the reference as soon as you mention the idea you are using.
★ You need to mention authors, pages and dates to show how your ideas are
related to those experts.
★ Common knowledge are facts found in standard reference books.
★ Use quotation marks in the case of copying the author's exact words.
★ use your own words to paraphrase or summarize an idea.

16. Specific types of writing
★ The book review: It evaluates and comment on the work considering specific
issues and theoretical concerns.
★ Literature review: it is an account of what has been published by
researchers . it is a discursive prose not a list or summary of literary works.
★ The comparative essay: It compares at least two items, considering both
similarities and differences.
★ The academic proposal: It shows your theoretical position towards past
work in the area.

17. Style and editing
★ Revising helps you to preview your work and to check details.
★ You may add or delete sentences or paragraphs.
★ You have to check if you have fulfilled the intention of the assignment.
★ Check the organization of your writing.
★ Then, edit your style: word choice, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure
and spelling.

18. English as a second language
Articles:
★ Modifiers located before nouns or noun phrases.
★ THE and A (AN) are the only ones in English.
★ Take into account whether the noun is countable or uncountable, singular or
plural , definite or indefinite.
★ Most proper nouns do not take articles before them, like names of people or
countries.

19. English as a second language
Definite articles: To decide if you should use it, ask yourself
1. If the noun is definite or indefinite.
2. If it is modified.
3. If the noun is generic.

20. Bibliography
University of Toronto- Writing courses. Advice on academic writing.
http:/advice.writing.utoronto.ca