Academic writing tips

1. ACADEMIC WRITING
Language and Written
Expression IV
Prof. Lic. Gabriela A.
Llaneza

2. WHY “ACADEMIC”?
Academic writing is writing which produces or analyses
knowledge.
Scholars and postgraduate students are engaged in the
production of knowledge.
As an undergraduate student, in your writing you are learning
how to analyze knowledge, and take up a position or stance in
relation to it.

3. BASIC FEATURES
Texts produced in several sets genres.
Formal register and serious critical treatment of a topic.
Intended for a critical and informed audience, based on closely-
investigated knowledge, and posits ideas or arguments.
Typically objective stance, clearly states the significance of the
topic

4. STANDARD FORMS
Abstract.
Book, in many types and varieties.
Book chapter.
Book report.
Translation.
Research Article.
Explication; usually a short factual note explaining some obscure
part of a particular work; e.g. its terminology, dialect, allusions or
coded references

5. STANDARD FORMS
Conference paper.
Dissertation; usually between 6,000
and 20,000 words in length.
Essay; usually short, between 1,500
and 6,000 words in length.

6. STANDARD FORMS
Research Paper; longer essay involving library research, 3000 to
6000 words in length.
Thesis; completed over a number of years, often in excess of
20,000 words in length.

7. ARGUMENTATIVE NATURE
Different traditions, conventions and ways of thinking
have developed in different areas of knowledge over the
years, so you will find that academic writing differs from
discipline to discipline.

8. ARGUMENTATIVE NATURE
When researchers publish their work, are always putting
forward an argument of some kind, but how much this is
obvious, how it is structured, what counts as evidence,
depends on the discipline or field: whether it is history,
zoology, physics or whatever.

9. WHY IS IT DIFFERENT FOR
OTHER FORMS?
Authority and credibility
Style and clarity
Structure
An analytical approach
Attribution of references

10. WHY SHOULD I DO THIS?
Writing helps you think clearly ( think critically)
As a student, in your academic writing you demonstrate
your understanding in order to gain a good grade.
In this kind of writing you are learning how to clarify
what you think about a topic, without relying only on
your own personal experience.
Hence there is the need to use recognised sources of
knowledge.

11. WHY SHOULD I DO THIS?
Whether you are writing an essay or a report, you are
putting forward and supporting a particular position
which is presented as the best of a possible range of
positions, based on the evidence.
Any academic text has an element of

12. ARGUMENTATION
Argumentation theory, or argumentation, embraces the
arts and sciences of civil debate, dialogue, conversation,
and persuasion; studying rules of inference, logic, and
procedural rules in both artificial and real world settings.

13. ARGUMENTATION
Argumentation is concerned primarily with reaching
conclusions through logical reasoning, that is, claims
based on premises.

14. KEY COMPONENTS OF
ARGUMENTATION
Understanding and identifying arguments, either explicit
or implied, and the goals of the participants in the
different types of dialogue.
Identifying the premises from which conclusions are
derived
Establishing the "burden of proof" — determining who
made the initial claim and is thus responsible for
providing evidence why his/her position merits
acceptance

15. KEY COMPONENTS OF
ARGUMENTATION
For the one carrying the "burden of proof", the advocate,
to marshal evidence for his/her position in order to
convince or force the opponent's acceptance. The
method by which this is accomplished is producing valid,
sound, and cogent arguments, devoid of weaknesses,
and not easily attacked.
In a debate, fulfillment of the burden of proof creates a
burden of rejoinder. One must try to identify faulty
reasoning in the opponent’s argument, to attack the
reasons/premises of the argument, to provide
counterexamples if possible, to identify any logical
fallacies, and to show why a valid conclusion cannot be
derived from the reasons provided for his/her argument.

16. COMPONENTS OF ARGUMENT
In The Uses of Argument (1958), Toulmin proposed a layout
containing six interrelated components for analyzing arguments:
1. Claim: Conclusions whose merit must be established. For
example, if a person tries to convince a listener that he is a British
citizen, the claim would be “I am a British citizen.” (1)
2. Data : The facts we appeal to as a foundation for the claim. For
example, the person introduced in 1 can support his claim with the
supporting data “I was born in Bermuda.” (2)
3. Warrant: The statement authorizing our movement from the
data to the claim. In order to move from the data established in 2, “I
was born in Bermuda,” to the claim in 1, “I am a British citizen,” the
person must supply a warrant to bridge the gap between 1 & 2 with
the statement “A man born in Bermuda will legally be a British
Citizen.” (3)

17. COMPONENTS OF ARGUMENT
4. Backing Credentials designed to certify the statement
expressed in the warrant; backing must be introduced when
the warrant itself is not convincing enough to the readers or
the listeners. For example, if the listener does not deem the
warrant in 3 as credible, the speaker will supply the legal
provisions as backing statement to show that it is true that
“A man born in Bermuda will legally be a British Citizen.”

18. COMPONENTS OF ARGUMENT
5. Rebuttal Statements recognizing the restrictions
to which the claim may legitimately be applied. The
rebuttal is exemplified as follows, “A man born in
Bermuda will legally be a British citizen, unless he
has betrayed Britain and has become a spy of
another country.”

19. COMPONENTS OF ARGUMENT
6. Qualifier Words or phrases expressing the speaker’s
degree of force or certainty concerning the claim. Such
words or phrases include “possible,” “probably,”
“impossible,” “certainly,” “presumably,” “as far as the
evidence goes,” or “necessarily.” The claim “I am definitely a
British citizen” has a greater degree of force than the claim
“I am a British citizen, presumably.” The first three elements
“claim,” “data,” and “warrant” are considered as the essential
components of practical arguments, while the second triad
“qualifier,” “backing,” and “rebuttal” may not be needed in
some arguments.

20. WHAT CONSTITUTES
EVIDENCE FOR AN
ARGUMENT?
To support a claim, the communicator
will need to provide evidence.
Evidence needs to be carefully chosen
to serve the needs of the claim and to
reach the target audience.
SOURCES
Primary
OBSERVATIONS
INTERVIEWS
SUERVEYS/QUESTION
NAIRES
EXPERIMENTS
PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE
Secondary
RESERACH COMPILED BY
OTHERS

21. WHAT CONSTITUTES
EVIDENCE FOR AN
ARGUMENT?
Observations: Observations are recordings of data
drawn from various sources. An arguer's claim can rest
on such recorded details or data. Observations need to
be precise and detailed in order to constitute
persuasive evidence for a claim. For example, Lunsford
(2001) reports a study conducted by W. Charisse
Goodman based on her observations of women's
images in eleven women's magazines. Goodman's
claim "that the media render large women invisible"
was supported by her observations that only 11 out of
645 pictures contained images of heavy-set women.

22. WHAT CONSTITUTES
EVIDENCE FOR AN
ARGUMENT?
Interviews: Interviews can provide credible,
expert testimony in support of a claim.
Information drawn from interviews may have
persuasive appeal if the interviewee is a
recognized authority in a particular field or
subject matter.

23. WHAT CONSTITUTES
EVIDENCE FOR AN
ARGUMENT?
Surveys/Questionnaires: Surveys and questionnaires
provide the means to accumulate information from a
target audience. Such information may be used in
support of a claim. For instance, on election night the
major news organizations may declare the winner of a
contest based on exit polling data (asking voters whom
they voted for and keeping a tally of the results).

24. WHAT CONSTITUTES
EVIDENCE FOR AN
ARGUMENT?
Experiments: Experimental data is often used in
the science fields to back up claims (such as a
clinical trial in which a control group is given a
placebo while an experimental group is given a
drug and the effects are monitored). Informal
experiments can also be conducted such as
when a person asks his or her friends to take a
blind-folded taste test in order to determine
which soft drink is diet Pepsi versus regular.

25. WHAT CONSTITUTES
EVIDENCE FOR AN
ARGUMENT?
Personal Experience: Lived experience can be
persuasive evidence when arguing on behalf of
a claim. Writers like James Baldwin, for
example, have written persuasive essays on
black-white race relations based on their
experiences with racial discrimination and
segregation. Personal experience may,
however, need to be supplemented with other
types of evidence in order to broaden the
persuasive appeal and power of the argument.

26. ESSAY TYPES
Expository
Definition
Evaluation
Process
Compare/contrast,
Cause/effect,
Descriptive,
Division/classification,
Argumentative
And some
can even be
combined!

27. http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/
academic/1.xml
http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/outline.
html
http://www.daltonstate.edu/esl/Rhetorical%20Modes.ht
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