The document provides advice on various aspects of academic writing such as essay structure, outlining, research methods, grammar, and style. It recommends formulating a clear thesis and argument. For organization, it suggests dividing an outline into introduction, discussion, and conclusion sections. When conducting research, the document advises taking detailed notes, citing sources, and using paraphrasing and summarization. It also covers topics like punctuation, passive voice, spelling, and avoiding sentence fragments. The overall document offers guidance on writing effective academic essays and papers.

1. Advice on Academic
Writing
LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION IV

2. Some general advice on Academic-
Essay Writing
 1. An essay should have an argument. It should try to prove something.
 2. Formulate as exactly as possible the question(s) you will seek to answer in your essay.
Then, develop a provisional thesis or hypothesis.
 3. Your essay’s organization should be designed to present your argument clearly and
persuasively.
 4. Successful methods of composing an essay are various, but some practices are
almost invariable:
- Start writing before thinking you are ready to do it.
- Write first what seems ready to be written.
- Keep the essay’s overall purpose and organization in mind.
- Revise extensively.
- Especially attention to transitions, diction and economy.
- Proofread the final copy.

3. Understanding essay topics
 1. Note the key terms:
- Analyse.
- Compare.
- Evaluate.
- Argue.
 2. Note which concepts or methods the topic asks you to use.
 3. Ask yourself questions about the specific topic in terms of the
concepts or methods that seem applicable.
 4. Formulate a tentative thesis statement at a fairly early stage.

4. Organizing an essay
 Divide your outline into three parts:
- Summary.
- Discussion of strenghts and weaknesses.
- Overall evaluation.
 Some techniques for integrating note-taking and planning:
- Index cards: When you are researching, write down every idea, fact, quotation, or paraphrase
on a separate index card. When you’ve collected all your cards, reshuffle them into the best
possible order, and you have an outline, though you will undoubtedly want to reduce this outline
to the essential points should you transcribe it to paper.
- The computer: You can collect your points consecutively, just as you would on paper. You can
then sort your ideas when you are ready to start planning.
- The circle method: When you have an idea, write it down on paper and draw a circle around
it. When you have an idea which supports another idea, do the same, but connect the two circles
with a line. Supporting source material can be represented concisely by a page reference inside a
circle.

5. Introductions and conclusions
 How do I write an interesting, effective introduction?
- Find a startling statistic that illustrates the seriousness of the problem you will
address.
- Give some background information necessary for understanding the essay.
- Use a brief narrative or anecdote that exemplifies your reason for choosing the
topic. In an assignment that encourages personal reflection, you may draw on your
own experiences; in a research essay, the narrative may illustrate a common real-world
scenario.
 How do I write an interesting, effective conclusion?
- If your essay deals with a contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible
consequences of not attending to the problem.
- Give a startling statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the ultimate point of
your paper.
- Return to an anecdote, example, or quotation that you introduced in your
introduction, but add further insight that derives from the body of your essay.

6. Paragraphs
 What is a paragraph?
A paragraph is a series of related sentences developing a central idea, called the topic.
 How do I unify my ideas in a paragraph?
he most effective way to achieve paragraph unity is to express the central idea of the paragraph in a topic
sentence. Topic sentences are similar to mini thesis statements. Like the thesis statement, a topic sentence has
a unifying function.
 How do I develop my ideas in a paragraph?
- Illustration in a paragraph supports a general statement by means of examples, details, or relevant
quotations.
- 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 these parts separately.
- A comparison or a contrast paragraph zeroes in on a key similarity or difference between, for instance, two
sources, positions, or ideas.
- A qualification paragraph acknowledges that what you previously asserted is not absolutely true or always
applicable.
- The process paragraph involves a straightforward step-by-step description. Process description often
follows a chronological sequence.

7. Using topic sentences
 A topic sentence states the main point of a paragraph: it serves as a mini-
thesis for the paragraph.
 Topic sentences usually appear at the very beginning of paragraphs.
Though this is usually the most logical place for it, sometimes a transitional
sentence or two will come before a topic sentence.
 Relating your topic sentences to your thesis can help strengthen the
coherence of your essay.

8. Critical reading towards critical writing
 How do I read looking for ways of thinking?
- Determine the central claims or purpose of the text (its thesis).
- Begin to make some judgements about context.
- Distinguish the kinds of reasoning the text employs.
- Examine the evidence (the supporting facts, examples, etc) the text
employs.
- Critical reading may involve evaluation.

9. Taking notes from research reading
 Know what kind of ideas you need to record.
 Don’t write down too much.
 Label your notes intelligently.

10. Research using the internet
 Don’t rely exclusively on Net resources.
 Narrow your research topic before logging on.
 Know your subject directories and search engines.
 Keep a detailed record of sites you visit and the sites you use.
 Double-check all URLs that you put in your paper.

11. Skimming and scanning
 Read carefully the introductory paragraph, or perhaps the first two paragraphs. As
yourself what the focus of the text appears to be, and try to predict the direction of the
coming explanations or arguments.
 Read carefully the first one or two sentences of each paragraph, as well as the
concluding sentence or sentences.
 In between these opening and closing sentences, keep your eyes moving and try to
avoid looking up unfamiliar words or terminology. Your goal is to pick up the larger
concepts and something of the overall pattern and significance of the text.
 Read carefully the concluding paragraph or paragraphs. What does the author’s overall
purpose seem to be? Remember that you may be mistaken, so be prepared to modify
your answer.
 Finally, return to the beginning and read through the text carefully, noting the
complexities you missed in your skimming and filling in the gaps in your understanding.
Think about your purpose in reading this text and what you need to retain from it, and
adjust your focus accordingly. Look up the terms you need to know, or unfamiliar words
that appear several times.

12. Summarizing
 Summarizing a text, or distilling its essential concepts into a paragraph or
two, is a useful study tool as well as good writing practice. A summary has
two aims:
- To reproduce the overarching ideas in a text, identifying the general
concepts that run through the entire piece.
- To express these overarching ideas using precise, specific language.

13. Using quotations
 How much should I quote?
The focus of your essay should be on your understanding of the topic. If you
include too much quotation in your essay, you will crowd out your own ideas.
 Why is it important to identify my sources?
Letting your reader know exactly which authorities you rely on is an
advantage: it shows that you have done your research and that you are well
acquainted with the literature on your topic.

14. Paraphrase and summary
 How do I paraphrase?
- You must provide a reference.
- The paraphrase must be in your own words. You must do more than
merely substitute phrases here and there. You must also create your own
sentence structures.
 How do I summarize?
- 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. A summary is necessarily shorter than a paraphrase.

15. Revising and editing
 First check whether you have fulfilled the intention of the assignment.
 Then look at overall organization. It’s worthwhile to print out everything so
that you can view the entire document.
 Now polish and edit your style by moving to smaller matters such as word
choice, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

16. Punctuation
 Commas:
- Commas after many introductory phrases are optional. When the introductory phrase is short, you can often omit
the comma; when the phrase is longer, a comma will help your reader recognize where the main clause begins.
- When joining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, you normally place a comma before the
conjunction.
- When joining mere phrases, you usually do not provide a comma.
- Place commas between each element of a list of three or more parallel words, phrases, or clauses.
- Surround interrupting or parenthetical clauses or phrases with commas.
 Semicolons:
- Combine two closely related independent clauses into one sentence.
- Separate list elements that are long or complex.
 Colons: Colons offer a way of urging your reader forward. The words preceding the colon create an expectation;
the words following the colon fulfill it.
 Dashes:
- Dashes are used to set off interrupting clauses or phrases, but a pair of dashes will tend to call more attention to
what lies in between.
- Allows you to expand on or to complete an idea, and dashes used this way are often interchangeable with colons.
 Parentheses: Parentheses introduce interrupting material.

17. Passive voice
 When do I use passive voice?
- The actor is unknown.
- The actor is irrelevant.
- You want to be vague about who is responsible.
- You are talking about a general truth.
- You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on.
- You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive
voice.

18. Some tools and rules to improve your
spelling
 Use a good dictionary.
 Be consistent about using British or American spellings in your writing.
 Always check certain “troublesome” suffixes in your dictionary.
 Create your own “difficult-to-spell” lists.
 Learn the standard pronunciations for frequently misspelled words.
 Watch out for homophones, near-homophones, and other easily
confusable words.
 Use your computer spellchecker, but with caution.
 Become familiar with English spelling rules.

19. Sentence fragments
 What is a sentence fragment?
In the simplest grammatical terms, a sentence fragment lacks a main—or
independent—clause. Put more informally, a sentence fragment doesn’t make
a statement that can stand on its own.
 How to identify and fix sentence fragments
- The first type doesn’t make a statement. It is all subject, no predicate—all
actor, no action.
- The second type of sentence fragment has a subject and a predicate, but
the sentence still can’t stand on its own. Usually, that is because it begins
with a word—a subordinating conjunction like although or because or
when—that makes the sentence want to lean against a neighbouring one.

20. Bibliography
 Silber, C.A. Some general advice on Academic Essay-Writing. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/general/general-advice/
 Procter, M. Understanding essay topics. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/general/essay-topics/
 Plotnick, J. Organizing an essay. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/organizing/
 Freedman, L. and Plotnick, J. Introductions and conclusions. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/intros-and-conclusions/
 Procter, M. and Visvis, V. Paragraphs. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/paragraphs/
 Hall, J. and Plotnick, J. Using topic sentences. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/topic-sentences/
 Knott, D. Critical Reading towards critical writing. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/critical-reading/
 Procter, M. Taking notes from research reading. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/notes-from-research/
 Brock MacDonald, W. and Seel, J. Research using the internet. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/research-using-internet/
 Freedman, L. Skimming and scanning. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/skim-and-scan/
 Freedman, L. Summarizing. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/researching/summarize/
 Plotnick, J. Using quotations. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/using-sources/quotations/
 Plotnick, J. Paraphrase and summary. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/using-sources/paraphrase/
 Procter, M. Revising and editing. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/revising-and-editing/
 Plotnick, J. Punctuation. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/punctuation/
 Corson, T. and Smollett, R. Passive voice. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/passive-voice/
 Fitzgerald, H. Some tolos and rules to improve your spelling. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/spelling/
 Plotnick, J. Sentence fragments. https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/sentence-fragments/