This slide show contains useful material about how to write an academic essay.

1. Advice on Academic Writing

2. Some General Advice
on Academic Essay-
Writing
An essay should have
 An ARGUMENT
 A HYPOTHESIS
 Clear ORGANIZATION
 Successful METHODS OF COMPOSING

3. Planning and Organizing
 Organizing an essay (type and genre)
 Using thesis statements.
 Introductions and conclusions
 Paragraphs.
 Topic sentences.

4. Paragraphs
A paragraph is a series of related sentences developing a central idea , the TOPIC.
TOPIC SENTENCE
Expresses the central idea of the paragraph.
Unifying function.
It has a specific main point.
Opening and closing paragraphs, generally do not have a topic sentence.
Relating the topic sentence to the thesis contributes to the coherence of
the essay.

5. Reading and researching
Critical writing depends on critical reading. To read critically is to make judgements about how a text is
argued, how the evidence is used and interpreted, how a text reaches its conclusion.
The key is to read looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter.
Ways of thinking
 Determine the central claims or thesis.
 Make judgements about context.
 Distinguish the kinds of reasoning employed.
 Examine the evidence (supporting facts, examples)
 Evaluation.

6. Specific Types of Writing
 The book review or article critique.
 The Literature review.
 The Academic proposal.
 The Comparative essay.
 Writing about History.
 Writing about Literature.
 Effective admision Letters.
 The Lab report.
 Oral presentations.

7. Using Sources
 Do not plagiarize.
 Use quotations to identify your sources.
 Use paraphrasing to express someone else’s ideas using your own language at
the same level of detail.
 Use summarizing to reduce the most important information from someone
else’s work into a shorter form.
These are the main tools to integrate the sources into a paper.

8. Revising and Editing
Revising involves some checking of details. A good revision and editing leads to an excellent final
paper.
Some steps to follow:
 Be sure you have fulfilled the intentionof the assignment.
 Look at the organization (introduction, paragraphs, conclusion)
 Polish and edit your style.

9. Style and Editing
Errors in Grammar, Punctuation and Style
The ways to avoid the most common errors.
 Faulty agreement
a) Subjects and verbs must agree in number.
b) Nouns and pronouns must agree in mumber.
c) Pronouns must agree with each other.
 Sentence fragments.
 A sentence should express only one central idea.
 Overuse of passive voice.
 Parallelism adds clarity and elegance .

10.  Vague pronouns can create confusion.
 Misplaced modifiers.
 Metaphors. Recognize the literal meanings of metaphors .
 Wordiness.
 Misuse of comma, semicolon and colon.
 Incorrect comparison.
 Double constructions.

11. Wordiness
Editing is a way to improve your writing. At this stage it is
important to recognize unnecessary words and edit them out.
Some common patterns of wordiness:
 Doubling of words (choose one)
 Intensifiers, quantifiers (omit or give specific details)
 Formulaic phrases (use a one-word form)
 Passive verbs (change to active voice)
 Overuse of relative structures (omit when possible)

12. Punctuation
Commas
 After many introductory phrases , when the phrase is long.
 When joining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction , you place the comma before
the conjunction.
 Between each element of a list of three or more parallel words, phrases or clauses.
Semicolons
 To combine two closely related independent clauses into one sentence.
 To separate list elements that are long or complex.
Colons
 The words following the colon create an expectation, the words following the colon fulfill it.

13. Passive Voice
Use it when...
 The actor is unknown.
 The actor is irrelevant.
 You are talking about a general truth.
 You want to emphasize the person acted on.
 You write lab reports or scientific research
papers.
Avoid passive sentences because...
 They can create confusion.
 They sound wordy and indirect.
 They make the reader work hard .

14. Spelling
 Use a good dictionary.
 Be consistent about using British or American English throughout a
document.
 Check in your dictionary when you are editing.
 Learn the standard pronunciation of words.
 Use the computer spellchecker.
 Be aware of the spelling rules.

15. Further Resources
 Online Writing Advice from other Institutions.
 Online Writing Reference Tools.
 Online Resources for Students of English as a Second Language.
 Online Resources on Pursuing a Career as a Writer.

16. Bibliography
• Corson, T. and Smollett, R. “Passive Voice: When to use it and when to avoid it”. University College
Writing Centre.
• Fitzgerald, H. “Some tools to improve your Spelling”. University College Writing Centre.
• Freedman, L. And Plotnick, J. “Introductions and conclusions”. University College Writing Centre.
• Hall, J. and Plotnick, J. “Using Topic Sentences” . University College Writing Centre.
• Knott, D. “Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing”. New College Writing Centre.
• Plotnick, J. “Organizing an Essay”. University College Writing Centre.
• Plotnick, J. “Punctuation” . University College Writing Centre.
• Procter, M. “Paragraphs” . Writing Support, and Visvis, V. University College Writing Centre.
• Procter, M. “Revising and Editing”. Writing Support.
• Procter, M. “Using Thesis Statements”. Writing Support.
• Silber, C. A. “Some General Advice on Academic Essay Writing “. Department of English.