Academic Writing

Academic Writing

100

True or False: All international students should be able to write perfect academic papers in English from their first year.

FALSE!

200

True or False: Every instructor at universities will expect you to write academic papers in exactly the same way.

FALSE

300

What are three characteristics that make academic writing different than other types of writing?

Academic writing should generally:

1. Be more formal

2. Be more organized/logical

3. Be careful to follow academic style

4. Be sure to cite sources and ideas of others appropriately

Finding Sources

100

What are two characteristics that make a source good source to support your academic writing?

A good source should be:

1. directly related/relevant to the topic

2. highly reliable

200

If you needed to find an good source to support your academic writing, what are two ways to search for it?

Two ways to search for good academic sources:

1. Use academic databases from university Libraries

2. Use Google Scholar

300

What are three of the five questions to ask yourself when critically evaluating the rhetorical situation of a text?

1. For what occasion or specific question do you think the author had in mind to prompt the writing of this article or account?
2. Can you identify a specific problem or concern the author wishes to address?
3. Was this published by a newspaper, magazine, journal, blog, or website? What do you already know about this particular type of source? Who is the typical audience for this type of source?
4. What is the author's intention? What action do you think the author wants the reader to take?
5. How does the writer try to influence the reader? How effective are these strategies?

Source Integration

100

What are three ways to integrate source information into your academic writing?

1. Quotation

2. Summary

3. Paraphrase

200

What is a paraphrase?

A paraphrase is a restatement of someone else’s ideas using your own words.

300

When writing the opening sentence of a basic academic summary, what are three of the five key pieces of information needed to inform and educate the reader about your particular source?

Example:

In the article “It’s Time to Face the Facts", Harvey Mansfield (2001) discusses his personal policy for assigning two distinct grades to the Harvard students taking his political philosophy course.  

Five key pieces of information are needed to inform and educate the reader about your particular source: 1. the author's name, 2. the publication date, 3. the title of the article/source, 4. the reporting verb, and 5. the main idea of the text.

Academic Essay Writing

100

What are the three basic parts of a typical academic essay?

1. Introduction

2. Body

3. Conclusion

200

When we write academic essays, we need to follow academic writing style guidelines like APA, MLA or others. What are two parts of an academic essay that should carefully follow these kinds of guidelines?

1. In-text citation

2. References

300

What are the five steps involved in the academic writing process?

1. Brainstorming/Planning

2. Outlining

3. Drafting

4. Reviewing/Revising

5. Final Version