2. General advice on academic essay
• 1) An essay should have an ARGUMENT It should answer a
question of a few related questions
• 2) An essay should try to PROVE something It should develop a
short set of closely related points by reasoning and evidence,
including examples and confirming citations from a text or sources
• 3) Formulate as exactly as possible the questions you will seek to answer in
your essay.
• 4) The organization of an essay is important to make your argument
understandable
3. • 5) Successful methods of compossing:
a) Start writing early: It means exploration and Discovery
b) Keep the essay’s overall purpose and organization in mind
c) Revise sentences by editing them, adding or deleating them. Two other
important considerations in revising sentences are DICTITION
(exacteness and apteness of words) and ECONOMY (the fewest words
without loss of clear expressions and full thought)
4. Planning
• ORGANIZING AN ESSAY: You should organize it during the pre-writing stage
because it allows you to correct some aspects like sentence-level issues
Ask the following questions: -What type of essay am I going to be writing?
-Does it belong to a specific genre?
• ADVICE ABOUT INTRODUCTIONS:
IT SHOULD IDENTIFY YOUR TOPIC, PROVIDE ESSENTIAL COTEXT, AND
INDICATE YOUR PARTICULAR FOCUS IN THE ESSAY. IT ALSO NEEDS TO ENGAGE
YOUR READERS’ INTEREST
5. • STEPS TO WRITE GOOD INTRODUCTIONS
The size of you introduction should bear some relationship to the lenght and
complexity of your paper
Try to avoid sweeping generalizations
Give some background information necessary for understanding the essay
Try to quote an expert
Do not provide dictionary definitions
6. • ADVICE ABOUT CONCLUSIONS:
IT SHOULD PROVIDE A SENSE OF CLOSURE. MOREOVER, IT WILL ALSO ADD A STIMULUS
TO THE FURTHER THOUGHT
• STEPS TO WRITE GOOD CONCLUSIONS:
Conclusions are nor a summary of your points or a re-statement of your thesis
It involves critical thinking. It reflects upon the significance of what you have written
A good conclusión, leaves you reader with something to think about
One well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion
7. • PARAGRAPHS:
Definition: a paragraph is a serie of related sentences developing a central
idea, called “TOPIC”.
HOW DO I UNIFY MY IDEAS IN A PARAGRAPH?
The most effective way to achieve a paragraph unity, is to express the central idea
of the paragraph in a TOPIC SENTENCE.
It is a kind of mini thesis statement which has an specific main point and it
should appear in all the paragraphs. However, opening and closing paragraphs
generally do not have a topic sentence.
8. HOW DO I DEVELOP MY IDEAS IN A PARAGRAPH?
There are useful techniques for expanding on topic sentences and developing your ideas in a
paragraph
Ilustration: It supports a general statement through out examples, details or relevant
quatations
Definition paragraph: It defines a term, often by drawing distinctions between the term and other
related ones
The analysis or classification paragraph: It develops a topic by distinguishing its complement
parts and discussing each of these parts separately
A comparison or a contrast paragraph: In this kind of paragraph, you have to decide whether to
deal only with similarities or only with differences
Quantification paragraph: It shows that what yu have asserted is not absolutely true, or at least,
always applicable
Process paragraph: It involves a step-by-step description. Process description often follows a
chronological sequence
9. A single paragraph will develop by a combination of
methods. It is important to highlight the fact that the
flow of the ideas written in the paragraph, should be by
showing connections and by deliberating repetition.
Moreover, the use of specialized linking words can be
powerful tools for putting ideas together
10. Reading and researching
• When taking notes, is important to take these items into account:
1) You have to know what kind of ideas you need to record
2) You do not have to write down too much. In fact, you have to
compress ideas in your own words
3) Label your notes intelligently!
11. Dealing with new words:
1- First of all, sound this word out
2- Next, examine the structure
3- Then, look the word at the context
4- Only then, check the dictionary
5- Finally, reinforce your understanding by writing
12. Research using the internet:
A) Look for authority
B) Affiliation
C) Audience level
D) Currency
E) Content reliability/accuracy
13. TO REPRODUCE THE OVERARCHING IDEAS IN A
TEXT, IDENTIFYING THE GENERAL CONCEPTS
THAT RUN THROUGH THE ENTIRE PIECE
SUMMARIZING:
TO EXPRESS THESE OVERARCHING IDEAS
USING PRECISE AND SPECIFIC LANGUAGE
14. SPECIFIC TYPES OF WRITING
The book review or article critique
Annotated bibliography
Literature review
Abstract
The comparative essay
History
Literature
Philosophy
16. Specific types of writing
I. The book review or article critique: It comments on and evaluates the work in the light
of specific issues and theorical concerns in a course
II. Annotated bibliography: It is an alphabetical list of research sources. It giveas an account
of the research that has been done on a given topic. In addition, this kind of bibliography,
provides a concise summary of each source and some assesment of its value or relevance
Selecting the sources: The quality and usefullness of your bibliography will
depend on your selection of sources. Therefore, you have to take into
account this questions in order to find appropiate limits for your research:
• What problema am I investigating? What question am I trying to pursue?
• What kind of material am I looking for?
• Am I finding essential studies on my topic?
17. III. Literature review: It is an account of what has been published on a topic by
accredited scholars and researchers. The main purpose of the literature review is to
convey your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic and
what their strengths and weaknesses are
Literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas
Information seeking: Critical appraisal:
The ability to scan the literatura efficently, The ability to apply principles of analysis to
Using manual or computerized methods, to identify unbiased and valid studies
Identify a set of useful articles and books
18. A LITERATURE REVIEW MUST :
• Be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are
developing
• Synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
• Identify areas of controversy in the literature
• Formulate questions that need further research
19. IV. Abstract: This type of writing, gives a first impression of the document that follows,
letting readers decide whether to continue reading and showing them
what to look for if they do
Here are some other points to keep in min about ABSTRACTS
• An abstract will nearly always be read along with the title, so do not repeat or rephrase
the title. It will likely be read without the rest of the document, however, so make it
complete enough to stand on its own.
• Your readers expect you to summarize your conclusions as well as your purpose,
methods, and main findings. Emphasize the different points in proportion to the
emphasis they receive in the body of the document.
• Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in the document.
20. • Avoid using I or we, but choose active verbs instead of passive when possible (the
study tested rather than it was tested by the study).
• Avoid if possible avoid trade names, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. You would
need to explain them, and that takes too much room.
• Use key words from the document. (For published work, the abstract is “mined” for
the words used to index the material—thus making it more likely someone will cite
your article.)
21. V. The comparative essay: In this type of writing, you compare at least, two items.
Moreover, in this kind of writing, you can develop a list of similarities and
differences.
These items will differ depending on the assigment.
You might be asked to compare:
o positions on an issue (e.g., responses to midwifery in Canada and the United States)
o theories (e.g., capitalism and communism)
o figures (e.g., GDP in the United States and Britain)
o texts (e.g., Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth)
o events (e.g., the Great Depression and the global financial crisis of 2008–9)
22. VI. History
• Primary sources:
It is a document that was created at the
time of the event or subject you have
chosen to study or by people who were
observes of or participants in that event
or topic
Texts Films
Objects Paintings
Buildings Cartoons
• Secondary sources :
This kind of souces, interpprets, analyzes
and/or explains primary sources
Literature reviews
Opinion pieces
Documentaries
Television broadcasts
Books
23. VI. Literature: Keep in mind these tips when writing about literature:
Avoid plot summary
Master the art of the analytical thesis
Let the structures of your argument determine the structure of your paper
Opt for analysis instead of evaluative judgements
Do not confuse the autor with the speaker
Integrate quotatios rully into your argument
