ISFD N°41
LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION IV
ADVICE ON ACADEMIC WRITING
Teacher: Stella Maris Saubidet Oyhamburu
Student: Pablo Alejandro Gomila
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INDEX
3. Some General Guidelines on Academic Essay-Writing
I. Planning and Organizing an Academic Essay
4. Planning Advantages
5. How do I organize my Paper?
6. Techniques for Integrating Note-Taking and Planning
II. Researching
7. Critical Reading. The key for Critical Writing
8. Skimming and Scanning. Techniques for an Efficient Reading
9. Summarizing. Reproducing ideas with your own Words
10. Tips for taking notes from your reading
III. Using sources
11. Using sources without plagiarizing
12. APA Citation Style
IV. Revising And Editing
13. Questing for the Perfect Paper
V. Parts of an Essay
14. The Introduction. Where it All Begins
15. How to Write an Engaging and Effective Introduction
16. The thesis. The Heart of your Argument
17. Topic sentences. Engines of Paragraphs
18. Paragraphs. Where your Ideas Flow
19. Methods for Developing Ideas in a Paragraph
20. The Conclusion. The Final Destination
21. How to Write an Interesting and Effective Conclusion
22. Bibliography
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SOME GENERAL GUIDELINES ON ACADEMIC
ESSAY-WRITING
 It should have an argument.
 It should prove something by reasoning and evidence.
 Present the thesis or hypothesis, normally at the end of your
first paragraph.
 Organize it properly (its introduction, development and
conclusion)
 Draft it, start writing early, and always keep the essay’s overall
aim in mind.
 Put the essay aside when necessary, it helps the mind to work
indirectly or subconsciously in the meantime.
 Revise it extensively, paying special attention to transitions
within sentences and paragraphs.
 Check the diction (exactness and aptness of words) and
economy (the fewest words without loss of clear expression)
 Proofread the final copy.
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I. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING AN ACADEMIC ESSAY
Planning Advantages
 It helps you to produce a logical and orderly argument that
your readers can follow.
 It helps you to produce an economical paper by allowing you
to spot repetition
 It helps you to produce a thorough paper by making it easier
for you to notice whether you have left anything out
 It makes drafting the paper easier by allowing you to
concentrate on writing issues such as grammar, word choice,
and clarity
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I. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING AN ACADEMIC ESSAY
How do I Organize my Paper?
During the pre-writing stage, ask the following questions:
 What type of essay am I going to be writing?
 What concepts or methods are applicable to the topic given?
 Does it belong to a specific genre?
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TECHNIQUES FOR INTEGRATING NOTE-TAKING
AND PLANNING
Using Index cards Write down every
idea, fact, etc on a separate index card.
Then, reshuffle them into the best
possible order, and you have an outline.
Using the computer Collect your points
consecutively. Then sort your ideas when you
are ready to start planning and arranging your
points hierarchically.
Using the circle method All your ideas are
presented into a single page, where you can
see them all at once. The advantage of it is that
you can see at a glance how things tie together.
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II. RESEARCHING
CRITICAL READING. THE KEY FOR CRITICAL WRITING
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In order to write your own analysis and
reflection of any subject, you will need to
do careful critical reading of sources.
To read critically is to make judgements
about how a text is argued.
How does this text
work?
How is it
argued?
How does the
text reach its
conclusions? How is the
evidence
interpreted?

II. RESEARCHING
SKIMMING AND SCANNING. TECHNIQUES FOR AN EFFICIENT
READING
Skimming a text helps you to get a sense of
its overall progression.
Tips: Read the title and the introductory
paragraph and see if you can predict the
coming content. You can also read the topic
sentence of each paragraph as well as the
concluding one.
Scanning a text helps you to seek for
important details such as facts or crucial
information of the text.
Tips: Keep a specific set of goals in mind as
you scan the text. Avoid becoming distracted by
other material.
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II. RESEARCHING
SUMMARIZING. REPRODUCING IDEAS WITH YOUR OWN WORDS
• To reproduce the main ideas of a text using your
own words.
• To Express these ideas using precise, specific
language.
Summarizing
Main aims
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Include the title and mention the
author in your first sentence.
You should state as soon as possible
the author’s thesis, or central
concept, using your own words.
Avoid writing opinions or personal
responses in your summaries
Do not plagiarize the author’s words,
they must appear in quotation marks.
Tips for
summarizing

II. RESEARCHING
TIPS FOR TAKING NOTES FROM YOUR READING
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If you take notes efficiently, you can read
with more understanding and also save
time when you come to write your paper.
Know what kind of ideas you
need to record and formulate
a research question which
guide your reading
Copy out exact
words only when
the ideas are
memorably
phrased or
surprisingly
expressed
Your essay must
be an expression
of your own
thinking

III. USING SOURCES
WITHOUT PLAGIARIZING
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Remember! Mentioning what others have
said does not lessen the credit you get for
your own thinking, it adds to your credibility.
Use quotations marks
when you use author’s
exact words.
However, quote only
when the original
words are especially
memorable.
Use your own words to paraphrase or
summarize the idea you want to discuss
but name the sources, for example
mentioning the author’s name.
You must give reference to facts
taken from an authoritative source
whenever you use them as evidence
in your argument.

III. USING SOURCES
APA CITATION STYLE
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It is one of the several systems used for citing a source.
This system uses only initials for authors’ given names, no
quotation marks or angle brackets, minimal capitalization for
titles of books and articles, and italics for volume numbers as
well as journal titles.

IV. REVISING AND EDITING
QUESTING FOR THE PERFECT PAPER
During the revision stage you should:
 Add or delete sentences and paragraphs, shifting them around, and
reshaping them as you go.
 Be sure you have presented ideas as clear as possible.
 check whether you have fulfilled the intention of the assignment. Take
into account the genre of your essay, the evidence provided, etc.
 Look at overall organization. See if each section of your essay is in the
correct place to fulfil your purpose and using good cohesive devices.
During the editing stage you should:
 Read passages aloud to see if you have achieved the emphasis you
want. Pay attention to sentence structures.
 Check your spelling, grammar and punctuation.
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Remember! How your essay looks is important.
Include a cover page, number your pages, double
space your text and put the reference list or
bibliography on a separate page at the end.

V. PARTS OF AN ESSAY
THE INTRODUCTION. WHERE IT ALL BEGINS.
A good introduction should:
 Identify your topic.
 Provide essential context.
 Indicate your particular focus in the essay.
 Engage your readers’ interest.
 Get to the point of your topic as soon as possible.
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THE INTRODUCTION. WHERE IT ALL BEGINS.
HOW TO WRITE AN ENGAGING AND EFFECTIVE INTRODUCTION
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Find a startling statistic that illustrates the seriousness of the problem
you will address.
Quote an expert (but be sure to introduce him or her first)
Mention a common misperception that your thesis will argue against.
Give some background information necessary for understanding the
essay.
Use a brief narrative or anecdote that exemplifies your reason for
choosing the topic.
Define a term that is possibly unfamiliar to your audience but is central
to understanding the essay.

V. PARTS OF AN ESSAY
THE THESIS. THE HEART OF YOUR ARGUMENT
The thesis statement
 It is the premise of your paper.
 It tells the reader what the essay is about.
 It should be located at the end of your first
paragraph.
 It can contain more than one sentence, if the
argument is complex.
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V. PARTS OF AN ESSAY
TOPIC SENTENCES. ENGINES OF PARAGRAPHS
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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.
Why is the paragraph important in the
context of your argument?
Why have you chosen to include the
information you have?
What point are you trying to make? Can I relate an idea with my thesis?
Questions to create a
good topic sentence

V. PARTS OF AN ESSAY
PARAGRAPHS. WHERE YOUR IDEAS FLOW
 A paragraph is a sentence or a group of sentences that
supports one central, unified idea, called the topic.
 It adds one idea at a time to your broader argument.
 The most effective way to achieve paragraph unity is to express
the central idea of the paragraph in a topic sentence.
 Normally, a paragraph length is between one-third and two-
thirds of a page.
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PARAGRAPHS. WHERE YOUR IDEAS FLOW
METHODS FOR DEVELOPING IDEAS IN A PARAGRAPH
Developing
ideas in a
paragraph
Illustration
paragraph
Definition
paragraph
Analysis or
classification
paragraph
Comparison
or contrast
paragraph
Qualification
paragraph
Process
paragraph
Combination
of methods
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V. PARTS OF AN ESSAY
THE CONCLUSION. THE FINAL DESTINATION
A good conclusion should:
 Involve critical thinking.
 Reflect upon the significance of what you’ve written.
 Try to convey some closing thoughts about the
larger implications of your argument.
 Leave your reader with something to think about.
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THE CONCLUSION. THE FINAL DESTINATION
HOW TO WRITE AN INTERESTING, EFFECTIVE CONCLUSION
Warn readers of the possible consequences of not attending to
the problem.
Recommend a specific course of action.
Use a quotation or expert opinion to lend authority to the
conclusion you have reached.
Give a startling statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the
ultimate point of your paper.
Illustrate your concluding point with a relevant narrative drawn
from your own life experiences.
Add further insight to an anecdote, example, or quotation
introduced in the beginning.
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