Essentials of Academic Writing

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Essentials of Academic Writing

• Your assignment You

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Step One Understand the Assignment

• Read the prompt
• Find out what is required of you
• Decide necessary paper length
• Determine genre

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What is a genre?

• Genres in Academic Writing Some examples
• Proposal
• Argument
• Review
• Abstract
• Annotated Bibliography

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Step Two Pick a Topic

• 1. Choose Something
• Relevant
• Researchable
• Arguable
• Interesting
• 2. Make a Claim

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Step Three Determine your Audience

• Professor
• Peers
• Publication
• All of the above
• Note Its not about you. Its about me.

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Step Four Planning

• You dont plan to fail you fail to
  plan.
• - Fred Anutta, high school guidance
  counselor

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Planning Preparing Something Wicked This Way
Comes

• Talk about your subject
• Brainstorm
• Make a spider diagram
• Write notes to yourself
• Make an outline

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WRITE IT.

• Put words on a page. You can change them later.

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Follow the Conventions

• Use appropriate (academic) language
• Use words you know
• Avoid slang
• Avoid second person (you to mean a universal
  example)
• Adhere to grammar and spelling rules
• Use a consistent, accepted font
• Cite information correctly

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Step Six Make Other People Read It

• Take advantage of resources
• Peer review
• Ask your instructor for feedback
• Go to the Writing Center
• Read it to your friends, family, and yourself.

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Step Seven Revise

• Look for errors
• Eliminate extra unnecessary words
• Be concise because if you go on for too long,
  your audience will get bored and want to stop
  reading.
• Cohesive paragraphs. You dont want to bring in
  new ideas unannounced.
• Organization Flow
• Solid Conclusion

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Turn it in.

• On time
• To the correct place
• With your name on it
• Using correct style (APA)

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To Sum Up

• Good academic papers
• Address an appropriate audience
• Have a clear purpose
• Follow genre conventions
• Are free of grammatical mistakes
• Are written well in advance of the due date.