2.3.2 - L3 - Academic Writing

How to write an essay

Planning, writing, and revising

What is an essay?

●Personal: Reflecting on the author’s experiences

●Narrative: Describing contemporary or historical events

●Philosophical: Considering philosophical questions

●Political: Making specific political arguments

●Cultural: Commenting on a book, film, etc.

●Academic...

Academic essays...

✓

Come in various shapes and sizes

✓

Aim to persuade the reader with informed arguments

✓

Present and analyze evidence

✓

Contain an introduction, body, and conclusion

3 stages of the writing process

1.

Preparation

2.

Writing

3.

Revision

Open Ended

Why do you think that it is important to prepare and also revise an essay that you have written?

The preparation stage

●Understand the assignment

●Choose a topic or question

●Read relevant sources

●Come up with a thesis statement

●Outline your structure

Writing an

introduction

Goals of an introduction

1.

Hook your reader

2.

Provide background and context

3.

Formulate your thesis statement

4.

Provide an overview of the essay

Multiple Choice

What elements can be found in an introduction?

• Topic sentence, Connecting information

• Connecting information, Thesis statement

• Hook, connecting information, thesis statement

• Hook, connecting information

1. Hook your reader

Pique the reader’s interest with a strong opening statement:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

Multiple Choice

What is NOT a way to write up a hook?

• Give out surprising data

• Quote from a famous person

• Ask a question

• Talk about the essay overview

• Introduce an interesting observation

2. Provide background and context

Expand on your opening statement with the most relevant
contextual information:

The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people
was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that
did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly
stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant
barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely
new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn
and use.

3. Formulate your thesis statement

State the central argument you want to make—your thesis
statement:

As the first writing system designed specifically for blind people’s needs,
Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided
practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

Multiple Choice

What is the function of a Thesis Statement?

• to give the gist of the paragraph

• to give the best ideas of a topic

• to give you the basic knowledge of a topic

• to give you the gist of the essay

Multiple Choice

A good thesis statement should include

• the supporting details

• all the main ideas, written in a full sentence

• all the main ideas, written in point forms

• all the topic sentences

Multiple Choice

Thesis statement can usually be found at

• the first sentence of the first paragraph

• the first sentence of the introductory paragraph

• the last sentence of the introduction

• the introduction

Multiple Choice

What should be included in our thesis statement?

• Hook+ overview

• Hook+ opinion+ overview

• Hook+ opinion

• Opinion+ overview

Draw

This is a thesis statement. Can you highlight the opinion in red and the overview in blue?

Multiple Choice

Choose the strong thesis.

•  I would like to become a chef when I finish school

•  Although both chefs and cooks can prepare fine meals, chefs differ from cooks in   education, professional commitment, and artistry.

Multiple Choice

A thesis statement is a complete sentence. A thesis statement is not a question.
Which of these is a thesis statement?

• A. Knowing a foreign language.

• B. Why should people know a foreign language?

• C. Knowing a foreign language is a very useful skill.  It can help one advance in a career, relate better to others, and open one's mind to the ideas of another culture.

4. Provide an overview of the essay

Provide some signposting about your essay’s structure:

This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in
nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and
the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education.
Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on
blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Multiple Choice

Don't write a thesis in first person. You shouldn't include the word "I." Trust that the reader already knows that the thesis includes your thoughts. Writing"I think" would be redundant. Instead, write your thesis in third person. Additionally, make sure that the thesis is a complete sentence.Based on the passage above, which of the following is the strongest thesis?

• I believe that space exploration is important.

• Learning about the universe.

• Many people think that space exploration is important, and I am one of them.

• Despite the risks and costs, the US should continue exploring outer space.

The body of the essay

Length of the body

●Typical high-school essay has a three-paragraph body

●Longer essays may have multiple sections with headings

●The body should make up the majority of the essay

●Choose a structure that fits with your arguments

Multiple Choice

There are usually __________________ paragraphs of an academic essay in high school.

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

Each paragraph in the main body...

✓

Clearly relates to the main argument

✓

Has one central idea

✓

Is introduced with a topic sentence

✓

Transitions effectively from the previous paragraph

✓

Presents and interprets evidence

Multiple Choice

What can be found in a body paragraph?

• Topic sentence, thesis statement

• Thesis statement, support

• Topic sentence, support

• Topic, controlling idea

Topic sentences

A topic sentence introduces a paragraph by indicating its topic:

Although the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind
students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the
sighted before its adoption throughout France.

Multiple Choice

What is the function of a topic sentence?

• to make sense out of the paragraph

• to control the ideas in a paragraph

• to lead the ideas in a paragraph

• to complete the paragraph

Topic sentences

The topic sentence transitions from the previous paragraph:

Although the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind
students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the
sighted before its adoption throughout France.

Topic sentences

Then it introduces the topic of this paragraph:

Although the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind
students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the
sighted before its adoption throughout France.

Multiple Choice

Where can we usually find the topic sentences of the paragraphs

• First line of the body paragraph

• Last line of the body paragraph

• First line of the introductory paragraph

• Last line of the introductory paragraph

Multiple Choice

How many topic sentences do we have for each paragraph?

• 3 topic sentences

• 1 for each paragraph

• 2 topic sentences

• 1 for all paragraphs

Presenting evidence

●Support your arguments with evidence

●Evidence comes from various sources (e.g. books, journals)

●Quote or paraphrase evidence

●Cite your sources

Multiple Choice

Where can we find the supporting details of the paragraphs?

• the lines after the topic sentences

• the last line of the body paragraphs

• the first line of the introductory paragraph

• the last line of the introductory paragraph

Multiple Choice

How many supporting details are there usually, in a body paragraph?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Evidence is presented to...

●Prove a claim

●Provide background information

●Show the state of current research

●Show a different perspective

●Be critiqued

Multiple Choice

What is the function of a supporting details?

• To help readers understand the essay better.

• To make the essay more comprehensible

• To provide examples, explanations, descriptions for the essay

• To provide the information that supports the topic sentence

Presenting evidence

Present evidence by quoting or paraphrasing:

Many of the teachers at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth resisted
learning Braille’s system because they found the tactile method of
reading difficult to learn (Bullock & Galst, 2009).

Writing a conclusion

Your conclusion...

✓

Returns to your overall argument

✓

Ties together your main points

✓

Shows why it matters

Multiple Choice

What can NOT be found in a conclusion?

• Topic sentence

• Summary

• Suggestion

• Prediction

• Opinion

Multiple Choice

What can you do when you are writing a conclusion?

• Summarize and paraphrase your thesis.

• Add more information

• Contrast information

• Explain with examples

Multiple Select

Transitions words to add a conclusion

• In brief

• In fact

• To conclude

• Besides

Multiple Choice

A Concluding paragraph restates and/or summarises main points and leaves a final comment.

• True

• False

Return to your thesis

Begin your conclusion by coming back to your overall argument:

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way
blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them.

Multiple Choice

The concluding paragraph should end with "in conclusion"

• True

• False

Review the main points

Remind the reader of the main points you used to support the
argument:

Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems
from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required
sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the
other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social
changes in the status of blindness.

Multiple Choice

A concluding paragraph should restate the thesis statement in new words, summarize the main points covered in the body paragraphs, and leave the reader with something to ponder or question about the topic?

• True

• False

The revision stage

●Redrafting and restructuring your arguments

●Editing for grammar and clarity

●Proofreading for typos

●Checking for stylistic consistency

Multiple Choice

Complete: An essay is...

It is a short collection of ... that presents ..., opinions, and ... about the ....

• Sentences, facts, ideas, topic.

• paragraphs, facts, ideas, writer's intention.

• paragraphs, facts, ideas, topic.

• all of these

Multiple Choice

Narrative, comparative, cause-effect, and argumentative are

• Types of free writing

• Used in literature

• Part of speech

• Types of essay

Multiple Choice

What does it mean to identify?

• Recognize, list, name or otherwise characterise

• To originate e.g.to produce a solution to a problem

Multiple Choice

Select the answer that best describes the command verb:

Compare and Contrast

• This instruction verb asks you to list items in alphabetical order.

• This instruction verb asks you to paint a picture.

• This instruction verb asks you to explore how situations, ideas, theories or interpretations are related to each other, to highlight their similarities or differences. When you compare you concentrate on similarities, while contrast requires that you focus on differences.

Multiple Choice

Explain...

• To prepare a detailed account or statement about an event or topic

• Describing the meaning or nature of something

• Give an account, including all the relevant characteristics, qualities or events.

• To describe or justify the purpose or reason for something

Multiple Choice

Define

• To describe or justify the purpose or reason for something

• Give an account, including all the relevant characteristics, qualities or events

• Carefully choosing the most suitable method of work, tool or information for a completing a task, or for a purpose

• Describing the meaning or nature of something.

Multiple Choice

Describe

• To find a solution, explanation or an answer

• Describing the meaning or nature of something

• Carefully choosing the most suitable method of work, tool or information for a completing a task, or for a purpose

• Give an account, including all the relevant characteristics, qualities or events

Multiple Choice

Select the best definition for the command verb: Trace

• This instruction verb asks you to introduce an idea or concept.

• This instruction verb asks you to outline or follow the development of something (a process, history of an idea/event) from the the starting point (origin) to the latest.

• This instruction verb asks you to make a comparison between two ideas or theories.

Multiple Choice

List

• To demonstrate, present or enact

• To systematically record

• To precisely communicate the exact situation or condition

• Put together or compose something

Multiple Choice

Select the best definition for the command verb: summarise

• This instruction verb asks you to plagiarise from authors.

• This instruction verb asks you to expand on the topic and provide minor details and examples.

• This instruction verb asks you to provide a summary. That is a concise, clear explanation, presenting the main factors and excluding minor detail or examples.

Multiple Choice

Select the best definition for the command verb: identify

• This instruction verb asks you to expand on concepts and ideas.

• This instruction verb asks you to provide your opinions on a topic.

• This instruction verb asks you to clearly name and tag, also to describe the main ideas.

​One more slide to go!!

Well done

Multiple Choice

Select the best definition for the command verb: Discuss

• This instruction verb asks you, in the first place, to consider and decide what the main issues are in the topic you are exploring in your written assignment and then to describe, analyse, and explain. Think of a discussion panel where points for and against a particular issue are expressed.

• This instruction verb asks you to offer your opinion without supporting your claim.

• This instruction verb asks you to provide your reader with a one-sided perspective on a topic.