Academic Writing

Academic writing has a number of features which make it distinct from writing you might see in newspapers, magazines, or social media. These include:

Cautious language
Formal tone (avoids colloquial or emotive language)
No contractions (avoids can’t, didn’t, won’t etc)
Third-person perspective (avoids I, we, you etc)
Factual
Objective
Provides evidence
Follows a prescribed structure
Accurately referenced. Sources are documented according to a standard convention (such as APA or MLA).

In addition, the author should strive for writing that is:

Clear
Concise
Well-argued
Logically organised
Coherent
Easy to follow
Considers both sides of an argument

Remember to always keep in mind the audience for whom you are writing, as well as the purpose for which you are writing. It might seem that the obvious audience is going to be the marker and that is true in one sense. Yet assuming this can sometimes lead to missing out connections between ideas because you think the reader will fill in the gaps. Instead, it is often better to assume the reader has some knowledge of the field but isn’t an expert in this particular topic. It could be useful to imagine another student in your class as the audience.

Tip	It’s sometimes helpful to assume the reader of your essay is another student on the course rather than the lecturer.

Thesis statement

Academic writing often contains an explicit thesis statement. A thesis statement consists of two components. The first component is the topic or subject matter. The second component is the author’s point of view on the topic. In other words, the thesis statement is the central claim of your essay or report. The rest of the writing project will use evidence to build a logically constructed argument that supports this claim. A good thesis statement needs a number of elements:

Elements of a thesis statement

It is arguable
Limited in scope
Specific
Supported by evidence
Realistic
Takes a clear stand on the issue

In most cases there is no point writing an essay on something that every reasonable person would agree on. For this reason a good thesis statement should be debatable. Although as a first year student you can probably get away with a relatively simplistic thesis statement.

Remember also, you only have a limited word count in undergraduate writing projects, so a thesis statement that is too broad cannot possibly be covered. A narrower, more specific thesis statement means your thesis can be fully supported by evidence. Since the position you take as a writer must be supported by evidence, it is often necessary to use terms like "sometimes", "often", "may", "possibly" and so on. This doesn’t mean sitting on the fence though, as that doesn’t make for compelling reading. Instead take a clear but nuanced position on an issue.

A thesis statement will appear in the introduction to an essay and also in reworded form in the conclusion. Each of the paragraphs in the body of an essay will be related to the thesis statement and build up support. Start with a draft thesis statement and use that to organise and plan your draft. As the writing project evolves, and you gain a deeper understanding of the issues, you may want to update your thesis statement.

Don’t get confused by the terminology — the word thesis may also be used to refer to a large piece of original research typically submitted to fulfill the requirements of a higher degree. But in the case of an undergraduate essay, it refers to the main position you are taking on the topic.

Tip	A thesis statement isn’t a statement that you are going to investigate an issue, rather it expresses a particular point of view.

Keep in mind that undergraduate writing assignments can vary considerably, so sometimes your lecturer might just want a simple summary of issues and isn’t concerned about the student producing an interesting piece of writing.

Outline

Before starting work on any writing assignment, make an outline. This will make producing a draft so much easier. One straight forward approach is to list the main ideas that you want to discuss along with any additional detail and supporting evidence. These ideas may need rearranging several times to produce the most sensible order. Later, each idea will be expanded into a complete paragraph. At this point, you might realise there are gaps in your knowledge and that you need to do additional research, but if not, you can use the outline to move to making a draft.

Working Thesis

First main idea
    Supporting evidence or detail
    ...
    Supporting evidence or detail

Second main idea
    Supporting evidence or detail
    ...
    Supporting evidence or detail

Third main idea
    Supporting evidence or detail
    ...
    Supporting evidence or detail

etc

After creating the initial outline, take a step back and evaluate how well the ideas fit together. Can you make the connections between ideas clearer? Always keep the purpose of the assignment in mind when creating an outline. Also don’t forget to consider and respond to counterpoints. Often you need to write an outline, have a break, and then more ideas will flow and connections become clearer.

Advantages of making an outline first

Can identify the best points for discussion while avoiding overlap.
Helps decide the most logical way to organise the essay.
Ensures the essay is cohesive.
Easy to expand the points into a full essay.
Makes it easier to overcome the blank page.

Creating a draft

Once you have an outline ready, now is the time to start drafting. Have your research organised and ready to go. Spending a lot of time searching for a piece of information can disrupt any momentum you have. If you can’t find a piece of information, just keep drafting and make a note where you want to insert that information.

Don’t worry if after having written a draft you realise you need to reorganise the project or undertake additional research. That’s a normal part of any writing project. First drafts are never perfect and experienced writers will revise a draft many times. After the first draft is out of the way, the writing process becomes easier as it is clearer what the order of paragraphs should be and what information needs to be added or removed.

Usually it is far easier to write an introduction after writing the main body. So work on the body of the essay first, then go back and write the introduction and the conclusion.

Note	Some overseas universities allow a student to submit a draft paper to their lecturer and get it back with suggestions before then producing and submitting the final version. This is essentially never the case in Australia and New Zealand.

Introduction

In academic writing the introduction needs to establish context and then introduce the content of the essay. One way of structuring the introduction is to include the following elements:

Provide some background context and information.
State a clear thesis (identifies the topic and declares the writer’s position).
Outline the organisation of the text.

Ending

The ending can vary depending on the exact nature of the writing task, but a common approach is to include the following:

Summarise the main ideas.
Repeat the thesis statement using different words.
Propose some action or discuss the implications.

Dealing with writer’s block

For most assignments provided you follow a process and have adequate time, writer’s block shouldn’t be an issue. Unlike fiction writers who have to imagine a plot and characters, or magazine writers who have to think how to really grab the reader’s attention, most undergraduate assignments have a specific topic and an abundance of sources to gather material from. If you do struggle to make progress, try the following tips:

Try reading a bit more on a topic (but beware of the trap of endless research).
Write down any ideas without being too critical.
Take regular breaks.
Work on a different task, sometimes ideas will flow when you are distracted.

Remember that your work doesn’t need to be outstanding. Perfectionism can sometimes be a cause of writer’s block. The blank page can be overcome by just jotting down key ideas without worrying about issues like spelling or organisation. Later, these ideas can be expanded and reorganised. Once you’ve overcome the initial barrier of the blank page, often words will flow much easier.

Tip	Perfect writing isn’t needed for a good grade. Perfectionism can lead to procrastination.

Assessing your work

After writing a draft, it’s time to assess your work. Some things to consider include:

Is the overall point of the text clear? Do you state it explicitly?
Does anything need to be added or subtracted?
Who is the audience? Does the writing meet their needs?
Do you provide definitions for terms the reader may not know?
Does the introduction effectively introduce the topic?
Does each paragraph develop one main idea and support the thesis statement?
Do you provide enough reasons and evidence?
Does each paragraph follow logically from the one before?
Does the ending provide a satisfying conclusion?
Are there enough transitions to help readers move smoothly through the text?

It’s always a good idea to put the draft aside after writing it. Looking at it with a fresh eye will make errors and needed improvements much easier to identify.

Revising

In the context of academic writing revising refers to making big changes to the ideas and organisation of the text.

Editing and proofreading

Editing refers to making changes to sentences and paragraphs to make them as clear as possible. Proofreading is the final step where you look for simple mistakes in spelling and punctuation.

Signposts

Signpost are a way of telling the reader what is coming next. Major signposts can be used to introduce key sections or ideas.

Major signpost examples

This paper argues that
This essay will
This essay critically examines
The aim of this essay is to
This section provides an overview of
In conclusion
To conclude
To summarise

There are also minor signposts that can be used to link sentences. These are also referred to as linking words or transition signals and are discussed in a subsequent chapter.

Referencing

Whenever you include ideas from other sources, you need to reference the source. Your university website will have detailed information about referencing according to popular standards such as the American Psychological Association (APA). Be sure to follow the preferred standard for the course you are taking. Assignments nearly always have marks allocated to referencing. Mistakes in referencing, such as using the wrong standard, are an easy way to lose marks.