15P03876 3 SKS
Compiled by Dr. Rudi Hartono, S.S., M.Pd.
PROGRAM STUDI PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS FAKULTAS BAHASA DAN SENI
UNIVERSITAS NEGERI SEMARANG TAHUN AJARAN 2019/2020
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VERIFIKASI BAHAN AJAR
Pada hari ini Sabtu tanggal 17 bulan Agustus tahun 2019 Bahan Ajar Mata Kuliah Advanced Writing Program Studi Pendidian S2 telah diverifikasi oleh Ketua Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris S2.
Semarang, 17 Agustus 2019 Ketua Prodi Sastra Inggris Tim Penulis
Dr. Januarius Mujiyanto, M.Hum. Dr. Rudi Hartono, S.S., M.Pd.
NIP 195312131983031002 NIP 196909072002121001
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CHAPTER 1
What is Academic Paper?
Writing for College
How It Differs From Writing in High School
One of the first things you'll discover as a college student is that writing in college is different from writing in high school. Certainly a lot of what your high school writing teachers taught you will be useful to you as you approach writing in college:
you will want to write clearly, to have an interesting and arguable thesis, to construct paragraphs that are coherent and focused, and so on.
Still, many students enter college relying on writing strategies that served them well in high school but that won't serve them well here. Old formulae, such as the five-paragraph theme, aren't sophisticated or flexible enough to provide a sound structure for a college paper. And many of the old tricks - such as using elevated language or repeating yourself so that you might meet a ten-page requirement - will fail you now.
So how does a student make a successful transition from high school to college?
The first thing that you'll need to understand is that writing in college is for the most part a particular kind of writing, called "academic writing." While academic writing might be defined in many ways, there are three concepts that you need to
understand before you write your first academic paper.
1. Academic writing is writing done by scholars for other scholars. Writing done by scholars for scholars? Doesn't that leave you out? Actually, it doesn't.
Now that you are in college you are part of a community of scholars. As a college student, you will be engaged in activities that scholars have been engaged in for centuries: you will read about, think about, argue about, and write about great ideas. Of course, being a scholar requires that you read, think, argue, and write in certain ways. Your education will help you to understand the expectations,
conventions, and requirements of scholarship. If you read on, so will this Web site.
2. Academic writing is devoted to topics and questions that are of interest to the academic community. When you write an academic paper, you must first try to find a topic or a question that is relevant and appropriate - not only to you, but to
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the academic community of which you are now a part. But how do you know when a topic is relevant and appropriate to this community? First of all, pay attention to what your professor is saying. She will certainly be giving you a context into which you can place your questions and observations. Second, understand that your paper should be of interest to other students and scholars. Remember that academic writing must be more than personal response. You must write
something that your readers will find useful. In other words, you will want to write something that helps your reader to better understand your topic, or to see it in a new way.
3. This brings us to our final point: Academic writing should present the reader with an informed argument. To construct an informed argument, you must first try to sort out what you know about a subject from what you think about a subject.
Or, to put it another way, you will want to consider what is known about a subject and then to determine what you think about it. If your paper fails to inform, or if it fails to argue, then it will fail to meet the expectations of the academic reader.
Source: http://writing-speech.dartmouth.edu/learning/materials/materials-first-year-writers/what-academic- paper#college
What is an Academic Paper?
The most important characteristic of an academic or scholarly paper is that it has to pass an academic quality assessment before it can be published in an
academic journal (the DEFSA website is an authorised ePublication). Before an article is accepted for publication, it has to be reviewed by researchers working in the same field (referees). This control process is called peer-reviewing and is designed to guarantee the academic standard of an article.
What is an academic research paper?
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An academic paper is not a social commentary, an opinion or a "blog". An academic paper begins with a thesis - the writer of the academic paper aims to persuade readers of an idea or solution to a problem based on EVIDENCE - not personal opinion.
Academic writing should present the reader with an informed argument. To construct an informed argument, you must first try to sort out what you know about a subject from what you think or feel about a subject. You can begin by posing a question that will lead to your idea (in which case, your idea will be the answer to your question), or you can make a thesis statement. Or you can do both: you can ask a question and immediately suggest the answer that your essay will argue.
The research process is not simply collecting data, evidence, or "facts," then copy- and-pasting" this preexisting information into a paper. Instead, the research
process is about investigation —asking questions and developing answers through serious critical thinking and thoughtful reflection. Most research involve at least a survey or questionnaire soliciting opinions from a reasonably-sized sample of relevant participants.
How are Academic Papers assessed?
1. Is the Full Paper an accurate reflection of the title, abstract and keywords?
2. Does the paper clearly state the problem, outcomes, findings or conclusions. Is the structure of the paper clear and logical?
3. Does the paper clearly define the methodology, research tools and research questions?
4. Does the paper include sufficient relevant theory and is such knowledge clearly portrayed and correctly cited?
5. Does this paper present new knowledge or insights, and suggest future work in the field of design education.
6. Are any parts of the paper weak or lacking, and how could these be improved?
7. Have ethical requirements been addressed, including how the research was conducted.
8. Does the paper adhere to the style guidelines?
In addition, papers presented at DEFSA Academic conferences are evaluated in a Double Blind Peer Review against the following criteria:
a. Does the paper address the conference theme?
b. Does the paper contribute to Design Education (or closely related) focus areas? It is important to note that papers must address issues related to design education such as knowledge production, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, and not designing or the design profession.
c. Does the paper present an academically sound argument that contributes to original research output?
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Elements of an academic paper
Abstract
The abstract contains a short summary of the article as well as a description of the objective, method, result and conclusion of the study. Keywords (or subject
words), which identify the contents of the article, are also given in the abstract. An abstract is between 300 and 500 words.
Full Paper
A Full Paper can contain up to 5 000 words, and consists of the following:
Introduction
Briefly describe the focus of the overall paper and its main points
Highlight background information or issues necessary to understand the direction of the paper. The evaluator might not be from your field of design.
Define any key terminology need to understand the topic
Finish with your thesis statement
Research Method and material
The methodology and methods ought to be reasonable for and appropriate to that which is being studied.
Identify the methods used to identify and locate sources and the rationale used for selecting the sources to analyse. The detail should be sufficient so that the
research process can be assessed, and reproduced by future researchers.
Explain the procedures used for analysing the data and arriving at findings.
Results
Important data is given textual form preferably using tables and figures. Even unexpected or negative results are presented.
Discussion
The discussion is an assessment of the results. Methodological considerations as well as the way in which the results compare to earlier research in the field are discussed.
Conclusion
Restate your thesis from the introduction in different words
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Briefly summarise each main point found in the body of the paper (1-2 sentences for each point). Give a statement of the consequences of not embracing the position (argumentative paper only)
End with a strong clincher statement: an appropriate, meaningful final sentence that ties the whole point of the paper together
References
All documents mentioned in the article should be included in the bibliography so that the reader is able to refer to the original sources.
Referencing and citation
If you make judgments about something in academic writing, there is an expectation that you will support your opinion by linking it to what a published author has previously written about the issue.
Citing the work of other authors is central to academic writing because it shows you have read the literature, understood the ideas, and have integrated these issues and varying perspectives into the assignment task.
The importance placed on referring to other authors in your work can be reflected in the elaborate referencing conventions.
The abbreviated Harvard system of citation should be used. References should be published materials accessible to the public. Internal technical reports may be cited only if they are easily accessible (i.e. you give an Internet address within your citation). Proprietary information may not be cited.
o http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide
Source: http://www.defsa.org.za/what-academic-paper
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CHAPTER 2
Essay Topics
Topics for Essays - Enriching Your Supplies
When you get to high school and certainly when you get to college you know that you are going to be asked to write a number of essays. In many cases the essay topic will be decided for you. You have no choice. But this is not the case all of the time. In a number of cases you will be asked to come up with the title and the topic of your essay.
When that happens, it inevitably means that some students will scratch their head and try and think of something to write about. You can overcome that problem or better still, you can prevent the problem from ever occurring if you start to collect good essay topics. It is very easy to do.
Get the filing system correct
So you're taken that piece of advice and decided to keep a record of any interesting or exciting essay topic you stumble upon at some time in your
education. Great move because it does have positive benefits. But the secret to your success is your storage system. Where will you file the names of these essay topics?
Think about it for a moment because a tidy mind makes for a happy student. You could have a notebook and keep it in a secure place and into which you add the name of each new essay topic whenever you come across it. You could have a file on your PC or tablet or even in your phone and add new essay topics to this file or folder whenever you think of them.
But then we come to the subject of access. If you can't remember where you filed it or if you lose the hardcover book in which you started to write your essay topics, then you are in trouble. So it's not so much a matter of you being brilliant in your thinking as much as it is you being brilliant in your organization.
What makes a good essay topic?
First of all they need to excite you. If you are not excited by the essay topic then the person reading what you've written won‘t be excited either. Then it needs to be a topic which has lots of excellent and worthwhile research material. It needs to be
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a topic which lends itself to controversy. Here are some examples of good essay topics. As you read through them, consider whether or not they excite you, will have lots of available research resource material and whether or not they are controversial.
Are we slaves to fashion?
Women will never be able to break through the glass ceiling.
Education in primary and secondary schools should see the girls separated from boys.
How old should a person be when they are allowed to go on a date?
Is it humane to use animals for scientific experiments?
Does the death penalty for humans reduce the number of serious crimes?
Source: http://www.neindiaresearch.org/selecting-the-best-topic-for-your-academic-essay-writing See also http://lklivingston.tripod.com/essay/topic.html
10 Unusual Topics for Academic Essays
As the title suggests, here are ten unusual topics you can choose from when writing your academic essay. If you don‘t like any of the suggestions, remember that you can be creative and ask around friends and family to come up with unusual topics of your own, as well.
1. If you were the main character of a movie, what would the movie be about?
As in, would your movie about you be an action adventure, a thriller, a horror film, romantic comedy, drama, etc.? What other interesting
characters would be in the movie, and what twist would there be to your synopsis to make it unique? Who knows, maybe after you write the essay you‘ll end up writing (and selling) the movie script.
2. Why High School Teachers are more useful than College Professors.
To poke fun at the Professors who will be grading your essay. Some advice with one though is to know your Professor…is the man or woman grading this paper going to take it as a joke like you did?
3. You have been elected President of the United States. What three things could you realistically do as President, why would we need those changes, and how would they affect the country?
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This should get you thinking about what really matters to you about your country. You may also want to include whether or not you think you would be a popular President.
4. What is your favorite day of the week and why?
Wednesdays are my favorite day of the week because…Dig into what has happened in your life and really why any day of the week is your favorite.
5. Why pets are better than people.
People may think you‘re lonely, but it‘s nonetheless be an interesting essay.
6. What running into a Stranger taught you?
Mom always said to never talk to strangers, but that doesn‘t mean a random stranger you encountered can‘t have a profound impact on your life.
7. Why Kids are more responsible than Adults.
You could probably come up with countless examples to support your argument.
8. What you would have done differently at your High School senior prom, and how that would have affected the rest of your life.
On second thought, maybe we don‘t want to know…
9. How having a ‗celebrity crush‘ when you were younger impacted how you handle relationships today.
Most of us have had, or still have, a celebrity crush. Open up about yourself to see if having a celebrity crush really has impacted how you handle your real relationships and crushes.
10. One Hundred Years from Now…
You‘ll probably have to be realistic to get a good grade, but it doesn‘t hurt to let your imagination fly. Where do you see the world a hundred years from now?
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Source: http://chigrid.org/top-10-interesting-topics-for-an-academic-essay-for- college
A university essay can be thought of as an extended answer to a quite specific question that has been posed by your lecturer. A key consideration for lecturers when they mark students' work is whether the essay before them is relevant; that is whether it does in fact provide an answer to the question being posed.
For this reason it is important when you prepare to work on an essay that you spend a reasonable amount of time reading and mulling over the essay topic so that you understand precisely what is being asked. This involves identifying and thinking about key words in the topic, among other things.
This tutorial on essay writing can be seen and practiced in the following link:
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/essay/essay-topic/index.xml
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CHAPTER 3
Developing a Topic
Seven stages of writing assignments
If a topic is not assigned, identify a subject that interests you.
Refer to your text book, a lecture, a hobby you have that relates to the subject, something that you are curious about.
Summarize your topic
State your thesis, theme, or objective in a sentence or two at most:
If the topic is assigned, or when you have identified your subject:
Note key ideas or words (search terms!) you think will be important.
Use only short phrases or individual words at this point Construct a map using these words and phrases
Refer to our Guide on concept mapping on how to create one
Identify what you want to do with the concepts!
Refer to our list of terms for essays
Pick a likely verb (or two) and write out the definition to keep before you.
Are you to develop a persuasive or expository essay, or a position paper?
What has the teacher assigned?
List out what sources you will need to find information for your essay:
Start small: what does an encyclopedia say about it?
Is there a reference librarian who can help you find sources, both for an overview and for detailed research?
Is a search engine enough? Or too boring?
Think big: are there experts you can talk to? an organization?
Analyze your topic so far
Is it too vague or broad, or too narrow?
Is it interesting enough? Is there a controversy to explore, or do you think you can help others understand a problem? Will you provide information from two points of view, or only one while anticipating questions and arguments?
Summarize your topic
and present it to your teacher for feedback.
Bring these first few steps with you in case the teacher will want to help you refine or restate your topic
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Write out your opinion on, or approach to, the topic
Remember: you are writing an essay as a learning experience and you may find information that is against your position. You will need to resolve this.
Keep an open or critical mind as you research:
You may only see your side and not be objective.
Your position could be prejudicial to, or otherwise affect, your investigation
Source: http://www.studygs.net/writing/topic.htm
Develop A Research Topic Generate Topic Ideas
Select a topic that interests you. You are going to be working on it for awhile so choose something interesting, with enough focus to be doable, but not so narrow that you cannot find enough information to work with.
How do you decide what interests you?
Free write on your topic: set a time limit, 5 or 10 minutes, and write without
stopping, don‘t worry about editing or corrections. Write about what you know and don't know about the topic. Begin by writing what you know then write question what you know. How do you know this? Are sure that what you know is correct?
What other possibilities exist? What questions do you have about your topic? Do more free writing on what you don't know. Read over what you have written. What ideas have emerged? At this point you probably have a set of questions that you can take to research sources and begin searching.
Ask questions about your topic:
What do I already know about this topic?
Who was involved in it? (inventor, victim, instigator, bystander)
Brainstorm on your topic: talk to your professor, classmates, and friends. Think about your class discussions and reading assignments; did anything spark your curiosity? Browse the Subject Guides in your subject area.
If the topic is a current event or social issue browse newspapers, general interest magazines, and online sources such as http://publicagenda.org/
Define Your Topic
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Researching a topic that is too broad or too narrow can turn into a very frustrating experience. If your topic is too general, you will find an overwhelming amount of information and will need to focus your topic. If your topic is too specific, you will find very little information and will need to broaden it.
Focus your Research Topic:
When your professor assigns a research topic, it is often too large and general for you to cover in a standard research paper. Consider the length of the assignment and focus your research topic so that you can find the right amount of information for the length of your paper. A good research topic is broad enough to allow you to find plenty of material, but narrow enough to fit within the size and time constraints of your paper.
The following example demonstrates how to focus a general topic:
Your professor assigns a paper on…
A focused research topic would be…
Genetics Impact DNA testing has in law
enforcement
Football and America How ads portray football as an American sport
How do you go from a general topic to a focused one?
Select an aspect of the topic that will interest you and your audience.
Make the topic narrow enough that you can cover it in the assigned number of pages and timeframe.
Have a clear grasp of your professor's expectations for the assignment. If you are confused, talk to your professor.
Reference books are good places to start your research when you know little about a topic, when you need an overview of a subject, or when you want a quick summary of basic ideas. They are also useful for discovering the names of
important people, and can familiarize you with the vocabulary of the field.
Encyclopedia articles are often followed by carefully selected bibliographies or lists of references to other works, useful items to have as you begin looking for
additional information.
You can expand or focus a topic by adding or eliminating the:
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Time Period – year, decade, century
Specific Population – male, female, adolescent, adult, species, nationality
Geographic – county, state, region, country Broaden a Research Topic
Sometimes a research topic is so specific that you cannot find adequate
information to fulfill the requirements of the assignment. In this case it is time to broaden your topic. The techniques used to focus a general topic can also be used to expand a narrow topic.
Use ideas discovered while you were generating topics to add to your topic. For example, you could compare and contrast two ideas.
Use background research, found in reference books, to find a researchable topic.
If the topic is narrowed by a factor that can be broadened, such as time period, specific population, or geography, expand the limiting factor. Go from a state to a region or county. Go from a few years to a decade or longer.
Select Keywords to Use as Search Terms
Step 1. Identify the keywords and central ideas of your topic and write them down.
Step 2. List synonyms or alternate terms for your original keywords.
If one term retrieves too much or too little information, or irrelevant material try a synonym.
The online catalog and databases may not recognize your original search term, but may recognize a synonym or variation on the search term.
Step 3 Refine you search terms by using controlled vocabulary.
Controlled vocabulary terms are standardized terms that databases or indexes use to organize information. Controlled vocabulary terms yield very specific results. Most databases and indexes give users a way to look up their controlled vocabulary terms by using the ―help‖ or ―Search Tips‖
Library of Congress (LC) Subject Headings are the controlled vocabulary of the library catalo
Using Search terms
Step 1. Identify keywords Step 2. Generate Step 3. Look up controlled
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from original topic and research question
synonyms for keywords
vocabulary terms Environmental protection Conservation Environmental policy
Environmental impact analysis Conservation of natural resources
Toxic Dumps Pollution
Waste disposal
Pollutants
America's America
American U.S.
America United States
Cities Towns Urban cores
Inner cities
Land use -- urban Capital cities Keep Track of Sources
Have you ever found and lost an important source? To prevent sources from slipping away note the citation information for a potential source as soon as you find it. Be consistent in how you save citations and the format you use. Citing sources accurately and in the citation style of your paper (APA, MLA) will save you time by preparing you for the later stages of research paper writing: in-text
citations and the bibliography.
Suggestions for organizing notes and citations:
Open a Word document at the beginning of each research session and type in citation information and other notes as you find them.
E-mail search results and copies of electronic journal articles to yourself.
Store all articles, citations, and notes related to the research paper in a single folder or envelope.
Always write your name on diskettes, you could even include your phone number.
Save more than one copy! Use your T drive and diskettes so that you have saved a copy of your hard work in more than one place.
http://library.uncfsu.edu/reference/intro-to-library-research/develop-a-research-topic
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CHAPTER 4
Essay Structure
Writing an academic essay means fashioning a coherent set of ideas into an argument. Because essays are essentially linear—they offer one idea at a time—
they must present their ideas in the order that makes most sense to a reader.
Successfully structuring an essay means attending to a reader's logic.
The focus of such an essay predicts its structure. It dictates the information readers need to know and the order in which they need to receive it. Thus your essay's structure is necessarily unique to the main claim you're making. Although there are guidelines for constructing certain classic essay types (e.g., comparative analysis), there are no set formula.
Answering Questions: The Parts of an Essay
A typical essay contains many different kinds of information, often located in specialized parts or sections. Even short essays perform several different
operations: introducing the argument, analyzing data, raising counterarguments, concluding. Introductions and conclusions have fixed places, but other parts don't.
Counterargument, for example, may appear within a paragraph, as a free-standing section, as part of the beginning, or before the ending. Background material
(historical context or biographical information, a summary of relevant theory or criticism, the definition of a key term) often appears at the beginning of the essay, between the introduction and the first analytical section, but might also appear near the beginning of the specific section to which it's relevant.
It's helpful to think of the different essay sections as answering a series of
questions your reader might ask when encountering your thesis. (Readers should have questions. If they don't, your thesis is most likely simply an observation of fact, not an arguable claim.)
"What?" The first question to anticipate from a reader is "what": What evidence shows that the phenomenon described by your thesis is true? To answer the question you must examine your evidence, thus demonstrating the truth of your claim. This "what" or "demonstration" section comes early in the essay, often directly after the introduction. Since you're essentially reporting what you've observed, this is the part you might have most to say about when you first start writing. But be forewarned: it shouldn't take up much more than a third (often much
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less) of your finished essay. If it does, the essay will lack balance and may read as mere summary or description.
"How?" A reader will also want to know whether the claims of the thesis are true in all cases. The corresponding question is "how": How does the thesis stand up to the challenge of a counterargument? How does the introduction of new material—
a new way of looking at the evidence, another set of sources—affect the claims you're making? Typically, an essay will include at least one "how" section. (Call it
"complication" since you're responding to a reader's complicating questions.) This section usually comes after the "what," but keep in mind that an essay may
complicate its argument several times depending on its length, and that counterargument alone may appear just about anywhere in an essay.
"Why?" Your reader will also want to know what's at stake in your claim: Why does your interpretation of a phenomenon matter to anyone beside you? This question addresses the larger implications of your thesis. It allows your readers to understand your essay within a larger context. In answering "why", your essay explains its own significance. Although you might gesture at this question in your introduction, the fullest answer to it properly belongs at your essay's end. If you leave it out, your readers will experience your essay as unfinished—or, worse, as pointless or insular.
Mapping an Essay
Structuring your essay according to a reader's logic means examining your thesis and anticipating what a reader needs to know, and in what sequence, in order to grasp and be convinced by your argument as it unfolds. The easiest way to do this is to map the essay's ideas via a written narrative. Such an account will give you a preliminary record of your ideas, and will allow you to remind yourself at every turn of the reader's needs in understanding your idea.
Essay maps ask you to predict where your reader will expect background information, counterargument, close analysis of a primary source, or a turn to secondary source material. Essay maps are not concerned with paragraphs so much as with sections of an essay. They anticipate the major argumentative moves you expect your essay to make. Try making your map like this:
State your thesis in a sentence or two, then write another sentence saying why it's important to make that claim. Indicate, in other words, what a reader might learn by exploring the claim with you. Here you're anticipating your answer to the "why" question that you'll eventually flesh out in your conclusion.
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Begin your next sentence like this: "To be convinced by my claim, the first thing a reader needs to know is . . ." Then say why that's the first thing a reader needs to know, and name one or two items of evidence you think will make the case. This will start you off on answering the "what" question.
(Alternately, you may find that the first thing your reader needs to know is some background information.)
Begin each of the following sentences like this: "The next thing my reader needs to know is . . ." Once again, say why, and name some evidence.
Continue until you've mapped out your essay.
Your map should naturally take you through some preliminary answers to the basic questions of what, how, and why. It is not a contract, though—the order in which the ideas appear is not a rigid one. Essay maps are flexible; they evolve with your ideas.
Signs of Trouble
A common structural flaw in college essays is the "walk-through" (also labeled
"summary" or "description"). Walk-through essays follow the structure of their sources rather than establishing their own. Such essays generally have a descriptive thesis rather than an argumentative one. Be wary of paragraph openers that lead off with "time" words ("first," "next," "after," "then") or "listing"
words ("also," "another," "in addition"). Although they don't always signal trouble, these paragraph openers often indicate that an essay's thesis and structure need work: they suggest that the essay simply reproduces the chronology of the source text (in the case of time words: first this happens, then that, and afterwards
another thing . . . ) or simply lists example after example ("In addition, the use of color indicates another way that the painting differentiates between good and evil").
Copyright 2000, Elizabeth Abrams, for the Writing Center at Harvard University
Source: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/essay-structure
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How do I write an academic essay, regarding structure and organization?
Top 10 essay writing tips for a strong and successful essay:
1. Present a well-rounded application – The admissions committee is looking for a candidate that has collected a wide range of experiences, which reflect his/her passion and form the basis for his/her heightened sense of self-awareness.
2. Keep it simple – You need to portray that you can competently organize your thought processes, and that you can persuasively articulate about yourself.
3. Project a high degree of maturity – The admissions committees are looking for students that display an outstanding level of maturity this needs to permeate through content.
4. Show that you are a strong fit through your application – You may be a candidate that is well rounded and has excelled personally and professionally, but your core experience and philosophy has to fit with that of the school.
5. Adhere to the word limit – There is no room for maneuvering the word limits in essays.
6. Write naturally but succinctly – Use simple sentence structure and normal everyday vocabulary. If large words are used incorrectly, you end up sounding pretentious.
7. Use excellent grammar and punctuation – Use logical paragraph breaks to separate your thoughts and to make the essay easier to read. Proofread your work carefully before sending it in. Don‘t let simple carelessness ruin your chances.
8. Use the active voice – Be direct, crisp and thorough. Passive voice is highly impersonal and makes the essay almost unreadable. It is too technical and verbose.
9. Avoid plagiarism at all costs – Use your own language and do not lift content from published materials, both online and offline.
10. Use humor carefully – Be careful about how you use humor, and do not take yourself too seriously – this goes back to your ability to honestly reflect
individuality .
Make a sharp statement!
Source: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-write-an-academic-essay-regarding-structure-and-organization
Organization By Kathleen Cali
When I was a writing resource teacher, I was a fountain of formulas, ready to spout forth the appropriate formula for each type of writing: ―First, Next, Last‖ for narratives, ASO2 (Audience, Situation, Opinion, Two Reasons) for persuasive
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writing, and of course, the all-purpose five-paragraph essay. For many students, writing instruction rarely extends beyond these simplistic recipes. But teaching organization is much more complicated than teaching students the formula for a five-paragraph essay. Although formulaic writing can help scaffold students‘ early efforts at writing a particular genre, the scaffolding must eventually be removed to allow students to grow as writers.
If focus is the foundation for constructing a piece of writing, organization is the the structural framework for that writing. Organization is important to effective writing because it provides readers with a framework to help them fulfill their expectations for the text. A well-organized piece of writing supports readers by making it easy for them to follow, while a poorly organized piece leads readers through a maze of confusion and confounded or unmet expectations.
Organization, simply put, is the logical progression and completeness of ideas in a text. Instruction in organization focuses on two areas: text structures specific to the particular genre and the cohesive elements that tie clauses, sentences, and paragraphs together into a cohesive whole.
Text structures
A text structure is the framework of a text‘s beginning, middle, and end. Different narrative and expository genres have different purposes and different audiences, and so they require different text structures. Beginnings and endings help link the text into a coherent whole.
Beginnings: hooking your reader
Where to begin is a crucial decision for a writer. Just as a good beginning can draw a reader into a piece of writing, a mediocre beginning can discourage a reader from reading further. The beginning, also called the lead or the hook, orients the reader to the purpose of the writing by introducing characters or setting (for narrative) or the topic, thesis, or argument (for expository writing). A good beginning also sets up expectations for the purpose, style, and mood of the piece.
Good writers know how to hook their readers in the opening sentences and paragraphs by using techniques such as dialogue, flashback, description, inner thoughts, and jumping right into the action.
What’s in the middle?
The organization of the middle of a piece of writing depends on the genre.
Researchers have identified five basic organizational structures: sequence,
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description, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem and solution.
Sequence uses time, numerical, or spatial order as the organizing structure.
Some narrative genres that use a chronological sequence structure are personal narrative genres (memoir, autobiographical incident, autobiography), imaginative story genres (fairytales, folktales, fantasy, science fiction), and realistic fiction genres. Narrative story structures include an initiating event, complicating actions that build to a high point, and a resolution. Many narratives also include the
protagonist‘s goals and obstacles that must be overcome to achieve those goals.
As early as kindergarten, children can be introduced to basic informational genres that are organized sequentially, including learning structures for writing
instructions, experimental recounts and experimental procedures. Older students can learn to use timelines to organize biographies, oral histories, and recounts of current and historical events.
Description is used to describe the characteristic features and events of a specific subject (‖My Cat‖) or a general category (‖Cats‖). Descriptive reports may be arranged according to categories of related attributes, moving from general categories of features to specific attributes.
Children‘s initial attempts at descriptive reports often are ―All About‖ reports that have little internal organization. Informational alphabet books and riddle books can be used to introduce kindergarten children to the writing of descriptive reports through shared or interactive writing. Older children can learn to develop
categories of related attributes to organize their reports by using webs, concept maps, and software such as Inspiration and Kidspiration. Expectation outlines (Spiegel, 1981) are another strategy that can help students anticipate the categories of information found in a report.
Cause and Effect structure is used to show causal relationships between events.
Cause and effect structures organize more sophisticated narratives as childen become more adept at showing the relationship between events. Young children also can begin to extend opinion essays by giving reasons to support their opinions using the word because. Signal words for cause and effect structures also include if…then, as a result, and therefore.
Comparison and Contrast structure is used to explain how two or more objects, events, or positions in an argument are similar or different. Graphic organizers such as venn diagrams, compare/contrast organizers, and data matrices can be used to compare features across different categories. Primary grade children can begin to use words such as same and different to compare things. Other words
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used to signal comparison and contrast organizational structures include alike, in contrast, similarities, differences, and on the other hand.
Problem and Solution requires writers to state a problem and come up with a solution. Although problem/solution structures are typically found in informational writing, realistic fiction also often uses a problem/solution structure that children can learn to identify.
Endings: beyond “happily ever after”
Anyone who has watched a great movie for ninety minutes only to have it limp to the finish with weak ending knows that strong endings are just as critical to
effective writing as strong beginnings. And anyone who has watched the director‘s cut of a movie with all the alternate endings knows that even great directors have trouble coming up with satisfying endings for their movies. Just like directors, writers have to decide how to wrap up the action in their stories, resolving the conflict and tying up loose ends in a way that will leave their audience satisfied.
Student writers struggle with writing strong endings, often relying on the weak ―I had a lot of fun‖ summation or the classic ―It was just a dream‖ ending to rescue them from their stories.
The type of ending an author chooses depends on his or her purpose. When the purpose is to entertain, endings may be happy or tragic, or a surprise ending may provide a twist. Endings can be circular, looping back to the beginning so readers end where they began, or they can leave the reader hanging, wishing for more.
Endings can be deliberately ambiguous or ironic, designed to make the reader think, or they can explicitly state the moral of the story, telling the reader what to think. Strong endings for expository texts can summarize the highlights, restate the main points, or end with a final zinger statement to drive home the main point to the audience.
Cohesion: the glue that holds the structure together
If narrative and expository structures are the framework, cohesive elements such as transition words are the glue that holds these structural elements together.
Transition words show the relationship between different sentences and ideas.
Poor writers tend to loosely connect their sentences with and and then. Good writers use transition words that show causal and logical relationships between words, sentences and paragraphs, such as because and after.
Transition words
There are six categories of transition words:
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1. Spatial order. Words used in descriptive writing to signal spatial
relationships, such as above, below, beside, nearby, beyond, inside, and outside.
2. Time order. Words used in writing narratives, and instructions to signal chronological sequence, such as before, after, first, next, then, when, finally, while, as, during, earlier, later, and meanwhile.
3. Numerical order. Words used in expository writing to signal order of importance, such as first, second, also, finally, in addition, equally important, and more or less importantly.
4. Cause/effect order. Words used in expository writing to signal causal relationships, such as because, since, for, so, as a result, consequently, thus, and hence.
5. Comparison/contrast order. Words used in expository writing to signal similarities and differences, such as (for similarities) also, additionally, just as, as if, as though, like, and similarly; and (for differences) but, yet, only, although, whereas, in contrast, conversely, however, on the other hand, rather, instead, in spite of, and nevertheless.
6. General/specific order. Words used in descriptive reports and arguments to signal more specific elaboration on an idea, such as for example, such as, like, namely, for instance, that is, in fact, in other words, and indeed.
Guiding questions for organization
These guiding questions for organization can help students make sure that they have provided coherent transitions between the ideas in their writing.
Does your piece have a clear beginning, middle, and end?
Does your piece have a strong beginning that hooks the reader?
Does your piece have a strong ending that fits the focus?
Are the ideas and actions connected to each other?
Can your reader follow the piece logically from beginning to end?
Is it complete? Does it feel finished?
References
Spiegel, D. L. (1981). Six alternatives to the directed reading activity. The Reading Teacher, 34, 914-922.
Source: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/few/683
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CHAPTER 5
Logic and Argument
What is an Argument?
We've talked in depth about what constitutes an argument in What is an Academic Paper? Still, it's worth repeating the fundamental elements of argument here.
A good argument will include:
a thesis or claim that declares the writer's position on the problem at hand;
an acknowledgment of other perspectives;
a set of clearly defined premises that illustrate the argument's line of reasoning;
evidence that validates the argument's premises;
a conclusion that convinces the reader that the argument has been soundly and persuasively made.
If your paper has these essential features, then you've probably presented a sound argument. Of course, "probably" isn't good enough for the budding scholar.
How can you be sure that your argument is sound?
Toulmin's Analysis of Argument
One way of assessing your the validity of your argument is via a method created by Stephen Toulmin, a philosopher and educator who committed his career to the analysis of moral reasoning. His method is designed so that we might assess the validity of any argument that we encounter. However, the method can also be used to determine the validity of your own work.
Toulmin classified six important elements of argument. The three most important (and the ones we will consider here) are the claim, grounds, and warrants. The claim is what you are asserting or proposing; the grounds include the evidence that supports your claim; and the warrant is what permits a piece of evidence to stand in support of a given claim. Warrants are perhaps the most "slippery"
aspects of argument, in that they often comprise widely-held beliefs and assumptions that may or may not be stated explicitly.
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Reviewing the Grounds of Your Argument
In crafting an argument, you will make a claim and gather evidence to convince your reader that this claim is valid. Once you've collected the evidence or reasons that support your claim, you'll want to consider whether that evidence is sufficient.
In other words, you'll want to be sure that your evidence warrants the claim you're trying to make. You can begin this process by assessing your use of evidence.
Have you suppressed evidence?
Evidence that doesn't serve your argument must be reckoned with, not ignored.
Make sure that you aren't dismissing evidence that challenges or undermines your argument.
Have you manipulated evidence?
Sometimes we dig up information that can only loosely support our point of view.
But we need that information in order to make our argument stand. Is it fair to stretch the information to suit our own purposes? Absolutely not - unless you are going to acknowledge the stretch to the reader, and leave it to him to decide whether your stretch is a fair one.
Do you have enough evidence?
Review the main points of your argument and consider whether or not each point is convincing based on the evidence alone. Do you find yourself relying on your rhetoric alone to make a point? If you are, you may need to return to your sources for evidence.
Do you have too much evidence?
Take a look at your paper. Do your quoted passages outweigh your own prose? If so, perhaps your argument has been buried under the arguments of others. It's likely, too, that your reader will find so much information difficult to wade through.
She'll be looking hard for an argument that may in fact be impossible to find.
Is your evidence current? Credible?
It's not that you can't use dated sources in a paper, it's simply that you run the risk of not considering more current information that might challenge your point of view. You've also got to make sure that your evidence comes from a credible source. Remember the dictum, "You can't believe everything you read." This is
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especially true of information you find online, where anyone can post anything, sometimes without the slightest concern for its validity.
And finally, is your evidence sufficient to warrant your claim?
Consider why you believe your evidence to be sufficient. Is that evidence based on research? Scholarship? Or is it based on an assumption or commonly held belief? If the latter, you will need to bring this assumption into the light.
Sometimes you'll need to provide additional backing (Toulmin's fourth element of argument). The two remaining elements include qualifiers, which determine the conditions under which an argument is true, and rebuttal, which determines the conditions under which an argument is not true. It's important to consider these conditions as well.
Avoiding Logical Fallacies
Finally, you may want to consider whether your arguments contain any logical fallacies, or mistakes in reasoning. Some common fallacies are defined below.
1. Hasty Generalization: A generalization based on too little evidence, or on evidence that is biased. Example: All men are testosterone-driven idiots.
Or: After being in New York for a week, I can tell you: all New Yorkers are rude.
2. Either/Or Fallacy: Only two possibilities are presented when in fact several exist. Example: America: love it or leave it. Or: Shut down all nuclear power plants, or watch your children and grandchildren die from radiation
poisoning.
3. Non Sequitur: The conclusion does not follow logically from the premise.
Example: My teacher is pretty; I'll learn a lot from her. Or: George Bush was a war hero; he'll be willing to stand tough for America.
4. Ad Hominem: Arguing against the man instead of against the issue.
Example: We can't elect him mayor. He cheats on his wife! Or: He doesn't really believe in the First Amendment. He just wants to defend his right to see porno flicks.
5. Red Herring: Distracting the audience by drawing attention to an irrelevant issue. Example: How can he be expected to manage the company? Look at how he manages his wife! Or: Why worry about nuclear war when we're all going to die anyway?
6. Circular Reasoning: Asserting a point that has just been made.
Sometimes called "begging the question." Example: She is ignorant because she was never educated. Or: We sin because we're sinners.
7. False Analogy: Wrongly assuming that because two things are alike in some ways, they must be alike in all ways. Example: An old grandmother's
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advice to her granddaughter, who is contemplating living with her boyfriend:
"Why should he buy the cow when he can get the milk for free?"
8. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc: The mistake of assuming that, because event a is followed by event b, event a caused event b. Example: It rained today because I washed my car. Or: The stock market fell because the Japanese are considering implementing an import tax.
9. Equivocation: Equates two meanings of the same word falsely. Example:
The end of a thing is its perfection; hence, death is the perfection of life.
(The argument is fallacious because there are two different definitions of the word "end" involved in the argument.)
Source: http://writing-speech.dartmouth.edu/learning/materials-first-year-writers/logic-and-argument
