An Introduction to Academic Writing: A Simple Guide, how to write academic paper.

How to write academic paper

  • Using a topic sentence to indicate the main point of each paragraph
  • Supporting the topic sentence through reliable and relevant research/evidence
  • Synthesizing information
  • Displaying critical thinking by supplementing the arguments with one’s understanding (Ling, 2009)

The body of the paragraph includes ideas that support the thesis statement. (EssayPro, 2017)

EssayPro. (2017). How to Write an Academic Essay: Format, Examples | EssayPro. Retrieved 9 May 2020, from https://essaypro.com/blog/academic-essay/

Academic Learning Centre. Writing an Academic Paper [Ebook] (pp. 1-3). University of Manitoba. Retrieved from https://www.umanitoba.ca/student/academiclearning/media/Writing_an_Academic_Paper_NEW.pdf

Referencing and Citations

Before undertaking this journey of academic writing, it is imperative to distinguish between everyday writing from academic writing. This allows for the student to understand the expectations that follow from an academic paper and what he/she must or must not include.

  • Choose a theme that is related to the subject matter- To ensure that the topic is relevant to the course, the student must select a theme that can be linked to the subject matter of his/her course. The student can either decide to expand on a topic that he/she has covered in class or cover a new topic in the academic paper and make linkages to the material studied. The point here is to ensure that the academic paper in some way or the other, reflects the classroom learnings and ideas and is of particular interest to the student. (Whitaker, 2009)
  • Narrow down the topic- After selecting a broad theme, it is necessary to narrow down the topic and make it more specific. Specifying the topic ensures that the academic paper fits the larger goal of academic writing. (Whitaker, 2009)

  • The thesis statement must present the main idea of the paper
  • The thesis statement should neither be a question nor a fact, instead, it should reflect the point of view of the student
  • The thesis statement should answer your research question
  • The thesis statement must carry with itself an element of surprise which makes it engaging and interesting.
  • The thesis statement should be easy to understand and clearly defined. (Whitaker, 2009)

Researching for academic papers also brings about the question of finding credible sources. Some credible sources include- academic journals from Jstor, Google Scholar

How to write academic paper

Here are the main requirements for writing a strong body section:

Another type of academic writing — an expository essay is used to help readers understand subject matter by providing grounded information and facts. This type of writing requires its author to support all of the information included in the paper with valid evidence. An expository paper is no place for opinions or personal views on a subject. A quality paper should use analysis that consists of factual information on its subject. The author's key goal is to inform and educate the audience through clear logic and facts. Just to give you an example, this “How to Write an Academic Essay” article can be considered as expository writing.

Usually, an academic essay follows the standard 5-paragraph structure: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Moreover, each section will have its own unique internal structure. The introduction’s main goal is to introduce the topic and to reveal the essay’s main message (a.k.a. the thesis statement). The body paragraphs’ primary tasks are to defend the thesis with 3 sub arguments—1 per paragraph. Lastly, the conclusion is there to wrap up the entire argument and to leave a lasting impression in the form of an overall concluding statement. Down below we have presented a graphic organizer that illustrates the breakdown.

When you have a powerful hook, it is time to give your readers an insight into the essay's main topic. Since the main theme of the paper may not yet be evidently clear at this point, you need to narrow down your paper’s focus by introducing some valuable contextual background information. Outlining the background data will help readers understand how the topic will unfold throughout the paper. Finally, after you provide the background, it is time to shape your golden sentence (a.k.a. thesis statement).

The Main Body

How to write academic paper

Writing a persuasive paper requires one to embrace the role of a salesman (or saleswoman). You can state an opinion, project, or idea which you then have to sell to your reader(s). The logic behind how you supply the reader(s) with information should be impenetrable, leaving them with no doubt that what you are expressing is the only truth they need to know. Cater your points carefully to avoid being pushy, and hide your sales tactic behind well-thought-out sentences. When it comes to defending an argument, you can use logical tactics, emotional tactics, or a mix of both

It helps to develop your academic writing skills early—as they are skills you will carry forward throughout your studies and lifetime. People who are good at writing academic essays also tend to be able to articulate themselves more clearly, and tend to have more confidence when speaking.

The body paragraphs of your essay will be the source of information for your audience. The main body is always the biggest part of a 5 paragraph assignment and requires the most attention. When writing your body paragraphs, your main points should be stated according to the order of your outline and should support your thesis statement with valid arguments and facts. If you deviate from that, it’s going to confuse the audience, especially those who are very attentive to your essay’s flow.

  • Summary: A condensed paraphrasing of the information stated in the thesis and the subpoints. (Only if you are writing an expository, descriptive, or persuasive paper)
  • Personal or Social Connection: In other words, why this information is relevant to society. Stating such a connection showcases the general importance of the subject and its modern-day relevance.
  • Overall Concluding Statement: This will normally be the last sentence that serves the purpose of tying a knot around your work. If you have initially started with a rhetorical question, a nice touch would be to give the audience an answer to it here. If you have written a quote, rephrase it in your own words.В It is important to leave the audience with a strong statement that will stay in their minds.

How to write academic paper

The first stage of any academic endeavour is understanding. Most essays prescribed to you will come with a title, often in the form of a question. Your first and most important task is to understand what it is asking of you.

Do not fall into the trap of just changing a few words from the original source so that it becomes ‘your own work’ – this will be spotted by sophisticated plagiarism-detection software (like Turnitin) and be perceived as deliberate attempts to plagiarise the work of others. If you aren’t quoting directly, then you need to paraphrase (see below), rather than just emending slightly.

1. An introduction: an overview of the essay’s purpose and key contents.
2. A (fully referenced) review of the key topic of the essay: its history and debates.
3. A discussion of the development of the topic and its debates to a resolution.
4. A conclusion, if necessary.
5. A reference list.

IN-TEXT.
Your in-text citation is how you signal to your reader that the specific thing you’re writing at this time comes from an extraneous source. Harvard referencing would require a bracketed in-text reference after the quoted or paraphrased section, such as “(Voss & Wiley, 1997)” and a relevant page number

How is an essay structured?

How to write academic paper

It includes, as standard for most referencing formats, the authors’ names, the date of publication, the title of the article, the name of the journal it’s from, the issue and number of that journal, and the page range. Other referencing styles differ slightly, so check which one you’re expected to use before you start.

The STOP approach:
Sources: own knowledge of psycholinguistics (secondary), provided transcript (primary)
Topic: non-standard English in children’s language acquisition
Orientation: focus on non-standard utterances only
Purpose: analyse, theorise, explain

For each text you read, you want to be able to lift out an abstract (a bullet-point summary of the gist, including controversies), several bites (direct quotations lifted from the text, with page numbers), and a citation (the full reference for the text you’re reading).

How to write academic paper

To walk you through the process of writing strong paragraphs, we’ll use an example from our interactive essay about the history of the Braille reading system. With each step, we will gradually build up the structure of a paragraph.

Not all paragraphs will look exactly like this. Depending on what your paper aims to do, you might:

First, you need to know the central idea that will organize this paragraph. If you have already made a plan or outline of your paper’s overall structure, you should already have a good idea of what each paragraph will aim to do.

  • Bring together examples that seem very different from each other, but have one key point in common.
  • Include just one key piece of evidence (such as a quotation or statistic) and analyze it in depth over several sentences.
  • Break down a concept or category into various parts to help the reader understand it.

Table of contents

How to write academic paper

When you think you’ve fully developed your point, read through the final result to make sure each sentence follows smoothly and logically from the last and adds up to a coherent whole.

  • Transitions from the previous paragraph (which discussed the invention of Braille).
  • Clearly identifies this paragraph’s focus (the acceptance of Braille by sighted people).
  • Relates to the paper’s overall thesis.
  • Leaves space for evidence and analysis.

  • This sentence cites specific evidence from a secondary source, demonstrating sighted people’s reluctance to accept Braille.

How to write academic paper

We aren’t saying this because translating and English editing is our business. We say this because we believe that every scholarly article aimed at publication will benefit from editing.

You should be able to see what sections are choppy. Look for sections that don’t have a good logical flow. Try to do this all in one sitting or at least all in one day when you can give your article your full focus. Then, work on the problem areas one by one .

Writing the paper can actually help define the value of your study.

You will be able to see what researchers in your field think are important details to include in their introductions. For example, if your study is on electron transfer mechanisms and all other studies explain the definition of electron transfer in their introductions, you may want to consider writing something similar as well. In case you were wondering, here’s how Wikipedia defines electron transfer:

13. Reread the entire manuscript when you have written all sections. Add or fill in any gaps you left. Make sure it flows well.

How to write academic paper

To avoid this, if you write in your native language, try to use short, active sentences that will be easy to translate. For most languages, this means that your subject and verb should be at the beginning of the sentence and easy to pick out.

A scholarly article is written on a specific topic of original research for a specific audience (other researchers in that field). Generally, a scholarly article is published in a peer reviewed journal. It typically details an original study and the results obtained. It should provide insights into the relevance of the study to the field of study. Alternative names for a scholarly article are a scientific manuscript, a journal article, an academic article, a scientific paper, a scholarly journal article, or an academic journal article. You can search for scholarly articles via the widely used Google Scholar or via other paid services, such as Web of Science .

Make a conjecture about what mechanisms are at work (this may be best laid out in your results and discussion section if it requires major discussion).

But, be careful not to plagiarize other studies (this is a big no-no!). Add in some useful background information that prior similar papers have left out. You will want to add value to the body of literature on your topic, not rehash what others have already stated.

How to write academic paper

There are various formats for citing the sources that are used in your paper. However, some of the most common formats are MLA and APA. Students need to understand and go over the different ways of citing books, journals, PDFs, and so on. The format of in-text citation must also be studied. A well-cited academic paper should follow a particular format and the number of sources in the bottom section under ‘References’ should be equal to the ones cited in-text.

There are broadly three points for consideration. The first point of difference is the objective. Academic writing is essentially used for writing reports, research papers, abstracts, and conference papers. However, everyday writing can be used for journals, newspapers, diaries, emails, and so on. The second point of difference is the language and grammar. Academic writing makes use of formal and objective language without any slang and contractions. On the other hand, everyday writing is more relaxed and can make use of semi-formal/informal writing, contractions, and slang. The third and last point of difference is the citations and referencing. Academic writing must always make use of references and citations, however, everyday writing need not necessarily make use of them. (Hasa, 2016)

  • Choose a theme that is related to the subject matter- To ensure that the topic is relevant to the course, the student must select a theme that can be linked to the subject matter of his/her course. The student can either decide to expand on a topic that he/she has covered in class or cover a new topic in the academic paper and make linkages to the material studied. The point here is to ensure that the academic paper in some way or the other, reflects the classroom learnings and ideas and is of particular interest to the student. (Whitaker, 2009)
  • Narrow down the topic- After selecting a broad theme, it is necessary to narrow down the topic and make it more specific. Specifying the topic ensures that the academic paper fits the larger goal of academic writing. (Whitaker, 2009)

  1. Owl Purdue: This website includes elaborate sections for writing the introduction, body, conclusions, thesis statements. It also includes different referencing formats and advice for academic writing.
  2. BBC Learning English: This website includes different components of academic writing and expands on each component separately. It also includes guidance for academic writing for different purposes.
  3. University pages: Many universities in the USA and UK have special websites dedicated to the process of academic writing. Example: Berkeley, Stanford, and so on.

Organization of the Paper

  • Using a topic sentence to indicate the main point of each paragraph
  • Supporting the topic sentence through reliable and relevant research/evidence
  • Synthesizing information
  • Displaying critical thinking by supplementing the arguments with one’s understanding (Ling, 2009)

For an academic paper to deliver what is expected from it, it must contain a clearly defined purpose. These purposes can be classified into three categories.

After the student finds credible sources, he/she must make a note of them by writing the links down separately or bookmarking them on their browser. This allows the student to keep all the information sources in one place for later use.

The purpose and topic of the paper are interrelated. Depending on the guidelines given for the academic paper, one must decide how these two can supplement each other. For example, if the guidelines specify writing an argumentative paper, then the topic selected must have two sides of arguments. However, if a particular topic is given, the student can himself/herself define the purpose of the paper. In any case, the purpose and topic of the paper, work side by side and not one after the other.

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