Academic Writing

UCT Writing Centre2015

uct.mywconline.com

At UCT everybody writes, right?But not everybody writes

right.

What is academic writing?

Scholarly style of expression

-Formal tone – no slang

-Usually uses third person (not “I”)

-Focused argument and presentation ofinformation – no “waffle”

-Precise word choice

Writing that talks to the intellect, rather than appealing to emotions

Academic writing is not “better” or more “correct” than other styles of writing

but it is what is required in the university space

-Terms, rules and values to learn

-Need to develop the skills and be able to “jump through the hoops”

-Takes practice

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Tone

Harry struggles to write his PHI5000 thesis.

5 components of academic writing

• Argument

• Structure

• Evidence

• Coherence

• Clarity

So what makes good academic writing?

1. More than a topic...

You need an approach to the topic. Are you trying to:

- answer a specific question?- argue for something?- compare something – theories, data?...etc- you could be doing more than one.

Make sure you understand what you are trying to do.

2. Clear structure and direction

Work out what you want to do in your essay and explain this to your reader up front.

This is why the introduction is key.

Introduction

Body (paragraphs)

Conclusion

Introduction

• Contextualisation (overview, background) to the issue

• Your argument (thesis statement)

• Roadmap (what you will be doing to answer your question / develop your argument)

• One idea per paragraph

• Paragraph structure: PEE: Point, Evidence, Explain

• Links between paragraphs

• Cohesive writing “hangs together” by showing the relationships between ideas

Paragraphs

Sum up your findings. This should mirror your introduction to some extent.

• Return to your argument (thesis statement)

• Explain how you got there

• Offer a way forward (optional)

No new information, no repetition.

Conclusion

3. Provide credible evidence for your claims

What counts as evidence in academia?• Research reported in academic journals / books /

theses• Government data and statistics, e.g. census data• Independently produced data, e.g. Large-scale

surveys, United Nations data

NOT: individual opinions (e.g. blogs), common sense, personal experience

…and engage respectfully but intelligently with your sources

Respectfully:• Acknowledge through correct citation.• Avoid “straw man” approach.• Be polite about opposing views.• Be aware that you don’t have the final answer. • Use hedging where appropriate.

Intelligently:• Critically weigh up others’ arguments /

evidence.• Think independently. • Develop your own voice.

“South Africa has very high levels of violent crime compared to other countries.”

“South Africans are a sport-loving nation.”

“Getting adolescents involved in sports after school helps to keep them away from

drugs.”

How do you know this?What sort of evidence would be relevant here?

4. Tell a coherent story

Work out your overall structure:

• What are your key ideas / pieces of

information?

• How are they connected to each other?

• How should you move from one to the next

one, so that you tell a logical story?

This paper is all over the place! Where is the

author taking me?

Yikes!This is moving too

fast!Waaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Think of stepping stones

Talk your reader through your ideas, one step at a time.

Deal with important ideas in detail. Don’t expect the reader to know what you know.

5. Be clear

Make yourwork easy to read, not a slog

Express complex ideas as simply as possible

You and your thesis