How to Write an Academic Essay, academic paper writing.

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

• Why does the rate of teen suicides keep increasing? What forces youth to commit suicide?
• What can each individual do to contribute to the prevention of climate change and reduce the threats it brings with it?
• What strategies can our society adopt to recover after the global pandemic as quickly and painlessly as possible?
• George Floyd’s death and the police’s abuse of authority: What can we do to prevent future cases?

Word Choice
Word choice is one of the factors that define the quality of an academic essay. It is also often overseeded or neglected. It is no secret that some words are better at communicating ideas than others. It is also no secret that vocabulary plays a big role in the writing process. Focusing on word choice is especially significant in descriptive essay writing when your goal is to paint a picture in a reader’s mind. If you are writing a paper on a specific area of study, it is crucial to use words related to that field and avoid simple neutral words that offer no contribution to the text.

• Fix all grammatical mistakes and punctuational errors
• Finalize your title
• Add a bibliography if needed (basically, a “references” or “works cited” page that also includes the sources you have used, but weren’t referenced within the text)
• Make sure your paper meets its specified academic paper formatting requirements.

Descriptive Essay

Expository and persuasive types are most commonly seen in university curriculums as they are more scientific and objective. Narrative and descriptive essays are more subjective and engage your creativity. Now, let’s break down each type and look at each academic essay definition.

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

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.

Referencing. The word still jars with me, even after all these years. I don’t quite break out in a cold sweat, but there’s certainly a bit of repressed trauma in there.

Introductions and conclusions for longer essays, on the other hand, are fundamentally important. Instead of generic statements of purpose, these paragraphs should instead function as condensed forms of your overall argument.

Do not fall at the first hurdle

But, even an excellent essayist can fail to impress a moderator, and that’s because there’s no such thing as a perfect essay. Redrafting will almost always be necessary, because we are subject to both the whims and tastes of our moderators, and the specific success criteria of our institutions and faculties.

Perfecting your introduction

At school, you have teachers. At university, it’s tutors. At postgraduate level, supervisors. Even when you’re a professor publishing your own research, you’ve got peer-reviewers. At every step of the way, you are playing to the tastes and demands of different individuals and criteria, so play their game. Tick their boxes. Figure out how to modulate.

Do not expect to hit the nail on the head on your first try

Read the primary material in its entirety, of course – twice, even. But the secondary material, think about being more picky.

Fortunately, there is an unwritten rule about reading lists that I’m going to make a written rule:

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

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

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

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.

Thesis Statement

All sections of the paper should include in-text citations as and when necessary.

This section includes a list of references used in the paper. (Ling, 2009) Though this section is not considered to be a part of the main writing in the paper, it has great significance since plagiarism is heavily criticized in academic writing.

When choosing the topic of the academic paper, it is important to keep a few things in mind-

BUT, if any of the features of STOP are omitted from the question, then try the following:

To ensure you don’t fall foul of accidental plagiarism, use my method to EQUIP yourself:

If you are lucky, you will be provided with primary sources (texts) and direction for secondary sources (reading lists). If you are less lucky, then you’ll need to get stuck into some background research of your own.

When it comes to plagiarism, my philosophy is the same as my old Maths teacher’s: “Show your working”. As brilliant as you may be, as a young academic who’s brimming with ideas, you should not be reluctant to reference. Nine times out of ten, how erudite and well-referenced an essay is predicts how good it is.

How to write an academic essay

It sounds daunting, but can be made simple. Most elegantly put, referencing refers to the synthesis of other voices in your work. All the theorists whose ideas you’ve engaged with

For many students, it is like learning a foreign language

For example, if you are a student of Literature and you type ‘Literary Theory’ into Wikipedia, the resultant page points you towards names like Leavis, Derrida, Foucault and Fish – some of the most significant names in the area. On the other hand, if you started your search on Google Scholar, you’d be pointed towards Carroll, Ronen, Barry and Scholes – all relatively new and less influential contributors to the field.

What does a research paper look like? Usually, it is an expanded version of an essay. When working on an essay, a student often focuses on personal thoughts and experiences. However, to write on a research paper, you need to find out what the experts know. Thus, a literature review section is usually an essential part of a research paper outline. Other important parts include the abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references.

Selecting a topic is probably the most difficult challenge for students who are starting their research papers. Sometimes you are assigned a topic, but often you need to choose one by yourself. Choosing and defining a good topic is a crucial part of a successful research project. However, don’t fret about coming up with the final version for the header of your academic paper at this stage. That decision comes much later.

At this stage, you need to make sure that that the format of your academic paper meets the correct style requirements. Pay special attention to citations.

Now that you’ve managed to finish your first draft, take a moment to congratulate yourself! And then, get back to work because you still have a lot to do.

📊 Academic Report

A basic academic paper structure includes three main parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The body is usually the most voluminous part of any paper. It typically consists of a literature review, a methods section, results, and discussion. An abstract (a short and concise summation of the entire story) is not always required. Still, most academic papers aimed for publication have one.

It is a good idea to take notes while reading. Later, you’ll be able to convert them into a full literature review section.

The work that you’ve already done has probably given you tons of exciting ideas. Your task at this stage is to organize these ideas logically in an outline format. Think of the key points that support your thesis and use them as subheadings for the body paragraphs of your paper.

Research paper: A research paper uses outside information to support a thesis or make an argument. Research papers are written in all disciplines and may be evaluative, analytical, or critical in nature. Common research sources include data, primary sources (e.g., historical records), and secondary sources (e.g., peer-reviewed scholarly articles). Writing a research paper involves synthesizing this external information with your own ideas.

Dissertation: A dissertation (or thesis) is a document submitted at the conclusion of a Ph.D. program. The dissertation is a book-length summarization of the doctoral candidate’s research.

Let’s say you’ve just finished an analytical essay for your literature class. If a peer or professor asks you what the essay is about—what the point of the essay is—you should be able to respond clearly and concisely in a single sentence. That single sentence is your thesis statement.

Most published papers also have abstracts: brief summaries of the most important points of the paper. Abstracts appear in academic database search results so that readers can quickly determine whether the paper is pertinent to their own research.

Examples of Academic Writing

The thesis statement plays an important role in the writing process. Once you’ve written a thesis statement, you’ve established a clear focus for your paper. Frequently referring back to that thesis statement will prevent you from straying off-topic during the drafting phase. Of course, the thesis statement can (and should) be revised to reflect changes in the content or direction of the paper. Its ultimate goal, after all, is to capture the main ideas of your paper with clarity and specificity.

Academic papers may be done as a part of a class, in a program of study, or for publication in an academic journal or scholarly book of articles around a theme, by different authors.

Most academic disciplines employ their own stylistic conventions. However, all academic writing shares certain characteristics.