Academic Writing - Key Concepts

Study Notes

Academic Writing - Main Points

Topic Sentence Function: Introduce the main idea of a paragraph and provide evidence for an argument.
Formal Academic Writing Avoidance: Avoid subjective language, personal pronouns ("I think"), and unstructured arguments.
Formal Academic Language Example: "The study shows..." or "The research indicates..." Instead of "It is clear that..."
Academic Writing Extracts/Abstracts: Detailed analysis of research, summary of the paper's content, conclusion of the paper, or criticism of previous studies.
Academic Writing Characteristics: Logical organization of ideas, objective presentation (avoid bias), and support arguments with evidence.
Role of Evidence: Support arguments and claims, summarize conclusions, and avoid entertaining the reader.
Impact of Bias Language: Reduces objectivity and credibility of the argument.
Structure of an Academic Paper: Introduction, review, methodology, and conclusion are typical sections.
Conclusion Role: Introduce new arguments presented in the paper, restate the thesis and key points, and explain limitations.
Consequences of Poor Citation: Increased word count, lack of creativity, and potential plagiarism.
Handling Quotations: Include them within quotation marks and provide proper citations.
Paraphrasing: Paraphrase ideas from other sources using your words and cite the original work.
Plagiarism Avoidance: Use citations when using other authors' work or ideas.
Inappropriate Avoidance: Avoid uncited unique theories or well-known historical claims that are not properly cited.