 |
| Image Location |
An essay is the combination of paragraphs
for one uniting purpose of explaining, informing, describing, or arguing an
overall point. As adults, writers are expected to write professionally, with
clarity, and academic formality. This
handout is divided into three main sections: Tone, Content, and Structure. These three sections are most important to
focus on when working on academic essays at the college level and beyond.
When
English teachers talk about Point of View & Voice, they are referring to a
special grouping of pronouns. Point of view is divided into three voices, or
three groups of pronouns known as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person. The most skilled
writer pays attention to point of view because she/he knows that it is a key element
in writing style.
VOICE
STAY IN 3RD PERSON VOICE
In our early years of learning to write,
we start with essays about ourselves, things we do, or places we go.
These are written in 1st and 2nd person voice (I and You). Right now, when I
have written this section, I have used our, we, ourselves, and I. These types of pronouns are 1st
and 2nd person voice,
and therefore, will not be included in the academic writing of our
mature-writing years. At this level of academic writing, it is prudent to stay in 3rd
person voice
so that the audience can become engulfed in the argument or report without
getting bogged down by frequent informal references to I or
You.
FORMAL WRITING
STYLE
STAY FORMAL AND NOT PERSONAL IN ACADEMIC WRITING
As we become more mature writers, we learn
to write about more global concerns and create arguments and research reports.
These academic
writings are formally written
and take on a pre-set writing style that audience have come to expect in professionally
written and researched articles and papers. For a list of formal writing
expectations, visit this link: https://learnstandardenglish.blogspot.com/2019/02/formal-writing-voice.html.
For all writings in our classroom, even
discussion board posts, you will want to remain aware of your formal writing
style. All outlines and essays
in our course must stay in 3rd person voice; however, the discussion
board posts can move from 1stà2ndà3rd
person voice if you feel inclined.
The content of an essay is precisely
focused. It should have a clear point—thesis—and
it should assert the viewpoint on an issue—in the body paragraphs—in a way that
is both logical and valid. Often, ethos,
logos, and pathos are used in academic writing to strengthen the argument being
made, but in the end, clear, assertive, and logically flowing content is what
will persuade an audience to your side.
QUESTIONS
ELIMINATE QUESTIONS
Inexperienced writers will often include
questions in various places in a writing.
This serves as a way for them to generate their topic. However, this is not supposed to be done in
the finished product. A mature writer
will ask questions and come up with the answers to those questions in an
outline or early draft.
By
the time the final draft is in formation, all questions
are removed from the paragraphs
and only focused, guided sentences remain, letting the audience know the author’s
exact viewpoint…instead of having the author ask questions so that he can find
his viewpoint. Therefore, it is
important for you to eliminate questions from your final writing pieces.
If you want to ask yourself questions
during a Brainstorming session or when creating the first version of your
outline, this is fine. However, by the
time you turn in an outline to your instructor, there should be no questions in
the content. Afterall, you would have to
eliminate them on the next stage of writing—the rough draft—anyway, or you
might forget and leave them in accidentally.
Asking questions—of yourself—is a great way to start gathering your
ideas on a topic. Once you begin putting
the content into an outline or draft, though, questions should be eliminated so
that there is a clear focus and direction.
For additional information about questions in
writing,
visit this link: https://learnessaystrategies.blogspot.com/2019/10/eliminate-questions.html.
Language Choice
Good
writers are concise and precise, weeding out unnecessary words and choosing the
exact word to convey meaning. Precise words — active verbs, concrete
nouns, specific adjectives — help the reader visualize the sentence. Good
writers use adjectives sparingly and adverbs rarely, letting their nouns and
verbs do the work.
SLANG
ELIMINATE SLANG
Slang is language that is being modified
in the current culture and is not part of Standard English clarity rules. This means that not everyone will understand idioms, colloquialisms, jargon, oxymorons, or lingo. Furthermore, they are not concepts that will always
make sense or be as precise as Standard English. Clichés are one form of slang that can become
confusing to readers based on overuse and under-comprehension of the phrase and
therefore must be removed form academic writing. Be sure to eliminate all slang terminology from
your writing. For more information on slang
elimination,
visit this link: https://learnstandardenglish.blogspot.com/p/slang.html.
CONTRACTIONS
ELIMINATE CONTRACTIONS
Academic writing strives to write as
closely to Standard English as possible.
This means that ‘real words’ from the English language are what will
be included in your content. You will
not use slang or abbreviated words—such as contractions—when crafting academic
writing. Contractions are created when
two real words have been modified to make one shortened word consisting of most
of the letters from the original words, with an apostrophe filling in the space
for missing content. For example: I
did not go to the store today might be alternately written as I
didn’t go to the store today.
When writing informally, contractions may be considered acceptable;
however, in formal writing, academic writing, contractions must be eliminated
to maintain the highest level of academic writing. For additional information
about contractions, visit this link: https://learnessaystrategies.blogspot.com/2019/02/formal-writing-voice.html.
As
you draft your paper,
keep an outline of your topic
and supporting ideas next to you as a guide. You will need to have an outline
written out to help keep you from overlapping ideas, repeating yourself, and to
keep you moving in the most positive direction to prove your point of view on
an issue.
OUTLINE
Refer
to your outline as the skeleton—the structured strength—of the essay you will write.
[Use
these links for outline help: Outline Guidance, Introduction Structure /
Outline, Body-Paragraph Structure
/ Outline, and Conclusion Structure /
Outline.]
DRAFT
As
you write the paper, you will add flesh to the skeleton—argument clarity,
support, and analysis of the issue—while sticking to the preset organizational
structure and flow from the outline.
Use these links for essay help: [INTRODUCTION] Everything You Need to Know about
Introductions, [BODY] Body-paragraph Tutorial: 3-minute
Video, Hamburger Method--Drafting Your Essay, and
Signs of Trouble--Letting Sources
Lead Instead of Follow Your Writing [COUNTERARGUMENT]
Counter-Argument: The Turn Against
and Back [CONCLUSION] Concluding Your Paper, Three Parts to a Conclusion, and
Conclusions (Drafting Your Essay) [CREATE
A TITLE] Creating a Correct Title for Your
Writing and Creating a Great Essay Title
Paragraph Organization
An academic writing should maintain formal
structure and flow
to assist the reader with the intense content being expressed in the
pages. Typically, academic writing is
argument writing. This means that a
point is going to be proven in the essay, and to do this, clear flow of ideas
and paragraph organization is required for top-notch writing.
INTRODUCTION
Introduction paragraphs serve the purpose of introducing the
topic or issue. Therefore, this
paragraph is not very long—nor will it have sourced content. You are not beginning the argument in this
paragraph. The introduction is where you
present the concept that ‘will’ be argued in the body paragraphs. An introduction has three parts: ‘hook,’ concept
overview,
and thesis. While you could use a quote in your ‘hook’
sentence, it is best to write the entire introduction in your own words and
ideas, lading up to the thesis. For more
information about introduction
organization and structure,
visit this link: https://learnessaystrategies.blogspot.com/2019/01/introduction-content_29.html.
BODY
Body paragraphs serve the purpose of presenting issues
surrounding a specific topic and arguing a viewpoint relating to that
issue. Body paragraphs are mostly in
your words, since they are ‘your’ argument.
However, you will add in outside source content to defend what you have
been arguing in the paragraph. Once you
add in the support for your argument, you then add in a few sentences that
fully explain to the audience how that content supports and strengthens your
argument. In this way, you have argued and
supported a viewpoint that readers will not be able to dispute—if it is done
well. Body paragraphs contain 5 basic
parts, and therefore, they are a minimum of 5 sentences. See this link for more help with the organization
of argument body paragraphs: https://learnessaywriting.blogspot.com/p/hamburger-method-drafting-your-essay.html, and see this link for help with the structure of
counter-argument body paragraphs: https://learnessaywriting.blogspot.com/p/counter-arguments-youare-struggling.html.
CONCLUSION
The Conclusion
paragraph is a very
short paragraph—similar to the Introduction paragraph—that consists of only 3
sections: restatement (new words) of thesis, summary of overall argument points
from body paragraphs, and ‘release’ of the audience with a memorable call to
action or urgency over the issue. Many
writers see this layout as the reverse of what was presented in the Introduction,
but it is filled with all new content.
REVISIT THESIS
The last sentence of the Introduction was the
thesis. Here, in the conclusion, the
first sentence is a rewording of the thesis to bring the overall concept back
into the audiences’ minds.
WRAP-UP ARGUMENT
Then, the middle section of the conclusion wraps up
what was argued, and this is similar to how the middle section of the Introduction
provided general ideas relating to the issue; however, in this case, there are
now specific, arguable ideas about the issue that are being wrapped up.
‘RELEASE’
Finally, there is the ‘release’ sentence of the
paragraph. This is the opposite to what
started the introduction paragraph. In
the Introduction paragraph, the first sentence ‘hook’ed the audience. Here, you ‘release’ the audience and send
them on their way with newly found insights into the issue.
For more clarity on Conclusion
paragraphs, visit this
link: https://learnessaywriting.blogspot.com/p/three-parts-to-conclusion-restate.html.
OVERVIEW
For assistance with your writing,
please visit the links below. It is
imperative that young writers and first- and second-year college students
follow the structure listed above perfectly.
As writers mature, they may want to adjust this strict pattern a little
bit when it impedes the argument or overall creative flow. However, some things will always remain
constant…
place
the thesis as the last sentence of the introduction paragraph,
craft
a clear topic sentence for each body paragraph to begin the paragraph
with a focused argument direction,
wrap-up
each body paragraph with a closing sentence that directly refers to the topic
sentence of a given body paragraph, and finally,
‘release’ the audience in a memorable and
intriguing way so that your argument will remain with them long after they have
put your writing away.
WEBSITE LINKS
Content created by J. Dick
For additional helper sheets, visit one of the main sites below
For Educational Purposes Only, © 2019
The Writing Process| Writing Structure| Writing Content| Using Sources| Formatting
Papers| Understanding Assignments| Standard English| Writing Style| Revision
Guides| Editing Guides
JDick13@liberty.edu
No comments:
Post a Comment