Reno Dal the Academic Essay 1

RWR 0 RWR 0

RWR #0 P#0 only copyright Reno Dal 2002

Reno’s Writing Renditions!

The Academic EssayThe Academic Essay

Inside you will find:

1. Five sections that explain the essay in stages.

2. Details about the elements of an academic essay.

3. Hot tips about how to write an excellent essay.

4. Detailed questions that help you review each section.

5. A table of contents on page 2 for your convenience.

Copyright Version #1, 2002

This revision #4 copyright Reno Dal 2004

RWR #0: Understanding the Essay Format Page 1

Written by Reno Dal Page 1 copyright 29/04/14

EAP

Understanding The Essay Format

Level: Intermediate

The Purpose of This Package

The purpose of this text is to explain the features of an academic

essay and their functions.

After reading this booklet you will understand the main features of

essays and how they are used differently in the three different genres

(kinds) of academic essay.

How to use this package

This booklet is divided into five sections.

We recommend that you only do one at a time, take a break and then

return.

You will find that each step adds more information and complexity, so

that as you move through each stage, you will be reviewing what

happened before and adding to your knowledge.

Each section should take from 20-30 minutes to complete.


Copyright Reno Dal © Created on 15/01/04 11:16 PM

Table of Contents

WHAT IS AN ACADEMIC ESSAY? 3

FIELDS OF INFLUENCE: DIAGRAM 9

ESSAY FEATURES: THE BASIC CONCEPTS 14

ESSAY FEATURES: IN DETAIL 21

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 29



What is an academic essay?

Writing an essay is not a normal thing to do. In your normal everyday

life you would never need to do it and in fact, if you did, for example,

write an academic essay to your mother, she would think you were a

bit strange. But when you go to university, you do need to do things

that you never had to do before and writing an essay is one of them.

So what’s so different? Well, firstly, you can be personal with your

mum. You can tell her how you feel, but in an academic essay you

can’t do that. Instead, what you should do is demonstrate that you

have understood your course and have done extra research that

supports your ideas. In other words your academic essay is about

facts and research, not about how you feel.

This also affects how you write the essay. For example, right now I am

using a familiar style, addressing you personally, as if we were talking.

This is called ‘colloquial language’ and there’s nothing wrong with it,

but it is not used in academic writing. Why not? Well not only because

it is too personal but also because it is a bit casual, a bit vague. It

works just fine when you are talking with people but in academic

writing we need to be much more accurate and much more scientific.

More logical, if you like.

Academic writing is more like this:

Writing an academic essay is an exercise in

communication which differs markedly from other

forms of writing. Thus, it requires a different

kind of approach and a style which is particular

to the academic environment. As a result, it is

necessary to adjust not only the way in which the

project is approached, but how it is achieved.



You will notice that this is not like normal speech. It is not personal;

no first or second person pronouns (I, you) or questions. It is often in

the passive voice. e.g. ‘The way in which the project is approached’

not ‘How we approach the project’. It also follows a logical path by first

introducing the general idea, what we call the Topic Sentence, and

then explaining that idea in detail, what we call the Elaboration.

An essay is also different in how it is presented; it has its own form.

Basically, in an essay we introduce the main idea, explain what it

means and tell the reader what important arguments or ideas will be

presented. We call this the Introduction, which is the first paragraph of

the essay. It tells the audience what we understand by the topic and

explains the main ideas that we will present in the essay.

Once we have done that we need to move on to the more detailed

information. This is called the Body; the main part of the essay where

your ideas are explained in detail. This has a special format as well;

each paragraph needs to be announced so that the reader knows what

it is about and what it will do. This might include a staging device that

tells us its purpose (eg ‘however’, ‘on the other hand’, ‘moreover’) in

relation to the other paragraphs or it might only be a topic sentence

that informs us of the main idea of the paragraph, for example:

‘In terms of environmental factors, the most

common was found to be air pollution.”

Here we see that the essay is considering the environment and this

paragraph will be talking about ‘air pollution’. Thus the reader has a

very clear of idea of what to expect in the sentences that follow.

Once the body text is completed it is time to end the essay with a

conclusion. The Conclusion has two main features: the summary and

the concluding statement. The summary adds together all the

arguments of the body text. It is a bit like a list of the sub-topics. After



that, the essay comes to an end with some sort of all-encompassing

statement, something that gives the reader a clear and simple result

for the whole text. The concluding statement is slightly different for

each of the three essay genres (styles).

Now of course there are many ways to write an essay and some of

them are a bit more complex than this, but for the moment our aim is

to understand the basic elements of a good essay. Once you have

understood these basics then you can proceed to develop your own

ideas with a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve.



Fundamental Rules

1. Language is more formal, less personal than everyday speech.

2. Words and expressions are more compressed. They are denser and

arranged differently.

3. Ideas are logical rather than emotional. They need to arranged in

related groups and have those relationships clearly explained.

4. Planning is essential. Whereas you might not plan a letter to your

mother but just sit down and write ideas as they come to you, in an

academic essay, you need to organize your thoughts and make a

plan of what you are going to write.

5. Structure is also very important. Basically, you should tell uswhat

you will tell us in general terms (introduction), tell us in detail (body

text) and then tell us what you have told us in general terms, again

(conclusion).

6. Research is also very important because an academic essay is not

primarily about your opinion. You might use the essay to express

your opinion but you must do it using other people’s research and

conclusions. We call this ‘referencing’.

7. Understanding is also very important. You will need to read,

understand and analyse your references. You will have to decide

what is important and what is not. Then you will need to understand

the relationships between your different sets of data and arrange

them in a sensible and useful pattern.

8. Finally, review is essential. You can’t just sit down and write an

essay in one sitting. A good essay has to be revised and improved.



Review Questions- True or False

An academic essay:

1. expresses how you feel. T/F

2. shows how you understood the course T/F

3. demonstrates the extent of your research T/F

4. uses language just like talking to someone T/F

5. uses colloquial language T/F

6. is accurate and scientific T/F

7. is like a letter you would write to your mother T/F

8. uses personal pronouns (I, you, we) T/F

9. has no form or structure T/F

10. The introduction gives detailed information. T/F

11. The introduction has the main ideas of the essay T/F

12. The Body of the essay expresses your opinions. T/F

13. The conclusion has three main parts. T/F

14. The last paragraph should have a summary. T/F

15. The concluding statement is your opinion. T/F



Review Answers- True or False

An academic essay:

1. expresses how you feel. F

2. shows how you understood the course T

3. demonstrates the extent of your research T

4. uses language just like talking to someone F

5. uses colloquial language F

6. is accurate and scientific T

7. is like a letter you would write to your mother F

8. uses personal pronouns (I, you, we) F

9. has no form or structure F

10. The introduction gives detailed information. F

11. The introduction tells the main ideas of the essay T

12. The Body of the essay expresses your opinions. F

13. The conclusion has three main parts. F

14. The last paragraph should have a summary. T

15. The concluding statement is your opinion. T



Fields of Influence: Diagram

The Onion Analogy



The Onion Analogy

The diagram on the previous page illustrates the way in which the

parts of an academic essay go together a bit like the layers of an

onion.

Peeling the Onion=Writing the Essay Structure

The layers of an onion represent how each set of ideas is contained

within another set of ideas. This helps us understand the structures of

an academic essay.

The Introduction as the Outer Layers of the Onion

The Opening Statement talks about what will be said in the whole

essay. In a sense, so does the Concluding Statement. Thus, they both

enclose the whole essay: the outer skin.

Next comes the Definition or Definitions (you probably need more than

one). This is NOT a dictionary definition, rather it is your definition-

the meaning you will use throughout the essay.

The Outline or Scope tells the reader what will happen in the Body. It

is a bit like a list of contents. It does not talk about the Conclusion. It

only tells us the main ideas that will be looked at in the body of the

essay.

The Body Text as the Centre of the Onion

The Body Text is where the detailed ideas of the essay are expressed.

This is where the arguments are presented and where the references

are used. There should be at least three paragraphs in the body text.



The Conclusion- Back to the Outer Layers of the Onion

The Summary is just like the Outline or Scope. It tells the reader what

has been said in the body text. By reading the summary the reader

gets a clear sense of the main ideas of the body text and how they

have been developed.

The concluding statement wraps up the whole essay, giving the reader

a clear sense of what has been said by the body text arguments.

The concluding statement is like the opening statement because they

both enclose the whole essay; they both refer to what the whole essay

is saying.




1. The opening statement encompasses the whole essay. T/F

2. The definition must come from a dictionary. T/F

3. You should use a dictionary to understand key words. T/F

4. The body text should have at least three paragraphs. T/F

5. The summary is totally different from the scope. T/F

6. The summary is like a list. T/F

7. The concluding statement refers to the whole essay. T/F




1. The opening statement encompasses the whole essay. T

2. The definition must come from a dictionary. F

3. You should use a dictionary to understand key words. T

4. The body text should have at least three paragraphs. T

5. The summary is totally different from the scope. F

6. The summary is like a list. T

7. The concluding statement refers to the whole essay. T



Essay Features: The Basic Concepts

Introduction

Opening Statement: gives the reader an idea of the subject area. In

a sense, the opening statement answers the question, in general

terms, and informs the reader of your approach to the topic.

The Opening Statement gives the reader information necessary to

understand how you will answer the question and how you will

approach the topic.

There are three genres (types) of essay, and each one requires a

different kind of opening statement.

Each essay genre operates in a particular way. In the explanation

essay the writer tells us how something operates or why it is as it is.

In the argument essay the writer presents a point of view and argues

for that idea. In the discussion essay, the writer presents differing

points of view on an issue, looks at how they relate to each other and

develops a judgement.

Explain: a general background statement that names and shows the

importance of the topic. For example,

Pollution has become a cause for serious concern in developing countries

only towards the end of the 20th century, as the damage from industrial

wastes began to threaten the health of the general population.

Argue: a position statement that tells the reader whether you will be

arguing in favour of or against the proposition. For example,

It is the thesis of this essay that political corruption is the main cause of

pollution in the modern world.



OR

While environmentalists often assert that industrialization is the main

cause of pollution, it is the thesis of this essay that political corruption has

been the main contributor to the degradation of our ecosystem.

Discuss: a statement of issue provides the reader with an

understanding of the two sides of the discussion (issue) that will be

explored. For example,

While environmentalists often assert that industrialization is the main

cause of pollution, political corruption must also be considered as a major

contributor to the degradation of our ecosystem.

Definition: shows how you understand the topic, how you will

approach it and how you will limit its boundaries. This is not according

to a dictionary but rather your definition, and how you will use the

terms in your essay. You should define all the key terms of the

question that might be vague or confusing. For example,

For the purpose of this essay, pollution will refer to the physical process

whereby the natural and urban environment is degraded by human activity.

Now you will note that I used ‘human activity’, but I could just as

easily have written ‘industrial activity’ – meaning that I would

concentrate on industrial pollution. It all depends on what the essay

will focus on and how you will use the terms.

It might also depend on your references. If they use a particular

concept, you have to make sure that you are thinking along the same

lines. If your reference says ‘children’ means people under 18 years of

age, then your definition has to take this into account. In other words,

your definition must fit with the way the expression is used in your

essay. (Please note that normally it might be more appropriate to

define children as under 12 years of age.)



Scope/Outline: tells what specific areas you will talk about in the

body text. For example,

This essay will investigate the main causes of pollution which are

industrial development, political corruption and individual disinterest.

Thus, the scope introduces the body text, telling us that there will be

three main issues. These three main issues would each have one

paragraph, at least, in the body of the essay.

Each of these ideas needs to be in the same order as that used in the

body text which is why it is very important to plan your essay carefully

in an exam (due to lack of time).

It is also why, when attempting a long essay, the introduction is often

written last, after all the other elements have been decided.

Body Text

This must have at least three paragraphs which provide detailed

information about the topic. Each one will have a topic sentence

followed by elaboration (detail). For example,

Industrial development has caused the single greatest change in the

planetary sphere. Beginning with the cities of England in the 17th century

(Smith 1999, p. 12), the process of industrialization and its accompanying

urbanization, led to the development of highly polluted cities, land, air and

waterways. As the process spread across the Western world, the overall

degradation of the environment soon followed (Smith 1999, p. 14). Only in

the latter quarter of the 20th century did pollution controls begin in the

West, by which time most industrial activity had been moved to Asia and

the developing world, thus spreading the impact of industrial development

and its accompanying pollution across the entire world.



Here you will see that the first sentence tells us the topic (industrial

development) and gives us a sense of what will happen in the

paragraph (planetary sphere, meaning “all around the world”). Thus

we call this the topic sentence. After that, the idea is explained, with

references [(Smith 1999, p. 12 ])] which tell us where the facts come

from.

Conclusion

Summary: tells the reader what you have said and reminds the

reader of what happened in the body text. For example,

In conclusion, this essay has investigated the main causes of pollution;

industrial development, political corruption and individual disinterest.

OR

In conclusion, this essay has outlined the main contributors to the problem

of pollution; how industrial development leads to pollution where there is

no government control, how corruption often means that government

control does not work and finally, how the disinterest of the general

populace allows this situation to continue.

In a short essay, the summary might be a set of noun groups whereas

in a longer essay, it might be a sequence of sentences that explain the

main conclusions of the body paragraphs.

Note that the order of the points must be the same throughout the

essay: in the outline/scope, in the body text and in the summary.

Concluding Statement: finishes off the essay by referring to the

main idea of the whole text.

Explanation Essay: In the case of an explanation essay, this is called

the Statement of Relative Importance (SORI) which tells us that



one of the main points of the essay is the most significant. For

example,

Of these three, the disinterest of the general public is the most important

because, if the community was to express its concerns strongly, then

corrupt and uncaring practices would cease.

The concluding statement is your opinion, but not expressed in a

personal manner. In other words, you can’t write: “So I think it is a

good idea to pollute the environment.” Rather it needs to be

expressed as the logical result of your argument. For example, you

could write: “From the above factors, it can be clearly seen that in the

long term pollution poses a threat to all life on earth and so, it is only

logical that it should be controlled as soon as possible.” This way you

have stated your opinion, but you have done so in an academic and

logical manner.

By the way, each essay type needs a different kind of concluding

statement.

Argument Essay: This type ends with a restatement of the

position- the idea that started the essay. For example,

From the preceding argument it can be clearly seen that political

corruption is the main cause of pollution in the modern world.

Discussion Essay: This type ends with a judgement, where the two

sides of the issue are finally resolved and one side of the argument is

chosen. For example,

From the above arguments, though it can be seen that industrialization is a

source of pollution, it is corruption that actually creates the conditions for

pollution to occur and persist.



Review Questions

1. Matching Exercise- Put the three elements in correct order.

Genre Name Features

Explain position statement shows importance

Argue background statement balanced ideas

Discuss statement of issue your side of argument

True or False

2. Essay definitions are quotes from dictionaries. T/F

3. You should define every word in the question. T/F

4. You should define each important noun group

that appears in the essay question. T/F

5. The order of the scope doesn’t matter. T/F

6. The scope can be a bit like a list. T/F

7. Each paragraph of the body starts with

detailed information and references. T/F

8. The summary tell us what you said in the body. T/F

9. There is only one kind of concluding statement. T/F



Review Answers

1. Matching Exercise- Put the three elements in correct order.

Genre Name Features

Explain background statement shows importance

Argue position statement your side of argument

Discuss statement of issue balanced ideas

True or False

2. Essay definitions are quotes from dictionaries. F

3. You should define every word in the question. F

4. You should define each important noun group

that appears in the essay question. T

5. The order of the scope doesn’t matter. F

6. The scope can be a bit like a list. T

7. Each paragraph of the body starts with

detailed information and references. F

8. The summary tell us what you said in the body. T

9. There is only one kind of concluding statement. F



Essay Features: In Detail

Now let’s look at the different elements in detail.

These will be considered with the three essay genres in mind, which

are

1. Explanation: to explain how something works or how it is

composed

2. Argument: to logically argue for one point of view against other

ideas, from the beginning of the essay

3. Discussion: to present the various sides of an issue in a

balanced way and then logically decide which side is correct.

Introduction

Don’t forget: the introduction should be one paragraph ONLY!

Opening Statement

The opening statement immediately indicates to the reader the genre

(type) of essay you are writing, why your topic is important and how

you intend to approach it.

So, of course, it must relate to the essay question or the essay might

be marked down as irrelevant- not about the topic at hand. It is

therefore very important to analyse the question carefully so you

understand it before you begin to write.

The opening statement is a general answer to the essay question. In

fact, it must answer the question or the essay might be marked down

for being irrelevant.



This is very important; understand the question. Analyse it very

carefully.

There are three different kinds of opening statements; background,

position statement and statement of issue.

Background Statement- Explanation Essay

This gives the reader a sense of the history or the context of the

subject.

“For the last ten years media reports have sensationalised violent crimes,

increasing their presence in the media and creating a false sense of

insecurity in the general population.”

Position Statement- Argument Essay

This clearly states that the writer will be arguing one side of the

argument. This is the argument that will be the theme of the whole

essay.

“Increased media coverage has given the impression that violent crimes

are on the increase while, in fact, the actual number of crimes has been

decreasing for some time.”

Statement of Issue- Discussion Essay

This presents both sides of the argument that will be explored in the

essay. The two sides are presented in a balanced manner; neither of

them seems to be more right or wrong at the beginning of the essay.

“While there have been strong claims from the media to ‘clamp down’ on

violent crimes, official reports suggest that these crimes have actually been

decreasing over the last ten years.”



Definition – Interpreting the Question

This tells the reader how you interpret the key (important) elements of

the question. If the question was:

“How has the media created a false sense of violent crime in modern

culture?”

then you would define ‘media’, ‘violent crime’ and ‘modern culture’.

Why? Because these are all elements of the question and are as, as we

say, ‘open to interpretation’.

In other words, there are a lot of different ways that they can be

understood and you need to demonstrate how you understand them

and how you will be using them in your essay.

As a general rule do not divide up noun groups when you define them.

For example, for ‘violent crime’- define the idea of that kind of crime,

not ‘violence’ and then ‘crime’ because that is not the point of the

question. Complex noun groups are one idea and should be treated

that way.

Can you use a dictionary at any time for your definitions? Yes. In fact,

you should always go to an English dictionary to make sure that you

understand the terms being used. After that you need to develop a

way of expressing those concepts so that they suit your essay.

Another rule is this: definitions must not be circular. In other words,

you can’t use the word you are explaining to explain itself. For

example, you can’t say:

Violent crime is a crime where people get hurt.



This means ‘crime=crime’ and tells us nothing new. It doesn’t explain

what crime is. Your reader might think that ‘crime’ is the same as

‘accident’ because people can get hurt in an accident as well.

Instead you would need to use a different approach, for example:

For the purpose of this essay, violent crime will refer to intentional acts

that inflict bodily harm and attract the attention of the authorities because

they are against the law.

Note how the words ‘violent crime’ don’t appear in the second half of

the definition. Also note the use of ‘for the purpose of this essay’. This

phrase allows you to focus the meaning of your definition more clearly

and tells the reader how your essay will focus the meaning.

In this case, the distinction is that, in this essay, ‘violent crime’ will

ONLY refer to occasions when the police or other government

authorities are aware of it. Therefore, undetected crimes will not be a

part of the following essay.

You should also note how to make sure that the assessor knows that

you are giving a definition. You will see some essays that use the verb

‘to be’ for their definitions, for example,

Violent crime is the result of social problems, often beginning in early

childhood, that develop into forms of behaviour that are so extreme they

lead to the imprisonment of the perpetrator.

Now that is quite OK, but it could easily be confused with part of the

opening statement. You don’t want that, as the assessor is looking to

see if you are following the structure required.

There are two easy ways to make sure that the assessor knows what

you intend; use the words ‘define as’ or ‘refer to’ (they have a very



similar meaning), and so you will clearly indicate what you are doing,

for example,

For the purpose of this essay, violent crime will be defined as those forms

of behaviour, involving physical harm to others, that can lead to the

imprisonment or execution of the perpetrator.

NB: ‘will be defined as’ could be replaced with ‘will refer to’

You might notice the format ‘for the purpose of this essay’ – that’s

important as it clearly indicates that this is the concept you will be

using later in your text. It is thus your definition- not something you

just picked up from a dictionary.

You might also notice the use of the future tense (will). You will see

essays that use the present simple rather than the future tense. In

doing that, they give a sense of the essay being a presence rather

than a journey. This is one of the things that’s up to you. What do you

feel best conveys the experience of your essay?

When in doubt, use the future tense; it just makes it clearer and

easier to distinguish from the rest of the introduction.

Scope or Outline – Itemising the Body Text

This essay will consider four important causes of pollution; human

disinterest, the personalization of transport, the profit motive in

industrialization and the psychological castration of the patriarchal

hegemony.

This is a scope/outline. It tells us about the main action of the body

text.



Again, you will see this in the present tense (it considers) rather than

the future (will consider) and again, using the future tense clearly

indicates to the reader that this is the scope.

The scope can use a variety of verbs, all of which have a similar

meaning (eg. explore, consider, investigate). They all suggest that this

will be an exploration of a concept or area of knowledge.

It is perfectly acceptable to use the expressions of the scope list in the

topic sentences of your body paragraphs.

The scope should also tell us how many body paragraphs there will

be:

This essay will consider four important causes of pollution; (A) human

disinterest, (B) the personalization of transport, (C) the profit motive in

industrialization and (D) the psychological castration of the patriarchal

hegemony.

Thus this essay would have at least four paragraphs in the body text.

(One more than is required.)

The scope also tells us the order of the text; if you order the scope

ABCD, then your body text AND summary should all follow the same

order.

Body Text

The body text should have at least three paragraphs for a short essay.

For a long essay, it could have several more (see below).

Staging Devices- Announcing Logical Relationships

There is a whole section of the textbook about this but basically this

includes the idea of simple and complex staging devices.



Simple devices include simple words: however, conversely,

furthermore, on the other hand. They could also be more complex, for

example the second paragraph of the body text for the scope above

could be:

While human disinterest is a major contributor to pollution, greed in the

form of (B) the personalization of transport has probably caused even

more damage.

A Topic Sentence

The topic sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph and how

it will be approached.


form of (B) the privatisation of transport has probably caused even more

damage.

In the above example, the topic is ‘the privatisation of transport’.

Elaboration

The elaboration is where the detailed argument is developed. It uses

examples, reasoning, research and evidence.

The use of private transport is fundamentally synonymous with the idea of

one person per vehicle (Smith 1994, 276). More than 80% of all private

transport is composed of a sedan car carrying one person to and from work

(Jones 2001, 34). As a result this mode of transport is extremely inefficient

and contributes a large proportion of urban pollution. According to Jones,

removing this form of transport would reduce urban pollution by as much

as 70% (2001, 43). Thus, it is clearly evident that limiting or banning

personal transport would make a major contribution to solving the

pollution problem.



Each fact in the elaboration should be supported by a reference or the

development of your argument. This is where we get to understand

why you think something and how it works in detail.

Closure

This is a concluding sentence that sums up the work of the paragraph.

Thus it is clearly evident that limiting or banning personal transport would

make a major contribution to solving the pollution problem.

It takes the reader back to what you were trying to explain or prove

and allows them to clearly understand what you have done.



Frequently Asked Questions

How many paragraphs should I have in my body text?

For a short essay, you should have one paragraph for each point in

your scope: as a rule of thumb, from a minimum of three to a

maximum of four.

For a long essay, you might have six to ten paragraphs in your body

text and yet only three to four points in your scope. This is because

you can elaborate an idea through more than one paragraph. This is

done by dividing the idea into subsections and announcing that it is

part of the same concept, for example,

Topic sentence, body paragraph two (B)


form of (B) the personalization of transport has probably caused even

more damage.

Topic sentence, body paragraph three (B)

Another aspect of the personalization of transport that has caused

considerable damage is the effect of the built infrastructure. This is seen in

the many millions of square miles of roads that network across the planet,

covering native habitat, rendering hundreds of species extinct and

increasing land prices in the urban areas, thus forcing the extension of

settlement and even further environmental destruction.

What is the best order for my ideas?

In general, in academic writing, it is best to keep the most important

aspect and the strongest argument till the end of the body text.



This way your presentation will get stronger as it reaches the end and

leaves the reader with a strong impression of your most important

point.

How many points should I have in my body text?

For a short essay, in an exam or for homework, the minimum is three

and the maximum four. Beyond that it is just too messy.

Even for a long essay, limiting the areas of consideration to four key

areas is not a bad idea.

How come people with good English write bad essays?

Essay writing for university isn’t just about being able to write in

English, rather it is about being able to express ideas logically and

within a clear structure. So the absence of logic and structure can lead

to quite bad results.

Is grammar important?

Yes it is because grammar is the key to clear expression. However, if

the essay can be understood and the errors are quite minor, it is still

possible to get a good result.

Is spelling important?

Again, spelling is essential to clear expression but if the errors are

minor and the message is still clear, then minor mistakes will not get

in the way of a good result.

Is structure important?

Structure is very important; in most assessment writing and speaking

tasks it can affect your grade by as much as 30%.



It is also important because managing structure indicates your ability

to organize information and present your ideas in a logical manner.

This is essential to your future success at university.

Do I need to use big words?

Academic English means using language that is clear and concise. That

often means that the words are longer and their meanings are more

complex. However, using a simple expression for a simple idea is

perfectly acceptable, so long as it is not colloquial (spoken style)

language.

Do I need to write long sentences?

In a word, No! While you will see some very long sentences in

academic literature, you are not expected to do that. If you can make

long sentences that are easy to understand, that’s fine. The problem is

that many people think that just throwing together a bunch of big

words will be good enough. It isn’t.

When in doubt always write as clearly as you can. If that means your

sentences are shorter, it doesn’t matter so long as the meaning is

clear.



How big should a paragraph be?

There is no clear answer to this question. In simple terms it might look

like this, for example

Topic sentence

Elaboration

Reference

Explanation of reference

Closure

That’s five sentences for your basic paragraph.

Just keep in mind that if you feel the idea is being lost, you can divide

a topic area into more than one paragraph and link them with a

staging device that clearly tells the reader that it is the same topic.




1. Your introduction can be two paragraphs. T/F

2. The background statement argues one side. T/F

3. The position statement says how you will argue. T/F

4. The statement of issue tells the subject history. T/F

5. The background statement tells the importance and

history of the subject in an explanation essay. T/F

6. An argument essay aims to prove one side of an

argument. T/F

7. A discussion essay tries to present both sides of an

argument, with a resolution at the end (judgement). T/F

8. You should always use a dictionary when developing your

ideas for your definition. T/F

9. Your definition should only come from a dictionary. T/F

10. This definition is circular: For the purpose of this essay,

crime will be defined as a kind of crime that is detected by

the police. T/F

11. You can use the future tense (will) for your definition. T/F

12. Your scope can be several sentences. T/F

13. You cannot use the future tense (will) for your scope. T/F

14. The scope does not tell us the order of the ideas in the

body of the essay. T/F

15. A topic sentence tells the reader the main idea of the

paragraph in general terms. T/F

16. The relationship between the scope and the topic

sentence is not important. T/F



17. Elaboration is where you present your facts, references

and the logic of your argument. T/F

18. I should use my strongest argument first, before I forget

what it is. T/F

19. Structure is very important in an academic essay. T/F

20. I must use big words and long sentences in my essay,

even if they are meaningless nonsense that even I don’t

understand. T/F

21. It is always better to be clear and concise, rather than

just throwing words together carelessly. T/F

22. Teachers will give me more marks for big words. T/F




1. Your introduction can be two paragraphs. F

2. The background statement argues one side. F

3. The position statement says how you will argue. T

4. The statement of issue tells the subject history. F

5. The background statement tells the importance and

history of the subject in an explanation essay. T

6. An argument essay aims to prove one side of an

argument. T

7. A discussion essay tries to present both sides of an

argument, with a resolution at the end (judgement). T

8. You should always use a dictionary when developing your

ideas for your definition. T

9. Your definition should only come from a dictionary. F

10. This definition is circular: For the purpose of this essay,

crime will be defined as a kind of crime that is detected by

the police. T

11. You can use the future tense (will) for your definition. T

12. Your scope can be several sentences. T

13. You cannot use the future tense (will) for your scope. F

14. The scope does not tell us the order of the ideas in the

body of the essay. F

15. A topic sentence tells the reader the main idea of the

paragraph in general terms. T

16. The relationship between the scope and the topic

sentence is not important. F



17. Elaboration is where you present your facts, references

and the logic of your argument. T

18. I should use my strongest argument first, before I forget

what it is. F

19. Structure is very important in an academic essay. T

20. I must use big words and long sentences in my essay,

even if they are meaningless nonsense that even I don’t

understand. F

21. It is always better to be clear and concise, rather than

just throwing words together carelessly. T

22. Teachers will give me more marks for big words. F

Documents

Reno Dal the Academic Essay 1