Chapter 6: The academic essay

Both chapter 6 and 7 will focus on some of the different types of writing (or genres) that I will
use to meet those expectations. Specifically, those types will include:
• essays
• research reports
• critical reviews
• annotated bibliographies
• reflective journals
Chapter 6 will focus on the academic essay, while Chapter 7 will look at the other
genres listed above. In this chapter, I would learn techniques to help me organize my own essay
assignment.

The academic essay

In academic essays, you are expected to discuss or argue the issues thoroughly.
This means you need to support what you say with convincing evidence,
explanations and examples.
Essays can have a range of purposes:
 To inform: tell a reader the what, how or why of a topic. (exposition essays and
explanation essays)
 To persuade: (argument or discussion essays)

Structure
The basic structural components of an essay are the introduction, body and
conclusion.

Introduction
The introduction makes it clear to the reader what the topic under discussion is
and give an outline of the remainder of the piece of writing. It usually begins with a
general statement(s) about the topic that provides a broad orientation.

Body
The body of the essay should flow very obviously from the introduction and be
divided up into paragraphs that develop the ideas through to the conclusion. Each paragraph
should develop a group of ideas about one aspect of the topic.

Conclusion
The conclusion is a review of your essay which highlights the main ideas
that serve to make your argument.
Chapter 7: Other academic genres

Research Report
Research reports are written for a number of reasons. For example, a scientist may need to
communicate laboratory work to management, which may base important company decisions
upon the results of the report.

Critical review
You will need to identify, summarize, and evaluate the ideas and information the author has
presented. In other words, you will be examining another person's thoughts on a
topic from your point of view.

Annotated bibliography
An annotated bibliography can:
• guide a reader to relevant sources on a topic
• help the writer become familiar with the literature in a subject area
• display the writer’s depth of reading and research for a particular topic or
subject area.

Reflective journal
To document your experiences, thoughts, questions,
ideas and conclusions that signpost your learning journey. It provides an opportunity
for you to think critically about what you are doing as a student and why.
I found chapter 6 the body of the essay part very informative since a lot of students including myself
think it’s pretty hard to balance the paragraph especially in the body, so the book explain it really well
and they even dig into each aspects of an essay. By using this precious knowledge and understanding
the basic structure and organization of an essay it gives me a framework I can use to
construct my text.