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The Aim
This booklet is compiled by Bahceşehir University, School of Foreign
Languages, Modern Languages Department in accordance with ENG 1004
course objectives in February 2021 and edited by Nilgün KARA.

This booklet is compiled for non-commercial, educational purposes and cannot

be used, copied, reproduced or distributed in any form without prior written
approval from Modern Languages Department, BAU School of Foreign
Languages.

Acknowledgements
There are parts in this booklet adapted from Averil Bolster and Peter Levrai’s
Develop EAP- a work licensed under creative commons and from Julia
William’s Leap 3 Reading and Writing (2018), published by Pearson. In
addition, the teaching approach throughout the course booklet is adopted with
some adaptations from Steve Marshall’s Advance in Academic Writing (2017)
and Academic Writing 1 (2019), published by Pearson. There are also
materials and articles taken from open access internet sources and extracts
from student papers. Attributions can be found under relevant sections.

Adapted from Averil Bolster and Peter Levrai’s Develop EAP- a work licensed under creative commons and from Julia William’s Leap 3
Reading and Writing (2018).
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WEEK 1
ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic writing is, essentially, the writing you have to do for your university courses. Your
instructors may have different names for academic writing assignments (essay, paper, research
essay, term essay, term paper), but all of these assignments have the same principles.

Principles of Academic Writing

In an academic writing assignment, you will start by understanding the essay question, then find and
analyse answers to it, and choose your own best answer to discuss in your essay. Your essay will
share your thoughts and findings and justify your answer with logic and evidence. So the goal of
academic writing is not to show off everything that you know about your topic, but rather to show
that you understand and can think critically about your topic. Plus, you will develop skills in
researching, evaluating information, organizing, analysing, discussing, and expressing yourself clearly
in writing (in English too). These skills, by the way, are all valued by employers.

Clear Purpose - The goal of your essay is to answer the essay question you posed as your topic. Your
question gives you a purpose. The most common purposes in academic writing are to discuss,
persuade, analyse/synthesize, and inform.

Audience Engagement - As with all writing, academic writing is directed to a specific audience in
mind. Unless your instructor says otherwise, consider your audience to be fellow students with the
same level of knowledge as yourself. As students in the field, they are interested in your topic, but
perhaps not so interested in reading an essay. So you will have to engage them with your ideas and
catch their interest with your writing style. Imagine that they are also sceptical, so that you must use
the appropriate reasoning and evidence to convince them of your ideas.

Clear Point of View - Academic writing is not just a list of facts or summaries of sources. Although
you will present other people’s ideas and research, the goal of your essay is to show what you think
about these things. Your essay will have and support your own original idea about the topic. This is
called the thesis statement, and it is your answer to the question.

Single Focus - Every paragraph (even every sentence) in your essay will support your thesis
statement. There will be no unnecessary, irrelevant, unimportant, or contradictory information.

Logical Organization - Academic writing follows a standard organizational pattern. For academic
essays, there is an introduction, body, and conclusion. Each paragraph logically leads to the next
one.

o The introduction catches the readers’ attention, provides background information, and lets
the reader know what to expect. It also has the thesis statement.

o The body paragraphs support the thesis statement. Each body paragraph has one main
point to support the thesis, which is named: a topic sentence. Each point is then supported
in the paragraph with logical reasoning and evidence. Each sentence connects to the one
before and after it. The readers do not have to work to find the connection between ideas.

o The conclusion summarizes the essay’s thesis and main points and shows the reader the
significance of the essay topic.

Adapted from Averil Bolster and Peter Levrai’s Develop EAP- a work licensed under creative commons and from Julia William’s Leap 3
Reading and Writing (2018).
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Strong Support - Each body paragraph will have sufficient and relevant support for the topic
sentence and thesis statement. This support will consist of facts, examples, description, and expert
opinions either paraphrased or summarized in your own words.

Clear and Complete Comments - This is very important! As the writer, you need to do all the work
for the reader. The reader should not have to think hard to understand your ideas, logic, or
organization. Your thoughts and thought processes should be clearly and completely explained.

Effective Use of Research - Your essay should refer to a variety of current, high-quality, professional
and academic sources. You will use your research to support your own ideas; therefore, it must be
integrated into your writing and not presented separately. That means that source material will be
introduced, analysed, explained, and then cited. APA Style Guide 7th Edition covers this topic in
depth.

Correct APA Style - All academic essays should follow the guidelines of the American Psychological
Association as found in APA Style Guide 7th Edition, regarding in-text citations, the reference list, and
format.

Writing Style - Because this is your work, you should use your own words whenever possible. Your
writing should be clear, concise, and easy to read. It is also very important that there are no
grammar, spelling, punctuation, or vocabulary mistakes in academic writing. Errors convey to the
reader the message that you do not care.

And finally, this rule will override all the principles: ALWAYS FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OF YOUR
INSTRUCTOR. Every instructor has a reason for giving you an assignment, and each instructor's
requirements may differ. Follow your instructor’s directions to get the most from an assignment.

The Writing Process

Step 1: Making sure you understand the essay question - Analyse the key words in the essay
question:

 What is the task? The task or directional words in the essay question will dictate how you
are expected to approach the question.
 What is the content/ general topic you are expected to write about? The content word will
determine what you will need to research; that is what you are expected to write about. The
content word/ phrase often assists you with a good introductory sentence for your
introduction.
 What is the controlling idea in the question? The controlling idea is what you will be
spending your time on.

Step 2: Thinking critically - Critical thinking is a process, not an outcome. It involves a continual
questioning of assumptions (facts taken for granted without proof) - both your own assumptions and
those you might read or hear. In other words, critical thinking is thinking about your learning and
demonstrating that thinking to your reader. Evidence of critical thinking will be reflected in higher
marks for your assignments.

Step 3: Reading and note-taking - Having analysed your essay question you can now begin your
research. What you must remember is that “doing good research takes time.” Do not expect to do
research once and find everything that you need for your essay. Research is an on-going part of the
writing process.
Adapted from Averil Bolster and Peter Levrai’s Develop EAP- a work licensed under creative commons and from Julia William’s Leap 3
Reading and Writing (2018).
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Some steps to try are:

 Scan for the main ideas and to increase interest.

 If the material is relevant read in full. Read with a purpose in mind, using highlighting
sparingly to indicate the most important points.
 Now take brief notes, preferably in your own words.
 Be a critical thinker. Ask yourself questions such as: What is the main idea? What are the
supporting ideas? How do these ideas compare with those in other texts? Is the text
biased/narrow?

Step 4: Creating a logically structured thesis statement - Decide on a thesis statement – a clear line
of argument or discussion.

A thesis statement expresses your viewpoint; it drives your essay. It helps you decide what to
include, why, and the order of inclusion. The thesis statement and the topic sentences (opening
sentence for each paragraph) provide the framework for your essay.

Step 5: Planning your response before you write - If you start writing your essay as soon as you
completed your research, the structure is likely to be disjointed and hard to follow.

Your thesis statement will help you determine what points you want to address first. You need to
have a plan (an outline).

Making an outline by listing the main point of each topic sentence will show you whether your ideas
are clearly organized and whether they focus on answering the research question (the thesis).

A disjointed essay is usually the sign of a lack of planning.

Step 6: Writing the essay

Guiding your reader through your essay: The points identified in your plan will now be expanded
into paragraphs, which need to be clearly signposted. In fact, the reader should be able to read your
introduction, and then the first sentence in each paragraph, to gain a good overview of your essay.

Following academic convention - referencing: Failing to acknowledge another author’s work is

called plagiarism. This is the act of taking and using another author’s work as one’s own. Where this
occurs it is regarded as cheating.

Material that must be referenced includes paraphrasing and summarizing: Paraphrasing and
summarizing allow you to demonstrate that you understand what you have read and that you can
apply this knowledge. Good paraphrasing or summarizing can contribute to the smooth flow of your
essay. When paraphrasing the work of others, you must acknowledge the original source.

Step 7: Revising & Fixing - The next step is to revise your essay – strengthen the content. Once you
know what to fix, you must do it. Be daring. You will not have a good essay if you are afraid to
change things. It may be easier to completely re-type your essay while just looking at your first draft.
How should you change your essay? Erase words, sentences or paragraphs; eliminate all
unnecessary or irrelevant ideas. Add words, sentences or paragraphs; add new points, details, or
explanations. Reorganize words, sentences or paragraphs; put everything in a logical order. Re-write
words, sentences or paragraphs; keep your ideas but present them better. Revise it again if there is
time (make time!), revise your second draft. And keep revising. Good writers actually tend to revise
more rather than less as they gain more writing experience.

Adapted from Averil Bolster and Peter Levrai’s Develop EAP- a work licensed under creative commons and from Julia William’s Leap 3
Reading and Writing (2018).
 P a g e |6

Step 8: Editing - When you are happy with your essay's content, it's time to edit. Editing will make
your writing more precise and easier to understand (not necessarily shorter, but clearer). When
editing, you examine every sentence and ask yourself if it has a purpose and if it’s complete, clear,
and concise in English.

A grammar resource and an English-English dictionary are both helpful editing tools. Experiment
with the following strategies until you find what works best for you. Read your essay out loud slowly
(or ask someone to read it to you). You will hear mistakes, wordiness, repetition, and lack of clarity,
which you can correct. If you don't know how to correct something, start looking through those
grammar books. Use the spell check and grammar check functions in Microsoft Word. They will find
some things, but not everything. This should not be your only strategy.

Step 9: Proofreading - When you think your essay is ready to turn it, it's time to proofread (check for
mistakes). If you don't proofread, your essay may be full of careless errors, which shows the
audience that you were too lazy, rushed, or uncaring to fix your essay.

Adapted from Averil Bolster and Peter Levrai’s Develop EAP- a work licensed under creative commons and from Julia William’s Leap 3
Reading and Writing (2018).