ACADEMIC WRITING

Academic writing is the kind of writing that you are required to do in college or university. Most
lectures require that you write lengthy and well-thought out essays in response to tasks allocated.
In most cases, students are not equipped with the necessary skills on how to approach academic
tasks and such require a guide on how to submit well-written academic papers. This section of
the academic writing process is referred to as the pre-writing stage and will provide you with a
step to step guide on preparing for one’s assignment question. These are subdivided into the
following topics:

 Analysing questions
 Formulating a title
 Brainstorming content
 Academic language

Question analysis:

Assignment, tests and examinations are phrased in questions that need to be interpreted. There is
no point in responding to a prompt question if you have not understood what that question
requires. It is important to take your time to read the instructions with understanding before
answering to ensure that you understand the gist of the question.

a) Ask yourself: what is the question looking for? This is what we call topic words. What
type of response does the question require?
b) List the elements of the question: how many parts are there to the question? How much
information do I need to answer this particular question (length of the essay)?
c) Identify the restricting words in the question: these are words or phrases that narrow the
topic down, making it more specific. They move your question from a general to a much
more focused perspective. Remember that you will only be given marks on subject matter
that is restricted/relevant to the aspect of the topic
d) Write the question in your own words to see if you understand what it requires.
e) Identify the action word(s): at no point are you asked to look at, focus on, etc. so the
lecturer does not expect the same from you. The action word acts as a guide on how you
are to approach the question (am I discussing, highlighting, outlining, comparing and
contrasting, critiquing, etc?). Here are a few examples of instructional words that are
commonly used in academic assignments:
i. Describe – you write what the topics look like or is and how it functions. Here,
you are expected to merely give facts on the topic.
ii. Account for – give reasons
iii. Outline - Convey the main points placing emphasis on structures and
interrelationships rather than minute detail.
iv. Discuss – Present a point of view after considering both sides of an issue or
question. Your opinion should be supported by arguments and evidence. The
difference from a descriptive type of question is that you now have to demonstrate
understanding of and bring insight into your work. You have to go beyond merely
listing facts but bring your own voice to the discussion.
v. Compare (compare and contrast) – where you make a comparison between two
topics or items. You have to find similarities/differences
vi. Justify - Make a case by providing a body of evidence to support your ideas and
points of view. In order to present a balanced argument, consider opinions which
may run contrary to your own before stating your conclusion.
vii. Analyse – Focus on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of an issue or topic. Do not simply
describe or summarise.
viii. Critically analyse – Give your verdict as to what extent a statement or findings
within a piece of research are true, or to what extent you agree with them. Provide
evidence (taken from reference materials) which both agree with and contradict
an argument. Come to a final conclusion, basing your decision on what you judge
to be the most important factors and justify how you have made your choice.
ix. Evaluate – consider the strengths and weaknesses of a given topic and make a
judgement. Come to a final conclusion, basing your decision on what you judge to
be the most important factors and justify how you have made your choice.
x. Summarise – give the main points in condensed form. No personal opinion in a
summary, unless otherwise specified.
Example: Discuss ‘economic dualism’ in the Japanese context.

Discuss ‘economic dualism’ in the Japanese context.

Instruction word Topic words restricting words One part to the

Q.

*Identifying these will limit you from veering way off topic, which is quite common in
students’ writing.

Formulating a title

Every essay you write MUST have a title. The title of any essay is the first indication of whether
you understood the question and the content that is to follow. A title is:

 A predictor of content – your title must indicate the subject and scope of the essay.
 Reflects your viewpoint on the subject matter ( especially if argumentative)
 Contains keywords
 Make sure that it is a statement NOT one word or a sentence a sentence

Example on how to narrow down a topic

General topic - ENVIRONMENT

POLLUTION

Specific topic - OCEAN POLLUTION

OIL SPILLS

Very specific topic - EFFECTS OF OIL SPILLS ON

SEA LIFE

*Note the difference between the general and the very specific topics. Precision is what you
should aim for when generating your own topic.
Brainstorming content

The next stage in the prewriting process is to generate ideas for your essay. This stage is
necessary in that it maps out your entire essay and saves you time once you start the writing
process. Useful brainstorming techniques are: listing, freewriting, and clustering.

a) Listing: you make a list of every idea that comes to mind about the topic; keep the ideas
flowing. However, ensure that you do not stray off topic to avoid including irrelevant
information.
You then rewrite the list and group similar ideas together. Cross out items that do not
belong or are a duplicate of ideas you have already mentioned.
Note that in n a test or exam, you will not have time to generate a really long list of ideas.
Just write down relevant points or ideas and arrange them in the order in which you are
going to arrange them in your essay. This will give you focus and ultimately limit
mistakes once you start writing. Planning is key.
b) Freewriting – is a technique in which you write freely about a topic because you are
looking for a specific focus. As with listing, the purpose to freewriting is to generate as
many ideas as possible and to write them down without worrying about grammar,
spelling, logic or organisation.
Feel free to include supporting ideas such as details, facts, and examples related to the
subject.
After you have written all those ideas, reread them and circle the ones that you feel will
be useful for your assignment.
Despite this being a great prewriting tool, it would not do you any good in a test or
examination due to time constraints.
c) Mind Maps (clustering) – this technique is useful for visual learners (those who learn
better through graphs, diagrams, etc). this is more like a spider’s web: the main goes in
the middle of the page, then your supporting ideas spread out in all directions from that
main idea.

VISIT: http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning/mind-mapping for examples of

and more information on how mind maps work. This site will also give you the chance to
practice your own mind mapping skills.
Academic language

There is a difference between social and academic language. Social language is your day to day
interaction – you can say whatever with your friends, informally. Academic language, on the
other hand, is much more formal. It is the language of school used in textbooks, essays,
assignments, class presentations, and assessments. Academic language is used at all grade levels,
although its frequency increases as students get older.

It is also the language of the workplace — for example, the language used to write a business
letter as opposed to a casual gossip e-mail to a co-worker.

It is therefore important for you to develop your academic language skills in order to succeed at
the university. You need to use field specific vocabulary and varied sentence structures in your
academic tasks to meet standards of university writing skills.

Examples of Academic Language

Social English Academic English

I like this book more. This story is more exciting than the first one we
read.
It worked. Our experiment was successful.
Because they were brave. The soldiers received the medal because of
their courage.
References

Hogue, A. & Oshima, A. (1999). Writing academic English (3rd Ed.). New York: Longman

Taylor, A.M. & Turner, J. (2004) Key words used in examination questions and essay
titles. Retrieved from

https://www2.le.ac.uk/projects/oer/oers/ssds/oers/writing-skills/writingskillscg.pdf