Unit One: An Approach to Academic Writing

The approach to academic writing according to this book are divided into

several parts, namely audience, purpose and strategy, organization, style, flow,

presentation and positioning. When it comes to academic writing, a great many

teachers insist that their students use the same old way to write a paragraph. In

fact, it seems to have become the organizational tool of choice in a great number

of high schools and colleges today. It is a simple format that can give a variety of

short essays some structure. One is expected to assert a thesis statement in an

introductory paragraph, explain or develop that thesis in three supporting

paragraphs, and then both prove and summarize it in a concluding paragraph.

Some people say to avoid it at all costs, while others believe no other way

to write exists. With an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a

conclusion, the five paragraph essay is a format you should know, but one which

you will outgrow. You’ll have to gauge the particular writing assignment to see

whether and how this format is useful for you. Now that we’ve dispelled some of

the common myths that many writers have as they enter a college classroom, let’s

take a moment to think about the academic writing situation.

Unit Two: Writing General – Specific Texts

Writing general – specific texts according to this book are divided into

several parts namely sentence definition, extended definition, contrastive

definition, comparative definition and the last one is generalizations. Some writers

believe they must perform certain steps in a particular order to write “correctly.”
Rather than being a lock-step linear process, writing is “recursive.” That means

we cycle through and repeat the various activities of the writing process many

times as we write. Writing is not like sending a fax! Writers figure out much of

what they want to write as they write it. Rather than waiting, get some writing on

the page—even with gaps or problems. You can come back to patch up rough

spots.

Unit Three: Problem, Process and Solution

This part will talk about some parts namely, the structure of problem-

solution texts; problem statements; and procedures and processes. Some people

say to avoid it at all costs, while others believe no other way to write exists. With

an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion, the five paragraph

essay is a format you should know, but one which you will outgrow. You’ll have

to gauge the particular writing assignment to see whether and how this format is

useful for you.

It is not normally necessary or advisable in length or time-constrained

pieces of written work to waste words using a quotation to define simple concepts.

The only exceptions to this general rule occur when the task you have been given

concerns the meaning of terms, or the relevant definitions are unusually

controversial or the subject of heated debate in a topic area.

Unit Four: Data Commentary

This part consists of strength of claim; structure of data commentary;

locations elements and summaries; highlighting statements; qualifications and

strength of claims; organization; concluding a commentary; dealing with graphs;

and dealing with chronological data. The remainder of this presentation outlines

reading-to-writing problems identified in data commentary drafts and suggests

activities to assist writers in building interpretation/summary skills and revising

commentaries.

This subject is something of a minefield because there is an enormous

range of different referencing formats. The one illustrated below will be

acceptable to most assessors. If you are unsure what format is approved on any

given subject, check with your assessors. The simplest piece of advice to give n

this subject is to point out that the worst thing you can do is to make up your own

referencing method.

Unit Five: Writing Summaries

According to this book, writing summary in a paragraph consists of

several parts namely, writing an assignment summary; some notes on plagiarisms;

and comparative summaries. How to produce a summary based on the book are

below:

1.Read the article to be summarized and be sure you understand it.

2.Outline the article. Note the major points.

3.Write a first draft of the summary without looking at the article.

4.Always use paraphrase when writing a summary. If you do copy a phrase from

the original be sure it is a very important phrase that is necessary and cannot be

paraphrased. In this case put "quotation marks" around the phrase.

Unit Six: Writing Critiques

This part consists of several parts namely, requirements for writing

critiques; critical reading; writing critiques; reactions paper; and reviews. A good

critique benefits both the writer and the critiquer. The benefits to the writer

receiving the critique should be obvious. There is no place for derision or ridicule

of either the work or the writer within a critique. The writer submitting his work

for critique has placed his intellectual child in the hands of his critiquer expecting

his work to be respected.

Critiquing the work of others helps you become a better writer. There is no

mystery to writing a good critique. The following pointers may help improve your

skills with this important element of the craft. Read the submission. This

redundancy is intended, not a typo. Read it at least twice to be sure you have not

misread or misunderstood any part of it. Read it the first time as a reader. After

your first reading write down your general impression from a reader's perspective.

The critique is a rigorous critical reading of a passage. As such, it picks up

where the objective summary leaves off. In fact, a critique often includes a brief

summary so that its readers will be able to quickly grasp the main ideas and

proofs of the passage under examination. Critiques come in all shapes and sizes,
but a good way to get used to writing critically is to plan your earliest critiques

along the following lines.

Unit Seven: Constructing a Research Paper I

This unit contains overview of the research paper; methods; writing up the

method section; method actions across disciplines; results; and commentary in

results actions. Organize all the information you have gathered according to your

outline. Critically analyze your research data. Using the best available sources,

check for accuracy and verify that the information is factual, up-to-date, and

correct. Opposing views should also be noted if they help to support your thesis.

This is the most important stage in writing a research paper. Here you will

analyze, synthesize, sort, and digest the information you have gathered and

hopefully learn something about your topic which is the real purpose of doing a

research paper in the first place. You must also be able to effectively

communicate your thoughts, ideas, insights, and research findings to others

through written words as in a report, an essay, a research or term paper, or through

spoken words as in an oral or multimedia presentation with audio-visual aids.

Evaluate the potential sources as you go along, keeping in mind how well

they relate to your topic, how up-to-date they are and how available they are.

Watch for well-known authors and try to determine the point of view presented in

the articles and whether they sound too technical or too simplistic. As you select

articles and books, record information regarding them on 3x5 cards just as you

want it to appear in your bibliography. Later, when you complete your final
bibliography, you will just arrange these cards in alphabetical order. The form for

bibliographic entries varies from school to school. If you are uncertain about

which form to use, refer to a writer's handbook, such as A Manual for Writers of

Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian, which is available in

the university bookstore. Next, gather your materials. Evaluate them again, using

the criteria mentioned above. Do this by previewing each source, checking the

table of contents and index, finding relevant chapters and skimming them. A

working outline is important because it gives order to your notetaking. As you do

your research, you may find that you need to review your plan if you lack

information about a topic or have conflicting information. Nevertheless, it

provides a good starting point and is essential before you start to take notes.

Unit Eight: Constructing a Research Paper II

According to the book, this part consists of introduction sections; creating

a research space; reviewing the literature; variation in reviewing the literature;

occupying the Niche; completing an introduction; discussion sections; opening a

discussion section; limitations in discussion; cycles of moves; acknowledgements;

titles; and abstracts. With the aforementioned tips taken into consideration,

organize your entire outline. Justify main points to the left, and indent subsections

and notes from your research below each. The outline should be an overview of

your entire paper in bullet points. Make sure to include in-text citations at the end

of each point, so that you do not have to constantly refer back to your research

when writing your final paper.

 The following section surveys related work in both optimizing the

execution time of evolved programs and evolution over Turing-complete

representations. Next we introduce the game Tetris as a test problem. This is

followed by a description of the aggregate computation time ceiling, and its

application to Tetris in particular. We then present experimental results, discuss

other current efforts with Tetris, and end with conclusions and future work. Every

paragraph of the paper should contribute to your overall case and should follow

the preceding paragraph smoothly. Paragraphs should be neither too short nor too

long. Begin a new paragraph for every new idea or development, or whenever a

break is needed.