ACADEMIC

WRITING
THREE KEY AREAS IN WRITING

CLEAR WRITING
THE ACT OF THINKING ABOUT
PRECEDES THE PROCESS OF WRITING
ABOUT. WRITING DETAILED OUTLINES
CAN HELP CYOU CLEARLY ORGANIZE
YOUR THOUGHTS. EFFECTIVE
ACADEMIC WRITING BEGINS WITH
SOLID PLANNING, SO MANGE YOUR
TIME CAREFULLY.
EXCELLENT GRAMMAR
NEEDLESS TO SAY, ENGLISH GRAMMAR CAN
BE DIFFICULT AND COMPLEX, EVEN THE BEST
SCHOLARS TAKE MANY YEARS BEFORE THEY HAVE
A COMMAND OF THE MAJOR POINTS OF GOOD
GRAMMAR. TAKE TIME TO LEARN THE MAJOR AND
MINOR POINTS OF GRAMMAR.
PROPER PUNCTUATION AND GOOD
PROOFREADING SKILLS CAN SIGNIFICANTLY
IMPROVE ACADEMIC DWRITING.
BASIC RESOURCES:
1. A GOOD WRITING REFERENCE
BOOK: STRUNK AND WHITE’S BOOK ,
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE OR THE ST.
MARTIN’S HANDBOOK.
2. A COLLEGE - LEVEL DICTIONARY :
MERRIAM- WEBSTER’S COLLEGIATE
DICTIONARY
3. LATEST EDITION OF ROGER’S
THESAURUS IN DICTIONARY FORM
CONSISTENT STYLISTIC
APPROACH

Whether your professor

requires you to use MLA, APA or the
Chicago Manual of Style, choose
one style manual and stick to it.
Each of these manuals provide
rules on how to write out numbers,
references, citations, footnotes and
lists.
STEPS IN WRITING AN ACADEMIC PAPER
1. IDENTIFY THE TOPIC TO BE
DISCUSSED OR DEVELOPED
The first step in writing an
academic text is to decide on the
topic. This is one of the most
crucial parts of writing since the
writer is confronted with the
ambiguity of the available issues
to discuss.
STEPS IN WRITING AN ACADEMIC PAPER
2. Narrow down the topic
The topic doesn’t stop
with the identification of the
topic but narrowing it down
and specifying it should
immediately follow. This
eliminates scattered and
random ideas included in the
text.
STEPS IN WRITING AN ACADEMIC PAPER
3. Formulate a Thesis Statement
Thesis statement is a short
statement , usually one sentence
that summarizes the main point or
claim of an essay, research paper
and is developed, supported and
explained in the text by means of
examples and evidences.
STRONG VS. WEAK THESIS STATEMENT
A. THE THESIS STATEMENT OR MAIN CLAIM MUST BE
DEBATABLE
EXAMPLE:
A. POLLUTION IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
B. AT LEAST 25 PERCENT OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET
SHOULD BE SPENT ON LIMITING POLLUTION.
C. PHILIPPINES ANTI –POLLUTION EFFORTS SHOULD
FOCUS ON PRIVATELY OWNED CARS.
STRONG VS. WEAK THESIS STATEMENT
B. THE THESIS NEEDS TO BE NARROWED
EXAMPLE :
A. DRUG USE IS DETRIMENTAL TO SOCIETY.
B. ILLEGAL DRUG USE IS DETRIMENTAL
BECAUSE IT ENCOURAGES GANG
VIOLENCE.
TYPES OF CLAIMS
CLAIMS TYPICALLY FALL INTO ONE OF FOUR
CATEGORIES. THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU
WANT TO APPROACH YOUR TOPIC, IN OTHER
WORDS WHAT YPE OF CLAIM YOU WANT TO
MAKE, IS ONE WAY TO FOCUS YOUR THECSIS
ON ONE PARTICULAR ASPECT OF YOUR
BROADER TOPIC.
 CLAIMS OF FACT OR DEFINITION

EXAMPLE:
WHAT SOME PEOPLE REFER TO AS GLOBAL
WARMING IS ACTUALLY NOTHING MORE THAN
NORMAL, LONG-TERM CYLCES OF CLIMATE
CHANGE.
 CLAIMS OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

EXAMPLE:

THE POPULARITY OF SUVs IN AMERICA HAS CAUSED

POLLUTION TO INCREASE.
 CLAIMS ABOUT VALUE

EXAMPLE:

GLOBAL WARMING IS THE MOST PRESSING CHALLENGE

FACING THE WORLD TODAY.
 CLAIMS ABOUT SOLUTIONS OR POLICIES

EXAMPLE:

INSTEAD OF DRILLING FOR OIL IN ALASKA WE

SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON WAYS TO REDUCE OIL
CONSUMPTION, SUCH AS RESEARCHING
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES.
 ASSESSMENT
LOVE
LOVE IS ABOUT SIMPLE CHEMISTRY.

HEALTH
REGUALAR EXERCISE GOES BEYOND JUST BEING FIT BUT
ALSO HEALTHY
TECHNOLOGY
INTERNET AS A MEANS TO EXPEDITE COMMUNICATION
WORLDWIDE
5. MAKE AN OUTLINE OF THE ACADEMIC TEXT
6. DRAFT YOUR ACADEMIC TEXT
7. REVISE YOUR ACADEMIC TEXT
8. FINALIZE AND PROOFREAD YOUR
ACADEMIC TEXT
 RESEARCH PAPER

A research paper is more than a summary of a topic with

credible sources, it is an expanded essay that presents a
writer’s interpretation and evaluation or argument. The
purpose of writing this paper is to analyze a perspective
or argue a point thus demonstrating your knowledge,
writing and vocabulary skills, and ability to do a great
research on a given topic.
 PARTS OF A RESEARCH JOURNAL

• ABSTRACT
• OBJECTIVES
• INTRODUCTION
• METHODOLOGY
• RESULTS/ DISCUSSION
• CONCLUSION
• RECOMMENDATION
• REFERENCES
RESEARCH PAPER

WHAT IS AN ABSTRACT?
• An abstract is defined as a concise summary of a larger
project; it describes the content and scope of the project
while identifying objective, methodology, findings, and
conclusion.
• The purpose of an abstract is to summarize the major
aspects of a argumentative essay or paper, but it is important
to bear in mind they are descriptions of your project, not the
topic in general.
Basically, you use abstract to describe what specifically
you are doing, not the topic your project is based upon.
TYPES OF ABSTRACT
Critical abstract – describes main information and
findings while providing a comment or judgment about
the study’s reliability, validity, and completeness.
Here, the researcher evaluates some paper and
compares it to other works and papers on the same
topic
 TYPES OF ABSTRACT
• Descriptive abstract – only describes the work
being summarized without comparing it to other
papers on the given subject
• Informative abstract – most common type of
abstracts, the researcher explains and presents the
main arguments and most important results. While it
doesn’t compare one work to others on the same
subject, informative abstract includes conclusions of
the research and recommendations of the author
 ELEMENTS OF AN ABSTRACT

1. OBJECTIVES
2. METHODS
3. RESULTS
4. CONCLUSIONS
MAKE SURE THE ABSTRACT ANSWERS THESE
QUESTIONS:

What is the purpose of this research?

How was the research conducted? How did I get
my answers?
What answers did I get?
What do these results mean?
 INTRODUCTION

PYRAMID/ INVERTED STYLE

CITE REFERENCES ( RECENT AS POSSIBLE)
AT LEAST FIVE REFERENCES
METHODOLOGY