The Graduate Students’ Toolbox for Academic Writing

1. The Graduate Students’ Toolbox for Academic Writing Dr. Kakali Bhattacharya Educational Administration and Research FC 224 http://kakali.org Email: kakali.bhattacharya@tamucc.edu

2. What is Academic Writing? • Scholarly citations • Evidence-based • Synthesis of literature • APA format • Develop and defend arguments • Contribute to an area of research • Construct new knowledge • Is not about solving the world’s problem in one dissertation, research paper, book chapter, or book

3. Developing an Academic Voice • Can you say what you really think about an issue? • What if you are passionate about your research? • How do you know if you are being too “subjective?” • What is an academic voice? • Where do you express your own ideas in your dissertation, in a research paper?

4. Developing an Academic Voice (cont’d…) • Carry a notebook with you at all times • Record thoughts, citations, quotes in notebook • Do some free writing • Connect ideas from free writing to literature • Develop arguments • Arguments become your thesis sentence • Support thesis sentence with citations

5. Developing an Academic Voice (cont’d…) • If critical of existing literature, read the literature the authors are citing • Present a well thought out summary if you are critically appraising or elucidating someone else’s philosophy • If presenting your own thoughts, ALWAYS pair them with similarly cited ideas, or contrasting ideas, to demonstrate careful deliberation

6. Structure of a Paragraph • Treat each paragraph as a mini essay • Begin each paragraph with a thesis sentence • Develop arguments with evidence (background information) • Meat of the paragraph= actual points of discussion • Move back between evidence-based general statements and concrete details • Conclude paragraph to establish the implications of the thesis sentence (so what?), or develop thesis sentence further to get to the (so what?) within the next few paragraphs • Keep language tentative

7. Hands-on Activity • Take a look at the article in front of you. • Read a couple of paragraphs • What is the author’s voice? • How can you tell it is the author’s voice? • What is the structure of the paragraph? • What are the thesis sentences? • How is evidence cited, offered?

8. Writing Tips • Be concise. Think economy of words. Each word and its relevance should be considered • Follow citation rules • Have a bibliography management system (Endnote demo later) • Write directly. State the conclusion; then reference it. If the conclusion needs amplification, do it following statement of the main idea. • Avoid generalized and generic statements

9. Writing Tips (cont’d…) • Use proper citation style • Pay attention to tense • After finishing your writing, see if you can identify the thesis sentences in each paragraph. Ask the following questions • Is the thesis sentence clear? • Are my arguments backed up with citations? • Have I developed all points of discussion? • Have I connected my implications to the thesis sentence and the discussion points?

10. Avoid • Contractions • Passive voice • Second person writing (first and third person is acceptable depending on the field) • Incomplete sentences (every sentence should have a subject and a verb unless part of a direct quote. No exceptions) • Slang, clichés, colloquialisms • Excessive wordiness • Improper punctuation. Let’s eat Grandma! Versus Let’s eat, Grandma!

11. Avoid (cont’d…) • Excessive quotations • Grammatical/language use errors – never submit your first draft • Your versus you’re • Its versus it’s • Affect versus effect • Further versus farther • There versus they’re or their • Who’s versus whose • Who versus whom • Plagiarism • Uncited quotes • Uncited ideas • Excessive cited quotes that form the prose of the paper • Submitting the same paper twice in two different classes

12. Use of Quotations • To support your ideas • To present an opposing idea or criticism of an existing idea • To present someone’s ideas verbatim • To reveal inconsistencies or tensions amongst competing ideas, authors, etc. your topic • Note: ALWAYS unpack a quotation with your interpretation. Why are you stating this? What focus are you bringing to this quote in terms of developing your argument?

13. Structure of Dissertation • Chapter 1 – Introduction • Chapter 2 – Literature Review • Chapter 3 – Methodology • Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussion • Chapter 5 – Conclusions and Implications • Note: Research papers are condensed versions of a dissertation

14. Critical Thinking • Scholarly writing demonstrates critical thinking • What does critical thinking mean to you? • What does critical thinking look like to you? • Who informs your critical thinking? • What is informing your beliefs? • Have you taken the time to analyze, observe, and seek out legitimate statements with citation authority?

15. Writer’s Block • Pick a topic that can sustain your interest • Think of what you are curious • Develop a list of things that worked for you the last time you wrote well • Find different places to write • Write with people • Stop writing, at an interesting point in your thoughts

16. Activity • Write a paragraph with the following errors • Lack of citation • Lack of critical thought • Clear grammatical errors • Lack of paucity of words • Passive voice writing • Read someone else’s paragraph and identify the errors

17. Questions? Nuggets?