Mastering Academic Writing

Boba Samuels, Jordana Garbati

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781446299678, 9781446299661
• eBook ISBN: 9781526455062
• Edition: 1
• Subtopic: Essays in Education

Focusing on research-related assignments, this book helps you navigate the potential pitfalls of academic writing through the experience of students who face the same challenges you do. Packed with hands-on exercises and insightful feedback, this workbook gives you the practice you need to fine tune your academic writing.

Using their years of experience coaching students, the authors help you to:

• Develop and hone arguments
• Organise and interpret source material
• Write effective research proposals
• Follow academic conventions with confidence
• Complete collaborative writing projects.

Perfect for anyone transitioning from undergraduate to postgraduate degrees, Mastering Academic Writing provides the skills, tips, and tricks you need to move beyond the basics of academic writing and meet the new expectations of further study. 

The Student Success series are essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to planning your dream career, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills hub for tips and resources for study success!

1 Developing an Argument

In this chapter, you will meet Bellissima Wong, an upper-year undergraduate Sociology student who finds it challenging to develop an argument in her writing. She has just received bad news on a draft she had handed in and realizes that she needs help. Along with Bellissima, you will learn:

• how to move from being a novice writer to an experienced writer,
• two models for argumentation: Toulmin and Rogerian, and
• the language of argumentation.

1. Intro Story: Bellissima Wong

Bellissima Wong closed her eyes tightly and sighed. A big sigh. When she opened them, the paper on the desk in front of her still looked the same, still had question marks in the margins, still had a request to ‘please come see me’ written at the end. She’d already made an appointment to see her professor tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm. She rubbed her eyes, dropped her cell phone on the dorm bed and wondered what her mother would have said if she’d told her the truth about how the academic year had started. But luckily her mother was far away in China, and Bellissima didn’t have to face her disappointment yet. She’d told her mother that she was now very fluent in English after being immersed in university life for the past two years. Not quite a lie. She was much more fluent. But people spoke so fast. And reading still took so long. And writing … sigh.

She looked again at the Sociology paper (see Student Text 1a) that had been returned to her in class two days ago. Two comments struck her: ‘excellent description’. Thank goodness. If it weren’t for that piece of good news, she surely would have cried. The next comment wasn’t as good. ‘No argument here. Don’t recount. What’s your point?’ She had looked up recount in her translation dictionary: to tell the story or details of something. She knew that not writing an argument was a problem, but she wasn’t quite sure about this recount. Wasn’t she supposed to include details? The details had been hard to comprehend, too. There were articles about an incident from the past about cartoons, and religion, and Denmark. It was all quite foreign to her. She sighed again and hoped her prof was as nice in person as she seemed in class.

Student Text 1a

Essay on Danish Cartoons

Peter Goodspeed’s article was called “Clash of civilization’s orchestrated: Global protests were anything but spontaneous”. The article said cartoons were seen in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 (A16). The newspaper’s editor said cartoons were used in response to Danish illustrators fear of the Muslim community. Danish illustrators refused to work on children’s picture book about Islam (ibid). Originally, twelve drawings were published. The Danish Muslim community protested but the Danish government ignored them. The Danish Muslim community used the original three cartoons plus three more cartoons to the Middle East. They wanted to create support for their protest (ibid). The community were angry because Prophet was not portrayed correctly. They were also angry because some Muslims did not approve of the depiction of Mohammed in any way. This was religious taboo. Furthermore, this resulted in a Muslim condemnation of Denmark. And also economic sanctions were against Denmark from Muslim countries. Moreover, public protests and attacks on Western embassies occurred (ibid). The Western media responded to the outrage by publishing the cartoons again. It also criticized a perceived Muslim hatred for free speech (ibid). Arab leaders said West attempted to “weaken and subjugate the Muslim world” by using cartoons. The Western leaders wanted to resolve the issue and called the implications indicative of a “clash of civilizations” (ibid).

2. At the Writing Centre

It was 9 am and Bellissima was sitting in the university writing centre, explaining to the student tutor that her professor had suggested she come for help before their meeting in the afternoon. The tutor, Eleanor, nodded her head.

Eleanor: So your prof says you need to write an argument for this assignment, but you haven’t done that. You’re concerned that if you take out the details, the prof won’t see all the research you’ve done on this topic, and won’t see you really know what the topic is about. Is that right?

Bellissima: Yes, I want to show that I know this was an important event, very controversial. But I don’t understand why she doesn’t want details about it. Don’t I need evidence?

Eleanor: Yes, of course. You do need evidence in academic writing. But that is only one characteristic of academic writing. You also often need an argument. In this assignment, in particular, we know that your professor asked you to write an argument about the Danish cartoon incident. So, can you tell me about what happened back in 2005?

Bellissima: Yes. In 2005 a newspaper in Denmark published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and many people were angry. Because of religion.

Eleanor: I see. Do you think they were right to be angry?

Bellissima: Hmm … maybe.

Eleanor: Do you think the publishers knew the cartoons would make some people angry?

Bellissima: Oh, yes.

Eleanor: So, cartoons about religion were published even though it was known that some people would be upset. That’s really interesting. Can you explain why you think this happened?

Bellissima: Is that what my professor wants? She wants me to say why I think this happened?

Eleanor: I think so, yes. She doesn’t want you to simply tell her what happened. She wants you to explain why this was an important event. She wants you to examine what happened, come to some conclusion about it, and argue for your position on this event.

Bellissima: I see. Not just tell what happened.

3. What You Need to Know

Have you received comments on your assignments as Bellissima described in her tutoring session? Has your professor ever given you a lower mark than you expected? Did this happen when you thought you had included good, detailed information in your report or essay?

For students who have moved successfully from their first years at university to more senior levels, the expectations for reading and writing can increase rather dramatically. Professors expect that the basics of how to form a compelling argument, how to identify key points, and how to marshal and present evidence are being polished rather than simply learned. They expect that longer and denser readings are analysed and responded to rather than merely comprehended. Professors and Teaching Assistants (TAs) often turn their attention to critiquing students’ grasp of content and concepts, and expect to see more sophisticated and nuanced understandings – understandings that are clearly based in the discipline – than those of novice students. Many students however, have limited experience writing arguments. In other words, their content knowledge may exceed their knowledge of argumentation.

Novice–expert differences are, in fact, a good place to begin our exploration of the expectations for senior undergraduate writing. At senior levels, students will soon be expected to graduate and move into the workplace or continue to graduate studies. Yet Bellissima’s paper demonstrates some of the characteristics of novice writing that her professor clearly expects she has moved beyond. For example, some students rely on what can be called ‘the hamburger method’ or ‘5-paragraph essay’ for writing essays: an introduction (the top bun, 1 paragraph), a body section (the meat, 3 paragraphs), and a conclusion (the bottom bun, 1 paragraph). While simple to remember, this structure is insufficient for advanced academic writing.

In our analysis of Bellissima’s sample text below (see Student Text 1b), you’ll notice that she is taking a novice approach to argumentation. She uses background information as an introduction, provides no context, neglects to summarize key points of the reading, recounts multiple facts and details of the event, omits analysis, and fails to introduce a main focal point (thesis).

Other genres such as research reports that use an IMRD structure (Introduction-Methods-Results-Discussion; see Chapter 7 for additional information about IMRD) do expect background information in the introduction. We, however, are focusing here on argumentation.

Student Text 1b

Essay on Danish Cartoons

Some distinctions between inexperienced and experienced writers are compared in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1

Source: Misser, n.d., adapted from Sommers & Saltz, 2004.

Expert students understand that the papers they write vary depending upon audience, context, and a number of other factors. Novice students, however, tend to see writing as one thing, a thing that shows what they know about a topic. In other words, writing demonstrates their content knowledge. But at advanced levels, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Developing an Argument
• 2 Focusing a Research Topic
• 3 Entering the Academic Conversation Integrity When Using Sources
• 4 Writing a Literature Review
• 5 Using Voice to Make Your Mark
• 6 Preparing a Scholarship Proposal
• 7 Writing about Data
• 8 Writing Collaboratively
• Table of Contents
• Appendix A Bellissima’s Final Paper
• Appendix B Justin’s Paragraph and Text Annotated
• Appendix C Literature Review Sample Text
• Appendix D Scholarship Proposal Sample
• Appendix E Devon’s Team Charter
• Appendix F Devon’s Group Report The Non-Profit Organization Vegetable Garden
• Index