Guys, this is published only as a guideline as to how to tackle assignments in this area. Hope you'll stop by taking an idea and won't plagiarize. After-all it's your studies that'll be affected by how much effort you put in.
Discuss which essay writing techniques you would use to produce good academic assignments. Also identify the limitations of techniques used.
Academic essays are important parts of our curriculum which allows me to demonstrate the knowledge of a topic and skills related to academic writing. They allow me as a student to explore a subject area in to the depth and present an argument which displays evidence of critical thinking appropriate for a master’s student.
In producing an academic essay it is important that I show I’m able to clearly interpret the question and is able to display analytical and evaluation skills by developing a strong & logical argument through the essay. Here, I would decide important aspects of the essay such as the content, which includes the subject area being written about, the focus, which the viewpoint I am asked to consider and the tasks, which are presented by words such as evaluate, analyse, compare and contrast.
The primary task to be undertaken prior to writing an academic essay is to plan the structure (Oshima, 2005), which includes the key topics and areas to focus upon, and the key information to be presented, which has to be supported by relevant forms of evidence such as references and real world examples. Usage of references and examples serves as an advantage due to the fact that they act as means of demonstrating evidence of reading and also is helpful in convincing the reader on the validity of the arguments made through the essays.
In writing the essay, I would structure it to 3 main parts, the introduction, main body and the conclusion. It enables the essay to flow in a coherent and logical manner and make the argument clear for the reader. The introduction needs to provide definitions of main terms used while providing an outline of what is being discussed in subsequent stages of the essay. The main body is used to develop the arguments and discuss the different points of view. Here, I would prefer to organise the essay into different paragraphs which discuss different arguments and themes. The conclusion is structured to provide a summary of what is being discussed throughout the essay and highlight the key arguments made (www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/.../Academic%20Essay%20Writing.doc).
In producing an academic essay the main focus has to be on presenting information in a logical way using an academic writing style. That includes the following areas.
1. Avoiding grammatical mistakes: I would be using proper verb structures and proper sentence construction so as to make reading the coursework a convenient experience for the lecturer. My focus is generally directed towards the use of capitalization, abbreviations and quotations. I would follow spelling conventions such as the usage of ‘ise’ in UK English instead of ‘ize” as in US English (Liz, 2006).
2. Technical jargon: The essay has to use less technical jargon and if it’s used, then has to include the definitions (http://www.gcu.ac.uk/student/coursework/writing/linking.html). I would assume that my essay is aimed at a wider target audience and is therefore written in reasonably simple language which the reader can easily understand and interpret.
3. Impersonal language: It is recommended to write an essay in third person other than those instances where the essay is specifically required to include personal experiences. That includes avoiding the use of words such as ‘I’ and ‘we’ in the statements made through the essay (Gillett, 2009). But in an instance like this I would write the essay in first person as the topic specifically requests my personal point of view.
4. Generalizations and citations: In addition, I would take care to avoid generalizations as much as possible and should it be used, I would support it through examples or references. When introducing citations to the work, acceptable practices such as Harvard referencing needs to be followed (Hartley, 2008)
5. Avoid plagiarism: Plagiarism can be identified as the use of someone else’s work as the work of the writer (Bailey, 2006). In order to avoid plagiarism, I would provide acknowledgement and references of the source of work I present in the assignment. Software such as turn-it-in are designed to detect plagiarism through databases of previously submitted work by other writers.
6. Word limits: Care should be taken to remain within the word limit for the essay which has to be utilized for presenting arguments which we see as most important and avoid dragging on the discussion for longer. Usually +/- 10% of the word limit is considered acceptable (http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/study/undergrad/essays/).
When considering my limitations in essay writing, first I can point out that the word limit acts as a constraint in presenting all facts and evidence related to a topic which is the only way of displaying my critical thinking skills. In addition, finding citations and generalizations from acceptable sources is a time consuming task which also act as a limitation in completing an assignment in time. I see generalizations as being subject to prejudices of the markers and therefore it requires me to understand the viewpoints and expectations of the lecturer before presenting any generalizations.
REFERENCES
1) Oshima A., et al. (2005), Writing Academic English, Longman: London
2) University of Cardiff (2009), Academic Essay Writing – A formula to be considered…. (and dismissed?), [Online] (Updated 16 August 2009),
Available at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/.../Academic%20Essay%20Writing.doc, [Accessed 20 July 2010]
3) Liz Hamp-Lyons, et al. (2006), Study Writing: A Course in Written English for Academic Purposes, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
4) Gillett A. (2009), Inside Track to Successful Academic Writing, Longman: London
5) Hartley J. (2008), Academic Writing and Publishing: A Practical Handbook, Routledge: London
6) Bailey S. (2006), Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students, Routledge: London
7) University of Edinborough (2009), Academic Essay Writing: Some Guidelines, [Online] (Updated 29 November 2009),
Available at: http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/study/undergrad/essays/, [Accessed 20 July 2010].
8) Glasgow Caledonian University (2008), Improve Your Coursework, [Online] (Updated 28 October 2008), Available at: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/student/coursework/writing/linking.html, [Accessed 20 July 2010]
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