Academic Writing

Actionable tips and examples to help you move deeper into the evidence you’ve already got.

The first step to effective communication? Understanding your audience – including TEACHERS. Specific help for writing for the teacher audience.

Fallacies are statements that sound logical but, if you stop and think, really aren’t. Avoid in your own writing and critique in others’.

In any high school or college class where you’re reading texts and writing about them, your writing will be more effective if you know how to perform what teachers call a “close reading.” Similarly, if you’re writing a business report or proposal, you’ll be much more likely to reach your goals if the document reflects a close, careful reading of your primary sources.

Selecting a few, specific key words then using them throughout your essay will help emphasize your thesis and create flow and continuity.

“Quoting others’ work is crucial to your success as a writer.
Students often have difficulty with this skill; growing proficient at quoting will mark you as a sophisticated writer. Not quoting, or quoting awkwardly, is like showing up to a formal wedding dressed in cut-off jeans. Similarly, filling a short paper with many, many quotes (particularly long quotes) will interrupt your reader’s concentration on your ideas.”

Including quotes in your writing is one of the leading indicators of an accomplished academic writer. There are rules, and they are easy to learn. Once you’ve got them down and you can sprinkle quotes throughout your writing to support your points you’ll be on your way to creating slam-dunk arguments with the ability to persuade any audience.

Any writer needs to establish her credibility. Why read someone who you don’t believe or trust? Practice these skills to get it done quickly.

There’s nothing like a model! Quick access to solid examples of persuasive essays.

“Many beginning writers, especially when trying to write argumentatively, will include only evidence that supports their thesis. This is a beginner’s mistake.
Any intelligent reader will think up competing (contradictory) evidence on their own. And even if they don’t, they will have to assume that if you ignore all opposing evidence you have either, a) not done a proper research job or are, b) willfully hiding unflattering facts.”

Tired of same-old organization for your academic argument? Or wish there was a less confrontational, winner-take-all approach? Try organizing for CONSENSUS with Rogerian Argument.

Like pop songs or action movies, arguments have a pattern to them. Learn a pattern and use it to great effect!

Paraphrasing is a skill that marks you as an accomplished academic writer – AND helps you avoid charges of plagiarism.

You need a great thesis but you also have to focus on it throughout your essay. Learn how!

“The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified three fundamental strategies for persuading an audience—English teachers may call these strategies “rhetorical appeals.” Everyone who reads or writes arguments should be able to recognize these:
Logos is the appeal to logic or reason.
Ethos is the appeal based on ethics, which establishes the credibility of the author.
Pathos is the appeal to the emotions of the audience.”

Including a counterargument is one of the single-most effective strategies for becoming an academic writer. Your writing will be more detailed, dig deeper, and engage more thoroughly with the material – all by attempting one extra paragraph that takes on the primary opposing argument.

Understanding when to accelerate and summarize vs. slow down and dig in is a key skill. Learn some basic moves to summarize well.

Use this clever strategy to take a bunch of ideas and shape them into a coherent essay.

One of the fastest strategies to use as a writer? Use a clever title. Read through some examples and avoid calling your work “English Paper.”

One of the largest challenges to moving from middle-school and early high school writing to more advanced work is the challenge to write something original. This doesn’t mean you have to invent some whole new theory of life, the universe, and everything. Rather, it means you have to make your reader think.