Entry #4:What is academic writing?

The following is a summary of the article “What is Academic Writing?” by L. Lennie Irvin.

What is academic writing?

There are some myths about writing:

1. The author starts by listing a number of common myths about academic writing.
2. The “Paint by Numbers” myth: writing is recursive. We cycle through and repeat the writing process many times as we write.
3. Writers only start writing when they have everything figured out: Writers figure out much of what they want to write as they write it.
4. Perfect first drafts: Nobody writes perfect first draft; polished writing takes lots of revision.
5. Some got it; I don’t – the genius fallacy: With effort and study, you can improve as a writer.
6. Good grammar is good writing: Writing is about more than just grammar correctness.
7. The Five Paragraph Essay: You will have to gauge the length of your essay according to the assignment.
8. Never use “I”: Not all writing situations require you to avoid the first person.

The Academic Writing Situation

In the Academic Writing Situation there are differences between speaking and writing. In writing, we are separated from our audience in place and time, and we have to create the communicational context. Instead of speaking, we have to use punctuation and word choice to communicate our tone. The Academic Writing Situation can be broken down further in the following questions.

• Who’s your audience? Professors and classmates
• What’s the occasion or context? An assignment.
• What’s your message? Your interpretation or learning from the subject matter.
• What’s your purpose? To show your learning and get a passing mark.
• What documents or genres are used? Essays.

So far, the list above looks nothing new. That is also the kind of writing done in schools. Lee Ann Carroll, quoted by Irvin, describes the kind of academic writing.

              

What are usually called “writing assignments” in college might more accurately be called “literacy tasks” because they require (…) high levels of literacy (…) [and] knowledge of research skills, ability to read complex texts, understanding of key disciplinary concepts, and strategies for synthesizing, analyzing, and responding critically to new information.

Academic writing is always a form of evaluation that asks you to demonstrate knowledge and show proficiency with certain disciplinary skills of thinking, interpreting and presenting. Irvin then explores more deeply the elements of “literacy tasks”.

• Knowledge of research skills: college requires you to find in-depth information about the subject matter. You might find this information in your local library. Researching is a process. Realize that you will need to devote lots of work to this researching.
• The ability to read complex texts: In addition to the labour of close reading, you’ll need to think critically as you read. That means separating fact from opinion, recognizing biases and assumptions and making inferences (conclusions or interpretations that we arrive at based upon the kwon factors we discover from our reading).
• The understanding of key disciplinary concepts: Each discipline has its own key concepts and language for describing these important ways of understanding the world. Your professors want to see you apply and use these concepts in your writing.
• Strategies for synthesizing, analyzing, and responding critically to new information: each writing assignment asks you to navigate through a new terrain of information, so you must develop ways for grasping new subject matter in order, then, to use it in your writing.

In college, everything is an argument. Typically you’ll be required to write and “essay” based upon your analysis of some readings(s). In this essay you’ll need to present an argument where you make a claim (a “thesis”) and support that claim with good reasons that have adequate and appropriate evidence to back them up.

Academic writing as an argument: an argument is a carefully arranged and supported presentation of your viewpoint. Its purpose is to earn your audience’s consideration or your perspective. These are the two important things about academic argument: (1) the value of an organized presentation of your claim, and (2) the crucial element of strong evidence.

Academic writing as analysis: according to Irvin, “analyze” means to ask How and Why questions more than What questions. An analysis involves doing three things:

1. Engage in an open inquiry where the answer is not known at first.
2. Identify meaningful parts of the subject.
3. Examine these separated parts and determine how they relate to each other.

The author recommends not to do an analysis all in your head. Identify and isolate the parts of your analysis, and record important features and characteristics of each one. As patterns emerge, you sort and connect these parts in meaningful ways.

There are three common types of college writing assignments.

1. The closed writing assignment: this kind of writing assignment present you with two counter claims and asks you to determine form your own analysis the more valid claim. The major task of the writing assignment is working out the support for the claim. Also take into consideration that a close analysis of the subject matter often reveals nuances and ambiguities within the questions that your eventual claim should reflect.
2. The semi-open writing assignment: although these topics chart out a subject matter for you to write upon, they don’t offer up claims you can easily use in your paper. This kind of writing assignment resembles a kind of archaeological dig. The teacher cordons the area, hands you a shovel, and says dig here and see what you find. Be sure to avoid summary and mere explanations in this kind of assignment. Despite using key words in the assignment such as “explain”, “illustrate”, “analyze” and so on, these topics still ask you to make an argument. Determining your own claim represents the biggest challenge for this type of writing assignment.
3. The open writing assignment: these kinds of writing assignments require you to decide both your writing topic and your claim/thesis. Many students struggle with these type of assignments because they have to understand their subject matter well before they can intelligently choose a topic. The biggest decision is to select your topic and limiting it to a manageable size.

Picking and limiting a writing topic

Whatever topic you chose, state it as a clear and interesting question. Stating this question in the introduction of your paper will provide direction for it and focus your claim since that claim will be your answer to this essay question. To avoid charting an essay question that is too big to deal with, Irvin recommends picking only one topic and write the whole paper about it.

Three characteristics of academic writing

Chris Thais and Terry Zawacki, quoted by Irving, express what they thought academic writing was and its standards in three characteristics.

1. Clear evidence in writing that the writer(s) have been persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in study.
2. The dominance of reason over emotions or sensual perception.
3. An imagined reader who is coolly ration, reading for information, and intending to formulate a reasoned response.

Finally, the author concludes with a list of characteristics of the “critical essay” (“Critical” meaning “interpretive”, “analytical”).

1. Makes a point, and supports it.
2. The point is debatable and open to interpretation. The thesis statement is a clear, declarative sentence that often works best when it comes at the end of the introduction.
3. Organization: any essay should have a clear introduction, body and a conclusion. The body should be structured around clear primary supports.
4. Support: (a) the primary source of support is from the text (or sources). The text is the authority, so using quotations is required. (b) Assert then support. No assertion (general statement that needs proving) should be left without specific support (often from the text). (c) You need enough support to be convincing. Each assertion needs at least three supports. One support is not enough.
5. Always document your sources. Clarify where the information came from.
6. Grammatical correctness. Your essay should have no grammatical problems.

Irvin, L. L. "What is Academic Writing", 3-17.