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Idriss Guindo Megan Keaton ENG 111-08 08 July 2013 Good Academic Writing

People have been using writing for millions of years. Writing is used to express ideas, thoughts, emotions and a variety of other things. Most of the people use writing in school but they are not be able to tell or define what academic writing is and what it looks like? Some dont even whether an academic paper needs a thesis or not. In fact it is the most used type of writing in school; students are required to use academic writing in their classes. It is essential to first understand the concept of what academic writing is, then the process of writing it; and finally the moment when we are introduced to academic writing and who introduce us to that type of writing. Academic writing is writing done by scholars to other scholars. This definition of academic writing is quite vague; academic writing can also be defined as the current style of writing and research which incorporates authority, organization, a thesis, a formal structure and target a specific audience. Students are expected to produce academic writing in response to content they learn about in an academic setting such as school. In academic writing the student has to know how to break down ideas to increase ones understanding. Academic writing is used everywhere; it is universal. Academic writing is an advanced level of writing which is mostly used in school. It allows the students or whoever is doing the research to organize his information in order to present them to the audience either the teacher or the students. It also

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allows students that are giving presentations to organize their presentations on paper so that it would be easier for them to present. The thesis which is an aspect for academic writing that is quite important. The thesis is typically located in the introduction and in the body as well; but it can also be found in the conclusion. A good thesis statement makes the difference between a thoughtful research project and a simple retelling of facts, in other words a retelling of fact would be only stating the main point without really going deep into it and giving examples or evidences. The thesis should present the topic of your paper and also make a comment about your position in relation to the topic. It should also tell your reader what the paper is about and also help guide the writer to keep his/her argument focused. All the papers that are written based on academic writing need to have a thesis. A thesis declares and support what the writer believes or what the writer intends to prove. It allows the writer to express and supports his point of view whether or not he agrees with the subject by giving coherent examples. It affects the paper in a sense that the reader will understand better the writers point of view and the subject as well. It is impossible to write a good academic paper without using a thesis because the paper will not be clear or interesting and the reader will end up being bored. Academic writing does obey a standard process that each of us need to follow in order to write a good academic paper. There are some steps that need to be done before submitting the paper such as brainstorming, the outline, the first and second draft. In other words the paper needs to be well revised which is why those steps are made. The student before submitting the paper has to correct all the grammar mistakes, the punctuation, and make sure the paper itself make sense. Coherence, grammar mistakes,

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the punctuation and the thesis are very important and need to be kept in mind when writing a paper. Its a fact that following all the steps is important however the writer needs to have his/her own writing style which sometimes does not follow the established steps. For example a writer instead of using brainstorming can start off either with the outline or the first draft. If there is one thing that is necessary for all writers to do; it is revision. All writers have to revise their papers to make sure they have mentioned everything they wanted and also to make sure that their papers make sense. Some writers start off writing several drafts until they feel like they have written enough and decide to submit the last one they wrote, while some think that starting off that way is a waste of time ; those who would rather start off brainstorming , doing an outline then writing the drafts. The process itself is quite easy to follow and does not require a high level of understanding from the writer. All the students are expected to have some basic skills on how to write a paper before attending college. Students are first introduced to basic writing in elementary school and then in 7th grade they are introduced to academic writing. In high school all the teachers I had used to tell me a lot about the importance of a thesis; until now some of my college teachers remind me to always use a thesis which is like the body of a paper. Teachers want students to mature in their writing skills by developing their own writing style and their own ways of thinking whenever they are given a topic to write about. Students are also taught how to back up their thinking with coherent example, and provide citations for where that research has come from. In other words they want the students to think more deeply and logically about whatever it is they are asked to study. When I was in elementary school for instance I was asked to write some simple and short story which didnt take me that much thinking and organization; but as I was progressing the expectations were high from my teachers because they expected me to be more organized and

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support all my ideas with coherent examples. Academic writing is all I use now, my English teacher expects me to write my paper using academic writing, my papers have to be well organized and revised, I have to support all my affirmations, points of view, thoughts Academic writing is based on analysis which is the process of breaking down ideas to increase one's understanding. It is a mature writing style which is mostly used in school for research paper. When writing a paper, stating the thesis (main idea) early and then following with supporting examples and details make complicated ideas easier to understand. That type of writing is taught and mostly used at school.