Writing

Elements of Academic Writing
Answering an Essay Question on an Exam
Plagiarism

A. Elements of Academic Writing

“All writing is a form of entertainment.” These are oft quoted, wise words of the great and eclectic reader, Fr. Raphael Barousse, O.S.B. Though some writing is more entertaining, all writing should seek to engage the reader and help him maintain attention and comprehension.

There are two major forms of writing in an academic setting: Essays and Research Papers. Though they may seem dry as dust, these are both opportunities for a creative combination of content and story telling. They share many of the same components: a thesis statement, structure, writing style, and citation. These components are of the utmost importance to composing good work.

The Thesis Statement:
Briefly, a thesis statement is a statement of the point of view you are taking on a topic. It is often one of the first sentences of an essay or paper, sometimes following a short introduction to the material. It serves as a summary of the position you are taking in the composition and is essential to academic argumentation. Formulating a thesis statement is the result of a lengthy thought process and should only follow extensive research.

You should ask yourself the following questions of any thesis statement you formulate:

1. Does it tell the reader how you will interpret the subject matter?
2. Does it serve as a map? Meaning, is the reader able to expect what will come?
3. Does it directly answer what is being asked? Remember, a thesis statement is not a description of a subject. It is an interpretation of it.
4. Does it make a claim that others might dispute?
5. Is it near the beginning of the essay or paper, usually in the first paragraph?
6. Does the thesis statement dispel obscurity and does it avoid vagueness?

Outlining and Structure:
Lengthy writing profits from first producing an outline. Outlines help you to organize and balance your writing in a kind of graphic scheme. They indicate cardinal arguments and subtopics of main points. Outlines can range from informal notes to systematic plans depending on the length and complexity of the composition.

Your task as the writer is to think through the relationships of your ideas. While preparing your outline you should ask these questions:

1. Is one idea similar or dissimilar to another?
2. Is one idea the cause of another?
3. Is one idea the effect of another?
4. Is one idea the solution to another or does it propose another question?
5. Basically, you should ask: Do your ideas fall into one of the following ways of thinking: cause-effect, comparison-contrast, definition, or classification?
6. Is there an overall balance and parallelism to the ideas?
7. Finally, ask: Does my outline explicate the argument of my thesis statement?

Writing Style:
Formal writing calls for attention and exactitude not required in informal writing. Your writing style should demonstrate a wise choice of diction, correct grammar and syntax, and consistency. Avoid all informalities of language, such as, contractions, the use of the second person, sometimes use of the first person, using the passive voice, inconsistent formatting, and wordiness.

Citation:
Notre Dame Seminary requires students to use Turabian (Chicago) style citation in papers. Research papers should always use this style of citation, though professors may permit MLA style citation for essays. Make sure to ask your professor which style of citation he requires.

Click on this link for the citation guide provided by the Notre Dame Seminary Library: Turabian Style Guide & Turabian Electronic Source Supplement.

Editing and Revising:
When you edit or revise your rough draft of an essay or research paper, look at your work in four ways: organization, content, documentation/citation, and style/mechanics. It may take you several readings before you produce your final draft.

Here are some steps for Editing and Revising your paper:

1. Did you follow your outline?
2. Is your thesis statement readily identifiable?
3. Did you clearly develop your argument?
4. Are there enough supporting details? Examples, facts, and reasons strengthen your argument.
5. Did you use quotations? If you did, check the citations.
6. Did you overuse quotations? Too many quotations weaken your analysis.
7. Is there any vital information you left out?
8. Did you take time to check the style and mechanics? This includes all kinds of grammar and syntax mistakes, misspellings, and word usage.
9. Have you read your paper aloud? This is a great way to zero in on errors.
10. If it is an especially important paper or if writing is not your strong point, try to have someone else proofread your work.
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B. Answering an Essay Question on an Exam

Exam essay questions are similar to essay assignments. However, they are tricky because the only source of information is you! If you know that an exam will have an essay portion, make sure you know as much as possible about which topics will be tested. Take time to brush up on those topics and begin forming plans on how you would write about them.

When you approach an essay question it is very important that you carefully read everything in it. It is probable that the question asks for more than what is contained in its first sentence.

There are two basic types of essay questions: restricted response and extended response. A restricted response question asks for specific information. You must address everything asked in the question, without it you will not get full points! Extended response essay questions are open ended. They tend to focus more on whether or not the student is able to express himself in writing. Covering the topic of the essay could take anywhere from two to ten pages, depending on who is writing and how much he knows. Basically, extended response questions are designed to see if a student can form a thesis statement on the spot and do a fairly extensive amount of writing in a short time supporting that thesis.
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C. Plagiarism

“You shall not steal” (Ex 20,15). In essence, plagiarism is theft and it is a serious issue in academia. Occurrences of plagiarism can be the result of varied circumstances: stress, time-crunches, despair, laziness, poor writing skills, and the simple fact that students are showered with other people’s ideas all the day long. You are expected to incorporate the ideas of others in your writing, but it is important that you give credit where it is due. Using other people’s ideas and words without clear acknowledgement is plagiarism.

Here are some handy steps for avoiding plagiarism and keeping the Seventh Commandment:

1. Give credit to your sources. This means ideas, opinions, theories, facts, statistics, and graphs that are not common knowledge.
2. Cite quotations of words, spoken or written.
3. If you paraphrase something that is not common knowledge, make sure to cite the source.
4. Do not merely change a few words here or there. Do not simply change the word order.
5. Write the information in your own words, or, if you make a direct quotation, cite the source.
6. Remember that common knowledge is information found in numerous sources, likely known by most people.
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