Introduction to academic writing skills

Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a marketer quite like being asked to write a blog post.

Essay Introductions Write an introduction that interests the reader and effectively outlines your arguments. Every essay or assignment you write must begin with an introduction. It might be helpful to think of the introduction as an inverted pyramid.

In such introduction to academic writing skills pyramid, you begin by presenting a broad introduction to the topic and end by making a more focused point about that topic in your thesis statement. The introduction has three essential parts, each of which serves a particular purpose. You also want to do that in a way that is fresh and original.

Instead, you might try one of the following techniques: Offer a surprising statistic that conveys something about the problem to be addressed in the paper.

Perhaps you can find an interesting quote that nicely sums up your argument. Use rhetorical questions that place your readers in a different situation in order to get them thinking about your topic in a new way.

If you have a personal connection to the topic, you might use an anecdote or story to get your readers emotionally involved. For example, if you were writing a paper about drunk drivers, you might begin with a compelling story about someone whose life was forever altered by a drunk driver: Attending college on a track scholarship, she was earning good grades and making lots of friends.

This section helps the reader see why you are focusing on this topic and makes the transition to the main point of your paper. Therefore, you need to bridge the gap between your attention-grabber and your thesis with some transitional discussion. In this part of your introduction, you narrow your focus of the topic and explain why the attention-grabber is relevant to the specific area you will be discussing.

You should introduce your specific topic and provide any necessary background information that the reader would need in order to understand the problem that you are presenting in the paper. You can also define any key terms the reader might not know. Continuing with the example above, we might move from the narrative about Michelle to a short discussion of the scope of the problem of drunk drivers.

We might say, for example: Each year XX number of lives are lost due to drunk-driving accidents. This effectively moves the reader from the story about Michelle to your real topic, which might be the need for stricter penalties for drinking and driving.

Finally, the introduction must conclude with a clear statement of the overall point you want to make in the paper. In this scenario, your thesis would be the point you are trying to make about drunk driving.

You might be arguing for better enforcement of existing laws, enactment of stricter penalties, or funding for education about drinking and driving.

Whatever the case, your thesis would clearly state the main point your paper is trying to make. This gives the reader a general sense of how you will organize the different points that follow throughout the essay.

In constructing an introduction, make sure the introduction clearly reflects the goal or purpose of the assignment and that the thesis presents not only the topic to be discussed but also states a clear position about that topic that you will support and develop throughout the paper.

In shorter papers, the introduction is usually only one or two paragraphs, but it can be several paragraphs in a longer paper. For Longer Papers Although for short essays the introduction is usually just one paragraph, longer argument or research papers may require a more substantial introduction.

The first paragraph might consist of just the attention grabber and some narrative about the problem. Then you might have one or more paragraphs that provide background on the main topics of the paper and present the overall argument, concluding with your thesis statement.

Academic Writing

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Academic writing is generally intended for highly educated and well-informed individuals who already know the basics of the topic in question.

These readers need no in-depth introduction . Masters academic writing is the first step into research writing. Your writing should be able to demonstrate not only your ability to analyse and critically engage with material and develop complex arguments, but also aspects of originality.

Essay writing for college or university is a step-by-step guide to writing outstanding essays for all types of essay timberdesignmag.comtand what it takes to write academically and supercharge your grades. Course updated !

Academic writing is, essentially, the writing you have to do for your university courses.

Academic Writing: An Introduction - Third Edition - Broadview Press

Your instructors may have different names for academic writing assignments (essay, paper, research paper, term paper, argumentative paper/essay, analysis paper/essay. Introduction Like many students, you may be initially very worried about your listening skills.

Academic listening usually involves trying to follow a lecture or discussion in English and writing adequate notes on it.