Help for ENC1101

  Academic voice means to meet the writing expectations of academic writing. It is different than writing to a friend, writing for business purposes, or writing to the general public. Your audience for academic writing includes other academic writers and learners.  Academic writing includes: ·        using credible evidence to support ideas, ·        adding your own analysis to a topic, and ·        using an academic style or "voice" to communicate to your audience.  When reviewing your work, first be sure you have included evidence and analysis and then review and edit to ensure you have written in an academic "voice." Use Evidence Include Your Analysis or Conclusions on the Topic Make Declarative Sentences Avoid Casual Language Be Concise Use Specific Vocabulary and Precise Words   Still Confused? Please reach out to your instructor or email the Writing Center f...

Full Article Available HERE Introduction When writing for faculty and your peers in college and beyond, you will be addressing a formal audience, and you will want to use scholarly language. This means you should use simple and concise language, and you will eliminate unnecessary information. According to APA (2020), "Say only what needs to be said in your writing" (p. 113). Tips on Word Choice Avoid casual language .  Eliminate contractions ("can't," "won't"). Take a moment to conduct a ‘search’ in your paper for the system to ‘find’ contractions and the words very, etc. Eliminate metaphors or figures of speech ("her writing was as clear as mud"), slang expressions or cliche phrases ("she'll get over it"). Take a moment to look through your writing for cliches, slang expressions, and figures of speech.  You want your writing to be precise and specific. As Claire Helakoski states:  APA states to be as ...

Whose Paper Is It Your voice needs to always be the driving force for your body paragraphs.  It is best if you write out your rough draft and then locate sources that can defend what you have already written.  By doing this, you are able to keep the essay in your voice with your ideas as the dominating factor. When you think about the percentage distribution of the writer’s voice compared to source usage in an academic essay, at the college level, you need to keep in mind that the content must be at least  80% YOU  and only  20% or less of outside sources .  This means that you really need to be careful and purposeful in what source content you use and WHERE you put it in the paper.   Present Ideas - Do not Ask Questions You are writing your paper to present your ideas.  They are important, and you want to make sure that your audience is taking the time to really hear you.  Therefore, you will not put questions in your body paragraphs....

Learning from the Experts I remember my years in college when I mistakenly believed that my professors  had  to allow me open creativity while completing my assignments.  After all, I was an adult, now.  I was led to believe that after high school, I would get to begin making my own choices in life: whether positive or negative.  However, this did not happen in my college classes, nor did it occur in the ‘jobs’ that I worked to help pay for my studies.  Each professor—no matter the discipline of the course—had a specific  requirement  that I had to follow.  Whether it was the  precise  set-up of my Chemistry lab reports, the required step-by-step showing of my equation solutions in Calculus, or the seemingly  restrictive  structure of my essays in Studies in Medieval Literature, I was certain that I knew how to organize, sort, and present my information better than they did; I was wrong. Looking back, I now know that ...

A General Assessment Rubric This rubric will help students understand some of the basics that their instructors will be looking for in their academic writing. 

Ideas for Starting Sentences Argument Writing ENGL101, All Essays Sentence Starters for Argumentative Essay Other Ideas: Introduction of Evidence 1.        “Some people may argue…” 2.       “A possible concern is…” 3.       “A common counterpoint is…” Evidence 1.        “For example, they contend that…” 2.       “Those who believe… say that …” Discussion of Evidence (Rebuttal) 1.        “That is an understandable concern, however…” 2.       “This argument is wrong because…” 3.       “Although some people think… others understand…” 4.      “The evidence, however, overwhelmingly supports the argument that…” Content from this handout was modified using  Sentence Starters for Argument   Essay  handout.  The original document was provided to...

The Introduction paragraph and the Conclusion paragraph work together.  They work as bookends for the body paragraphs. As a reminder, the introduction is the only weapon you have to make the audience want  to read your paper.  While your professor or classmates may have  to read it, you should write in a way that captivates them and makes them interested enough to want  to read more. 1.  When you start the introduction, ask yourself "What could I relate my overall point to that would hook a reader?".  If you can think of a way to relate your overall topic so that the audience is intrigued, you can easily set the stage for greatness! See the 7 Types of Hooks article for help in this area. 2.  The next sentence or two will provide transitional ideas to get the audience from your 'hook' to your point.  Choose these sentences carefully.  While you may have hooked the audience with your first line, you could still lose them here.  You d...

Repeating the introduction —it is never a good idea to repeat what you said in your introduction: ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR THESIS—never repeat your thesis verbatim. An introduction and a conclusion serve two different purposes. One introduces the reader to the topic, and the other wraps up the ideas expressed and points proven in the essay. The conclusion should always strive to capture the points of the body paragraphs in addition to the introduction.

Conclusion Paragraph (Sample) To have a logically wrapped-up conclusion, you will follow the steps below.  While your creativity and style can shine through in the  CONTENT  of the essay, the  STRUCTURE  for writing an argument is very organized and has been crafted to perfection since Aristotle's debates with his students and Socrate's public forums for enlightenment and logical reasoning.  Be sure to memorize these steps so that  you too  can become as persuasive as the 'greats' of history long past!

Concluding Your Paper (Academic Essay) You do not want to stop writing abruptly after making your last body paragraph argument. The paper’s conclusion should wrap up your points smoothly and make a good final impression on the readers.  It must be at least 3 sentences in length—no less. See the links below for specific structure criteria within conclusion paragraphs. Structured CONCLUSIONS Concluding Your Paper Three Parts to a Conclusion Conclusions to Avoid Conclusion No-Nos Questions in a Conclusion Concluding Statements: Supporting Your Argument Conclusions--Drafting Your Essay

Source Sandwich Method: Introduce, Quote, Explain To understand how to integrate sources into your  body-paragraphs , you will need to learn about the ‘source sandwich’.

Introduction Tutorial: 3-minute Video Part 1  of the  Understanding an Essay   Video Series by J. Dick Drawing Readers In  The main point to consider and learn for your introduction and Thesis: remember that you are  not making an announcement .  You are simply stating the content and focus, without writing, "In this essay...".  Make sure that the writing always has a point and that the point is directly stated. As you begin to write the rough draft of your paper, think critically about how you might draw your readers into your argument in a compelling way. Consider how to create a rapport with the audience; for example, what areas of  agreement  may already exist between you and your readers? Who is your audience?   What is the purpose of your essay? What do your audience members need in order to draw them into your topic? If you are writing about a topic and surveys show the majority of Americans do not agree with your point of vi...