Introduction to Academic Writing

Writing is a process that involves several steps such as pre-writing

and writing.

Pre-writing:

a. Narrowing down
• The topic / subject should be appropriate to the length of a paragraph or the

length should be appropriate to the topic.

• The topic should not be too narrow because that would leave the reader

without enough ideas to write about.

• The topic should not be too broad because there will be too many ideas to

write about in a single paragraph.

b. Generating Ideas:

Brainstorming
• write down whatever comes to your mind. This process is known as brainstorming.

• select the ideas, examples and arguments that are most useful for your paragraph.

• There are two strategies you can use for brainstorming: listing and mapping /

clustering.

Listing:

*make a list of sentences, phrases or words about your topic on paper.

Mapping / Clustering:
*write the topic in the middle of the page and list the ideas around it, connect related
ideas to each other with lines.
Paragraph Structure
Topic Sentence:

A paragraph begins with a topic sentence which introduces the topic. There are two

parts in a topic sentence:

a. The topic: gives the topic; in other words, it tells what the paragraph is about.

b. The controlling idea: limits the paragraph. It tells the readers what the paragraph

is going to discuss.

Ex: Registering for college classes can be a frustrating experience for new students.
Topic Controlling idea

There are three disadvantages of living away from your family.

Controlling Idea Topic
2. Supporting Sentences:
The supporting sentences that follow the topic sentence support the idea in the topic
sentence with explanations, reasons, examples, and other details. When we talk about
supporting sentences, we divide them into two groups: major and minor supports.
Major supports are the important points that explain the topic sentence.
Minor supports are what we call the development. In other words, they explain, define

or exemplify the major supports and develop the paragraph.

3. Concluding Sentences:
The concluding sentence brings the paragraph to an end. It is the last sentence in the paragraph.
Summarize the main points or by making a comment which shows your idea on the topic you wrote.
 A Sample Paragraph
Our Preparatory School

We study five different skills at our preparatory school. Firstly, we have coursebook 12 hrs a
week. We mainly learn grammar rules and practice some social English. The second one is reading. We
learn a lot of vocabulary and comprehension for six hours in our weekly programme. In addition, ESP
courses help us to gain similar skills on specific subjects such as arts, history and business. What is
more, listening provides us with opportunities to improve our listening comprehension skills. Finally,
in our writing courses we usually master our production skills through writing paragraphs and essays.
To sum up, these are the basic subjects / courses we cover at preparatory school five days a week.
Look at the sample paragraph whose title is Our Preparatory School. Which sentence

do you think is the topic sentence? Why?

Topic: Our preparatory school

Topic Sentence: We study five different skills at our preparatory school.

Controlling Idea: five different skills

 A topic sentence is usually best placed at the beginning of the paragraph.

WHY?

* It helps the reader to understand quickly what the paragraph is going to be about.

* Allows the writer to clearly develop the paragraph that follows.

* Helps the writer check that they are writing about one topic only.

* Allows the writer to easily transfer information from a plan.

From the controlling idea we understand that the writer is going to give information about

five different skills at our preparatory school not more or less.

Fragment

Fragment means incomplete. If a sentence does not have a subject or verb, it is a FRAGMENT.

Competitors in Nicosia Fishing Festival only traditional fishing equipment.

Competitors in Nicosia Fishing Festival only USE traditional fishing equipment.

Is a great method actor.

Daniel-Day Lewis is a great method actor.

Because they are reserved.

Introverts feel comfortable alone because they are reserved.

Run-On Sentences and Simple Linkers
A run-on sentence means a sentence is formed by joining two or more sentences
without a linker or correct punctuation. The sentence is considered as a run-on
sentence without linkers such as and, but, or.

AND
‘And’ is used for additional information, and it combines two independent sentences.

We are looking for a lively assistant she needs to be hard-working.

We are looking for a lively assistant, and she needs to be hard-working.

She is ambitious energetic.

She is ambitious and energetic

BUT
‘But’ is used to show contrast or an unexpected result, and it joins two independent
sentences.

Men take decisions quickly women are slow and calm in decision making.

Men take decisions quickly, but women are slow and calm in decision making.

I am a funny person people don’t see that in me.

I am a funny person, but people don’t see that in me.

OR

‘Or’ shows an alternative, choice or condition. It can join two nouns, two adjectives
and two sentences.

Tom can stay here with us he can book a room in a hotel.

Tom can stay here with us, or he can book a room in a hotel.

People need to take off their shoes before they enter a house in Japan the host may
think they are very impolite.

People need to take off their shoes before they enter a house in Japan, or the host
may think they are very impolite.
Parallelism
When you are listing items or ideas using “and”, “but”, and “or”, each item in
your sentence should have the same grammatical pattern. This is called
parallelism.

My English conversation class is made up of Chinese, Italian, and some are from Japan.

My English conversation class is made up of Chinese, Italian, and Japanese students.

Successful students attend lessons regularly, they do their homework, and practice speaking English.

Successful students attend lessons regularly, do their homework, and practice speaking English.
Unity
Unity means discussing only one idea in the paragraph, the idea presented in the
topic sentence. If a sentence in the paragraph does not relate to the topic sentence,
it is irrelevant and should be deleted.

Read the topic sentence given below and tell the two things that the writer should discuss
in his / her paragraph:

“The two biggest problems facing most candidates for public office are lack of money

and lack of public exposure.”

Below are some exercises on unity. Read the paragraphs completely. Underline the
topic sentence and show the controlling idea. Then, find the sentence that is not related
to the topic.

1. Bicycles are very popular today in many countries for several reasons. Many people use
bicycles for exercise, but exercise is only one of the reasons why bicycles are popular.
Another reason is money. That is, bicycles are not expensive to buy and they are easy
and chep to fix. It takes a long time to reach your destination by cycling. Thirdly, in
cities many people like bicycles better than cars because they never have to wait in
traffic. They also do not have to find a place to park. And finally, bicycles do not cause
any pollution at all. All in all, very few people prefer cycling in big cities.
2. The role of parents in child development is very important. Once a child starts
school, he finds himself in a totally different environment. Parents are responsible
for the physical needs of their children and for protecting them. They are also their
first teachers, and perhaps their most important teachers. Good parents provide
their children with the emotional security that is necessary for a happy life. Thus,
nobody can ignore the importance of parents in the progress of their children.

3. Zoos are popular with all children. They are able to see examples of wildlife from all
continents. In wildlife preserves in Africa, the animals wander about freely without any
fear of being caught. Perhaps the most popular place in a zoo is the elephant cage. The
elephants entertain the children there by spraying themselves with their trunks and by doing
various tricks.
Coherence
Another element of a good paragraph is coherence. A coherent paragraph flows
smoothly from beginning to end. A reader can follow your ideas easily because one
sentence leads naturally to the next one, and there are no sudden jumps.

There are three main ways to make your paragraph coherent:

1. Use nouns and pronouns consistently throughout a paragraph.
2. Use transition signals to show relationships among ideas.
3. Put your ideas into some kind of logical order, such as logical division of ideas.
Example:
To get the most out of his textbooks, a student should follow several steps carefully. He
should make a survey of each book to get a general idea of what the book contains. He
should read for understanding and he should formulate questions. He should make notes
of the major points in each chapter. He should test himself to be sure that he can
answer questions that may be asked in class or in the exams. He should review his notes
and reread the parts that are not very clear to him.

The above paragraph is coherent, but it is not as smooth as it should be because you cannot

follow the continuity in it. Read the following with added continuity.
To get the most out of his textbooks, a student should follow several steps very
carefully. First, he should make a preliminary survey of each book to get a general
idea of what the book contains. Second, he should read for deeper understanding
and he should formulate questions as he reads. Next, he should make notes of the
major points in each chapter. After that, he should test himself to be sure that he
can answer questions that may be asked in class or in the exams. Finally, he should
review his notes and reread the parts that are not very clear to him.
Cohesion
When a paragraph has cohesion, all the supporting sentences connect to each other in
their support of the topic sentence. The methods of connecting sentences to each
other are called cohesive devices. Four important cohesive devices are connectors,
definite articles, personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns.

Connectors

coordinating conjunctions (and, or, but etc.),

subordinating conjunctions (after, before, until, when, while, although, even though, whereas, while etc.),

transitions (first, second, as a result, consequently, therefore, however etc.)

prepositions (in front of, different from, in contrast to, unlike, in addition to etc.)