Card 28

1) Reporting what others have written or said about a particular issue is an extremely important component of your writing. In particular pieces of academic writing, e.g., a literature review(in a dissertation or thesis), the entire focus is on what other people have written.

• It shows that you have read, analyzed and synthesized a range of sources, thereby

demonstrating that you have a broad understanding of the subject area.

• It shows that you have considered these sources critically, i.e., in an analytical way, rather than just descriptive. In particular, your choice of reporting verb enables you to add

AUTHORIAL COMMENT.

• It shows that you are academically responsible: that you are not plagiarizing, and that you are trying to represent others’ views fairly.

2) Two main functions of the thesis statement are to:

• state your position with regard to the essay title

• provide an overview of the essay and the direction in which it is going

Some other key characteristics of a thesis statement are listed below.

• It is always found in the introduction, generally towards the end.

• It should not just be a fact, but rather an idea which can be developed and built upon.

• It should be referred to again in the conclusion.

• Some thesis statements use /, but note that in many subject areas (or for many teachers), it may not be preferred

Card 29

1) Paragraphs are the building blocks of writing, giving shape and meaning. Without them, it wouldbe extremely difficult to follow the argument. They are particularly important in academic writing, where the ideas are complex. As in the example above, three key aspects of good paragraphs, like that above, are:

Unity

Unity, coherence and logical development

One paragraph = one idea. This will give each paragraph a clear unity throughout. Importantly, a paragraph is not defined by its length. A paragraph should be as long as it needs to be, but in academic writing, many paragraphs will be around 100-150 words long.

Coherence

Now turns to …closely related to ... greater emphasis ... rather than ... in summary ... moreover...

Each paragraph should develop your overall argument, helping to answer your question in some way. A good paragraph is composed of several sentences which link together well. Similarly, a piece of writing is composed of several paragraphs which connect clearly to each other. A transition phrase at the start of the paragraph (e.g., this said, having looked at) and/or a transition sentence at the end can help integrate the overall text.