Readers

What is "Academic" Writing?: Comprehension Questions, from 6 -10


Notes to Core Course II Semester, B A English, Kannur University.


Name of Course: Academic Writing, Methodology and Research Project
Code: 2B02 ENG
Prescribed Text: Methodology of Humanities and Academic Writing


6. What is an argument in college writing assignments? 
An argument means a carefully arranged and supported presentation of a viewpoint. Its purpose is not so much to win the argument as to earn your audience's consideration (and even approval) of your perspective. It's similar to presenting a case in a court. The arguments made in a court should be supported by evidence to convince the judge or jury. 

7. How to pick a topic for writing assignments? 
In order to pick a topic for writing assignments, one has to look for gaps, puzzling items, things that confuse or connections one sees. It is also important to state the topic as a clear and interesting question. It is not necessary to write this statement or question at the starting of the essay. However, this statement will give direction for the paper and focus on the thesis. 

8. Explain thesis statement.
A thesis statement is a clear statement of the thesis or claim of the academic essay. For example, if the essay question is "What is the role of Virgil towards the character of Dante in The Inferno?" the thesis statement will be: "Virgil's predominant role as Dante's guide through hell is as the voice of reason." The thesis statement can be formed from an essay question. After locating the topic of the essay, the writer should compose an essay question. 

9. What is the nature and purpose of an "argument" in academic writing?
An argument means a carefully arranged and supported presentation of a viewpoint. Academic writing requires the writer to present an argument where one makes a claim or presents a thesis and supports that claim with sufficient evidence. Its purpose is not so much to win the argument as to earn your audience's consideration (and even approval) of your perspective. It's similar to presenting a case in a court. The arguments made in a court should be supported by evidence to convince the judge or jury. 

10. Define analysis. Why is it important? 
An analysis breaks a subject apart to study it closely, and from this inspection, ideas for writing emerge. Analysis requires the writer to identify the parts of the subject and then show how these parts fit or don't fit together to create some larger effect or meaning. The writer's interpretation of how these parts fit together constitutes the claim or thesis. The task of the essay is to present an argument defending the interpretation as a plausible one. This makes analysis a very import part in writing an academic essay. 
An analysis involves doing three things:
  1. Engage in an open inquiry where the answer is not known at first
  2. Identify meaningful parts of the subject
  3. Examine those separate parts and determine how they relate to each other. 

Additional Materials:
What is hypothesis?
A hypothesis is simply an educated—and testable—guess about the answer to your research question. A hypothesis is often described as an attempt by the researcher to explain the phenomenon of interest. A key feature of all hypotheses is that each must make a prediction. These predictions are then tested by gathering and analyzing data, and the hypotheses can either be supported or refuted on the basis of the data. (Marczyk, Et. Al.)

Works Cited

Marczyk, Geoffrey, et.al. Essentials of Research Design and Methodology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2005, p. 8.

Next: Paragraph Questions

Previous: Comprehension Questions, from 1-5

Comments

Akshata said…
Please post the paragraph questions as soon as possible.

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