Tuesday, March 24, 2020

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

What is "Academic" Writing?: Comprehension Questions, from 1-5

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

Module IV
What is "Academic" Writing?

Comprehension Questions


1. What is academic writing?
Academic writing is writing in college. Academic writing is always a form of evaluation that asks you to demonstrate knowledge and show proficiency with certain disciplinary skills of thinking, interpreting, and presenting. According to Lee Ann Carrol, academic writing requires knowledge of research skills, ability to read complex texts, understanding of key disciplinary concepts, and strategies for synthesizing, analyzing, and responding critically to new information, usually within a limited time frame.  

2. Identify the three characteristics of academic writing. 
As per the research conducted by Chriss Thaiss and Terri Zawacki at George Mason University, the three characteristics of academic writing are: 
  1.        Clear evidence in writing that the writer(s) have been persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in the study. 
  2.      The dominance of reason over emotions or sensual perception. 
  3.    An imagined reader who is coolly rational, reading for information, and intending to formulate a reasoned response. 
Academic writing should be the result of critical reading, research, and analysis. 

3. What are writing assignments? 
Writing assignments are 'literacy tasks'. A student will be required to write an "essay" based upon his or her analysis of some reading (s). In this essay, he or she must present an argument where a claim should be made (i.e. present a "thesis") and support that claim with good reasons that have adequate and appropriate evidence to back them up. Such essays are called writing assignments. 

4. What are the features of college writing assignments? 
The major feature of college writing assignments is that they are argumentative and analytical. There are three types of writing assignments: The Closed Writing Assignment, The Semi-Open Writing Assignment, and The Open Writing Assignment. Research is a crucial component in most of the college writing assignments.

5. Define Research Skills.
Research skills involve knowing how to find information in the library, especially what is available from online databases which contain scholarly articles. Researching is also a process. One should learn how to focus and direct a research project and how to keep track of all the source information.  

Next: Part- II Comprehension Questions, from 6-10

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Academic Writing, Methodology and Research Project: Notes

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
Course Outcomes
  1. Understand and apply the nuances of academic writing
  2. Understand the various methodological as well as epistemological aspects of literary studies
  3. Familiarise with the approaches to literature
  4. Choose a tentative topic for the research project to be submitted in semester six.
Module - IV
Academic Writing
IV. What is "Academic" Writing?
  1. Introduction: The Academic Writing Task
  2. Decoding College Writing Assignments
  3. The Format Of The Academic Essay
V. Writing a Research Paper in Literary Studies
  1. First Steps
  2. Writing Your Paper
  3. Plagiarism
Where to begin? What to do?
           Hi everyone, it's been a long time since we haven't had a chance to meet and greet each other through this blog. Times have been hard. I have been very busy since the completion of the first semester and the starting of the second semester. During this period, my new book Life After the Floods was published. It was published by one of the most exciting youthful publishers in India, Kalamos Literary Services. 
           I also ventured into the art of Dubbing. One of the dubbing ventures is given in the link below for you, as an example. 


Dubbing is a whole new world for me. I am enjoying every bit of fun it's offering me. This does not mean that I no longer take pleasure in teaching. Of course, teaching is at the centre of my life. The students in my class have also requested for notes for the English Common Courses. This year, however, study materials have been made available for English Common courses such as Reading on Nature and Readings on Gender by the Calicut University Store, Kannur. You can purchase copies of the study aid from any bookstore. Due to the availability of the materials, I did not venture into making notes and publishing the notes through my blog free. However, the main paper for B A English, Academic Writing, Methodology and Research Project required materials for study. Students have asked me frequently for notes and most of the time, the prescribed text seemed to lack a coherent narrative structure. This is especially true in the case of Module IV, Academic Writing. The chapters in this module follow the first-person narrative. However, no reference could be found as to whom the first person pronoun reflects. Even though the first chapter in the module, titled "What Is "Academic" Writing?" is about the methodology and epistemological underpinnings that categorise academic writing from other branches of writing, the essay in this chapter does not reveal any information or data regarding the production or source of the material. It would be erroneous to assume that the board of editors wrote all the essays in the book because it would negate their very status as "editors" of the essays or the text itself. Even if we take for granted the erroneous notion that the board of editors are the authors of the essays in the book, sources or works mentioned here are nowhere to be seen cited in the text. This is just the contrary to what the text teaches the students to perform in academic writing. 
           This was one of the major difficulties that I faced as a teacher while teaching this module. The reason for noticing this difficulty, in particular, is the fourth-course outcome laid down by the university. Outcome D suggests the scholars/students to "Choose a tentative topic for the research project to be submitted in semester six."
           If we want the scholar/student to enter in a research project, we should give them the tools. We should make them proficient in how to use these tools. The last module in the course, Module IV is most important in this sense because it offers the tools to perform academic writing with consistency. There is one problem though. The text presents the details of academic writing and research methodology as if it's an authority in itself. Research methodology in humanities is a discipline in itself. The text does not give references as to where the data came from. Also, the references and works cited should follow the MLA Handbook, latest edition, during the time the research outcome is presented. The reference to MLA Handbook comes out casually in the book. The citations and references are explained without mentioning what source they are taken from. This is going to be a major roadblock for teachers while teaching this module. 
           My first attempt would be to give be as simple as possible in dealing with this course. Firstly, I would like to explain to the students how to get good marks for this course. 
           So what exactly is academic writing?
           Next: Comprehension Questions