1. Essays CSCI102 - Systems ITCS905 - Systems MCS9102 - Systems

2. 2 Summary Slide What an Essay is NOT What an Essay IS - Argumentative Sustaining Discussion Abstracts Executive Summaries

3. 3 What an Essay is NOT A memory dump –Of everything you know –Presented in jumbled order –Bit of a conclusion somewhere near the end A random rambling discussion of points vaguely related to the question A series of repetitions of the same answer expressed in different ways

4. 4 What an Essay IS - Argumentative “A sustained argument, developing from, or weighing the evidence about an idea or question and creating a full and satisfying conclusion” –Stephen McClaren, Easy Writer: A Students Guide to writing Essays and Reports

5. 5 What an Essay IS - Argumentative “A sustained argument, developing from, or weighing the evidence about an idea or question and creating a full and satisfying conclusion” –Stephen McClaren, easy writer: A students guide to writing essays and reports

6. 6 Argument An argument is a proposition –The main line of thought, backbone of the essay –When supported by detailed discussion and logic in support this is called an argument Any discussion in an essay must be DIRECTLY related to the argument

7. 7 Sustaining Discussion Discussion is sustained by reference to –Facts –Examples –Interpretations –Analysis –Critical thinking Which serve to support your argument You should periodically sum up showing how the point you are currently discussing relates to your argument

8. 8 Sustaining Discussion Within each paragraph of an argumentative type essay, facts (pertinent data) are not sufficient on their own –Facts used to support your thesis must be specifically linked back to the thesis –The reader should not have to perform 'mental gymnastics' to make the link between your thesis and the point being discussed

9. 9 Sustaining Discussion The information presented must be relevant to the point you are making and it must be convincing –To be relevant the writer has to be ruthless in rejecting any ideas and facts which do not directly help to build the credibility of the thesis –To be convincing, the writer needs to report on research undertaken by reputable experts and which supports the validity of the thesis

10. 10 Sustaining Discussion In an academic essay, the format for sustaining an argument is –State your thesis in the introduction and provide the main reasons for the support of the thesis –In the body of the essay you take each reason in turn, explain the significance of the reason and then show how it supports your thesis –The conclusion is the place for you to provide the reader with the big picture and remind the reader of the significance of your thesis

11. 11 Abstracts Abstracts typically serve five main goals: –Help readers Decide if they should read an entire paper Understand a text by acting as an outline of main points and findings … and researchers remember key findings on a topic –Index articles for quick recovery and cross- referencing –Allow supervisors to review technical work without becoming bogged down in details

12. 12 Abstracts Two main types of abstracts –Descriptive –Informative

13. 13 Abstracts Descriptive abstracts –Outlines the topics that will be covered so the reader can decide whether to read the rest of the paper –Like a table of contents in paragraph form –Descriptive abstracts do NOT Substitute for reading as the do not capture the content of the piece Fulfil the other main goals of abstracts as well as informative abstracts do Hence descriptive abstracts are fairly uncommon in recent papers

14. 14 Abstracts Informative abstracts –Provides detail about the substance of a paper –Readers will sometimes depend on the abstract alone –Typically will have the following structure Identifying information - bibliographic citation or other identification of the document –Concise restatement of the main point Initial problem or other background –Methodology and main results for experimental work –Major conclusions

15. 15 Abstracts Typically, an informative abstract answers these questions in about 100- 250 words: –Why did you do this study or project? –What did you do, and how? –What did you find? –What do your findings mean?

16. 16 Abstracts One method for writing an abstract –Read each paragraph of your paper write one phrase or sentence that describes that paragraph Using Word you could use call out boxes or different fonts –Using your list of main points Look for connections –do these 3 or 5 paragraphs do something similar? –What is it? [Note in longer papers you would use this to identify sections and write your introduction for the section] –When you have 4 or 5 accurate generalizations these would form the basis of a descriptive abstract –If you're writing an informative abstract add key details about your major findings

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18. 18 Abstracts Use key words from the document –Abstract are often "mined" for the words used to index the material –When other writer are looking for work to cite this will be where they make a decision on whether to use your paper Highlight the different points in your abstract in proportion to the emphasis they receive in the body

19. 19 Abstracts Things to avoid in abstracts –Trade names –Acronyms –Abbreviations –Symbols

20. 20 Abstracts Abstracts should not refer to information that is not in the rest of the paper An abstract will usually be read along with the title –Do not repeat or rephrase the title –make it complete enough to stand on its own as it may be read on its own –Should summarize your conclusions as well as your purpose, methods, and main findings

21. 21 Executive Summaries Executive summaries –Provide an overview or preview to an audience who may or may not have time to read the whole report carefully –Explain why you wrote the report –Emphasize your conclusions or recommendation –Include only the essential or most significant information to support those conclusions –Accuracy is essential because decisions will be made based on your summary by people who have not read the original

22. 22 Argumentative Papers After reading a number papers and thinking about how they fit into your essay assignment –It would be very easy to continue to think about each of your sources in isolation –We look at the ideas of each author in turn –Somewhere towards the end we show how they each support our main argument

23. 23 Argumentative Papers True insight frequently comes from –Playing ideas off of each other –Looking at the impact of differing ideas on each other Extending the skills used in writing critical comparison –Helps in developing these insights that lead to excellent essays

24. 24 The Boring Argumentative Papers Summarises the ideas of various authors Readings appear wholly unrelated to each other Lines up the authors accordingly Critical Analysis shown in this type of paper is to say author 1 is square, author 2 is an oval, and author 3 is a triangle.

25. 25 A better paper Improve upon this by comparing facets of one author with another –Examine each author's arguments and main ideas individually –Then note why one author's ideas are more credible or correct

26. 26 A superb paper Think about the central ideas (theses) of each author's arguments Note similarities and differences between them –Compare and contrast Examine and think about –Individual components in an argument –How these components work within the overall SYSTEM used to organise the various elements of an argument Once you begin to establish critical comparisons, it is easier to work your own ideas into the paper

27. 27 Writing Argumentative Papers Use a table or grid –Helps make the comparison of themes clearer to you before you write a paper –Organise your grid around themes and authors HouriganMishkin Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Comparison Point 1 Comparison Point 2 Contrasts

28. 28 Writing Argumentative Papers Once this grid has been constructed –You can begin to construct your argument When thinking about differences and similarities improve the strength of your argument by asking –WHY might these similarities/differences exist? –WHAT do these similarities/differences tell us? 1