Academic Writing Demystifying academic argumentation

Thesis  Subject  Opinion- You must have one or you don’t have a paper  Plan/because- you intend to prove your opinion is worthy/valid

“They say”  A writer must indicate clearly NOT ONLY his thesis ( Subject-Opinion-Plan) but also what larger discourse the thesis is responding to.  The so what?  In order to keep the reader engaged you MUST explain what you are responding to VERY EARLY in your paper.  The abstract will help, but you must explain in the first several paragraphs.

They say  Start with “what others are saying” and then introduce your own ideas as a response.  Summarize what “they say” as soon as you can  Also, Remind readers at strategic points in your paper.

“They say”  Many ways to introduce topic  Illustrative quotation  Revealing fact or statistic  Relevant anecdote  Remember it MUST lead directly to your thesis- don’t take too long to get to the relevancy

They say  Examples  A number of scientists have recently suggested..  It has become common today to…  In their recent work….

Standard views  Americans today often believes that…..  Conventional wisdom has it that…  Common sense dictates that…  It is often said that…  My whole life I have believed that…  Many people assume that….

 Something implied or assumed  One implication of X is that…  Although X does not say so directly, he apparently assumes that…  While admittedly X is___, one often takes for granted that….  For ongoing debates  On the one hand,_____ argues_____ On the other hand,____contends ____. Others even maintain____. My own view is _____.

“They say”  After summarizing your ideas it is MOST important to continue to keep those views in view.  Readers will not be able to follow your unfolding response, much less any complications you may offer, UNLESS you keep reminding them what claims you are responding to.  Keep returning to the motivating “they say”  The longer & more complicated your paper, the greater the chance that readers will forget what ideas originally motivate it. They get lost.

“They say”  As suggested earlier, defenders of _____ can't have it both ways. Their assertion that_____ is contradicted by their claim that_______.  Use these types of sentence at every opportunity to remind the reader and to ensure that you paper maintains a sense of mission and urgency.

“Her point is”- The art of summarizing  Writers tend to either write too much or write too little.  A good summary requires balance  Using references while emphasizing those aspects that are pertinent/important to your argument

“Her point is”- The art of summarizing  Do not fall prey to tired clichés, sarcasm, utter disbelief or blind obedience to sources.  Handle reference with material /sources with respect and understanding

“Her point is”- The art of summarizing  A good summary has a focus or spin that fits with your overall agenda/thesis

“Her point is”- The art of summarizing  When recounting facts etc.  DO NOT write “list summaries  The author says many different things about his subject. First he says...Then he says….. In addition, he says….. And then he writes….. Also….  BORING and pedestrian  Do so in a way that fits your own compositions larger agenda

Verbs for Introducing summaries & quotations  Get handout

Integrating Quotations  Choose quotations wisely  Follow APA OR MLA format ( each is different) for appropriate signal phrases.  Given the evolving & messy nature of writing, you may sometimes think you have found the perfect quote, only to discover that as your essay develops it no longer fits.

Integrating Quotations  The quotation must build a bridge between the author and your paper.  In other words, X argues that…  In making this comment, X argues that….  X is insisting that…  X’s point is  The essence of X is that….

Integrating Quotations  Do NOT over explain a quotation  However, it is better to over explain than to leave the reader asking why you stuck it in there.  NEVER write “ A quote that explains X is….”

How to write an abstract  An abstract is a short summary of your completed research. If done well, it makes the reader want to learn more about your research.

How to write an abstract  These are the basic components of an abstract in any discipline:  1) Motivation/problem statement:  Why do we care about the problem? What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling?  2) Methods/procedure/approach:  What did you actually do to get your results? (e.g. analyzed 3 novels, completed a series of 5 oil paintings, interviewed 17 students)  3) Results/findings/product:  As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you learn/invent/create?  4) Conclusion/implications:  What are the larger implications of your findings, especially for the problem/gap identified in step 1?

How to write an abstract  Get rid of "weasel-words" such as "might", "could", "may", and "seem”

Checklist: parts of an abstract  Despite the fact that an abstract is quite brief, it must do almost as much work as the multi-page paper that follows it. In a computer architecture paper, this means that it should in most cases include the following sections. Each section is typically a single sentence, although there is room for creativity. In particular, the parts may be merged or spread among a set of sentences. Use the following as a checklist for your next abstract:  Motivation: Why do we care about the problem and the results? If the problem isn't obviously "interesting" it might be better to put motivation first; but if your work is incremental progress on a problem that is widely recognized as important, then it is probably better to put the problem statement first to indicate which piece of the larger problem you are breaking off to work on. This section should include the importance of your work, the difficulty of the area, and the impact it might have if successful.

Problem statement:  What problem are you trying to solve? What is the scope of your work (a generalized approach, or for a specific situation)? Be careful not to use too much jargon. In some cases it is appropriate to put the problem statement before the motivation, but usually this only works if most readers already understand why the problem is important.  Approach: How did you go about solving or making progress on the problem? Did you use simulation, analytic models, prototype construction, or analysis of field data for an actual product? What was the extent of your work (did you look at one application program or a hundred programs in twenty different programming languages?) What important variables did you control, ignore, or measure?

 Results: What's the answer?  Specifically, most good computer architecture papers conclude that something is so many percent faster, cheaper, smaller, or otherwise better than something else. Put the result there, in numbers.  Avoid vague, hand-waving results such as "very", "small", or "significant." If you must be vague, you are only given license to do so when you can talk about orders-of-magnitude improvement. There is a tension here in that you should not provide numbers that can be easily misinterpreted, but on the other hand you don't have room for all the caveats.  Conclusions: What are the implications of your answer?  Is it going to change the world (unlikely), be a significant "win", be a nice hack, or simply serve as a road sign indicating that this path is a waste of time (all of the previous results are useful). Are your results general, potentially generalizable, or specific to a particular case?