This document provides guidance on academic writing for students pursuing studies in the United States. It outlines the application process, which includes essays, letters of recommendation, academic transcripts, exam scores, and financial documents. It then discusses key aspects of academic writing such as structure, evidence, style and tone. The document provides tips for different types of academic writing as well as a step-by-step writing process involving pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing. It also covers developing a thesis, creating an outline, incorporating content into body paragraphs, and concluding effectively. Overall, the document offers a comprehensive overview of best practices for academic writing skills necessary for international students applying to U.S. universities.

2. EducationUSA can help you every step along the way.
5 Steps to U.S. Study
1.Research Your Options
2.Finance Your Studies
3.Complete Your Application
4.Apply for Your Student Visa
5.Prepare for Your Departure

3. Every little piece counts. And every university is different.
The “Application Package” for the U.S.
• Application Fee and Form – Your answers to questions and lists.
• Statement of Purpose and other Essays
• 2-3 Recommendation Letters
• Official Academic Records/Transcripts
• Exams (SAT/ACT, GRE, GMAT) Scores sent from testing agency.
• TOEFL iBT (or IELTS) Results sent from testing agency.
• Writing Samples, Research Papers, Portfolio, Other
• Curriculum Vitae or Resume
• Financial Aid Form and Documents as Proof
• Interview

4. What is Academic Writing?
Academic writing is clear, concise, focused, structured and
backed up by evidence. Is a formal style of writing used in
universities and scholarly publications.
Planned and focused: answers the question and
demonstrates an understanding of the subject.
Structured: is coherent, written in a logical order, and brings
together related points and material.
Evidenced: demonstrates knowledge of the subject area,
supports opinions and arguments with evidence, and is
referenced accurately.
Formal in tone and style uses appropriate language and
tenses, and is clear, concise and balanced.

5. Types of Academic Writing
• Essay
• Research Paper
• Thesis/ Dissertation
• Research Proposal
• Literature Review
• Annotated Bibliography
• Lab Report

6. Writing: a Step-by-Step Process
Pre-writing
• Read Example Writing in Your Field
• Brainstorm Ideas and Research Your Topic
• Develop Thesis and Outline
Revision
• Write Rough Draft (least time-consuming) Don’t revise!
• Review for Content
• Revise Rough Draft
Editing
• Review for Grammar, Spelling and Mechanics
• Revise Second Draft
• Continue Reviewing and Editing as Needed

7. Critical reading (and how it benefits
your writing)
• Helps you determine what is and what is not a robust
piece of research and writing in your field
• Helps you identify where existing research has left a gap
that your work could fill
• Attention you pay to writing of others helps you become
more self-aware of your own written work:
– Sufficient evidence to back up claims;
argumentation/reasoning; becoming alert to your
assumptions and how they affect your claims
» Wallace and Wray, 2006

8. Critical reading? Some
possible approaches
• Make notes/mind map/ use highlighter
• Write a summary in your own words
• Write a brief critical response
• Keep note of bibliographic details

9. Beware of Logical Fallacies
• Ad Hominem Fallacy
• False Dilemma (Either or)
• Slippery Slope
• Hasty Generalization
• Causal Fallacy
• Appeal to Authority

10. THESIS: What’s your point?
• A thesis comes at the end of the introduction
paragraph.
• It lets the reader know exactly what overall point you are
trying to make.
• It should be specific, not general.
• It is not fixed; it can and should evolve as your ideas
evolve during the writing process.
• What you present in the paper should not deviate from
what you promise in the thesis.

11. THESIS: Why are you writing?
Determine what kind of paper you are writing:
• An analytical paper breaks down an issue or idea into its
component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents
this breakdown and evaluation clearly to the reader.
• An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and
justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be
an opinion, a policy proposal or solution, a cause-and-effect
statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative
paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true or best
based on the evidence provided.

12. Analytical Thesis Example
An analysis of the college admission process
reveals one challenge facing counselors:
accepting students with high test scores or strong
extracurricular backgrounds.
The paper that follows should:
 Analyze the college admission process.
 Explain this challenge facing admissions counselors.

13. Argumentative Thesis Example
High school graduates should be required to
take a year off to pursue community service
projects before entering college in order to
increase their maturity and global awareness.
The paper that follows should:
• Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students
should pursue community projects before entering college.

14. Why Create an Outline?
• Once you establish a thesis, use it to help you develop
an outline of the paper.
• An outline will:
– Help you organize your ideas.
– Keep you focused.
– Save time.
• Keep in mind there are several ways to approach writing
an outline.

15. Outline
Example
 Introduction with Thesis
 Main Point #1
 Supporting Point
 Detail
 Detail
 Supporting Point
 Detail
 Detail
 Main Point #2
 Supporting Point
 Detail
 Detail
 Supporting Point
 Detail
 Detail
 Main Point #3
 Supporting Point
 Detail
 Detail
 Supporting Point
 Detail
 Detail
 Conclusion

16. Only after you have a thesis and
outline should you begin writing
your Rough Draft.

17. Content

18. Introductions

19. Introductions Are Critical
The purpose of the introduction paragraph is to:
– Attract the reader.
– Contextualize your argument or topic.
– Provide necessary background
information about the topic.

20. Strategies to Attract the Reader
Ask a question
Tell a story
Use a quote
Provide interesting statistics

21. Give Context in the Introduction
What does the reader need to know to understand this
paper?
– Historical background
– Issues relating to the topic
– Important authors and texts you will be referring to
– Cultural issues
– Why this topic is important or relevant

22. Body Paragraphs

23. Start Each Body Paragraph with Clear
Topic Sentences
A topic sentence:
• Comes at the beginning of a paragraph
• Presents the most important point you want to
make in that paragraph
• Is specific (or not so broad it would require a full
essay to explore)

24. Compelling Supporting Points
You must support the claim you made in the topic sentence of this
body paragraph with...
– Facts and Examples
– Anecdotes (Stories)
– Expert Testimony
– Quotes
– Observations
– Statistics

25. Elaborate with Concrete Details
Once you have listed your supporting points, you can now
elaborate on them by adding details or explaining what you mean
further.

26. Use Transitions to Direct the Reader
Transitional words or phrases bridge ideas so the
reader does not get confused.
• First
• Second
• In addition
• Nevertheless
• In contrast
• Furthermore
• Therefore
• Etc.

27. Use Transitions to Direct the Reader

28. Conclusion

29. Strategies for a Conclusion
• Re-state your thesis statement in a different way
• Make a strong closing comment
• Wrap up the paper with a neat tie
• Add recommendations or predictions

30. Mechanics

31. Punctuation is Important!
Comma ,
Colon : and Semi-colon ;
Period .
Dash – and Slash /
Parenthesis ( ) and Brackets [ ]
Question mark ? and Exclamation mark !
Quotation marks “ ”

33. Remember that the essay should be all your
own work, and not plagiarized
The Copy-Catch System checks each
statement against a vast library
to find similarities.
It simply is not worth trying to
copy any part of your essay!

34. Citation
Examples of Citing
• The hip bone is confirmed to be connected to
the thigh bone (Funny Bones, 1989).
• The cytoskeletal network acts like the strong
bars within a scaffolding (Alberts et al., 1998)
• Slavic-Smith (2006) postulated three
classifications for nucleoli in neurons
• It was shown in 2006 by Take That, that a
successful comeback tour was possible [1].

35. Writing for Academia

36.  Don't (do not!) use contractions (e.g. it's, he'll, it'd etc): always use the full
form (it is/has, he will, it would/had).
 Don't use colloquial language or slang (e.g. kid, a lot of/lots of, cool)
 Always write as concisely as you can, with no irrelevant material.
Generally, avoid "phrasal verbs" (e.g., get off, get away with, put in etc):
instead, use one-word equivalents.
 Avoid common but vague words and phrases such as get, nice, thing. Your
writing needs to be more precise.
 Avoid overuse of brackets; don’t use exclamation marks or dashes; avoid
direct questions; don’t use “etc.”
Academic Conventions: Things to Avoid

37. • Do cite your sources.
• Do use a formal tone.
• Do take a stand.
• Do use concrete details.
• Do give yourself time to develop your paper.
Academic Conventions: Things to Do

38. Build Your Vocabulary

39. Thesaurus.com

40. Remember, Writing is a Process
• Every writing assignment is practice for the next one.
• Writing takes time.
• Go through every step of the process.
• Focus on your ideas first.
• Focus on grammar and spelling last.
• Get feedback from a peer, instructor, or tutor.

41. Take your research seriously. You have many free tools to help.
Search Tools and Resources
Global network of centers and thorough
website/app.
EDUCATIONUSA
Amideast Egypt
Information on testing, test prep, and fields
of study.
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Unofficial rankings for graduate programs
in the United States.
PETERSONS
Fantastic tools and resources for graduate
study, incl. GRE.
CHEA
Database of accredited American education
institutions.
NACES
Information on credential evaluation.
NUMBEO, FOREIGN CREDITS, ETC.
Cost of Living comparison, GPA calculator, and more.

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Academic Writing