Guide to write an academic paper

1. HOWTO WRITE AN ACADEMIC PAPER

2. Topic
• Understanding of the task at hand good
planning
• Do research on the topic.
• Consult different sources to have different
points of view on the same topic.
• Decide your position in relation to the topic.

3. Topic: Ideas
• Brainstorm your ideas.
• Support your ideas with:
– Evidence
– Facts
– Examples
– Statictics

4. Organization
• Organize yourself
– Kind of paper you are going to write (genre):
• Article
• Dissertations and proposals.
• Essay
• Report
• Research papers

5. Organization
– Audience of your paper:
• Place of birth.
• Background.
• Level of education.
• Ideology.
• Age.
• Familiarization with the topic.
• Likely position in relation to the topic.

6. Organization
– Goal of your paper:
• Analize
• Compare
• Argue
• Persuade
• Contrast
• Narrate or describe
• Define
• To show cause and effect

7. Organization of the paper
• Title:
– Noun phrase related to the thesis statement
• Introduction:
– Includes the thesis statement
• Body:
– Supports the thesis statement
• Conclusion:
– Re-states the thesis statement

8. Title of your paper
• It should be a noun phrase.
• It has to be connected to the thesis statement
• It should be:
– Intriguing
– Interesting

9. Organization of the introduction
• The first paragraph is called introduction and
it introduces the topic to be developed on
your paper.
• Topic sentence: outlines the main point.
• Body: gives brief background to the topic.
• Thesis statement: states the thesis that is
going to be supported throughout the paper.

10. Organization of the body
• The body is composed of –at least- two paragraphs in
which you support your thesis statement with facts,
examples, statistics and evidence.
• Topic sentence: It states the topic you are going to
write about in the paragraph. It has to state something
important about the topic.
• Body: It has to explain the idea stated in the topic
sentence and show evidence that supports the
explanations. You need supporting arguments for your
topic sentence. You should place the strongest
argument first.
• Closing sentence: It has two functions; to remind the
audience of the topic sentence by re-stating it and to
make them think more about the topic.

11. Kinds of paragraphs
• You can use different kinds of paragraphs
depending on what you want to focus on the
readers’ attention:
• Paragraph by listing.
• Paragraph by example.
• Paragraph by comparison.
• Paragraph by contrast.

12. Organization of your conclusion
• The last paragraph of your paper is the
conclusion, and as the names indicates it, it
sums up the body paragraphs or re-state the
thesis statement.
• It ends with an advice, a question or a call for
action.

13. Revise
• When you finish writing your first draft, you
should check:
– General layout
– Text organization
– Coherence
– Cohesion
– Referencing
– Style

14. Vocabulary
• For academic papers, you should use academic
vocabulary. To fulfill this purpose, it is better to
use:
– Key adjectives
– Key adverbs
– Key nouns
– Key verbs
– Conjunctions and Linkers
• You should also try to avoid repetition when
possible.

15. Edit
• Now, it is time to check the paper for its
accuracy:
– Grammar.
– Spelling.
– Punctuation.
– Capitalization.

16. Cite sources
• Once you get to this stage, your paper is
almost ready. Now, you need to cite all the
sources you have used to write your paper.
• APA citation style is the most used convention
of rules to cite properly.
• Click HERE to know how to cite different
sources.

17. References
• Academic Writing Tutorial: Common Types Of Papers (n.d). NorthBendLibrary. Retrieved from:
http://www.northbendlibrary.com/the-difference-between-different-types-of-academic-writing.php
Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• APA citation style (2011). Cornell University Library. Retrieved from:
https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation/apa. Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• APA citation style (n.d). Essay Info Writing Guides. Retrieved from:
http://essayinfo.com/citations/apa.php. Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid) (2009, May 19). Parts of a paragraph – English Academic
Writing Introduction [Video file]. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cCuExRE6N-4. Accessed on: October
25, 2015.
• Gould, Steve (2011, January 4). 1.02 How to write a report. Retrieved from:
http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.02%20Reports.htm. Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• Imhoof, M. & Hudson, H. (1975, November 17). From Paragraph to Essay. Longman.
• MC Carthy, M. & O’dell, F. (2008).Academic Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge University Press.
• Roane State Community College. (1995, June 5). OWL. Retrieved
from:HTTP://WWW.ROANESTATE.EDU/OWL/. Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• Sanchez Terrell, Shelly (2015, July 15). 30 goals Conference Keynote: Rosmery Ribera Ferrier. Retrieved
from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDBuSUXWIEU. Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• The writing process – editing (n.d). A guide to learn English. Retrieved from:
http://esl.fis.edu/learners/advice/wp-edit.htm. Accessed on: October 25, 2015.
• University of Toronto. (n.d). Writing. Retrieved from: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/ . Accessed on:
October 25, 2015.