Writing an Academic Essay

Writing an Academic Essay – By Daniel Tarker

The Purpose and Process of Academic Writing

Some Parameters

• We will not exhaust every aspect of academic writing
• We will focus on the overall process of writing an academic paper
• We will not focus on rules
• We will instead focus on strategies

What Is The Purpose of the Academic Essay?

The word “essay” is derived from the Latin verb “exigere”, which means to:

• Examine
• Test
• Drive out
• Given this definition, what could the purpose of an essay be?

Other Purposes

• Discover knowledge
• Make a point
• Persuade the reader
• Share information
• Synthesize Information
• Analyze a topic
• Document your observations
• All of the above

Think of Writing as a Step-by-Step Process

• Read and Research
• Brainstorm Ideas
• Develop a Working Thesis and Outline
• Write a Rough Draft
• Review for Content
• Revise Rough Draft
• Review for Grammar and Mechanics
• Revise Second Draft
• Continue Reviewing and Revising as Needed