ACADEMIC WRITING

1. Guidelines on How to
Write an Academic Essay
• Presentation compiled by Dr Minesh Dass
• Department of English (UJ)
• mdass@uj.ac.za
• 011-559-3711
• Some information taken from “How to Write an
Academic Essay” by Martin Műller, which can be found
at the following link:
https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/71740/1/M%C3%BCll
er_How%20to%20write%20an%20essay.pdf

2. What is an Academic Essay?
 It is a concise and focussed piece of writing that is
organised around a central idea (called a Thesis
Statement) or a series of interrelated central
threads of enquiry.
 It is built on evidentiary support.
 It should make an argument, that is to say, it usually
involves using evidentiary support and logical
argument to prove a point of view on a particular
issue.

3. Essay Structure
 Introduction – Body – Conclusion
 First, I tell them what I am going to say Then I say it Then I tell them I said it

4. This structure might seem repetitive but
there is good reason for that:
 Repetition is often a way to emphasise something. In the case of an
essay, you want to emphasise what you are arguing.
 Repetition ensures that your main point (your thesis) has been made
and properly understood.
 This tripartite (three part) structure is a logical way to make an
argument. It ensures that your reader knows what argument you
intend to make and how you intend to make it (information
contained in the Introduction). You then proceed to prove your
thesis through the use of evidence and explanation (the Body), and
conclude by showing what you have done in order to prove your
Thesis Statement (the Conclusion).
 In other words, the form and the content of the essay go hand-in-
hand. You must organise the information in your essay in such a way
that it best proves what you are trying to argue/discuss.

5. Introductions
 Crucial!!!!
 More often than not, a marker can tell a good essay
simply by reading the introduction.
 Has three elements:
 A General Statement
 A Thesis Statement
 A Purpose Statement

6. General Statement
 The purpose of this portion of the Introduction (which can be one
or several sentences long) is to introduce the reader to the
general area of inquiry.
 It is usually short, and it orientates your reader as to the nature
of the ideas you intend to explore in the rest of the essay.
 Things that may be included here: biographical details of the
author or theorist under discussion; a short summary of the text
which you are exploring; historical/cultural/socio-
economic/philosophical orientation to the work to be discussed; a
relevant quotation from a source that is connected to the work
you are about to explore.

7. Thesis Statement
A sentence or two in which you state precisely WHAT your
essay will set out to prove or explore.
The part of your essay that you need to think about and
edit most carefully, because there can be no confusion,
and whoever reads it needs to know exactly what your
essay is about.
Usually, you will start this portion of your Introduction
with something like “This essay will…” followed by what
you will prove or explore.

8. Examples of Theses Statements
 This essay will explore Foucault’s ideas on discourse, power
and desire, and show that Foucault connects human sexuality
to power and discourse in complex ways.
 In this essay, I will argue that Can Themba’s “The Suit” is as
much a story about the political climate in which it is set as
it is a narrative about a marriage in crisis.
 The following essay will discuss the central tenets as well as
the limitations of New Criticism. It will show that while New
Criticism does not consider the context in which literature is
produced in sufficient detail, this theory is nonetheless still
an influential method of analysis in contemporary literary
studies.

9.  What you will notice from the examples I have provided is that
a Thesis Statement cannot be too general/vague. If you are not
making a SPECIFIC argument in the Thesis Statement, you need
to revise your Thesis Statement until it is clearer and more
focussed.
 You’ll also notice that the examples I have provided relate to
essay questions that are often asked in literary studies. This is
crucial: your Thesis Statement MUST relate clearly to the
topic/question that has been asked of you in the
assignment/exam.
 Relevancy is one of the most important factors used by a
marker to determine the quality of an essay. A marker will
always ask, WHY are you telling me this. WHY is it relevant to
the topic which you were given?
 For this reason, the question of relevancy must be central in
your mind as you write and edit your essay.

10. Purpose Statement
 A sentence or two stating HOW you intend to write your essay
and address your topic/thesis.
 It is always best to break your thesis into 3-5 different parts,
and you will write these down in your Purpose Statement.
 The Purpose Statement is a ‘map’ which guides your reader as
s/he reads the essay.
 It cannot be organised haphazardly. You MUST think about the
order in which you wish to relay information. In other words,
you are required to make deliberate decisions about the
sequence in which you will discuss your topic. And these
decisions must be based on what order will be most
persuasive/most effective in proving your Thesis Statement.

11. An Example of a Purpose Statement
 I begin this essay with a consideration of the historical
and philosophical context in which New Criticism arose. I
then argue that this context indicates why it is that New
Criticism focusses so much on the message and form of a
literary text. Finally, this essay concludes by noting some
of the limitations of New Critical practise, while also
arguing for its continued relevance to contemporary
literary studies.
 Notice that this Purpose Statement obliges me to write
the Body of my essay in a particular order. If I were to
deviate from this order in the Body of the essay, my work
would be less coherent and therefore less persuasive.

12. The Logic of My Purpose Statement
 It indicates that I will begin the essay proper with the context, that is, with
some indication of how the theory itself originated and developed.
 Only then will I move on to discuss the central hypothesis and methods of the
theory.
 It makes sense that I can only note the weaknesses/limitations of the theory
once I have explained what the theory is basically about.
 And my last point looks at why the theory is still important despite these
limitations.
 In other words, my essay begins with the history of the theory and ends with
its relevance in the contemporary moment.
 Can you see that this is a deliberate structure which is logical and sensible?
 Finally, remember that your Purpose Statement MUST relate in a clear way to
your Thesis Statement. Don’t raise issues in your Purpose Statement that do
not help you to prove your Thesis Statement. Even if those ideas are
interesting, they are not relevant to your Thesis Statement and therefore to
the topic of the assignment.

13. A word of Warning
 Please note: you should not copy this exact structure for all
essays (indeed, for some essays it might be wholly
inappropriate).
 Rather, determine a logical structure that works for the
argument you are hoping to make.
 In fact, please do not copy verbatim any of the examples
contained in this presentation. Your markers in the Department
of English at UJ want to see evidence of original thought and
work in your essays. Copying the structure or wording of these
examples without giving thought to relevancy does not indicate
that you understand and are grappling with ideas.
 The best essays are always the most original!

14. The Body of the Essay
 Contains paragraphs with evidence to back up your thesis
 Each paragraph should explain ONE idea. Try not to write
very short paragraphs, less than three lines long (often
these are vague and/or lacking in detail), or overly long
paragraphs, more than 15 lines (often such paragraphs are
not focussed in the sense that they are not about one idea).
 As with the Introduction, each paragraph needs a Topic
Sentence, which explains clearly what the paragraph is
about. It is a good idea, although it is not a hard rule, that
you make this the first sentence of the paragraph.
 For each paragraph, explain HOW you arrived at your
conclusions, and WHY these conclusions are relevant to
your thesis.

15. Quoting from Sources
 Explaining HOW usually involves finding evidence in the form of
quotations or paraphrased ideas from others. In both cases, any idea that
is not your own must have an in-text citation to indicate the source of the
idea.
 Note: you cannot simply assume that quotations will ‘speak for
themselves.’ More often than not, the link between a quotation and the
idea you are trying to convey requires careful explanation from you.
 One of the more challenging stylistic aspects of essay writing is how to
integrate quotations into sentences. But, this is an important aspect of
essay writing as incoherency in sentences means that good ideas are
penalised because meaning is not clear. Here are a few rules to help you
integrate quotations:
 Quotations should never be sentences on their own and should never
begin a sentence.
 Furthermore, you should be able to read the sentence as if the quotation
marks were not there, and the sentence should still make perfect
grammatical and conceptual sense.

16. Counter-Arguments
 There is no need to pass over counter-arguments in
silence. Acknowledge them. This can strengthen your
own thesis even more, because you anticipate doubts
and pre-empt objections.
 Weigh alternatives before arguing for one.
 Start your counter-argument with phrases like “one
might object here that...”, “it might seem that...”,
“it's true that...”, “Admittedly,...”. Or with an
anticipated challenging question: “But how...?”, “But
why...?”, “But isn't this just...?”
 Then return to your argument, using phrases such as
but, yet, however, nevertheless or still.

17. Conclusions
 A good conclusion does the following:
 gives the essay a sense of completeness;
 leaves a final impression on the reader;
 closes the discussion without closing it off (no intellectual
debate is ever completely finished no matter how brilliant
the argument put forward);
 establishes a frame by linking back to the Introduction,
particularly the Thesis Statement;
 does NOT repeat (but summarises) the arguments from the
body of the essay.

18. A Few Final Tips
 Nobody can write a good essay in a single shot. Having written a
first version: revise! Check the following:
 whether the essay body supports the thesis;
 whether there are any obsolete elements;
 whether the three parts of the essay are a coherent whole.
 DO NOT use trivial arguments that are common knowledge or
belabour the obvious. This is an academic essay and as such requires
careful analysis of evidence.
 DO NOT use sweeping generalisations. Why? Because no
generalisation can be unequivocally proven. In other words, they
make claims that cannot be backed up with evidence.
 Also, do not use the same word over and over again. And do not
employ the same sentence structure repeatedly. Vary your syntax
and diction for the benefit of your reader. Variety of expression and
style is a sign of a strong writer.

19. One Final Remark
 If you are writing an academic essay, you are an
academic, you are a scholar. That means you have
the chance to develop new knowledge, contribute
to how people think and behave, and be part of
great and meaningful debates. Use this
opportunity. You are capable of extraordinary
things. Astonish your reader!