Introduction to Academic English

Lecture 2: Introduction to Academic Essays

Introduction to Academic Essays

Orientation Task

In a pair or small group, share any advice and teaching that you have received about writing essays. Get
ready to share your ideas with the class, e.g. “I was told to write a sentence in between two paragraphs to
show how they link together,” or “I was told to end a paragraph with a concluding sentence.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Some of the previous advice and teaching you received about essay writing may not apply to academic
essays because they are different to many school essays. For example, academic essays do NOT use
transition sentences to link paragraphs. Instead, the link is included in the first sentence of the paragraph,
called the topic sentence. This lesson aims to help you understand some differences by studying an example
essay, so you can understand how to be successful at academic essay writing.

Differences Between School and Academic Essays

Task 1

Compare these two texts. The ideas come from Lecture 6 self-direct study about the power of groups of
people such as LGBTQ+, Black Lives Matter, feminists and others. The use of this power to change society
is called identity politics. Talk to your neighbour and make a list of the differences between texts A and B.
Which one is suitable for college? Why?

(A)
It is beyond doubt that the effects of identity politics
are bad, and in my opinion, there are two ways to
solve the problems Firstly, everyone must listen to
other people and respect their opinions. We all have
the right to say what we think. And if you hear a bad
opinion, you must be easy going. Do you want people
to attack you because you disagree? So we must be
willing to forgive, and not try to get revenge, because
“an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”. It is
difficult to forgive, and everyone knows that
corporations are bad, but we must not pressure
corporations to take revenge on their employees so the
corporation can look good.
(B)
The effects of identity politics are both positive and
negative so two solutions have been suggested to
reduce the problems. The first is for individuals to be
forgiving and tolerant of opposing opinions, which is
explained by Fouriea et al. (2020) and exemplified by
the celebrities who signed an open letter to Harper’s
Magazine (2020). However, this might not be
successful because it expects individuals to forgive and
forget, while identity politics encourages groups to
remember and blame. In addition, corporations risk
greater public anger if they resist identity politics by
forgiving staff instead of ending careers. Therefore,
this solution requires substantial change.

1
 Introduction to Academic English
Lecture 2: Introduction to Academic Essays

School essays encourage you to form and express opinions, so they are often personal, subjective, and use
tools of rhetoric, i.e. how to argue. However, academic essays encourage you to use the knowledge of
experts, not your own opinions, and they are often impersonal, objective, and rely on evidence to persuade.
You have to find this evidence by reading high-level articles, such as those in academic journals. Learning
how to write academic essays is the aim of this course and the next, EAP1.

Task 2

a) Look at text A again. The expressions that are not suitable for college have been underlined. What is
the problem with each one? Talk to your group and share your ideas. Do not look at the answers below
- cover them up - you will improve more if you first think of your own ideas and share them.

1) It is beyond doubt that the effects of identity politics are 2) bad, and 3) in my opinion,
there are two ways to solve the problems. Firstly, 4) everyone 5) must listen to other
people and respect their opinions. 6) We all have the right to say what we think. 7) And if
8) you hear a 2) bad opinion, 8) you 5) must be easy going. 9) Do you want people to
attack you because you disagree? So 8) we 5) must be willing to forgive, and not try to get
revenge, because 10) “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”. It is difficult to
forgive, and 4) everyone knows that corporations are 2) bad, but 8) we 5) must not
pressure corporations to take revenge on their employees so the corporation can look

b) After you have shared your own ideas, look at the basic categories of problems and match the underlined
problems in the text above with the categories below.

Using an opinion like it is a fact
Strong opinion or exaggeration
Vague opinion or lack of detail
Personal opinion
Rhetoric/questions instead of evidence
A stolen idea (the source is not referenced)
Generalisation instead of accuracy
Assumption instead of facts/evidence
Informal language (college essays are formal)
Personal language instead of impersonal

To solve these problems, the text must be re-written. Text B is an example of one way to rewrite it

2
 Introduction to Academic English
Lecture 2: Introduction to Academic Essays

Expert knowledge and evidence

Task 3

a) College essays rely on evidence and the knowledge of experts. Look at text B again, this time as a
whole paragraph below. Can you identify what the ideas or points in the text are? What evidence is
used to support these points? Does the writer explain the point/evidence? Circle or highlight the
points and underline the evidence. What do you notice about the sentences that contain evidence?

The effects of identity politics are both positive and negative so two solutions have been suggested to
reduce the problems. The first is for individuals to be forgiving and tolerant of opposing opinions, which
is explained by Fouriea et al. (2020) and exemplified by the celebrities who signed an open letter to
Harper’s Magazine (2020). However, this might not be successful because it expects individuals to
forgive and forget, while identity politics encourages groups to remember and blame. In addition,
corporations risk greater public anger if they resist identity politics by forgiving staff instead of ending
careers. Therefore, this solution requires substantial change. A second solution is to censor social media
to limit the conflict. Henry (2020) notes that censorship happens even though it is problematic for free
speech. For example, users allege that Twitter censors some tweets and reduces visible numbers of likes
and shares to control what is trending. This supports identity politics to please politically correct
stakeholders, but does not reduce the conflicts. Consequently, social media censorship has caused
complaint letters (Durden, 2020), and shifts to uncensored platforms, such as Parler (Jones, 2020). Thus
far, censorship does not seem to have reduced the problems.

b) Look at how the words from the text are used in the article above. Match each word to its definition
on the right, and a similar word on the left. Use the text above to help you guess the correct answer.
Guessing like this is called inferring meaning. The first word has been done.

Similar word Words from the text Meaning

Illustrated Forgiving Allow disagreeable opinions or behaviour
Persons Tolerant Well-known or famous people
Open-minded Exemplified No longer feel angry or wish to punish
Pardon Celebrities People who are not the same as each other
Stars Individuals Illustrate or clarify by giving an example
Safe (ideas/words) Resist A serious disagreement or fight
Counter Conflict People with an interest or concern in something
Troublesome Problematic Being a difficulty or issue
Argument Censorship Stand against an action or effect to stop it
Suppression Politically correct Avoiding ideas and language that may
be offensive or cause trouble
Involved people Stakeholders Removing or prohibiting language, ideas or media

3
 Introduction to Academic English
Lecture 2: Introduction to Academic Essays

Task 4

Reflect and discuss. College essays rely on expert ideas and evidence, so:
• Where will you find this information?
• How long will it take to read and understand it?
• What difficulties will you experience?
• What is your main concern about writing a college essay?

Many of you will have similar concerns. Share your ideas and get ready to share them with the class.

Self-directed e-learning

Read the essay “L2 Sample Essay 1 Speed of Light” and complete the comprehension quiz on the college’s e-
learning platform, SOUL.