Academic Essays

Content

• Introductory Paragraph Techniques - identify four basic techniques for composing the opening statement of your introductory paragraph: the general statement, the rhetorical question, the impact statement, and the anecdote.

Organisation

• The Order of an Essay - putting essay paragraphs in the correct order
• Synthesis - how to combine pros and cons into a paragraph
• Coherence in a Text on Palmistry

Language

• Functions - exercise on definition, comparison and contrast.
• Categorisation
• Cause and Effect - this exercise introduces the vocabulary and grammar needed to describe causes and effects. Includes an exercise.
• Suggesting solutions
• Using precise words

• Steps in Process Writing - an ordering activity
• Explanation of functions in essay titles, and an exercise on which functions to use
• Formal and Informal Sentences - a matching exercise
• Common Errors in Formality in Academic Writing - an exercise in choosing a more formal phrase

• The Common Error Detector  - copy and paste your essay into the box and the Error Detector finds some common problems in academic essay writing and gives you tips how to solve them.
• Scanner - a program that highlights the words in a text that are easy for a reader to find. Use it to improve the organisation and reader-friendliness of your writing.
• Replacing Cliches With More Formal Phrases

Conventions

• Academic Style Guidelines
• Replacing idioms with formal verbs in academic writing
• Referencing

Sample

• Example Academic Essay

Others

• Academic essay writing checklist
• Good point! - site for reading about topics that you can use in essays, discussions, seminars, presentations, and papers.