A VISUAL GUIDE TO ESSAY WRITING - Welcome to AALL

A VISUAL GUIDE TO ESSAY WRITING

Dr Valli Rao, Associate Professor Kate Chanock, and Dr Lakshmi Krishnan use a visual approach to walk students through the most important processes in essay writing for university: formulating, refining, and expressing academic argument.

`MetamorTHESIS`

Your main argument or thesis is your position in answer to the essay question. It changes and develops as you undertake your reading and research towards the essay.

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argument

Valli Rao Kate Chanock Lakshmi Krishnan

"I love the way the authors explain what an argument is. I also love the way they justify holding opinions in an academic context ... A Visual Guide to Essay Writing shows you excellently how to communicate with your marker by employing your `authorial voice'."

- Dr Alastair Greig Head, School of Social Sciences The Australian National University

"This is a great book ... clear, useful, beautifully conceived and produced ... an intriguing approach, one that will make sense to students and really assist their essay writing skills."

- Brigid Ballard & John Clanchy authors of the international best-seller Essay writing for students: a practical guide

How effective structure supports reasoned argument in essays1

Discipline/field Topic

Underlying question

I N T R Roughly, O 10?15% D of essay U length C T I O N

Roughly, B 80% of O essay D length Y

C O N Roughly, C 5?10% L of essay U length S I O N

Introduce discipline/field/context and topic

Why is this topic interesting from the perspective of the discipline/field? [also consider how interested you are in the topic]

Focus

As necessary, indicate relevant debate, previous research, problem, definitions, scope in time & place, etc

Signpost structure of argument

Tell the reader the sequence of your sections/ issues in the body of your essay

Indicate thesis statement (your main line of argument)

Indicate your answer to the underlying question

Section: context/ theory

paragraph paragraph

T h e Background s i s

Section:

s

1st issue

u

p

paragraph

p

paragraph

o

r

t

Section:

e

2nd issue

d

paragraph

b

paragraph

y

Analyse/ evaluate

Analyse/ evaluate

e

Section:

v

3rd issue

i

d

paragraph

e

paragraph

n

c

e

Analyse/ evaluate

Paragraph structure

1 paragraph = 1 main idea = 100/150/200 words

Topic sentence (the main idea in the paragraph; feeds into

section/issue)

Supporting sentences (evidence, examples)

Concluding/linking sentence

Draw together your findings/analysis from each section of your argument

State your conclusion/evaluation/researched thesis, based on your findings

Consider the implications of your evaluation for the debate/problem in your discipline/field

1 Read the assessment task carefully because a topic or discipline often requires a different structure. And always remember the golden `creativity rule' -- all rules are meant to be broken, it's just that you first need to know them!

Valli Rao's doctorate, in English literature, compared biblical archetypes in the works of William Blake and Bernard Shaw. She has researched in the British Library, taught literature at Flinders and Adelaide Universities, and has two daughters. She is now an adviser with the Academic Skills & Learning Centre at the Australian National University. Valli enjoys theatre, birdwatching and yoga. Her contact email is valli.rao@anu.edu.au.

Kate Chanock studied anthropology for her B.A., followed by a PhD in African history, training in TESL, and a Dip. Ed. She has taught in a high school in Tanzania, a gaol in Texas, and with the Home Tutors Scheme in Melbourne. In 1987, Kate joined the Humanities Academic Skills Unit at La Trobe, where she is now Associate Professor. She has four daughters and two granddaughters (and another on the way). She can be contacted at c.chanock@latrobe.edu.au.

Lakshmi Krishnan is Head of the English Department at St Thomas College, Bhilai, in central India. Her doctorate was on the significance of the `feminine gaze' in Anita Desai's novels. Lakshmi's passions include teaching, singing, helping stray animals, crosswords -- and sketching, as you can see from the many illustrations she has done for this book.

Published by Association for Academic Language & Learning (AALL), Sydney

Printed by University Printing Services, The Australian National University (ANU), Canberra

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Rao, Valli, 1947 - . A visual guide to essay writing: how to develop and communicate academic argument

ISBN 9780980429701 (paperback) ISBN 9780980429718 (ebook)

1. Dissertations, Academic 2. Academic writing 3.Authorship 4. Written communication I. Chanock, Kate, 1949 - . II. Krishnan, Lakshmi, 1950 - . III. Title 808.02

Paperback: A$9.95 (inclusive of GST) Ebook: free

? 2007 Valli Rao, Kate Chanock, Lakshmi Krishnan

This work is copyright. Except under the conditions permitted in the Copyright Act 1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the authors (contact valli.rao@anu.edu.au or c.chanock@latrobe.edu.au).

This book is available free as an ebook, on the internet.

Log into any of the following websites and look for links to the book.

Association for Academic Language & Learning (AALL):

Academic Skills & Learning Centre (ASLC), The Australian National University (ANU):

Humanities Academic Skills Unit, La Trobe University:

People with dyslexia often have strengths in visual thinking. If you have dyslexia, or are working with a student with dyslexia, we hope you find this book useful. In order to avoid `white paper glare' we have printed the paperback on recycled cream-colour paper. The online version has been made compatible for use with text-to-speech programs that can read aloud the text.

Contents

1. Introduction: visual thinking to work out ideas............ 7

2. Planning in time............................................. 10 2.1 Planning your semester's work in a course................................ 10 2.2 Clarifying the big picture.............................................................. 14 2.3 The multi-layered timetable......................................................... 15 2.4 Implementing your intentions....................................................... 18

3. Before you start: recognising academic argument and its importance........................................ 19 3.1 Weighing up the role of argument.............................................. 19 3.2 What do lecturers mean by `argument'? ................................... 20

4. Topic analysis: predicting argument...................... 23 4.1 Relevance to the topic.................................................................... 23 4.2 Where's the focus?......................................................................... 24 4.3 Analysing a given topic................................................................... 24 4.4 Making up your own topic and then tackling it......................... 30

5. Reading and research: developing argument............. 32 5.1 Ensuring a focused thesis statement......................................... 32 5.2 Stages of thesis-building.............................................................. 34 5.3 Searching for sources.................................................................... 39 5.4 Reading efficiently.......................................................................... 42 5.5 Taking notes from reading............................................................ 44 5.6 Acknowledging sources .................................................................. 46 5.7 Writing an annotated bibliography.............................................. 48 5.8 Critical reviews................................................................................ 50

6. Structure: communicating argument...................... 51 6.1 The anthropomorphic (`human-shaped') outline........................ 51 6.2 The introduction.............................................................................. 53 6.3 Paragraphing..................................................................................... 58 6.4 Structuring a compare?contrast essay...................................... 60

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