2. Organization
Bold Beginnings, Mighty Middles, Excellent Endings
2.1 Thesis Statement
This chapter describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can refine one for your draft. Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion to convince others with your point of view on the subject you are studying. In research paper, you are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you write your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it is usually regarded as a summary of the argument you'll make in the rest of your paper.
A thesis statement tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will convince the reader of the logic of your point of view. A thesis is also an interpretation of a question or subject, so it must claim your argument that others might dispute. Your goal is to persuade your reader, with supporting evidence found during your research, that your thesis is valid.
Bad example: There are various types of Level-Of-Detail (LOD) algorithm on the geometry rendering.
(True, but this is common knowledge and imprecise. How many algorithms? Are they all the same? Most of all, it doesn't include your view on the topic)
Good example: With the advancement of GPU performance, various types of LOD algorithm, previously used for the purpose of improving geometry rendering performance, have become unnecessary.
(Focused, worth arguing and demonstrating, contains your opinion)
2.2 Topic sentences
Every paragraph should include a topic sentence that identifies the main idea of the paragraph. Although topic sentence may appear anywhere in a paragraph, in academic essays they often appear at the beginning. The topic sentence must be general enough to express the overall subject of a paragraph, but it must be specific enough to provide a claim or an insight related to the thesis. Followings are some advice for writing a successful topic sentence.
- State your main idea clearly: It must include your point of
- Balance the topic sentence between specifics and general ideas: Write general enough to relate to the broader idea of an essay, but not so narrow that there's nothing left to discuss.
- Hook your reader: One of the many important roles of a topic sentence is to draw the readers in.
- Keep it short and sweet: The topic sentence should put forward your intention without forcing your reader to hunt it down; keeping it short will help keep your intention clear.
- Give a reasonable opinion: Your topic sentence should state something that you think or believe that can be supported by concrete evidence.
- Use the topic sentence as a transition: Topic sentences that also work as transitions can help guide your readers through your argument, which can keep them from getting lost. Think of this sentence as a “bridge” between the main idea of the previous paragraph and the main idea of this next paragraph.
2.3 Academic writing style.
The most important thing is to keep your writing clear and concise and make sure that you get your ideas over in a comprehensible form. A wide range of vocabulary is of course important, but you must use the right word, and shorter ones are often better than longer ones. The most important thing to remember is generally to try to avoid everyday, informal language, especially colloquial expressions and slang. Also, spoken language is naturally full of hesitations, repetitions, grammatical errors and unfinished ideas. In your writing, however, structure is much more important: sentences should be complete and ideas arranged into paragraphs or sections, and you should aim for perfection in your grammar and spelling. However, especially if English is not your first language, don't become too obsessed with this, to the point perhaps of copying word for word from your sources. What’s important is that you clearly show your understanding of the subject and your ability to manipulate information to answer a specific question or complete a specific task, and as long as any grammar errors you make don’t impede this, then it shouldn’t be a problem.
Here are a few general points to remember when you are writing your paper. As well as using appropriate language and aiming for 100% accuracy in your grammar and vocabulary, you should also remember that you're writing for someone else, and hence the importance of punctuation, sentences, paragraphs and overall structure, all of which help the reader.
2.3.1 Avoid some aspects of informal English
- Don't use contractions (e.g. it's, he'll, it'd etc): always use the full form (it is/has, he will, it would/had).
- Don't use colloquial language or slang (e.g. kid, a lot of/lots of, cool)
- Always write as concisely as you can, with no irrelevant material or "waffle".
- Generally avoid "phrasal verbs" (e.g. get off, get away with, put in etc): instead, use one word equivalents.
- Avoid common but vague words and phrases such as get, nice, thing. Your writing needs to be more precise.
- Avoid overuse of brackets; don't use exclamation marks or dashes; avoid direct questions; don't use "etc".
- Always use capital letters appropriately and never use the type of language used in texting.
2.3.2 Structure your writing carefully
- Make sure you write in complete sentences. (1.34)
- Divide your writing up into paragraphs (1.35)
- Use connecting words and phrases to make your writing explicit and easy to follow (1.39)
- Check your grammar and spelling carefully (1.42)
2.3.3 Make your writing formal and impersonal
- Avoid too much personal language (I, my, we etc). Some tutors prefer you to avoid it completely. Never use emotive language; be objective rather than subjective (1.22)
- Avoid being too dogmatic and making sweeping generalizations. It is usually best to use
- Some sort of "hedging" language and to qualify statements that you make.
- You should consistently use evidence from your source reading to back up what you are saying and reference this correctly.
- Avoid sexist language, such as chairman, mankind. Don’t refer to “the doctor” as he; instead, make the subject plural and refer to them as they. Avoid he/she, herself/himself etc.
- Use nominalization; that is, try to write noun-based phrases rather that verb-based ones.
Bad example |
Good example |
Crime was increasing rapidly and the police were becoming concerned. |
The rapid increase in crime was causing concern among the police. |
We applied...; how we applied...; where we applied... |
Our applications of |
| How we directed the research; the direction that our research took | The direction of our research |
2.3.4 Hedging/Avoiding commitment
In order to put some distance between what you’re writing and yourself as writer, to be cautious rather than assertive, you should:
- Avoid overuse of first person pronouns (I, we, my, our)
- Use impersonal subjects instead (It is believed that .. , it can be argued that ..)
- Use passive verbs to avoid stating the 'doer' (Tests have been conducted)
- Use verbs (often with it as subject) such as imagine, suggest, claim, suppose
- Use 'attitudinal signals' such as apparently, arguably, ideally, strangely, unexpectedly. These words allow you to hint at your attitude to something without using personal language.
- Use verbs such as would, could, may, might which 'soften' what you're saying
- Use qualifying adverbs such as some, several, a minority of, a few, many to avoid making overgeneralizations.
Reference:
http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/Writing%20index.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Good-Topic-Sentence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topic_sentence
