Writing an Academic Paper
In order to write a competent academic paper, it is possible to at least go through the steps that can help you in the process. If well considered, they can be of great significance. Some of them are as under listed.
The steps
I. Ensure that you have scrutinized the topic that your essay is going to discuss. But if it is some sort of an open ended essay, it is an added advantage because you will select a topic which you are sure to get plenty of information for research.
II. Scribble your thesis. This is the statement which is written right after the introductory paragraph. Most academic papers have this statement because it is what you are going to prove in the rest of the essay.
III. Formulate your outline. This organized form of points that one intends to discuss within the essay. It is written in the order in which you are going to discuss them. This helps very much in writing an academic paper where the writer is able to ensure a free flow of ideas and thoughts.
IV. Make the first draft. This is the first writing that you do. Do not treat it as the final copy. The purpose for drafting is to first put down what comes to your mind first. This is one of the preliminary steps in writing academic papers. Never mind if the draft does not meet the required length or the time that is intended.
V. Distribute your thoughts in the paragraphs. This implies that each point from the outline should fall on its own paragraph. This will create some coherence as well as flow.
VI. Follow some pattern. It will be good to start with a ‘Claim; which happens to be the statement. It should subsequently be followed by ‘Evidence’. This is what supports the claim. It could be a quotation or a reference that is relevant enough. The ‘Impact’ should then take center stage. It is a review of why and how the claim is significant basined on the essay’s context.
VII. Write down another draft. This may involve boosting those paragraphs which do not have much information. An additional research would come in handy.
VIII. Ensure there are phrases indicating transition. These phrases will help the reader to ease from one paragraph to the next. A well written outline facilitates for these phrases which links the contents of a paragraph to next.
IX. Write the final copy. After everything to do with proofreading, arranging and rearranging of ideas, sentences and paragraphs, write the final copy of your essay. Make personal reading as well as looking for someone else to do it. Use computers to spellcheck and after you are satisfied, print the final copy and submit it.
Additional tips.
Here are some additional tips that will help on how to write academic papers.
- Use proper language in your paper. For example, 4 is just but a symbol denoting quantity of four. Colloquial language should not be used when writing academic paper.
- Use the required referencing format. It will be important for you to ensure that if your instructor wanted an MLA format, it is what you have used.
- Stick to the defaults. Do not in any way try to change or mess with anything to do with fonts, margins for the purposes of making your paper look longer. You might lose some marks for that.
- Be a good time manager. Ensure that your time is well managed even when writing academic papers online. It will be noteworthy to allocate enough time to yourself in order to finish your assignment within the set time confines.
- If you find one word recurring, use a thesaurus. There are many of them online if you do not own one. For academic paper writers, it is of great significance to ensure that you know how to use a synonym that you have selected before incorporating it in the text.
- Take some time off. You may take a bite or go for a walk. This way, you may think on something to write about.
Be Warned!
- That you do not in any way plagiarize. When writing academic paper, you are supposed to exercise originality in terms of ideas. The whole writing should be yours only. This means it should be exclusive and no one else should claim ownership. If in any case you use accepts from another written work, ensure that it’s duly acknowledged. This way, you will not be misleading your audience.
- Remember that today’s technology has search engines to search for any plagiarism traces. You do not want to be withdrawn from the course, fail or face expulsion in any way. Ensure that you have cited everything therein.