Walker 1 William Walker Keaton ENG111-09 8 July 2013 This Is Good Writing A writer wants to know how to write

an academic paper. While there is no exact blueprint as to how he can go about writing, there are a few steps that are very helpful and important. If he is sure to follow these steps, he will end up with a better paper. The first step to writing a good, academic, paper is to brainstorm. There is no specific way to brainstorm, but it is definitely necessary. Brainstorming helps a writer gather and explore ideas. The writer can create his main points that support his topic and decide which ideas will work best for his paper. The main topics should relate directly to his topic or thesis, and requires evidence or proof to support it. After the writer has his main points decided, he can begin brainstorming his supporting details. The supporting details either explain or attempt to prove the main point the writer is trying to convey. This is also a time to try different ways to structure his paper, and see what way flows best. It is a time to get all of the writers ideas onto paper, and from this point forward he will be refining these ideas into what will be his final paper. Academic or effective brainstorming can be presented in many ways; there is no definition of what good brainstorming looks like. It is about getting ideas out and as long as the writers thoughts and ideas are translated, then his brainstorming would be considered good. This was taught to me when I was young, being first taught how to write a paper or report. We were shown to make idea webs with all of our ideas organized and mapped out for us. After all of his ideas are formulated, the writer must brainstorm how he will convey his ideas to his particular

Walker 2 audience. It is best to brainstorm for all types of writing, but especially in academia. Its so important because the writer must know all that he is going to try to get across before starting in on his paper. Without proper brainstorming, he might try to add ideas midway through, which would leave his paper jumbled and messy. The writer has to identify his audience so that his paper is as effective as possible. The audience is the particular person or group of people who will be reading his paper. Identifying the audience is important because the writer has to write in a way that is most effective and understandable to his readers. Depending on who he is speaking to, the writer might sometimes speak or convey ideas differently. If the writer conveys his ideas incorrectly, his readers might not understand him, or dismiss his paper as bad writing. He may both sound uneducated in the field that he is speaking of, or sound too intelligent, and lose a more general audience. This process helps the writer maintain his focus throughout his paper by setting a standard for which he has to write in order to effectively capture his audience. Losing focus can be disastrous for the writer, as his audience will also lose sight of his original thesis and his paper wont be as effective. As with brainstorming, the audience doesnt make a paper look academic. Instead, identifying the audience gives the writer the ability to write more effectively and overall his paper will be more academic. Audience was not really covered for me until I reached college, where I realized the importance of identifying my audience before I write. Realizing the audience and purpose is to make sure that the content of his work is relevant and effective. Now that the writer has identified his audience, he is ready to begin his paper. The writer must now create a strong introduction and thesis (if his paper calls for one). The introduction is essentially for catching the readers attention and to state a small summary of the ideas to come later. Catching the readers attention is so important because if the readers

Walker 3 were confused or bored, they might not finish reading his work, or just miss the points the writer is trying to make. It is also a time to explain the writers purpose for writing at all. The readers may understand what it is hes writing, but if they dont understand why he is writing, then his points still may be lost to them An academic or good introduction will grab the readers attention and set up for the rest of the body paragraphs. It will state the writers purpose for writing, and his theme or argument that he will be addressing in his paper. Another key component to the introduction is the thesis. The thesis is supposed to capture the main theme and idea of the entire paper, and put it into one sentence. A writer will have to know when a thesis is necessary. Sometimes its easy to know, the teacher may have it written on the instructions. But in the case that its not, the writer will have to figure it out for himself. If he is writing a research or argumentative paper, then a thesis would be needed. If his paper has a strong underlying point to it, then a thesis is great to let his audience know what they will be reading about. Many (including myself) were taught about the thesis statement in high school, when we began our first research essays. The thesis, if written properly, can also double as the writers attention grabber. The thesis should be referred back to throughout the paper, and the body paragraphs should directly support the writers thesis. An academic thesis will be short, but informative. It will clearly state the writers belief or theme, and set up for the body paragraphs to support and/or prove his thesis. The body paragraphs are for stating and exploring specific points that support the writers thesis. This is where the writer adds his specific details, citations, and charts. The content of each body paragraph should flow and all be related to the main point that the paragraph is centered around. The importance of this is that the bulk of the information is located in them, and that they are responsible for informing and convincing the readers to agree with the original thesis.

Walker 4 There is no limit to how many paragraphs that can be in a paper, but the standard as taught to me is three. There needs to be enough paragraphs and information to be convincing and informative, but the writer doesnt need to overwhelm the readers or lose their attention. A good paper will have well written and structured paragraphs that flow together well. They will always be directly related to the main topic and will support the thesis. They will have enough supporting details to convey the idea the writer was intending, but not too many as to not lose the readers attention. Once all of the body paragraphs are complete, the writer can move to the final stage of his paper, the conclusion. The conclusion acts as a wrap up for the entire paper, and brings all of the information that was stated in the paper back together. It restates the thesis, and ties in the points made earlier as re-enforcement. A good conclusion does not have to be long. Instead, all that is needed is a restatement of the thesis and supporting it again with the points made earlier in the paper. One of the more difficult parts of creating a good conclusion is knowing when a paper should end. The paper doesnt need to be too abrupt, but it should not ramble on unnecessarily. By properly understanding the steps of writing, and how these steps should be implemented, the writer is now prepared to write an academic paper. He must implement all of his skills, from brainstorming to writing his body paragraphs, in order to write an academic paper.