- Make another supporting claim – back it up with a reference
- Make a claim opposing your topic – back it up with evidence. This strengthens your argument
- Close your argument/paragraph with a final statement that brings together the ideas brought up in the paragraph and which can also be used as the transition to the next sentence.
# Academic writing
- Properties
- Formal language
- 3rd person
- Formal structure
- Objective toone
- Spelling and grammar
- Catered to audience
- Overall structure
- Always include an introduction and a conclusion.
- Divide longer texts into chapters or sections with clear headings.
- Make sure information is presented in a logical order.
- Paragraph structure
- Start a new paragraph when you move onto a new idea.
- Introduce topic.
- Make a claim – back it up with a reference
- Make another supporting claim – back it up with a reference
- {Make a claim opposing your topic – back it up with evidence}. This strengthens your argument but not everyone does this
- Close your argument/paragraph.
- Sentence structure
- Use transition words to express the connections between different ideas within and
between sentences.
- Use appropriate punctuation to avoid sentence fragments or run-on sentences.
- Use a variety of sentence lengths and structures.
- Claims/assertions
- The claim is where you make your main point – it's a key part of academic argument. If there's no claim, there's no argument.
- You need to support your claim with evidence. We are talking about facts here, not opinions – good evidence backs up the points you make.
- Justification is where you explain why the evidence supports the claim – sometimes this can be left out if it's obvious or a widely held belief.
- Claim, evidence and justification all combine to produce a clear argument.
- Counter-arguments are important. If you include them in your writing it shows that you have considered more than one side of an argument.
- Tell your reader your limitations. This doesn't mean that your writing is
- When concluding your paragraph, repeat the ideas in the topic sentence in different words, but don’t just copy the topic sentence. Summarise the main point or points of the paragraph.
