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| Scene from Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) |
Friday, March 4, 2011
Assignments 32: "Her Point Is" and 33 "What Makes Academic Writing Academic?"
32. Read "Her Point Is: The Art of Summarizing" (pp. 30-40) of They Say/I Say. After you have finished reading the chapter, do exercise one on page 40. E-mail me a copy of both summaries and bring a hard copy of each summary to class on Monday. We will exchange these summaries in class on Monday. Due: Before class on Monday, March 7th.
33. What makes academic writing "academic"? Is it the topic discussed? The tone employed? The use of academic references? The appeal to rationality and evidence? Something else? Share your thoughts in the comment space for this post. Please read previous answers before weighing in yourself. Look for common ground or points of difference with your classmates. Due: before class on Monday, March 7th.
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I believe the main key people look for when reading academic writing is their appeal to rationality and evidence of the topic. I think that if people are just provided with opinionated responses of a topic they feel in no way that it is supported. One's opinion can be given, but that opinion, in some way, needs to be backed by some form of evidence to rectify the argument or point you are making. Also, by having rational evidence it can make your argument with an opposing topic more competitve. Whereas if they oppose a topic that is merely opinion you have no argument because in turn they have factual evidence to back their cause. I think the best way is to state the rational facts first and then build off of that with your own experiences and knowledge that stick to the lines of the evidence. This emplys that you have the true facts and also have well informed personal knowledge of the subject.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. Maybe it's the usefulness of the writing. I think topic plays a part, but like we discussed in class, a rather strange topic can produce a thoughtfully provocative outcome. So, maybe that's the ticket, then. If, when all is said and done, your reader is left thinking, cultivating your claim, then I think your paper is academic.
ReplyDeleteI looked academic up on Dictionary.com:
1. pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics.
2. theoretical or hypothetical; not practical, realistic, or directly useful: an academic question; an academic discussion of a matter already decided.
3. learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, common sense, or practicality.
4. conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional: academic painting.
I agree with some of what Cody said, but at the same time I feel the essays we've read in class have academic value. Psychology and philosophy are considered academic subjects and I think personal essays explore a vast array of topics useful in those subjects and others.
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ReplyDeleteI definitely think that the word "opinion" is key in defining what makes academic writing "academic". It is true that opinions are biased, they are formed as a function of subjectivity as opposed to objectivity, and you and I have been taught in just about every lower level writing class that ours doesn't matter; however, that doesn't mean that an academic piece of writing doesn't have and assert an opinion. On the contrary, academic writing does assert an opinion, but the key difference, that is the key element that sets academic writing apart from the personal essay, is the way in which that opinion is arrived at and presented within the text itself. I think one of the best ways to illustrate this point is to look at the difference between the personal essay and the academic essay like this: a personal essay asserts an opinion that is not held accountable within the text itself, whereas the academic essay uses objectivity, evidence, tone, and an appeal to rationality to hold both the writing and the opinion that is presented accountable. Where the personal essay is like The Jerry Springer Show, you can pretty much spout off whatever you feel like, whenever you feel like, with little accountability, the academic essay is more like the Supreme Court, where if you want to be heard and taken serious, you had better come prepared with a detailed, logical, and clear path to your point.
ReplyDeleteChad used the word accountability in his post. I think this is a good word for describing academic writing. I think a difference between academic writing and personal writing is that people look to academic writing to learn something about a subject or to help them form their opinions about a topic. Some personal writing may do this as well, but I think it is less important if a personal writing is informative as compared to an academic writing. The academic essay is accountable to the readers in that many people would assume that an academic writing is filled with truth and facts rather than anecdotes and subjective thoughts. If the academic essay contains false or poor information it can make its readers seem foolish along with the writer. In this way I think there is a greater responsibility and accountability on the author of an academic writing than a personal writing.
ReplyDelete--Preston Marshall--
Way to go Chad on comparing the Personal essay with the Jerry Springer show and the Academic essay with the Supreme Court! Though I don't necessarily agree with defining the personal essay in the same ballpark with Jerry Springer, I do agree with the academic essay being fit for Supreme Court and because of this, anytime I am assigned an academic essay I find myself nervous as hell (pardon the cliche here). Though some say there are certain aspects to the academic style of writing such as the topic, the tone, the references, I think the academic essay has all of the aspects that Dr. Benton mentions in his blog. For a piece of writing to be considered as academic, the writer needs to know how to weave all the aforementioned into a work of literary merit.
ReplyDeleteThank you Megan for looking the word "academic" up on Dictionary.com for I was doing the same thing. I think the academic essay falls into the description of #4 --"Conforming to set rules, standards or traditions. . ." as I previously stated, the academic essay is a combination of all that Dr. Benton listed. The writer needs to know the "when and how" to use these tools in a scholarly manner. I do not think the academic essay incorporates feelings and opinions but is based on facts and research and if well written leaves the reader questioning his/her own belief of the topic and perhaps change his/her view.
I celebrate the fact that Chad compared personal to Jerry Springer and academic to the Supreme Court. This seems like a valid way to describe it because, although an academic essay is opinionated, this opinion can't be based off of feeling alone. I say this in regards to the personal essay. In the personal essay the writer can express what they feel and their opinions don't need to be justified in according to facts. The writing is just that, personal. In the contrary though, academic writing needs to, as Chad put it, have a "detailed, logical, and clear path to the point." The best way to arrive at that point is to have, besides your own opinion, other respected opinions and/or points that support your own.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with above, and particularly with the way Chad broke it down, I'd like to throw in that I don't think topic has much to do with it. I could theoretically spend 15 pages discussing the merits of the grape Popsicle vs. the cherry Popsicle (grape would clearly win), but support my research with ingredient facts, field research, and any number of other elements, and it would be perfectly academic.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that it has a lot to do with tone. While conversational in that you are making an argument or supporting your facts, you don't write an academic essay and include a lot of "And, like, it did a pretty good job". Academic essays always feel like they should be a bit more formal to me.
I spent several minutes writing a response, and then managed to make it disappear, so this may not be quite as clear. Haha. Rhyme.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of the above, especially with the way Chad broke it down. But I'd also like to throw in that I don't think that an academic essay has much to do with the topic. I could theoretically spend 15 pages (don't take me at my word and assign this, please), discussing the merits of the grape Popsicle vs. the cherry Popsicle (grape would obviously win), and back up my essay with ingredient facts, field research, and sources, and various other elements.
I also feel like tone has a lot to do with it. When writing an academic essay, you don't include a lot of "And, like, it did a good job." I usually feel like there should be a more formal tone in an academic essay.
In my experience the personal essay is mostly discouraged after sophomore year in high school. The standalone "I" in an essay, or a story about yourself generally isn't regarded as academic. I think many of us, students and educators included, get lost in the types of writing that our out there. Most people hate poetry but have never been exposed to it, yet Shakespeare's sonnets inspired modern English and even contemporary poetry is taken very seriously. The personal essay is just another form of writing.
ReplyDeleteRather than asking what makes an academic essay academic, we should ask what makes a personal essay personal? It's distinguished from academic writing because it lacks any of the traditional constraints. As Megan posted in the definition, academic writing conforms to a set of rules. There's no black and white, the personal essay is just less restrained no matter what the situation. Rather than asking what makes an academic essay academic, we should ask what makes a personal essay personal? It's distinguished from academic writing because it lacks any of the traditional constraints. As Megan posted in the definition, academic writing conforms to a set of rules. There's no black and white, the personal essay is just less restrained no matter what the situation.
For the past two and a half years, I have composed many of an academic essay, and one thing that I have noticed about this type of writing is that you are required to have some credible sources in order to make your point valid. You need to be able to credit any source where you have retrieved information for any given topic you are writing about, whether it be a scholarly journal or a poll conducted on the Survey Monkey website.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have creditable sources to back up your point of view on a topic, it is so much easier (in my opinion, anyway) to illustrate your reasons on why you believe in a certain stance of an issue. However, you definitely need to consider your audience in order to make your point clear. For example, suppose you want to state that life begins at conception. In this case, you might need to think twice before using the Bible as a source if you are speaking to a group of mixed faiths. Instead, you could begin researching for information through a library database and find a scholarly journal or two that fits into the mold of your beliefs.
(To clarify, I don't personally believe in the above statement. I am merely giving an example.)
Keeping the "SCIFI" discussion from last Friday in mind, I am a little iffy about using the "internal claim" as a method for beginning any imminent academic essay (or any academic essay for that matter). I fear that if I repeatedly refer to myself and my personal experiences via the words "I," "me," "myself," "my," and "mine," the essay may appear too personal and one-sided to the extent that no one will totally understand (or even continue to listen to) your argument. Then again, bias is a difficult obstacle to overcome while one indulges themselves in the writing process. Nevertheless, you could state an "internal claim" if you are writing an entire book about any topic you wish.
About the most common types of "SCIFI" claims I've personally seen (and used) are the "floating claim" and the "implied claim." Perhaps this is because the "floating claim" often attempts to challenged common beliefs (Example: "Most people think that . . ." or "Upon reading this _______, you might assume that . . ."), and the "implied claim" tries to "read between the lines" (Example: "This view suggests that . . ." or "This statement implies that . . ."). In my experience, common beliefs and "reading between the lines" of something seem to remain a popular type of topic for essays.
Regardless of any "SCIFI" method you employ to begin your academic essay, you need to focus on your main argument, even if you make additional commentaries here and there. The focus of an academic essay is very crucial if you wish for people to comprehend what the heck you're trying to say. As stated before, you must make sure your sources are credible ones. Without creditable sources, you will end up with insufficient information in your argument, and your audience will quickly lose interest.