Observations:
• Central Values of Academic Writing
"When you write college papers, you need to remember that you are situated within an academic community [with] clear expectations for what your papers should do and how they should look. While you cannot learn the particular methods and conventions of every discipline . . ., you can be aware of the central values to which its members subscribe:
- Truth. . . . A successful college paper will demonstrate that its
writer can use the knowledge and methods of the discipline in which it has been assigned to reveal something that is true.
- Evidence. Scholars in all disciplines use credible evidence to support the truths they find. . . . Always document your sources for this evidence.
- Balance. . . . Academic convention suggests that you present your inferences, assertions, and arguments in neutral, serious, nonemotional language and be fair to opposing points of view.
(Toby Fulwiler and Alan Hayakawa, The Blair Handbook. Prentice
Hall, 2003)
• Methods of Academic Writing: "They Say/I Say"
"In our view, . . . the best academic writing has one underlying feature: it is deeply engaged in some way with other people's views. Too often, however, academic writing is taught as a process of saying 'true' or 'smart' things in a vacuum, as if it were possible to argue effectively without being in conversation with someone else. If you have been taught to write a traditional five-paragraph essay, for example, you have learned how to develop a thesis