Writing Papers for Me

For those of you who are just beginning your academic careers, here are some tips that might help you to survive:

1. First of all, keep up with your reading and go to class. You can't hope to be part of a conversation if you are absent from it.
2. Pay attention not only to what others are saying, but also to how they are saying it. Notice that sound arguments are never made without evidence.
3. Don't confuse assumptions, beliefs, and opinion, evidence, theories, and hypotheses. Here, I am going to provide a rather lengthy aside, explaining these terms as they carry meaning for scholars. If you want to skip this section, click here.

• Assumption is something that one can safely infer from the evidence at hand. However, it makes good sense to challange your own and others' assumptions. Everyone has blind spots.
  
• Beliefs—articles of faith—however strongly held, are intrinsically unprovable. I may believe in a elves, little green men, or pink and purple poltergeists, but none of them is amenable to experimentation. I may elect to believe in them, and others just pat me on the head, say 'isn't that nice dear', and leave me to my folly, but there's no way to prove me right or wrong. Were I to explain to the poor soul who actually believes in such things that nobody's ever had a proven sighting of an elf, or the Loch Ness monster, or little green men in Area 54, Hanger 19, I might get triumphantly handed a copy of the National Enquirer, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book, a website, and some kind of conspiracy theory. I might then explain what's wrong with those sources, but in the race of strongly held belief, I'd be likely to get nowhere.
  
• Opinion is your own particular interpretation of the evidence. Consider the difference between facts and opinion: "Fact" in a scholarly context is a generally accepted reality (but still open to scientific inquiry, as opposed to an absolute truth, which is not, and hence not a part of science). Hypotheses and theories are generally based on objective inferences, unlike opinions, which are generally based on subjective influences. For example, "John is a humorous person" is certainly an opinion, whereas "if I drop this glass five feet onto a hard, unyielding surface in a gravity well typical of earth-like planets, it will break" could best be called a hypothesis, while "Chaucer was born in the fourteenth centruy," or "evolution occurs over time," or "gravity exists" are all today considered to be both facts and theories (backed by carefully assembled evidence, but could possibly turn out to be wrong).

  Opinions are neither fact nor theory; they are not officially the domain of serious scholarship. However, scholars have opinions—they are only human—and opinions often help to guide their research). Thus, scholarship cannot directly address such issues as whether space aliens exist, whether people are good or bad, or whether it would be good public policy to lower the speed limit to 15 mph. We may have opinions, and strongly held ones, but none of those issues is amenable to labeling as either fact or theory.

• Scholarship generally uses the formulation of falsifiable hypotheses developed via systematic empiricism. Hypotheses that cannot ever be disproven are not real scholarship. Hypotheses are generally formed by observing whatever it is you are studying, with the objective of understanding the nature of the subject (this is systematic empiricism). Many scholars hold the belief that a hypothesis cannot ever be proven, only disproven. This especially holds in historical areas of study like historical archaeology or paleontology, where a time machine would be the only true way to absolutely prove a hypothesis. If a theory cannot be disproven, it is not amenable to scholarly study. I may hold opinions about it. I may feel strongly about them, and argue eloquently about them, but so what? I've just spent time on an eloquent piece of fluff. We might, however, call it art, which tells its own kind of truth.

• Evidence is something that you can gather carefully or less so. Other researchers will want to know what your research plan was, how you went about gathering evidence, and according to what criteria.
  
• Theories make at least provisional sense of the available evidence. That's why we call things theories in academe, no matter how strong the evidence might be: Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Newton's Theory of Gravity. Scholarly methods have been devised to test hypothesis, leading to theories that hold more or less well over time.
  
• Scholarly method is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly public. In its broadest sense, scholarship can be taken to include the scientific method, which is the body of scholarly practice that governs the sciences. It also includes rational inquiry in other areas including history as well as the creations of the human mind in the form of art, music, literature, religion, philosophy, and cultural beliefs. Linguistics, psychology, sociology, and similar scholarly fields straddle the divide, sometimes more like the physical sciences, in other instances, more social sciences.
  
  Scholarly (Scientific) Method has four basic steps: Let's presume that you have a research question. The nicest moment that any scholar has is when she or he notices an odd anomoly and says, "huh, I wonder why that is." Then what? You think about it carefully, and decide it's worth your time to investigate. Often, a bit of reading will solve your problem (or at least partially solve it). Example: You on the web that Chaucer died October 25, 1400. ² But, then you notice that
  1. You do a literature search to see what (if anything) others have found, and what methodology they used. Let's presume that this doesn't satisfy you or provode clear and sufficient answers to question.
     
     So, you then
  2. Observe and describe the phenomenon or group of phenomena.
  3. Formulate a working hypothesis that provisionally explains the phenomena. What is the thing that you think might result in the data you have?
  4. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations.
  5. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.
  6. If you believe your data is good and your hypothesis holds up, you then write it up and give it as a talk at a scholarly conference or publish in a jurored journal. Others, then, try to disprove it. That is not because they dislike the theory or the scholar. Rather, it is a kindness, and hugely time consuming. Only if scholars investigate and check one anothers word can we have any good sense of whether something will hold water and survive as a useful, well designed theory, or if it's just so much fancy hogwash.

• A hypothesis requires experimental tests, which may lead either to its confirmation or ruling it out. The scientific method requires that an hypothesis be ruled out or modified if its predictions are clearly and repeatedly incompatible with experimental tests. Further, no matter how elegant a theory is, its predictions must agree with experimental results if we are to believe that it is a valid description of nature. If, at a later date, better methodology, instrumentation, etc. proves a different hypothesis to be more nearly correct, then the theory is dismissed without apology. Clear thinking, careful methodology, and public testing and publication are absolutely necessary to good within a scholarly community.
  
• Replication. Good scholars publish transparent studies that others can replicate to see if they get the same results and draw the same conclusions from them. That's why scholarly publications are so carefully, even rigidly, managed. Scholars need to be willing to lay out very clearly their reserach questions, methodology, ways of collecting date, and ways that data was read (forms of statistical analysis), on the way to a conclusion. But remember: everything that is an interesting question is not amenable of proof, unfortunately.
  
  Example: Dinobuz provides the example of who birds, evolving from dinosaurs, developed feathers. Some scholars and others provided a hypothesis that seemed to fit. One way to explain it would be that the feathers were evolved to catch insects with, and then were "co-opted" for flight. Sounds convincing (as many such stories do), but still just what we call and adaptive story.
  
  Adaptive stories take a mysterious feature whose origin is not well understood, and propose an unfalsifiable hypothesis to explain it. We do not yet understand why feathers were evolved somewhere along the non-avian theropod to bird transition. Many such problems are essentially unsolvable; we may never know exactly how or why feathers evolved on some dinosaurs, or exactly when Chaucer was born or died. Or, somebody might find evidence that persuasively explains one or the other problem. That's what makes scholarship such fun.

[back to #3]

4. Pay attention to the requirements of an assignment. When asked for evidence, don't offer opinion. When asked for your opinion, don't simply present the facts. Too often students write summary when they are asked to write analysis. The assignment will cue you as to how to respond.
   
5. Familiarize yourself with new terminology. Every discipline has its own jargon. While you will want to avoid unnecessary use of jargon in your own writing, you will want to be sure before you write that you have a clear understanding of important concepts and terms. And, often the terms you are learning in a course really are the best way to speak precisely and appropriatly about a subject. For example, a mom might sooth her child's cut kneee, calling it a 'boo-boo', but no physician writing up the case for the insurance company after putting a couple of stitches in would use the term.
   
6. Don't make the mistake of thinking that because something is in print it has cornered the market on truth...even if you agree with it. Your own interpretation of a text might be just as valid (or even more valid) than something you've found in the library or on the internet. Or, there may be a third (or more) other ways to look at it that you've not even considered.
   
7. All sources and search engines are not created equal. Separate out in your own mind personal opinion (somebody's blog, for example), the popular press (itself wildly variant, from the National Inquirer to the New York Times), and scholarly articles written by experts in the field in jurored journals. Similarly, differentiate between general search engines like Google and specialized ones like Google Scholar.
8. Pay attention to standards and rules. Your professors will expect you to write carefully and clearly. They will expect your work to be free of errors in grammar and style. They will expect you to follow the rules for citing sources and to turn in work that is indeed your own. If you have a question about a professor's standards, ask. You will find that your professors are eager to help you.
9. No 5-paragraph essays. Do not attempt to transfer that stupid old "5 paragraph essay" from high school to university. What's that? Khara House notes that it's, "A five paragraph essay consists of an introduction, three paragraphs providing evidence to support your introduction, and a conclusion" (2). So, what's the problem with that? There are two big reasons (and some little ones).
   
   • It's reductive. The high school student is really filling in the blanks rather than letting the material and the specific assignment determine the length and content of the paper.
     
   • It's formulaic. Look at the way House breaks it down:

     The first paragraph provides the strongest argument, best examples, and two transitions. The first transition links the first sentence of this paragraph to the thesis provided in the introductory paragraph. The second transition provides a link to the second paragraph. The second paragraph follows the same pattern, with the second strongest argument, example, etc. The third paragraph contains what would be considered the weakest argument and examples. The conclusion restates the thesis in similar, but not the same, language. It then reiterates the three paragraphs that precede it, and ends with a sentence indicating that the paper is over.

     One of my students once said, "If god created the world according to the five paragraph format, we wouldn't have aardvarks...or pandas...or anything else of any real interest.

   • It's bland, boring, and oh so pat. Another version of these papers suggests the author do this:

     1. tell me what you're going to tell me,
     2. then tell me,
     3. then tell me what you've told me,
     4. then curtsy and thank me fervently for having tortured you with such a stupid assignment.

     And they wonder why so many students drop out of high school. I would too if treated to stuperous assignments like that!

Using Appropriate Tone and Style

OK: you think you understand what's required of you in an academic paper. You need to be analytical. Critical. You need to create an informed argument. You need to consider your relationship to your topic and to your reader. But what about the matter of finding an appropriate academic tone and style?

• Professors want students to write clearly and intelligently on matters that they, the students, care about. The tone and style of academic writing might at first seem intimidating. But they needn't be.What professors DON'T want is imitation scholarship - that is, exalted gibberish that no one cares about. If the student didn't care to write the paper, the professor probably won't care to read it. The tone of an academic paper, then, must be inviting to the reader, even while it maintains an appropriate academic style.
• Remember: professors are human beings, capable of boredom, laughter, irritation, and awe. Understand that you are writing to a person who is delighted when you make your point clearly, concisely, and persuasively. Understand, too, that she is less delighted when you have inflated your prose, pumped up your page count, or tried to impress her by using terms that you didn't take the time to understand. And, she gets cranky when you cut corners, insulting her intelligence with a paper she has read before, words she recognizes from the original article, or gibberish that seems to take longer for her to grade than it did you to write it.
• Good academic writing follows the rules of good writing. If you'd like to know more about how to improve your academic style, please go to the writing center. It's free, but don't wait until the last minute. They take walk-ins when they aren't too busy already, but you don't want to wait until the last minute once you start to get in over your head. Right now, consider some of the following tips, designed to make the process of writing an academic paper go more smoothly:
  1. Keep the personal in check. Some assignments will invite you to make a personal response to a text. For example, a professor might want you to describe your experience of a text, or to talk about personal experiences that are relevant to the topic at hand. But if you haven't been invited to make a personal response, then it's better not to digress. As interesting as Aunt Sally's story about having a baby out of wedlock is, it probably doesn't have a place in your academic paper about The Scarlet Letter or the best ways to raise a deaf baby with strong linguistic skills.
  2. Rely on evidence over feeling. You may be very passionate about a subject, but that's no excuse to allow rhetoric alone to carry the ball. Even if you have constructed some very pretty phrases to argue against genetic engineering, they won't mean much to your professor unless you back those pretty phrases with facts.
  3. Watch your personal pronouns. Students often wonder if it's OK to use the pronouns "I" and "you" in a paper. In fact, it is OK - provided you use them with care. Overusing the "I" might make the reader feel that the paper was overly subjective.
  • In fact, when a writer too often invokes the first person, he or she may be doing so to avoid offering proof: "It's my own personal opinion, and I have a right to it. I don't have to defend it." But of course, the student does.
  • Phrases such as I think, believe, feel are unnecessary, as the reader presumes that the author, if sane, thinks, believes, and feels what she or he writes.
  • As to using the pronoun "you": Do you really want to aim a remark directly at the reader? Doing so draws the reader closer to the text and invites a more subjective (and sometimes more intensely critical) response. If in fact you mean you feel that way yourself, don't use 'you', as have your reader wondering, does the author mean me? Remember: certain academic disciplines (the sciences, for example) would frown on the use of these pronouns. When in doubt, ask.
  4. Watch your gendered pronouns. When you write, you'll want to make sure that you don't do anything to make your readers feel excluded. Perhaps the easiest way is to use 'they' when possible: "Authors can strengthen their writing by..." rather than, "an author can strengthen her or his writing by...." If you use "he" and "him" all the time, you are excluding half of your potential readership. We'll acknowledge that the he/she (or worse s/he) solution is a bit cumbersome in writing, as neither is pronounceable. However, you might solve the problem by alternating "he" and "she" throughout. Other writers advocate always using "she" instead of "he" as a way of acknowledging a long-standing exclusion of women from texts. Whatever decision you make in the end, be sensitive to its effect on your readers.
  5. Be aware of discipline-specific differences. Each of the academic disciplines has its own conventions when it comes to matters of tone and style. If you need more information about discipline-specific matters, check out a style manual, such as the MLA or APA style sheets.
  6. Avoid mechanical errors. No matter what audience you're writing for, you'll want to produce text that is error-free. Errors in grammar and style slow your reader down. Sometimes they even obscure your meaning. Always proofread your text before passing it on to your reader. If you find that you are making a lot of errors and want help with grammar and style, consult a handbook and/or the Writing Center for help.
  7. Label everything. Professors grade a large number of papers from many different classes, and it's easy for material to go astray. A paper can get knocked on the floor, torn apart, even lost. So, make sure your name, the page number, and a short version of the title is on every page of your paper.

Questions about form, style, grammar, etc.? There are a number of good resources, including:
Our Writing Center, which provides these quick helps:

• Developing a Thesis
• Developing a First Draft (from research question)
• Argument Structures
• Elegant Explanations_Longer Sentences
• Commas and Semi-colons

In addition, see these external sites:

• Webster's Guide to Grammar and Writing
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
  Purdue's Online Writing Center (OWL)

 

Notes

1. I saw the Toto line in an essay by Khara House as a subheading in "What College Freshmen Should Know About Writing College Papers: Kicking the Five-Paragraph Essay Habit" Associated Content, July 01, 2008 at http://www.associatedcontent.com/

2. I found this in a paper for sale by Grin (Which they inflatedly call a "Scholarly Publishing House") titled "The Middle English Period -Geoffres Chaucer." It was authored, they suggest, by one Martina Winkler. Sigh. We, of course, have no real evidence of when Chaucer died, as the tomb in Westminster was not erected until around hundred years after his death, and there are no death records that scholars have ever found.

For Further Research

Dierking, Rebecca. "Creative Copying, or in Defense of Mimicry." The Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Fall, 2002) at

Evans, Karin. "Does This Paper Have To Have an Audience?": Freshman Writers and Public Discourse." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (47th, Milwaukee, WI, March 27-30, 1996). (PDF)

Feldbusch, Rebecca. "Seeing Academic Writing with a New 'I'" National Writing Project. January 2007. Date found: July 17, 2008 at

Gocsic, Karen. "What is an academic paper?" Dartmouth Writing Program. July 12, 2005. Date found: July 14, 2008 at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/what.shtml

Rorschach, Elizabeth. "The Five-Paragraph Theme Redux." The Quarterly (National Writing Project), Vol. 26, No. 1 (2004) Date found: July 17, 2008 at http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/1287

2002; Last revised July 18, 2008
Dr. Bonnie Duncan
bduncan@millersville.edu
1-717-871-2080
English Department
Millersville University
Millersville, PA 17551

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