Things to Consider in Creating a Reliable Academic Essay
By Nikki Leres Mulyati
Academic essay will always be a friend for those who are in the academic world. The ability of academicians in academic writing is necessary because it shows the depth of their understanding of a particular issue. “In an essay, you can analyze, explain, or describe someone or something; state an opinion and support it; show a relationship between two or more things; solve aproblem; or a combination of all of these,” said Laurie Blass and Meredith Pike-Baky in Mosaic 2 Writing Silver Edition. Understanding the main structures, applying the well-developed paragraph criteria, and presenting the strong evidence of essay must be considered in academic essay writing.
The main structure in
academic essay must be known by each writer. It will determine the success of
the writer in expressing ideas. A book from Laurie Blass and Meredith Pike-Baky mentions that academic essay
usually consists of introduction, thesis statement, body paragraph(s), and
conclusion.
The first paragraph in an academic essay is
called the introductory paragraph. Its main function is as an attention getter for readers. The writer can begin with interesting statement to attract the reader's attention.
After presenting the general statement and more specific statements(s), it is followed by a thesis statement which is the core description
of the essay. According to Laurie Blass and Meredith Pike-Baky in Mosaic 1 Writing 4th Edition, “A thesis statement expresses the main idea
of an essay.”
To develop main ideas, a thesis
statement must be followed by the body paragraph (s). It will explain the
thesis deeper with the help of supporting details. Essay should include important details to
support an argument and not include unnecessary details. Cheryl Pavlik and Margaret Keenan
Segal stated that the first sentence in a paragraph is often topic sentence,
but it is sometimes in the second or even the last sentence. It is a central
idea in a paragraph that should not be too general or too specific.
At the end of the
essay, the writer must summarize the main ideas that have been described in the
preceding paragraphs. A conclusion can be started by restating the thesis
statement in a different editorial followed by more general statements and most
general statement. "A conclusion prepares the reader for the end of your
essay, giving her or him a feeling of completion," Laurie Blass and
Meredith Pike-Baky in Mosaic 1 Writing 4th Edition.
Clear, concrete, concise, and correct writing styles will create a well-developed essay. Clear style makes writing straightforward and clear without using convoluted sentences. If the writing is corroborated with specific data that can be proved, then the writing can be said as concrete. Academic essays should also be written as brief as possible or concise, and the grammar, mechanics, and formats must be correct.
Presenting strong evidences in essays will make writing more reliable. Provable statements can be supported by examples, statistics, anecdotes, and so on. A writer can support his or her opinions by referring to the work and ideas of others, especially if they are experts. When it uses someone else’s exact words, he or she must place all of them inside quotation marks and state the name of the writer. Paraphrasing other people’s ideas also can support writer’s essay. A paraphrase is a restatement of a phrase or sentence that is approximately as long as the original statement.
Bibliography
Blass,
Laurie., and Meredith Pike-Baky. Mosaic 1 Writing 4th Edition.
New York: McGraw
Hill/Contemporary, 2002.
Blass,
Laurie., and Meredith Pike-Baky. Mosaic 2 Writing Silver Edition. New York:
McGraw Hill
ESL/ELT, 2007.
Keraf, Prof.
DR. Gorys. Komposisi. Flores: Nusa Indah, 2004.
Pavlik,
Cheryl., and Margaret Keenan Segal. Interaction 1 Writing 4th Edition. New York:
McGraw Hill/Contemporary, 2002.
Pike-Baky, Meredith.,
and Laurie Blass. Mosaic 1 Writing Silver Edition. New York:
McGraw Hill
ESL/ELT, 2007.
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