Ryan Connette
ACA-401D
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Student Name: Ryan Connette
Student Country: USA
Program: PhD in Roman Catholic Theology
Course Code or Name: ACA-401D Period 1
Professor / Assigned Tutor: Prof. Laurent Cleenewerck
This page uses ☒US or ☐ UK English (for spelling, punctuation rules and formatting of
references). The European Commission style ☐may also be used. APA rule of style is used.
Note: This document is in US letter (“8.5”x11”” format)
Essay Writing: The Basics
This response paper aims at expositing the basic principles and procedures of
academic writing.
1) Thesis, Research, Drafting, and Editing
The goal of an academic essay is to persuade an audience of an idea or claim using
evidence. What determines the orientation of an academic essay is what is called a thesis,
the main point from which the whole essay receives direction. Before beginning an essay,
a question or problem must first be brought to the fore of attention before an answer is
sought by means of research (Coursepack, p. 3). Research is the font from which an
answer to the question or problem will be found. During research, notes should be taken
from sources that contain relevant data that will be useful for answering the question at
hand for the essay. Honing in on the specific research material that will contribute to
answering the question of your paper would constitute the most relevant content for
usage (Coursepack, p. 3). Making sure the most helpful sources are gathered and
incorporated into the fabric of the paper is pivotal for developing the main idea for the
essay. After research has been obtained, a structure should be constructed to order the
succession of the content stemming from the research. The structure of the paper will be
the basis for drafting the essay in a provisional, imperfect form (Coursepack, p. 4).
Ryan Connette
ACA-401D
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The structure of the essay will have a thesis which posits the main point of
contention from which the whole paper is centered. The thesis is presented as an
introductory paragraph which serves as a description of it and provides a glimpse of what
is to be covered in the paper to enforce the thesis. To enforce the thesis, evidence must be
gathered for the purpose of providing a substantive defense of it. Body Paragraphs should
begin presenting an idea with a topic sentence to introduce and explain one of the points
which is to be analyzed. The analysis of a specific point which pertains to the thesis
requires cited or paraphrased evidence which demonstrates the point presented. The
demonstration should be supported by an interpretation of the evidence that illuminates
how it confirms the claims of the presented point which enforces the thesis. The ending
of the paragraph should critically summarize or show the significance of what has been
explained and demonstrated (Coursepack, p. 4). After the body paragraphs are completed,
all of which individually elucidate a particular point which defends the thesis, a
conclusion is placed at the end of the paper. The conclusion reinforces the thesis in light
of the evidence and support that were shown in the body paragraphs. Revision and
editing constitutes the final stage of writing a paper. After the drafting and structuring
stages of the essay are complete, revision and editing serve well in perfecting the essay,
carefully making grammar and spelling checks as well as developing ideas that were
partially constructed and incomplete in the provisional draft. After spelling and grammar
checks are applied along with completing the necessary idea developments and final
structure of the paper, then the final draft is finished and ready for submission
(Coursepack, p. 5).
2.) Plagiarism, Citing Sources, and Paraphrasing
Plagiarism is a grievous academic offense in which another's intellectual property is
stolen for the purposes of falsely attributing another's work as one's own. Serious
consequences result from such a deceptive act (Coursepack, p. 9). Copying excerpts from
someone else's academic work and pasting the material to one's own work constitutes an
act of plagiarism (Coursepack, p. 10). If one wants to use another's work, the paper must
reference the source from where the information was received.
Two ways of attributing information to another source include citing and
paraphrasing. Citing involves directly referring to another source's name, year of
publishing, and page number in parentheses, using quotation marks to indicate the direct
quoting of an author. Different rules of style require different formatting of citations,
making use of publishing year and page number in the instance of specific APA styles.
Paraphrasing attributes an idea to another source but does not indicate the referencing by
quotation marks. Paraphrasing must use language which is original to the person writing,
while on the other hand, speaking about another's idea in a sufficient way (Coursepack, p.
23).
Citation styles are distinguished in North America and the United Kingdom. For intext citations, the custom in the United States is to place the end quotation marks after the
period. However, in the United Kingdom, the end quotation marks are placed before the
period (video).
Ryan Connette
ACA-401D
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There are ways to reference a source in an essay without using either paraphrasing or
in-text citations. Footnoting is a method which places the references to another source at
the bottom of a page with a number attached to it corresponding to its placement in the
text of the paper. Footnoting should be used for major papers. Reflection papers use
footnotes only to make an important comment and not for the purpose of referencing
another source. In-text citations are a standard method for reflection papers (video). A
works cited page serves as a reference page for all the works that are cited, paraphrased,
or footnoted in the essay (Coursepack, p. 33).
Conclusion:
The Coursepack concerning the nature and methods of academic writing effectively
showed the significance of each step of the writing process. It expressed the structure,
development, and finalization of writing an academic essay as well as describing the
integration of the research, the components of an essay, and stages of revision and
editing. Different ways of referencing a source through citation, paraphrasing, and
footnoting were very helpful for knowing the varieties of attributing research to another
writer. What was probably most instructive for me were the differences between United
States and United Kingdom citation formatting presented in the video, causing me to
become more aware of the continental diversity of rules of style.