Week 1 - Introduction to Academic Writing in English Erica Cirillo-McCarthy Assistant Director of Graduate and ADEP Writing

 Workshop Format  Academic writing in the US – rhetorical traditions  Discuss cultural differences  Writing Process: Invention, Drafting, Revision, Editing  Free writing/ Discussion

 Based upon Aristotelian rhetoric  Emphasis on the credibility of the WRITER  Emphasis on the PURPOSE of the writing  Emphasis on AUDIENCE awareness  Everything in the TEXT functions under the conditions of the specific CONTEXT of the writing

 The writer must be credible/ trustworthy. Otherwise, the audience will not be persuaded.  The writer exhibits effective and clear use of evidence and cites according to discipline-specific style guide  The writer adheres to specific style guidelines, APA, Chicago, or MLA  The writer adheres to discipline-specific conventions, such as introducing a source, the different sections expected in a writing project, and the writing moves made in each section

 Understand who makes up your audience – your audience dictates the approach you take in tone and voice (ex. A letter you write to your best friend and a letter you write to your advisor will be different in tone and voice)  Speak to the audience at their level  Ask yourself: What does the audience need to know? When do they need to know it?  Do not make cultural assumptions about your audience  Be direct with your argument, use of sources, and logic  Be respectful but firm with your ideas and arguments

 The document you use to communicate with your audience  What you think your text says and does may be different from what your audience perceives  The text is always written with the audience in mind

 Why are you writing this text?  What is the purpose?  What are the historical issues that have led up to your topic and focus?  What experiences and knowledge do you bring to your topic?  What experiences and knowledge does the audience bring to your text?

 What is emphasized in your cultures’ writing?  What strategies do you employ to align your writing to US-specific rhetorical traditions?  What are some of the challenges you face in expressing your ideas in US-specific writing conventions?

 Invention  Drafting  Revision  Editing

 Invention can take the form of any type of activity that helps you, the writer, create, connect, imagine your ideas, concepts, arguments: ◦ Visual (sketches, concept maps, webbing, process maps, hierarchy maps, flowcharts) ◦ Freewriting, brainstorming, listing, outlining, ◦ Invention as inquiry, talking with others, thinking aloud and recording, writing a narrative ◦ A combination of strategies

 Low stakes, putting ideas and thoughts down  Could be electronic or long hand – write your draft in English, not your home language  Do not worry about word choice, grammar, sentence structure at this point  Find the right time that works for you  Find the right place for you to spread out and not be distracted  Disconnect the internet or find a program that does that  The more you get down on paper, the more confident you become  Take your freewriting or selected quotes and begin there

 Now is the time to stop and carefully look for: ◦ Idea development ◦ Use of evidence ◦ Synthesis of ideas and sources ◦ Logical Flow (Does one idea flow into the next? Are the relationships between ideas clear to the reader?) ◦ Word choice (Define your terms)

 Come up with a plan that works for you ◦ print it out and read it aloud ◦ Have someone else read it aloud so you “hear” your writing for clarity and flow Consideration of audience Eliminate redundancy, in word choice, in ideas, in sentence structure Parallel structure Get to know your patterns of error and look for those Finesse the formatting, in text citation, and references page Go through and make sure all of your sources have a bibliographic entry and that you don’t have a bibliographic entry that you haven’t cited (use the “find” function in Word) Look for your writing ticks—over usage of certain transitions or phrases

 Let’s take some time to write down our personal writing goals  Then we can go around the room and find out each person’s goal  Take these goals and put them on your fridge, your computer, your bathroom mirror  Stick to these goals

 Set an appointment with a Writing Center tutor to talk about your goals and writing obstacles  Find strategies you can use to overcome writing obstacles  Work with like-minded, supportive people in writing groups  Work closely with your advisor and always advocate for yourself  Just keep writing and coming to the workshops