This book provides a foundation and framework to enhance your understanding of the various processes involved in academic writing. The term, academic writing, here refers to the types of writing used in college level writing courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. However, this book was not written simply to help you pass another English class or to get you through the next writing intensive course (although it will certainly do that). At some point you will be out in the real world (hopefully). Thus, the purpose of this book is to enable you to be an effective writer and thinker in all contexts including your personal and professional lives.
Table of Contents
Section I: The Process of Academic Writing
Chapter 1: The Super-Secret Academic Writing Process Revealed
Chapter 2: Research to Gather Data
Chapter 3: Pre-Drafting
Chapter 4: Drafting and Revising
Chapter 5: Editing and Sharing
Section II: Some Particulars of Academic Writing
Chapter 6: The Basics of Academic Writing
Chapter 7: Use of Objective, Precise Language
Chapter 8: Keeping it Simple
Chapter 9: Reducing Bias
Chapter 10: Avoiding Plagiarism
Section III: The Mechanics of Style for Academic Writing
Chapter 11: First and Last Paragraphs
Chapter 12: Paragraphs are our Friends
Chapter 13: Transition Words and Sentences
Chapter 14: Headings
Chapter 15: Grammar
Chapter 16: Punctuation
Chapter 17: Sentence Length
Chapter 18: Citations
Chapter 19: The Reference List
Chapter 20: Quotations
Chapter 21: Quantitative Data, Tables, Figures, and Graphs
Section IV: Using Research in Academic Writing
Chapter 22: The Basic Elements of Research
Chapter 23: Evaluating Research Studies
Chapter 24: Describing Empirical Research
Chapter 25: The Annotated Bibliography and Research Proposal
Chapter 26: The Literature Review
Section V: Theses, Dissertations
Chapter 27: Theses and Dissertations: Secondary Research
Chapter 28: Theses and Dissertations: Original Research
