Scribbles from the Ivory Tower
International Relations, Politics, and Academia in plain language
So, it seems you’ve been asked to summarize a specific book or article, either at the request of your professor or (gasp!) own initiative. Being able to summarize effectively is an important skill you need to learn early on, especially if in your field of study, you deal with a lot of text and reading.
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #15: The art of summarizing”
When you’re writing your paper, you are often required to read either articles or books relevant to whatever it is you’re writing. And you will find ideas that you would like to use in your paper. But if you were to simply copy-paste them, that would be called plagiarism and it is a grave academic sin. So, how do you avoid committing this sin?
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #14: On paraphrasing and quoting”
I’d like to continue on from where we left off at post #8 when I first discussed the types of papers that you may meet throughout your university life. This time, let’s focus on some of the more specific types of papers.
In post #6 when I wrote about how to write a literature review, I mentioned that it should highlight a “contribution” that your research will make. Now, let’s talk about what this means and why you don’t always have to overthink this.
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #12: What is a contribution?”
At this point, we’re almost done with the paper. You’ve fleshed out your ideas in paragraph after paragraph and you don’t have anything more to say. But wait, there’s still one part left: the conclusion.
Cue the groans.
“But I’ve already made my point! Why do I have to write more?”
Well, as I’ve said before, academic writing is a circular process. Like it or not, you have to write a conclusion. So, let’s get down to business.
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #11: Writing a conclusive conclusion”
Now that we’ve covered the introduction, it’s time for us to tackle the brunt of the writing work in the body of the paper. Let’s assume your introduction has been interesting enough so the readers want to read more. This is where you will have to organize your ideas in a meaningful manner and develop your argument to the fullest.
As usual, I won’t speak about how you ought to write; writing in an academic style is fairly straightforward and you are allowed to insert your personal style a bit. However, I will provide some pointers as to how you could organize your ideas so they make sense. We’ll cover paragraph structure and bit by bit, we’ll get to body structure.
Let’s get started.
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #10: Structuring your body”
They say that first impressions are everything, and you don’t get a second chance at making first impressions. Such holds true for even academic papers. Your introduction is your first chance to hook readers into reading the rest of your paper, so you better work hard on it.
At this point, we have covered the general parts of the introduction, so let’s get to the actual writing. Also, because writing an inviting introduction is hard, this section is often written first and finished last.
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #9: Writing an inviting introduction”
At this point, you have some of the basics of structure covered. Before discussing more basics, I think now’s a good time to understand the types of papers you may encounter when you’re in university.
Some general advice first. You ought to always pay attention to the wording of your research question (as I’ve mentioned in post #4), as this determines the general character of your paper. This also applies to questions your professor gives you. If they provide you with a research question, then you actually have your work cut out for you. You may also have to do some work, especially if all they give you is a statement like “Robotics will change the nature of war. Discuss.”
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #8: Knowing your enemy – types of papers and what to expect”
While you’re doing your literature review (or revising an existing one), you should be familiar with sources and data at this point. This post serves as a guide regarding these two things. We’ll cover things like what “good” sources and data are and how not to get bamboozled into using less credible sources. As usual, the material here is targeted primarily for my undergraduate students. Let’s get to it.
Continue reading “Ivory Tower Writing #7: A note on data and sources”
Scribbles from the Ivory Tower 
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