The Process of academic Writing

Academic writing as the name implies is the kind of writing that you arebrequired to do in college or university. It differs from other kinds of writing such as personal. Literary, journalistic, or business writing its differences can be explained in part by its special audience, tone, and purpose.

Prewriting

Step 1.Choosing and narrowing a topic

If you are given a specific writing assignment ( such as an essay or examination) you must narrow a topic to particular aspect of that general subject. Suppose you are interested in the environment. It would be impossible to cover such a big topic in a paragraph. You would have to narrow the topic to perhaps environinental pellution if that your interest. However, writing about ocean pollution is still too broad because it would include pollution by oil, chemicals, sewage, and garbage.  Finally, oyu might make topic even narrower by writting only about the effects of oil spills on sea life. The point is. You must narrow the subject of your paragraph to a specific focus so that you can write about it, clearly and completely.

Model

•   General topic
•   Specific topic
•  Very specific topic

Step 2. brainstorming

Three useful brainsroming tachnique are listing,freewriting and clustering. Learn how to do each of them and then decide which is the most productive for you.

A.      Listing

Listing is a brainstorming techniques in which you think about your topic and quickly make a list of whatever words or phrases come into your mind. Your purpose is to produce as many ideas as possible in a short time, and your goal is to find a specific focus for tyour topic.

Follow this procedure :

•    Write down the general topic at the top of your paper
•   Then make a list of every idea that comes into your mind about that topic,however if you write down information that is completely off the topic,don’t worry about it because you can cross it out later.
•   Use words, phrases or sentences and down worry about spelling or grammar.

B.      Freewriting

Freewriting is a brainstorming activity in wich you write freely about a topic because you are looking for a specific focus.

Follow this procedure :

·         Write the topic at the top of your paper

·         write as much as you can about the topic until you run out of ideas. Include such supporting items as facts, details, and examples that come into your mind about the subject.

·         After you run out of ideas, reread your paper and circle the main idea(s) that you would like to develop.

·         Take that main idea and freewrite

Freewriting there are three kinds

1.   Freewriting 1
2.    Sublist
3.   Preliminary outline

Step 3. Outlining

An outline is a formal plan for a paragraph.in an outline you write down themain points and subpoints in the order in wich you plan to write about them.

Model outlining

Topic sentence

Supporting point

1.   Supporting detail
2.    Supporting detail

Supporting point

1.     Supporting detail
2.    Supporting detail
3.    Supporting detail
4.     Supporting detail

The writing process stage 3. Writing and Revising Drafts

Step 1. Writing the frist rough Draft

The frist step in this stage is to write a rough draft from your outline. This is how to proceed :

•  Write down sentence and underline it.
•  Skip one or two lines perline of writing and leave margins of one inch on both sides of the paper.
•     Write your paragraph, following your outline as closely as possible.trying writing steadily.
•    Don’t worry about grammar, punctuation, or spelling. This frist rough darf does not have to be “perfect” in fact.

Step 2. Revising content and organization

After you write the rough draft, the next step is revise it. This is how to proceed

•   Read over your paragraph carefully for a general overview. Focus on thegeneral aspects of the paper and make notes in the margins so that you can rewrite parts that need tobe improved.
•  Check to see that you have achieved your stated purpose.
•   Check for general logic and coherence. Your audience should be able to follow your ideas easily understand what you written.
•   Check to make sure that your paragraph has a topic sentence and that the topic sentence has a central(main) focus.
•  Check to make sure that the topic sentence is developed with sufficient supporting details.
•  Check your use of transition signal.
•   Finally, does your paragraph have or need a concluding sentence? If you wrote a finnal comment is it on the topic.

Example of essay

Disuss, some cultural issues public health workers should be aware of when practising in an aboriginal community

             Of vital importance to the success or otherwise of any health care program is the support of the community elders. Aboriginal communities have a strong hierarchical structure. Status is automatically conferred on the older people of the community and it is the elders who make decisions that will affect the whole community. To attempt change without their support is considered very rude (Gibbs 1994: 46). Any health worker who attempts to change any aspect of a community would be wise to do so with the permission and support of the elders, as this will give a much better chance of success.

                Equally, it is essential for health care workers to understand something of the protocol of an Aboriginal community. Two main aspects of this culture are important to keep in mind. Firstly, a health care worker should always seek permission before entering an Aboriginal community, unless it is an explainable emergency. They consider their entire communal area to be their home, and to enter without permission would be akin to entering a person’s house without an invitation (O’Brien and Pjooij 1995: 4). Secondly, very complex relationships exist between members of a community. It is important to acknowledge and respect these and not ask Aboriginal people to interact with each other when it is inappropriate to do so; for example, when introducing educational health care programs never ask younger members of the community to teach older members. It is considered very rude towards the elders, makes the younger members uncomfortable and can lead to mutual lack of cooperation (Davidson 1995: 34). Each community has its own customs and it is important for the health care worker to become aware of the practices particular to that community.

            In addition, health care workers would do well to remember that language barriers can exist between the local Aboriginal language and English, and can lead to misunderstandings. For instance, in Pitjantjatjara there is no word for “or”. If you asked a person, “Did you take the medication or throw it away?”, the most likely response would be “Yes”. In this case the “Yes” would mean “I threw it away” as there is a high probability that the person will answer the last part of the question. Offering choices by inserting “or” can be confusing so it is better to work through problems one section at a time (O’Brien and Pjooij 1995: 20). It is therefore vital that the health care worker becomes aware of any important aspects of difference between the languages, to avoid possible misunderstanding

             In conclution, there are three key strategies that health care workers should apply when working in Aboriginal communities. They should seek to work through the elders, respect community traditions and, most importantly, be aware of, and seek to overcome, the major language and cultural barriers.  It is only by employing these strategies that health care workers can hope to be successful in their work with and for Aboriginal people.  Then, and only then, can health care workers contribute to the improvement of Aboriginal health.