Writing, Academia And Everything In Between

  This week was all about what makes a good essay. Essays are essential in academic writing, so there is no question regarding the importance of learning how to write a good essay when it comes to a class like this. The first class of the week started with a fundamental part of any essay - the thesis statement. The thesis statement conveys the controlling idea of an essay. Nikhil Sir took us through what encompasses a thesis statement in an essay, the parts of a thesis statement and the do’s and don’t associated with it. He followed up the explanations with a Padlet activity where we tried to identify the elements of a few sample thesis sentences.The activity helped solidify my understanding of the concept. We ended the class with a group assignment to analyse any academic write-up of our choice and identify academic writing elements in the essay using what we have learned. The second class of the week was taken by Betty Ma'am. She took us through the genres of academic writing, w...

     Academic writing had always seemed dauntingly boring to a person like myself, who thrives on witty retorts and creativity. Which is probably why the first phrase that stuck with me from all the academic writing sessions I went to was that academic writing doesn't have to be boring, theory forward text pieces. Of course, this does not mean that academic writing suddenly becomes a haven devoid of rules. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to be interesting while keeping one's controlling idea in mind.  Rules are paramount, especially when it comes to a concept of the likes of academic writing, which is expected to be uniform and concise. The very first class was relevant in this respect. It took us through the framework of academic texts and what drives an academic perspective forward. We also paid particular attention to the various divisions that makes a text distinct. It was interesting to consider that an academically inclined text could take multiple paths and...