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Different cultures have different ideas about what constitutes an appropriate academic paper. In some cultures, where it is politically dangerous to write arguments, students are often taught to piece together their papers from certain "approved" materials. In other cultures, where argument is considered to be an overly "subjective" medium, students are taught to report "just the facts" in their papers. Imagine the distress these students feel when they arrive in America and are asked to create an academic argument.
If you are a multilingual student, you may have indeed found that you have written an essay that you felt was very good, only to be told that it somehow wasn't appropriate or clear. When writing the American academic essay, you, as a multilingual writer, should be aware of certain rhetorical conventions that most American readers and writers take for granted. You should understand that these conventions are not rules that you have to follow at all costs; rather, they reflect an American reader's expectations. If you don't consider these expectations, the American reader may be confused, and your essay may not hit its mark. Accordingly, here are some things to consider as you write. (Note: You'll want to make use of the links we've provided here. They provide more complete discussion of some of the points at hand, offering advice that is useful to all writers, multilingual or not.)
When we say that academic papers must make an argument, we don't mean to suggest that these papers are in any way contentious. Rather, we are trying to distinguish between a report, which summarizes information, an opinion piece, which may lack sufficient evidential support, and an argument, which presents an informed perspective. When you are writing an academic paper, you are writing argument. Accordingly, you will want to consider what your position is on a particular topic. For example, if you are asked to read several articles that discuss corporate donations to the environmental movement, you will want to do more than report on which corporation has donated what to whom. You also will want to do more than declare which environmental movement, in your opinion, is most worthy of donations. Rather, you will want to consider your position on these donations. Do you think that these donations do more harm than good to the movement by undermining its integrity? Or do you think that these donations are necessary to the movement's success, and that "the ends justify the means"? In order to determine and then to support your position, you will of course have to do some reading, thinking, and research. You've begun the process necessary to creating an appropriate academic argument.
Most American academic essays are driven by a thesis sentence or claim - i.e., a sentence that declares what it is that the essay intends to argue. While the thesis sentence might appear anywhere in the academic paper, most American readers generally expect to find a thesis at the end of the introduction.
Some students from other cultures find the practice of writing a thesis sentence to be awkward, simplistic, or offensive. After all, why would a writer want to tell a reader the point of his argument right up front, and then spend eight pages (or twelve or twenty) repeating and elaborating on this argument? Won't a reader be insulted - as if you think he's not capable of "getting" your point unless you spell it out for him? Isn't it better to think of an essay as an intellectual walk through an idea, with the "point" of the essay expressed in the conclusion?
While this notion of the essay is certainly valid - and while several essays in English can indeed be described as intellectual "walks" through an idea - most academic essays do organize themselves around a thesis sentence. The thesis helps the reader to focus on your argument by declaring it immediately. The reader knows what you intend to argue; the suspense lies in whether you will be able to convince him of your position, and how.
You should be aware of a few of the fundamentals of the American paragraph. First, most paragraphs are controlled by a single idea. Second, this idea is often expressed in a single sentence, called a topic sentence. Third, while the topic sentence can appear anywhere in a paragraph, American readers often look for it near the beginning or near the end of the paragraph. Indeed, the placement of a topic sentence depends on what you're trying to accomplish. You may want to make a claim and then offer support; you may want to work more inductively, offering evidence and ending with a claim. In either situation, you'll want to think carefully about the best placement for your topic sentences.
Multilingual students also often have questions about a paragraph's length. While the average paragraph is approximately 1/2 to 2/3 of a page long, you will certainly want to compose paragraphs that are longer or shorter than this. You shouldn't measure a paragraph by how long it is; rather, you should consider whether or not you have provided adequate evidence, whether you have crafted each paragraph around a single idea, whether you have presented your ideas coherently, whether you have made good transitions between your points, and so on.
Different cultures have different values when it comes to arguing a point. In some cultures, for example, digression is a positive quality: the more eloquently you can digress, the more impressed your audience will be. In American colleges and universities, digression is typically not encouraged. In fact, writing is most often praised when it is straight-forward and concise. They should also follow the principles of logic. Essays typically follow one of two kinds of reasoning: deductive or inductive. There are also common logical fallacies that you will want to avoid. Familiarize yourself with the principles of logic so that you can strengthen your arguments.
When structuring an essay for an American reader, you might find it helpful to know that there are several traditional strategies for structuring an argument:
Note that many of your essays will combine these strategies, so that you might narrate in one part of the essay, define in another, and do a causal analysis in yet another. As you consider different strategies, think about your purpose. The form of an essay (or a paragraph) is always dictated by the requirements of its idea.
The basic structure of the English sentence is simple: subject and predicate. (The predicate always consists of a verb, and sometimes consists of a verb AND an object or a complement.) Of course, there are many variations on this theme. You can add information to the beginning of this basic structure; you can add information to the end. You can combine sentences using coordination (and, but, or, for, nor or yet). You can combine sentences using subordination (turning one of the sentences into a dependent clause or phrase before combining them). Experiment with your sentences in English, but make sure that you never lose sight of your basic structure. If you want to learn more about the English sentence, read our page on Style. Consult Joseph Williams Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace, or any good grammar handbook.
