Writing a Great
Academic Paper
-Writing Process
-Higher Order Concerns
-Lower Order Concerns
-Integrating Research
Our Writing Center
WHAT’S YOUR WRITING
PROCESS?
1. Pre-writing
2. Writing
3. Re-writing
* Revision
* Editing
* Proofreading
Writing is (can be)
a MESSY process
STEP I:
READING
• Close reading of the text
• Making meaning:
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•
•
•
•
•
•
summarize
evaluate
organize
respond
analyze
synthesize
reflect
STEP II:
Higher Order Concerns
• Content
• Focus
• Thesis
• Main Ideas
• Organization
• Structure
• Arrangement
• Strong topic sentences transition between ideas
• Stance
• Voice
• Genre, Audience, Purpose
STEP III:
Lower Order Concerns
• Sentence Fluency
• Sentence variation
• Diction
• Word choice
• Level of formality
• Conventions
• Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation
EVALUATING SOURCES
• Why is this important?
• Entering the academic conversation
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Using scholarly sources
•  Start with the library databases
• “Journal of . . .”
• Peer reviewed
• .gov, .edu
• Google scholar
• Often you can find these for free through the library
End of Part One
(But just the beginning)
DOCUMENTING
SOURCES
From Highlights Magazine:
DOCUMENTING
SOURCES
INFORMAL DOCUMENTATION
•
Track all sources as you research
• Document informally as you go. Save that file.
FORMAL DOCUMENTATION:
•
Find the closest possible match to your original source
•
•
•
•
•
Hacker
Purdue OWL
Library website
etc.
Play the Highlights game
• references/works cited page
INTEGRATING
SOURCES
Diagnostic 1:
It is important to understand what importing food to
schools costs in excessive packaging along with all of the
transportation based pollutants we are creating. A statistic
taken from Eco Evaluator states that, “in the US alone, food
consumption is projected to increase by as much as 20% by
the year 2020. And that “food transportation in the form of
truck, air, and sea shipping has created one of the most
significant environmental impacts because it has caused rapid
increases in the volume of greenhouse gas emissions.”(Eco,
2009) The costs of these prepackaged foods that are
delivered in containers to be reheated and then served are
not beneficial in any way to Oregon’s children.
Works Cited
"Buy Local, Local Food Is Sustainable - The Issues –
Sustainable Table." Sustainabletable. 2011. Web. 23 June
2011. <http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/eatlocal/>.
Diagnostic 2:
Should there be a law prohibiting spanking as a means of
discipline? Probably not. Promoting an absolute ban on spanking could
be counterproductive, according to Dr. Lawrence Diller. “Just as
Prohibition could not end drinking, it may be impossible to stop parents
from spanking their children . . . The more society disapproves and tries
to make it illegal, the farther such corporal punishment will be driven
underground, making it even more inappropriate when used” (Diller
44). This makes a good deal of sense to me, and I really do get that to
abolish spanking could have serious repercussions. However, you don’t
have to be an abolitionist to strive for healthier ways to discipline
children than beating them into submission.
Works Cited
Diller, Lawrence. “The Truth About Spanking: Promoting a Ban is Counter
Productive.” National Review 21 April 2008, Web. 20 June 2011
QUESTION:
What are both of these passages
doing right?
PEE
Structure
1. POINT
2. EVIDENCE
3. EXPLANATION
POINT
• Introduces your idea in your own words.
POINT:
EVIDENCE
2. uses a quote to provide evidence for your point, OR
 provides a counter argument
EVIDENCE:
EXPLANATION
3. follows up the quote with an explanation of how it
supports your point, e.g. what it means, why it’s
significant, or why you disagree
EXPLANATION:
Your quote:
You found this quote on page 23 in an
article written by George Smith:
“Men are better equipped to handle
physically demanding jobs such as
construction or the military.”
Let’s say you disagree, and you want to
argue this point.
P
What’s the point?
Step 1: State the author’s point in your own
words:
 George Smith argues that women should
not work in jobs that are physically
demanding.
 Some argue that women should not work
in jobs that are physically demanding.
What’s the evidence?
Step 2. Integrate the quote into a sentence that sets up
the quote in your own words:
•
According to Smith, “men are better equipped to handle physically
demanding jobs such as construction or the military” (23).
•
Men are much “better equipped to handle physically demanding jobs such as
construction or the military” (Smith 23).
•
Some believe women are not as well “equipped to handle physically
demanding jobs such as construction or the military” (Smith 23) as men.
E
What does it mean?
Step 3. Explain the meaning and significance
of the quote in your own words
…showing why it is important to your point.
 Despite Smith’s claim that women cannot do
the same work as men, there is a wealth of
evidence that shows this is not true. Many
women have successfully worked in physically
demanding jobs and done as well as or better
than men.
PEE:
Some argue that women should not work in
jobs that are physically demanding. According to
men’s rights advocate George Smith, “men are
better equipped to handle physically demanding
jobs such as construction or the military” (23).
Despite Smith’s claim that women cannot do the
same work as men, there is a wealth of evidence
that shows this is not true. Many women have
successfully worked in physically demanding jobs
and done as well as or better than men.
NOTE:
NO FREESTANDING QUOTES!

Your quote must be integrated into a sentence
that begins with your own words.
Integrating quotes
• According to Smith, “men are better equipped . . .”
• Men’s rights advocate George Smith claims that “men are
better equipped . . . “
• Smith has argued that “men are . . . “
• Some believe “men are . . . “
• In a 1992 article entitled “Men At Work,” author and advocate
George Smith writes, “Clearly, men are better equipped . . .”
• Despite numerous studies showing that women easily keep
pace with men in nearly every profession, Smith maintains
that “men are better equipped . . .”
• Smith states: “Men are better equipped . . .”
FULL CITATION INFO
• Appears on the last page:
• Works Cited (MLA) or
• the References (APA) or
• the bibliography (Chicago Style)
Don’t forget to use PEE in
your paper!
POINT:
EVIDENCE:
EXPLANATION: