Blog #6: Keys to Writing

As I read Teaching the Conventions of Academic Discourse, written by Teresa Thonney, I was surprised that I understood most of it. I thought that reading an academic journal article, written by a scholar for other scholars, would be filled with very academic jargon specific to professors, yet I was surprised that I could easily understand it for the most part. 




I enjoyed how she broke down her essay into six main sections (and a section with suggestions and a conclusion at the end) and each section contained many excerpts from academic writers. Sh evaluated how each academic writer formed their argument and backed it up. This type of proof is influential for her audience of scholars, for they will be able to take note of how the academic writers express their opinions and be able to share it with their students. She pinpoints exactly what academic writers do: respond to what others have written about their topic, state the value of their work and announce the plan for their papers, acknowledge that others might disagree with the position they've taken, adopt a voice or authority, use academic and discipline-specific vocabulary, and finally, emphasize evidence. Within these categories, she suggests how these tips will help undergraduates transition into college writing. Thonney states in the beginning of her essay when she quotes Somme's and Saltz that, "freshman at universities, when asked to write college papers, can feel like they are being asked 'to build a house without any tools'" (44). With so many tips and tricks that she gives to professors to then give to their students will aid the students to make that house building seem easier. Many first year college students are thrown into a new environment with no knowledge of how to write a college essay, so professors must take responsibility and teach their students the steps to academic writing in order to achieve academic student success. 

Although I found most of the reading fairly easy to understand, I was a little confused and overwhelmed in some areas of the essay. I got a little lost when Thonney started to talk about writing concisely and lexical densities (50). She jammed a lot of information about lexical density research done by Jean Ure into a few paragraphs which made it a little hard to follow. I think all those numbers and percentages threw me off and was a little confusing. Even though this section was filled with academic jargon, Thonney goes on later to describe what lexical words and lexical bundles are, and she also offers some examples of these which made it easier for me to understand. 

As I read through the essay, I noted the conventions and how the writing style of academic writers is similar to my own style of writing. Thonney explained how academic writers usually start their paper by referring to what others have said about a topic. This type of convention usually occurs in research papers, which is actually very useful for me. I am currently taking an undergrad research class at SDSU and our final for the class is to conduct a research project and write out our findings. I will be able to use Thonney's advice in her essay, such as, "addressing an issue that matters, and establishing that there is more to be said about it" (45) when I write my research paper. 

On another note, Thonney explains that academic writing is "ultimately judged on the basis of its evidence, and academic writers use various techniques for highlighting data" (52). My evidence when I write tends to come from books or news articles, not tables, graphs, or charts (all sources Thonney points out). I usually try to build imagery using the words in my essay, but I usually never use actual images. I use evidence in my writing, but maybe I will try to use a wider variety of evidence and resources to elevate my writing into more academic and a collegiate level.