Resources for Academic Writing

Students at Saint Meinrad are expected to explore ideas in a variety of writing assignments. These range from personal reflections to scriptural exegesis to research essays. Many of these assignments will require the writing to be in the style and format commonly expected in formal academic writing. This guide is designed to help you find resources that will guide you through the academic writing process.

Expectations for Academic Writing
The most common expectation of academic writing is that it will be argumentative. In this context, “argumentative” means the writing is meant to establish a thesis. A “thesis statement” should be prominently featured in the introduction.

Each part of the essay should be devoted to discussing the meaning and implications of the thesis or to providing support for the thesis. The whole of a piece of writing should have unity of purpose, that is, every section, paragraph, sentence and footnote should clearly have an important role in supporting the thesis.

For the most part, there is not much difference between writing at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The major difference is that graduate essays usually include a survey of literature already written on the subject. So, you must place the essay’s thesis in the context of past and current scholarly opinion and more thoroughly document the claims than you did for undergraduate essays.

These Web sites offer general advice on academic writing and on specific essay formats:

• Argument, The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  This is an account of the nature of “arguments” and some strategies about how to develop them.
• Writing in College: A Short Guide to College Writing, by Joseph M. Williams and Lawrence McEnerney.
  This guide, aimed at undergraduate writing, has advice valid for all levels of academic writing.
• Writer’s Handbook, The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  A good general guide to the whole writing process, including creating an argument.
• Writing the Religion Paper, Dartmouth Writing Program.
  Provides advice on different kinds of essays you might have to write on religious topics.

These guides to academic writing can be found in the Reserve/Reference area of the Archabbey Library:

• Kirszner and Mandell, The Holt Handbook. Call number: Ref. PE1408.K675 2002b. This is a general guide for all aspects of the writing process.
• James S. Stramel, How to Write a Philosophy Paper. Call number: Reserve B52.S84 1995. A brief guide to argumentative essay writing that works for more than just philosophy.

Using the Right Format
Academic disciplines usually have a style for written work that is accepted and expected throughout the discipline. For example, writing in psychology and education is generally formatted in APA (American Psychological Association) style; English generally uses MLA (Modern Language Association) style. A common style for writing about history, theology and philosophy is the Chicago style, sometimes referred to as Chicago/Turabian.

While considerations of style may seem trivial, they are not. Common stylistic formatting allows readers to spend their time engaging your ideas, rather than trying to figure out what you are saying or how you are trying to document your work. Like commonly accepted conventions for spelling, grammar and punctuation, stylistic conventions help rather than hinder clear expression.

Information about academic styles can be easily found on the Web. To find out how to formulate a reference to an article accessed through an electronic database using Chicago style, a search on Google or Yahoo! using the words “citation database Chicago style” will return many examples from summaries prepared by college and university libraries and writing centers.

These Web sites give examples of the basics for various citation styles:

• Research and Documentation Online by Diana Hacker.
  This is the companion Web site to A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker recommended by Saint Meinrad School of Theology.
• Citing References in Your Paper from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
  This is a good summary of citation practices in major styles for print sources.
• Citation Styles from Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources.
  This is a good site for information about citing electronically accessed resources.

These guides to various styles can be found in the Reference area of Archabbey Library:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 15^th ed. Call number: Ref. Z253.U69 2003.
• Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5^th edition. Call number: Ref. LB2369.G53 1999.
• Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6^th edition. Call number: Ref. LB2369.T8 1996.