Delivery Date: 26th September 2019 | lecturer: Maeve O’Brian Braun
Writing an academic Essay
counterarguments – do not underestimate personal experience in the field
thesis – opinion, arguement, the point you want to make / tacit knowledge, interest, fascination triggers it
assignement – get into the material, filter it
how to enter it? questioning? making a statement about it and then trying to prove?
In the natural science they try to prove a hypothesis wrong
2 ways of building a paragraph:
- topic/ sentence
- clarification/ exposition
- example
- example, anectode, motive
- narrowing down to more general statements
- concluding topic sentence
Essay assignment
thesis —-> line of argument
Integration between theme and medium
Be very clear whether a statement refers to the artists’s intentions and claims or to the way you are looking at the work you are writing about.
How to unpack introduced concepts and ideas?
I can put my argument as a counterargument
Give examples of other works and artists that go with and against the work I chose —-> throughout the whole text!!!! (explain the contribution of this artistic work as a political, social and philosophical movement and compare it to the other artists in order to promote your own thesis.)
What form of essay would suit your chosen topic?
- Exposition Essay – thesis, supporting arguments, restate thesis
- Discussion Essay – issue, alternative arguments, final position
- Challenge Essay – challenge, arguments, thesis
If there is any form of text that does not fit within the conventions of academic writing, it can be placed as an anedocte as a pre-text (beginning) in italic.
The relative value of types of published material in academic writing
- Academic books and academic journals – 10!
- Conference proceedings – 9!
- Artists’ monologues/ documentation, including exhibition and performance ‘texts’ – 8!
- Research / project reports (commissioned) – 7!
- Lecture / course syllabus or notes – 6!
- Professional journalism – 5!
