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!