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Writing Academic
Essays at University
Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University

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What is Research?
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Video 1In this video series, I will be introducing you to the basics ofwriting academic essays. As part of your university studies you will
have to write many reports and term papers. Understanding what is
expected of you in your written assignments is a key to performing
well academically.
But first, let’s understand the fundamental characteristics ofuniversity education. There are three main levels of education:bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate. Systems vary fromcountry to country, but a bachelor’s degree usually takes three or four
years, a master’s degree takes one or two years, and a doctorate takes
from three to six years. The aim of this process is to take a person frombeing a student to being a researcher.
In the context of university education, a student is someone who
studies. To study means to acquire knowledge, techniques andconcepts produced by others. A researcher is someone who
researches. To research means to create new knowledge, techniquesand concepts.
Your graduation thesis in the final year of your bachelor’s degree
is usually your first attempt at some original research. If you proceed topostgraduate studies, you will write a master’s thesis during yourmaster’s degree. This is a longer piece of writing and must contain asignificant element of original research. A doctoral thesis is usually thelength of a book, and it must be a high level piece of original research.

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People who want to become academic researchers must convert
their theses into academic publications. A doctoral thesis can either be
published as a book, or split up into a number of academic articles. Avery high quality master’s thesis might be good enough to be
published as an article. But, a graduation thesis is not typically at therequired level for publication. Regardless of your level in the university
system, you will also write many papers and reports. These are shorter
pieces of work, perhaps to gain credits for a particular course, or
perhaps written as first drafts of a longer thesis.
Whatever the length and originality of the piece of writing, they
all have something in common. They should follow academic writing
conventions. These conventions are the main focus of this video series.
In video 2 we will discuss the structure and format of an academic
essay. In video 3 we will learn about the style of English you should use
in academic writing. In video 4 we will learn how to reference yourwork properly. And finally in video 5 we will discuss research ethics
and using the internet as a research resource.
However, in this first video we are considering the question, what
is research? Understanding the nature of research helps you tounderstand your professors better. They are all researchers as well asteachers. It also helps you to understand where we are trying to takeyou as students.
It is helpful to think of research in this way. Humans beings havebuilt up a huge body of knowledge over the past few millennia. When
you are a student, you choose a little bit of that knowledge and study it
intensively. Your reports and papers are all small steps on the path toacquiring that knowledge.
By the time you reach graduate school, you are shifting fromstudy to research. You have begun to understand where the gaps or© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.

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boundaries of our knowledge are. The basic philosophy of theuniversity system is that researchers collectively fill in the gaps andexpand our knowledge. This process is never-ending. The more we
discover about human society and the universe, the more questions
are raised. There will always be a need for more research.
So what does this have to do with your reports and papers thatyou have to write as undergraduates? Well, from the first day of youruniversity studies you must learn and use the conventions of academic
writing. Furthermore, your reports are effectively the first stage of any
research project: literature review.
A literature review is when you read the existing research
published on a particular topic and then critically analyze it. In addition
to your lectures and classes, your professors will ask you to read key
texts in the field. You go to the library, read the books or papers, andanalyze them in your term papers. When doing a literature review, you
should not simply repeat what other people have said. You should try
to add your own analysis and interpretation, too. Through reviewing
the literature, you learn where the gaps in and boundaries of ourknowledge are. Even the most experienced researchers do literature
reviews when they start a new research project. Think of your reports
and term papers, therefore, as practicing one of the most basic
academic skills.
In the next video, I will introduce the basics of structuring an
academic essay.

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Structuring an
Essay!

Video 2In this second video of the series Writing Academic Essays at
University we look at the structure of an academic essay. While there
might be some variations in the detailed structure across different
subjects, all academic essays have the same basic structure: title,
introduction, main argument, conclusions and bibliography.
The first important part of your essay is the title. Whenever you
choose a title, make sure it is a clear, direct title that indicates the topic
of your essay. A lot of books - particularly novels, autobiographies andmass market publications - have short, “catchy” titles. But, in theacademic world we prefer longer, direct titles. As researchers we wantothers to find and read our research. The more keywords we have inthe title, the easier it is for people to find our research.
Take for example this title, “Female Managers in IT Companies: acomparison of Japan and America”. This contains a number of
keywords that tell people clearly the content of your paper. By
contrast, “Breaking Through the Stereotypes: women in international
business” is a less good title because it is vague. We do not know what
the stereotypes might be, “women” is a broader category than “female
managers” and “international” is vaguer than “Japan and America”.
After your title, the first section of any academic essay is theintroduction. The introduction plays a number of important roles. It© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.

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sets the context for your essay, it outlines the aims of your essay, and it
tells readers the structure of the arguments that will follow.
In fiction, for example a detective story, it is not good to tellreaders the end of the story at the beginning. But in an academic
essay, your introduction should tell readers in advance the mainarguments or conclusions. A good introduction is also importantbecause “first impressions count”. An engaging introduction willencourage people to read and find out more, while a poor
introduction will leave people bored or confused.
It is very difficult to make generalized comments about thestructure of the central section of your essay because it will change
greatly from subject to subject. If you are writing a scientific research
paper or presenting the results of a questionnaire, the paper follows astandard pattern giving your research hypothesis, methodology,
results and key findings. If you are writing a social sciences essay, you
might divide the essay into sections about different time periods,
themes, or case studies. There are many other possibilities. But,
whichever structure you use, it should always be very clearly indicatedto the reader.
At the end of your essay come the conclusions. There should not
be any surprises in your conclusions. Simply repeat the mainarguments you have made throughout the essay. If there are newarguments in the conclusions, it can be very confusing for the reader.
However, you might want to tell the reader about possible directions
for future study. There might be things in your essay that you did nothave space or the opportunity to discuss. The issues can be raised in asection of suggestions for future research.
The final section of your essay is the bibliography. We will talkmore about the bibliography in video 4 of this series, but for now let us© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.

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simply say that a bibliography is a list of all the materials you havementioned or cited in your essay.
The final thing to put in your essay is a word count. In academic
writing it is very important to write an essay of the length required byyour professor, or if you are a professional researcher, by the academic
journal. If your professor says “maximum 1500 words”, do not write
more than 1500 words.
There are two reasons for having word counts. The first, which isparticularly important for university students, is that it ensures fairness.
When professors are marking essays, it is difficult to compare an essayof 5000 words with an essay of 1000 words. The second reason is thatword counts ensure discipline. The aim of academic writing is not towrite a lot, but instead to write something original and incisive in thelimited space available. So, always stick to the word count, and always
put a word count at the beginning or end of your essay.
In the next video I will discuss academic writing style.

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Academic Writing
Style!

Video 3In this third video of the series Writing Academic Essays at
University, we look at academic writing style. Academic writing is aformal, serious form of writing and there are some importantconventions to follow. In this video I will introduce you to some of thebasic rules and expressions to avoid.
First, let’s consider the tone of the writing. In formal writing you
should not use casual or rude expressions. Slang and obscene orabusive language should not be used unless they illustrate a specificpoint within your research. In a paper about youth cultures, forexample, you might want to give examples of youth slang; but in the
body of a normal academic essay, slang, obscenity and abuse arecompletely inappropriate.
Furthermore, the tone of your essay should always be respectful.
When discussing the work of other researchers in a literature review,for example, never insult people, even if you totally disagree with theirarguments. Always discuss their work in a polite, firm manner.
The tone of your essay is also affected by the use of punctuation.
In academic writing it is best to avoid abbreviated forms using
apostrophes. For example, instead of “don’t”, use “do not”; instead of“won’t”, use “will not”. You should also avoid punctuation that adds
emotions into your writing. Emoticons, such as the smiley, arecompletely inappropriate. Even exclamation marks at the end of© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.

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sentences should be avoided. An exclamation mark in formal writing
can contain a very strong nuance of surprise, criticism or sarcasm.
Let’s now consider the voice used in your essay. Of course, every
academic essay is written by an individual or group of researchers. But,
the basic principle of academic writing is that it is calm, objective
analysis based on a set of evidence; so the emotions, personality or
opinions of the researchers should be concealed. Personal sentiments
introduced by expressions such as “I think that ...” or “In my opinion ...”
should be avoided. Instead, impersonal expressions such as “It can beconcluded that ...” are much more appropriate.
Sometimes you need to refer to yourself in an academic essay,
particularly if you are describing your research methodology. For
example, let’s suppose you carried out a questionnaire survey. You can
use one of the following voices: the first person, “I gave out 500
questionnaires”, the third person, “The author gave out 500
questionnaires”, or the passive voice, “500 questionnaires were givenout.” The passive voice is typically used in scientific papers, while
ethnographical researchers, for example, might use the first person. It
is best to ask your professor in your particular field for advice on themost appropriate style.
Another important aspect of writing style is avoiding
discriminatory language. There are two particular issues here. The first
involves making lazy generalizations about groups of people. So, forexample, “The Japanese are hard-working” might be a familiar phrase
or image, but it is not entirely true. There are some Japanese people
who are not hard working. It is much better to say something like,“Japanese people have a reputation for being hard-working” or “ManyJapanese people are hardworking.” Lazy generalizations can easily
slide into discriminatory comments.

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The second issue is using gender-neutral language. In a lot of
older publications, the male pronoun “he” was often used to refer toan individual, male or female, such as in this example: “When an
academic writes a paper, he should pay attention to writing style.”
Nowadays, this male-centric language is considered inappropriate.
You can avoid male-centric language in one of two ways: either byalternating male and female pronouns in such examples, or by using
plurals. This gender-neutral language using plurals is best: “Whenacademics write papers, they should pay attention to writing style.”
Finally, do not think that good academic writing style means
long, complicated sentences. Sometimes, long sentences are needed
to express complex ideas. But as much as possible keep yoursentences short, clear and to the point. If you have something new andoriginal to say, it must be in clear language so that others can easily
understand your point. Good academic writing style is about effective
communication, and not about trying hard to “sound intelligent” byusing complicated language.
In the next video, we will learn how to reference your work.

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Referencing YourWork!

Video 4

When writing academic essays, you must indicate where you
have got your information from by using references. In this video I will
introduce you to the basics of referencing your work and compiling abibliography. There are lots of citation styles, but we will use Harvard,which is one of the most common citation styles in the social sciences.
First of all, let us outline the different types of reference to otherpeople’s work.
First you can cite or quote their work. This is when you use
exactly the same words as someone else. The other person’s work
should be enclosed in quotation marks. Second you can paraphrase
their work. This is when you say effectively the same thing as someone
else but using your own words. Third you can summarize their work.
This is when you take somebody else’s argument and distill it into amuch shorter form. Finally you can simply mention their work. You do
not go into detail about the other person’s arguments, but you alert
readers to the existence of this other literature.
Whichever type of reference you use - quotation, paraphrase,summary or mention - you must state your source using what is called
an “in-text reference”. In the Harvard citation style, for an in-text
reference you give the author, year and page in the body of youressay. There are a few variations on the precise format but this is the© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.

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most common: Brackets surname year comma p. and then the page
range).
Exactly how the reference appears in your text depends on thesurrounding sentences. If you do not mention the other author in yoursentence, all the reference information appears within the brackets. If
you mention the author’s name in the sentence, only the year andpage range appear in the brackets. Furthermore, there are times when
you may drop the page range from your in-text reference. As a basic
rule, a quotation should always have the page range, a paraphrase
most probably needs a page range, a summary needs a page range if
it summarizes a specific section of the other author’s work, and asimple mention usually does not require a page range.
When you have finished writing your essay, you should have
many in-text references indicating your usage of other people’s work.
At the end of the essay, include all the works mentioned as in-text
references in a references list. The references list gives full
bibliographical details of all the works you have referenced. The works
are listed in alphabetical order by author surname.
For a book, you must give the following information: author,
date, title, place of publication and publisher. For a journal article, youmust give the author, date, article title, journal name, volume and page
range. There are many other sources that can be used, including
newspaper articles, websites, unpublished theses and government
documents. Each will have their own particular set of information to be
included.
Please note that the references list is only for works mentioned inyour essay. So, if you read a book in preparation for an essay, but then
did not refer to it using an in-text reference, the book is not included in
the references list.
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There is one other aspect of referencing your work to mention.
Some journals and book publishers ask authors to reference their work
using footnotes or endnotes rather than in-text references. An example
of a notes-based referencing style is the Chicago Manual of Style.
However, in the Harvard system, footnotes or endnotes are only used
to give supplementary information that has not been included in themain text.
Referencing your work properly might seem very complicated at
first, however, you will quickly get used to it. I have the following fourtips to help you master the art of referencing your work.
First, when you are reading any book or article as part of yourstudies, look carefully at what the author is doing, particularly the waythat in-text references are handled. You will gradually pick up a good
sense of how to reference your own work.
Second, go to the website of academic journals or bookpublishers that you read often in your field. There should be a sectionof the website called “Instructions for Authors”. Look at the“Instructions for Authors” to see what experienced researchers arebeing asked to do.
Third, do an internet search using “Harvard citation style” or“Chicago Manual of Style”. There are a number of open access sites
explaining these systems in detail. Choose your favourite one,bookmark it in your web browser, and always check you are following
the system when you write essays.
Finally, choose one system and stick to it. It can be very confusing
if you jump from style to style in different essays. Ultimately what
people want is consistency, so that your work looks neat, organizedand professional.
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In the final video of this series, we will discuss the consequencesof plagiarism, and how to use the internet as a research resource.

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Using the Internet
as a Research
Resource!

Video 5In this last video of the series Writing Academic Essays at
University, I discuss using the internet as a research resource. This topic
acts as a kind of summary for the content of all the previous videos inthis series, and also introduces the important issue of plagiarism.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of British English, thedefinition of plagiarism is “to take the work or an idea of (someone)
and pass it off as one’s own”. In practical terms, if you quote,paraphrase or summarize somebody else’s work without providing an
in-text reference and listing the source in your bibliography, then you
have plagiarized.
Why is this such a problem? Well, in video 1 we learned that
research is filling in the gaps or pushing back the boundaries ofexisting knowledge. The assumption of all academic writing is thateither it presents original arguments based on your research, or it isliterature review. The use of in-text references basically distinguishes
which parts of your text are your own original ideas, and which parts
originated somewhere else. If you omit in-text references when
actually you are quoting, paraphrasing or summarizing the work of
someone else, it looks like you have done original research when
actually you have not. Put more simply, plagiarism is lying or fraud.

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The consequences of plagiarism in the academic world aresevere. Professional researchers who plagiarize in their publishedresearch face two consequences: their publications are withdrawn andthey may be dismissed from their jobs. For students, the consequences
are also severe. If you have plagiarized in an academic essay, expect tofail your course. This might simply mean you cannot get credits for aparticular course and have to take it again. But, if you plagiarize in a
graduation thesis, expect the university to refuse to let you graduate.
Furthermore, every employer who requests an academic transcript ofyour university education will be told that you cheated. This candestroy your chances of getting a good job.
So, the message is very simple: never, ever quote, paraphrase orsummarize other people’s work without a proper in-text reference. You
do not need endless in-text references for things that are considered“general knowledge”. So, saying that World War II ended in 1945 does
not require an in-text reference. There are also occasions when, quite
by coincidence and with absolutely no malice on your part, you havecome to exactly the same conclusions or used the same wording as
another researcher. This is not plagiarism as you did not intend to
deceive, although as soon as you discover the other person’s work you
should make references to it in any future essay.
The time when the temptation to plagiarize is greatest is when
you are using the internet as a research resource. In the computer age,
it is so easy to copy and paste, and in the internet age, vast amounts of
information are freely available online. The websites of online news
organizations or sites like Wikipedia often contain long sections of textthat can easily be copied and pasted into your essays.
Copying and pasting from the internet is not a problem in itself,
as long as you give an in-text reference and list the website in your© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.

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bibliography. Your open access citation style sheet, which I suggested
you should find and bookmark in Video 4, should tell you the exact
format of an in-text reference for a website. But, the basic principle ofreferencing online sources is that you should give both the website url
and the date you accessed the website.
Writing the access date is very important. Websites anddocuments on the internet can be changed, moved or deleted at any
time. It is highly likely that the webpage you saw, or its url, will not be
the same if you try and access it a year or two later. Writing the accessdate tells readers when the information you found was available.
To overcome the problem of changed, moved or deleted
websites, I strongly suggest the following: create an archive of all
webpages that you have used in your research. Print out the
webpages, or save them as pdf files, and make a note of the date you
do this. Then you have a permanent record of what you saw online andwhen. If, at a later stage, someone asks you to demonstrate your online
source, you can simply show them the print out or pdf from yourarchive.
There are also many people who use Wikipedia as a basic
information source. Wikipedia can be very useful, and evenexperienced academics use it as a starting point for gathering basic
information. But, your professors typically do not like to see Wikipedia
used as an in-text reference or main information source. There are twomain reasons. The first is that we have no idea who authors Wikipedia
pages. It might be a leading expert on that topic, on the other hand it
might be someone with very limited knowledge or biased views onthat topic. The second is that Wikipedia entries can be edited veryfrequently. Even if the information is useful, Wikipedia can be a very
unstable information source.

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I would like to end by summarizing what we have learned in thisvideo series in three main points: First, academic writing is aboutclearly communicating to others your ideas in formal, written
language. Have a clear structure to your essay, and use an appropriate
tone and style throughout.
Second, take pride and care in your work. A good way of
demonstrating this pride and care is to use professional-looking andconsistent formatting.
Finally, use in-text references and a bibliography. Of course,
presenting your original ideas and research results is important, butwhen you have relied on others for concepts and information, always
indicate that clearly to your readers.
Developing your academic writing skills is a key to performing
well at university. Good luck, work hard, and I wish you all the best in
your academic studies.

© Philip Seaton, Hokkaido University, 2014.