LIBRARY WORKSHOPS ON ACADEMIC WRITING

Academic Writing&Logical Thinking
教養教育院
October 15, 2014

by Paul W. L. Lai

What is a Dissertation?

A dissertation is a final year project that must becarried out by each of you independently! 	

!

It is one kind of research writings.

Your dissertation must demonstrate the following
two major achievements in order to be satisfactory:(i)	

You have acquired, over a four-year period of
undergraduate studies, the requisite knowledge in
the academic discipline you have chosen. 	

!

(ii)	

You have developed, based on the knowledgeacquired, an original point of view in a particulararea of interest you chose to focus on.

Your dissertation must demonstrate the following
two major achievements in order to be satisfactory:(i)	

You have acquired, over a four-year period of
undergraduate studies, the requisite knowledge in
the academic discipline you have chosen. 	

!

(ii)	

You have developed, based on the knowledge
acquired, an original point of view in a particulararea of interest you chose to focus on.

What is adissertation’s
ultimate goal?

Besides demonstrating your overall intellectualand management skills, the ultimate goal of writinga dissertation is to convince your professors,
through logical argumentation, to accept theoriginal point of view you have developed basedon the knowledge acquired.

Besides demonstrating your overall intellectualand management skills, the ultimate goal of writinga dissertation is to convince your professors,
through logical argumentation, to accept theoriginal point of view you have developed basedon the knowledge acquired.

Why is it important
to write a dissertation?

(i)		 Graduation	(ii)		 Postgraduate studies	(iii)	 Job interviews	

(iv)	 Develop self-learning ability

What are the majordifficulties?

(i)		 Time management(ii)		 Developing an original research idea(iii)	 Providing a convincing support for		 	 the idea.

Applying
logical thinking
to research writingLogical Thinking Skills
Dissertation

Graduation

Logical Thinking Skills
Clear & Convincing Paper

Graduation

What is a Clear & Convincing paper?
A paper with a (clear) Thesis Statement
and a (convincing) Logical Argument
for the statement.

Build&the&&Thesis&Statement&Build&the&&Logical&Argument&

Build&the&&Abstract&Build&the&&Body&*

Build&a&one*sentence&thesis&statement&from&scratch,&based&on&one&or&two&research&keywords.&* Eliminate&the&linguis;c&&&structural&ambigui;es.&*

Build&a&logical&argument&based&on&the&thesis&statement&developed.&* Find&and&eliminate&the&known&counterarguments.&*

Build&the&paper’s&abstract&based&on&the&thesis&statement&and&argument&developed.&* Background*>Goal*>Thesis&Statement*>Procedures*>Implica;on.&*

Build&the&full&paper&based&on&the&abstract&developed.&* Modify&the&thesis&statement,&argument,&abstract&again&and&again.&Why is logical thinking
training important?

What is “convincing”?
According to Oxford Dictionary of English,“convincing” means the following:!

capable of causing someone to believe thatsomething is true!

Thus, to make X convincing is to have thecapability of causing someone to believethat X is true.

But how to make X “convincing”?

Try doing this exercise:
Find out which one of the premises (1) ~ (5) helps to makethe conclusion (C) convincing. Note that additional premiseor premises will be needed in order to make C fully convincing.

C: Peter is in Nagoya.
(1) Peter loves Nagoya castle.
(2) Peter bought a house in Nagoya.
(3) Peter only wants to be in Nagoya.
(4) Peter has a girlfriend in Nagoya.
(5) Peter is not in Tokyo.

The key lies in

An Inferential Relation
betweenPremise and Conclusion

The key lies in

An Inferential Relation
betweenPremise and Conclusion

Challenge!!
Try the following logical puzzle.

Alonzo, Kurt, Rudolf, and Willard are four creative artists ofgreat talent. One is a dancer, one is a painter, one is a singer,and one is a writer, though not necessarily in that order. 	

!

(1)	

Alonzo and Rudolf were in the audience the night thesinger made his debut on the concert stage.		

!

(2)	

Both Kurt and the writer have had their portraits 	

painted from life by the painter.	

!

(3)	

The writer, whose biography of Willard was a best-seller, 	

is planning to write a biography of Alonzo.	

!

(4)	

Alonzo has never heard of Rudolf.	

!

What is each man’s artistic field?

Workshop schedule
1. Oct 15: Introduction to Academic Writing & Logical Thinking!

2. Oct 29: Developing a central idea for your dissertation!

3. Nov 19: Developing a convincing support for the central idea - 1!

4. Nov 26: Developing a convincing support for the central idea - 2!

5. Dec 10: Writing an abstract for your dissertation!

6. Dec 17: Plagiarism and Logical Thinking Education

Homework
Write in English
a summary highlighting
what your dissertation is about.
(about 100 Words)

Additional Challenge!!
Try make the following conclusion fully convincing.
Peter is in Nagoya.

Take home message…