The Basics of Academic Writing: A Course Pack Review

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The author applied ☐US ☐UK conventions of grammar, usage, and mechanics.
The author used Turabian (in-text/parenthetical)
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The author used the following software: (e.g., MSWord 2016 on Windows 8)
THE BASICS OF ACADEMIC WRITING
1) INTRODUCTION
The course pack of EUCLID University provided a detailed overview of the basic
of academic writing. This pack being of 83 pages helps in pointing out the mistakes that
usually people do while writing academic papers. The correct format of writing these
papers has been shown in the paper. By conducting a thorough analysis of this course
pack, I have gained significant knowledge on correcting my mistakes in the academic
papers. The course pack has also provided me the scope of following the actual format
which can enhance the quality of my academic writings. The contents of the pack can be
extremely useful for students who are looking forward to starting their graduation level
studies. The way this course pack has been able to provide information about the correct
format of the referencing, paraphrasing and styles of writing English words has been
extremely useful for me for continuing my future studies and for the essay or thesis that I
would require to make from now.
2) CONTENTS OF THE COURSE PACK
The course pack describes the importance of avoiding plagiarism and citing the
sentences properly in the process of improving the quality of writing. This pack starts
with a demonstration on how to write an academic essay. The basics of the essay writing
have been provided along with the steps that the writers should follow while starting the
essay. With the proper research, it is possible to construct an essay in a manner which can

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help the writers to express their perspective efficiently1. The process of drafting and
editing of the contents of the essay has been highlighted with proper points that help in
gaining significant knowledge. This course pack also provided some examples of
references styles that can be used in the essays. The course pack aptly describes the
process of citing the lines and also demonstrated when to cite and when to not. This has
helped significantly in identifying the scenarios of the con
“When the information you are writing about is common knowledge that can be found in
numerous areas you do not need to cite its source2.” This shows the appropriate use of
citations in the contents and also teaches about when not to cite or add references.
This information can be regarded as significant in terms of identifying which lines
to cite. This is because, in many situations, academic writers are unaware or confused
about identifying the sentences which are required to be cited properly. They often make
mistakes in this regard3. Therefore; this context of the course pack helped in preventing
any such mistakes in the future. The course pack thus helped in analyzing the role of
proper citations of the quotes in order to prevent plagiarism.
a) Overview on the format of referencing
Previously, I had knowledge about basic referencing styles such as APA and
Harvard, however; I faced problems while using other styles such as Chicago and
Vancouver. I have mostly worked on APA style papers and the process of using the
Turabian style papers has been relatively unknown for me. However; after going through
the contents of this course pack, I have now gained confidence in using this format in
further academic works that I need to do.
In the course pack, two types of referencing have been preferred for conducting
the academic works of EUCLID. While most of the academic papers of EUCLID are
required to be written in the format of Chicago referencing style while some limited
response papers can be also written in the style of APA referencing. Turabian referencing
is similar to the Chicago however; this is used for the student version and is much shorter
than that of Chicago referencing4. Therefore; this course pack aptly described the
methods by which the footnotes and bibliography are created in the Chicago style of
1Steve Graham and Karen Harris, "Conducting High Quality Writing Intervention Research: Twelve
Recommendations", Journal Of Writing Research 6, no. 2 (2014): 89-123, doi:10.17239/jowr-2014.06.02.1.
2 "ACA-401D: International Academic Writing (Doctorate) – EUCLID University LMS",
Eucliduniversity.Net, Last modified 2019, https://eucliduniversity.net/courses/aca-401d/.
3 Lisa Mayer, "MA/PG Cert/PG Dip: Academic Writing", Journal Of Academic Writing, 2012, 171,
doi:10.18552/joaw.v2i1.113.
4 Chicago Manual, "Is Turabian Style The Same As Chicago Style? | CMOS Shop Talk", CMOS Shop
Talk, Last modified 2019, http://cmosshoptalk.com/2015/02/03/for-students-is-turabian-style-the-same-as-
chicago-style/.

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referencing. With the help of discussion on the format of the papers in Chicago style, this
course pack also helped in learning about the proper formatting of the academic papers
which need to use Chicago referencing.
b) The overview provided on the use of American and
British English
Through this course pack, I have gained significant knowledge about the
differences between American and British English which is used in the academic papers.
The course pack helped in analyzing the American English is used more than British
English due to a number of factors. Some of these factors that have been identified in the
pack include the greater population, enormity of higher education and a greater number
of the publishing industry in the country makes the use of American English more than
that of the British English in the academic writing. In the course pack, the justifications
of these differences have been made with the given examples of some which have the
same pronunciation, however; have different spellings. With these, the study also showed
the different meanings of similar words which differ the two types of English. With the
help of proper descriptions of the differences in these popular languages of academic
writing, I have gained the required knowledge on using the terms and words while using
any of these style of English in my academic papers in future.
“American English has grown steadily in international significance since World War II,
parallel to the growth of U.S. political, economic, technological and cultural influence
worldwide5." Through this quote, it has been possible to understand the dominance of
American English in the context of academic writing.
I have also learned the information about the method by which the quotations and
commas differ in American English and British English. With the proper discussions and
examples of all the differences, this course pack has been relevant in terms of using the
right language or spellings while using any of these two types of English.
i) Sentence construction and use of words in academic papers
In many of the academic papers, I used to make mistakes regarding the use of
proper grammars and words which are relevant to the academic styles of writing. After
going through the course pack, I have gained the knowledge which can help me to
prevent such errors in my own academic papers. I will be able to increase the quality of
my writings which would be apt with the standard of writing that is required to be
followed. Through the contents provided in the course pack, relevant knowledge about
the construction of the sentences and use of appropriate words or grammars in the
academic papers has been identified. With the examples that have been shown in the
section, relevant knowledge has been gained about the differences in the use of words in
academic writing and other types of writings. In the course pack, the errors in the
construction of sentences and the use of words have been aptly defined in the examples.
5 "ACA-401D: International Academic Writing (Doctorate) – EUCLID University LMS",
Eucliduniversity.Net, Last modified 2019, https://eucliduniversity.net/courses/aca-401d/.