Share some of your academic writing!

[Morsel]

Hey everyone,

I thought that it would be cool to have a thread dedicated to academic writting -- essays, reports and other pieces of literature that you guys don't mind sharing. It's cool in my view to see other people's work, as you can help develop your writing style, and in general just learn something new! :D

I'll start with an essay that I had to write for a History class in my college/university based around the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Of course, remove your student number and name where applicable! Happy sharing!

PS: Upload your documents in PDF format. It won't work otherwise. One thing I need to work on in my essay writing is having a more active voice (I write in passive voice too frequently).

 

[Machiavelli]

Here is one that i wrote a while ago for high school. I changed some of the content for the sake of anonymity (removed the title, for one).

It's clear I wasn't taught how to do these professionally looking at your essay. My wording seems ever so slightly informal, and the format is all wrong. Wouldn't mind some tips, although this was a very small high school essay so I didn't bother a great deal.

edit: the topic was something like "the Truman Doctrine was the cause of the cold war" or something

 

[Adamant Zoroark]

This is one I wrote for a midterm in an ethics class. The prompt was to take three examples from a book on moral dilemmas and basically analyze my own moral consistency based on my responses, which is why the first-person ends up being used so much. I wouldn't say it's the best example of my writing, but it does provide a couple of good examples of where a utilitarian view maybe isn't the best way to look at something.

 

[Morsel]

Here is one that i wrote a while ago for high school. I changed some of the content for the sake of anonymity (removed the title, for one).

It's clear I wasn't taught how to do these professionally looking at your essay. My wording seems ever so slightly informal, and the format is all wrong. Wouldn't mind some tips, although this was a very small high school essay so I didn't bother a great deal.

edit: the topic was something like "the Truman Doctrine was the cause of the cold war" or something

I read your essay; I think you're being a little too hard on yourself :). May I ask if you made a work cited list, and furthermore, what your sources were? Also check out paperrater: they help with formatting, grammar, spelling, and also help to optimize your writing style (how many transitional words? Is your vocab too informal? etc.). Here's the link https://www.paperrater.com/.

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

I'm reading your essay Panther5001 and no offense but it's kind of painful. Just look at the first sentence:

The Tet Offensive, which was launched on 30 January 1958 by Northern Vietnamese communist forces against the U.S. supported South Vietnamese forces, had the tactical aim of spurring a communist revolt in South Vietnam

which was launched on 30 January 1958 by Northern Vietnamese communist forces against the U.S. supported South Vietnamese forces

which was launched on 30 January 1958

I only hope this wasn't a final copy. This, among numerous other grammatical errors made (and there's no shortage of them) illustrate why you need to proofread your essay.

EDIT: For the sake of contribution I'll include my own essay, with annotated bibliography.

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

Eh, it just really annoys me when people don't notice objective factual errors in things that are meant to be professional.

 

[Rowan]

Eh, it just really annoys me when people don't notice objective factual errors in things that are meant to be professional. Furthermore, did you mean to say time was sparse or time was scarce?

omg dude give him a break, don't just waltz in the thread and say 'no offense but this was painful to read' - if you say no offense before something it probably means it's gonna cause offense
yeah give constructive criticism on how to improve but don't be rude about it

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

Fine, fine.

 

[Mr. Uncompetitive]

Saw this thread and thought I'd share something a little different.

For my Freshman Writing class back in January, we had to write a "Think Piece" (maybe more of a Stream of Consciousness in my case) on a topic of our choosing, with some pretty lax rules on the formality and (thankfully) vulgarity of our piece. Being the dumb nerd I am, I focused mine on Ikaruga, a bullet hell I was really into at the time. As someone who doesn't consider himself a good writer academically, this is probably the only thing I've ever written for an English class that I actually felt kinda good about.

Also, this essay is pretty explicit, but I don't think it goes too far into NSFW territory? I didn't get into trouble with the school or my prof so I guess it's fine here.

 

[MattL]

I wrote the following paper for a math class, in which I explain and use fundamental concepts from a branch of mathematics called topology to prove that there are infinitely many prime numbers. Despite math's reputation for excessive rigor, I chose to write the paper as if I were sitting next to the reader, explaining it to them. I assumed that the reader has zero knowledge of topology but has a grasp of the bare basics of introductory set theory (i.e. you know what a union of two sets is, etc).

The file I uploaded is an excerpt from the paper. The rest of the paper is irrelevant and what I uploaded is pretty heavy already. I think a lot of you who are interested in math but don't know topology will find it interesting but fair warning that the paper might make your head hurt. (Furstenburg is the name of the guy who first proved infinitely many primes in this way btw)

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

topology. that was a fun topic to try getting into

RELEVANT:

 

[Myzozoa]

if anyone is wondering there is a labor called editing which many people pay someone else to do, no professor should be substantially affecting a students grades due to technical/formatting errors to the extent that they do not detract from the demonstration of learning.

and if you're submitting over 8 pages youll probably have some technical error somewhere, it's expected.

like i would have failed all my classes if they had graded on technical errors, i bet

 

[Relados]

so this past semester i had to take a freshman composition class in uni, and we had to spend the entire class writing a formal article on any rhetorical topic - writing about writing, pretty much. being a computer science guy i hated the idea and when i had to choose a specific topic i just went with analyzing forum posts because i might as well make something out of all the forum lurking i do.

the paper turned out alright but i really don't think i was qualified for any kind of rhetorical discourse. i think the core of the point i was proving was trivial, but then again i'm not in rhetorical studies.

also i wrote 90% of it while sleep deprived during finals week the night before it was due, so i'm not entirely sure if it's even coherent. i do know i passed the class and it was the bulk of the grade, so it couldn't have been too bad.