How to Write Academic Essays Like a Pro

Understand the difference

The main difference between argumentative and academic essays is that an academic essay only uses information to explain and argue a topic, whereas an argumentative essay contains statistics, facts and writer’s personal ideas. Another vital difference between the two is that an academic essay always gives a balanced account of a subject while an argumentative essay may be biased and subjective. It should be also noted that both these types of essay contain elements of each other, as argumentative essays also state explanations and information. Another central difference between these two essay types can be noted in the opening sentence in the essay; the opening sentence in an argumentative essay states the argument, and the opening line in an academic essay introduces the topic.

Research, research and more research

Ever wonder how the intended audience of your essay knows so much about the content? Research. They have done a lot of research into the topic or have worked on it personally. To convince them you must have the knowledge to match theirs. So leave no stone unturned when investigating your content. Remember it is facts and logical arguments that will convince the readers. Your academic essay can only be as good as the research you put behind it. The facts you use must be from reliable sources. Remember to check the sources themselves. Avoid using the catchy titles of scientific papers as proof. The literature could stand for something else entirely.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement sets the tone for the content of your article. So your audience needs to know what you are writing about. So be clear and precise about with your thesis statement. There are two types of thesis statements and only one is the right way to start off an academic essay.

• Explanatory thesis statement: This is where the subject is introduced. But the writer refrains from introducing their stance
• Argumentative thesis statement: The stance of the writer is introduced and briefly explained

In your case it is best to use the explanatory thesis statement. The reason being the intention of an academic essay is not to convince the audience but, ensure your view is as bullet proof as it can be and stands up against any arguments.

Organize your thoughts carefully

• 1. How do you intend to use your facts?
• 2. Any potential points of weakness in your stance?
• 3. How will you address these weaknesses?
• 4. What aspect of your stance do you intend to convey to the reader?

Academic essays tend to be extremely formal and the people analyzing them will hold them to a strict standard. So ensuring your thoughts are not a jumbled mess will go a long way for your essay.

Facts are not the supporting cast rather the co-host

Each time you are conveying a point it has to be supported by facts. Then your academic essay is just another argumentative essay and will not stand against even the slightest of disagreements.
One way to write like this

• 1. The topic is: space travel brings numerous benefits to humanity
  
• a. We must not look at space travel from its surface. It is at the moment extremely expensive to send humans to space and apparently has very little benefit. Humans have far bigger problems. But all this is absolutely wrong. Devices like the MRI scanner, an invaluable medical diagnostic device, would not exist had it not been the technological leaps made because of human based space travel.
  The paragraph above states an opinion supported by a fact. Remember the fact used to support the opinion needs to have an equal weight with regards to the opinion. Quoting facts like the space pen would not have been created had it not been for space travel. Doing that certainly does not give your opinion as much historical weightage.

The main body

This section of your academic essay essentially serves to connect the thesis statement with your concluding analysis. So if you want your essay to have a strong flow and presenting a powerful case for your topic in question, then ensure that the introduction seamlessly relates to the beginning of the main section. It should end with it leading on to your conclusion.
One thing that needs to be understood is that your thesis statement and conclusion will be the thing that people remember at the end of your essay. If you want them to look favorably upon your academic essay then the main section has to be very convincing but, forgettable. To do just that refrain from any sort of decisive conclusions in the central section of your literature.
Think of this section as the torso of a human, yes it helps keep us alive but, it is the head and our limbs that allow us to travel and communicate our ideas. The body cannot do without these.

Closing your academic essay

The conclusion is the most important part. After all the facts and case studies used this is the region where everything about the essay is finally condensed into a paragraph.
You reiterate your thesis statement and then follow it up with the conclusion you have been building up since the body of the essay. This is where facts are not needed and you may state opinions in your analysis. Why this can only be done during the last section of your essay? Because the all the important supporting arguments have been made and hopefully you have found facts with equal weight to support them. So now only the main point has to be reiterated.

Bibliography

All the quotations, case study write ups and any other facts either were generated through research from you or were collected from other databases. To allow anyone to fact check your research you must quote where you got all of your data from. If it was thirty different places then you must quote each and every one of them. Also add where they were used in the academic essay.