Academic Writing: Lesson 1

9/17/2015

Hi everyone,

It was really great to meet everyone in today’s class. I really appreciated your attention and participation during our class activities.

Academic Writing is one of the most difficult skills in English to master. Please remember that Academic Writing is even difficult for native-speakers. Although this course will be challenging, you will be able to improve your writing and critical thinking skills. However, it will be very important to complete the weekly tasks. Remember to manage your time and give yourself enough time to complete your writing tasks.

Course Syllabus and Schedule:
At the start of class, we went through the grading criteria and requirements for our course. We also looked at the schedule. Please make sure to submit your writing tasks on time every week. We will be writing our research paper step-by-step, so you will be writing every week.

Essay Structure:
After, we reviewed essay structure. If you would like ot review the slide presentation from today's lesson, you can find it in the Academic Writing --> Lesson Materials section of the website.

For homework, you need to read the sample essay and identify all the parts of an essay.

Topic Selection
For the last part of class, we looked at the different categories you can choose your research paper topic from:
1. American and British Literature
2. Applied Linguistics
3. Communications

When you choose your topic, make sure it is specific. Key words to use in your title include:
a. the effects of ...
b. the process of ...
c. the differences between ... and ...

Homework:

Blog Post #1
Bring a B5 notebook and pocket file (40 pages) to class next week.
Read Sample Essay. Underline/highlight the different parts of the essay and write the names of them in the left-hand margin.
Download and print out the Sample Research Paper. Underline/highlight the different parts and write the names of them in the left-hand margin. Bring this to class next week.

Blog Question #1:

Read the sample essay and the sample research paper. What is the difference between an essay and a research essay?
What is your research paper topic? (You must give your specific topic - similar to one of the sample topics on the handout from class.)

* Write 10-12 sentences.
* Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
* Submit by Wed., Sept. 23 by 6:00pm.

Research Paper Sample
File Size:	101 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

56 Comments

AW-Shinji

9/17/2015 11:37:33 am

Q.1

In my opinion, the most prominent difference between an essay and a research paper which is judged by reading the samples would be the length of the entire document. For example, the sample research paper uses 1812 words in all. However, the sample essay only uses 454 words.
Another outstanding traits of them is that an essay has relatively short body paragraphs and an research paper has comparatively long body paragraph.
I think both the styles have pros and cons. Though short body paragraphs enable readers to understand the authors topic quickly, it would be lack of details. On the other hand, long body paragraphs can give the readers specific information, but they would take much more time to realize the topics.

Q.2

I would like to choose "The pros and cons of multiculturalism in Europe" as my research paper topic.

Nicole

9/18/2015 01:08:11 am

Very interesting topic Shinji! You need to choose a specific country for your research paper (e.g. Spain, France, Germany, etc.) Each European country has its own reasons for multiculturalism, and different immigrant populations. For example, France has a large immigrant population from North Africa while Germany has a large Turkish population. Please reply to this comment with the name of your country.

Thanks,
Nicole

9/18/2015 07:42:20 pm

I would like to research England's immigration policy and the current situation mainly. In addition, I want to briefly introduce France's, Germany's and maybe Singapore's stance on the issue in my paper.

AW-Natsumi

9/18/2015 10:03:56 pm

Hello, Nicole.

Q1.
Essay is a writing including someone’s thought, experience, or feeling. First, writer gives topic. Second explains general opinion to it. And third writer tells his/her opinion based on generalization. On the other hand research essay has some statistical data and also shows where it comes from. If you quote from thesis, you have to write people’s name, date, and pages. There is a list of the references at the end of the research essay. Thus research essay is more reliable compared to essay. Not only one’s idea but also data backs up the idea. But I think essay is easy to read, like a story book. We often see short essay in newspaper.

Q2.
I choose topic C, Communications. I hear that Japanese try to act cheerfully as they have a hard time, but American think it is ridiculous. In Japan, people are generally taught that crying in public is a shame. Especially boys are often told “Don’t cry! You are a boy, aren’t you?” Japanese are imprinted on their mind since they are little that express their feeling directly is not good. In America though, self-expression is most important thing. They think hiding the feeling looks heartless.
There is a big difference of thought between this two countries. I want to research what virtue American and Japanese have about sadness.
What do you think of my topic?

Have a nice holiday,
Natsumi

9/20/2015 04:03:34 am

Hi Natusmi,
You've chosen a very interesting intercultural communication topic. When you state your topic, you need to explain it as a "title" (similar to the samples in our classroom handout). For your topic, you can say "The Differences in the Expression of Sadness in Japanese and American cultures."

Also, remember that we can generalize that many cultures (including American culture), tell young boys "not to cry" or to keep their emotions to themselves.

See you Thursday,
Nicole

AW-Taiki

9/20/2015 02:51:55 am

Q1

I noticed that there were some differences between the essays. The most obvious one was the length of the body paragraphs. In Sample Essay, each body paragraph consisted of less than 7 sentences. On the other hand, in the other essay, each body paragraph was made up of at least 7 sentences. In addition, surprisingly, in one of the body paragraphs, 25 sentences were used. As a result, the number of words was also different. That of the shorter one was 454 and, in contrast, that of the longer one was 1812. Another difference was the number of topic sentences. As for the shorter one, it used only 3 topic sentences. However, in the other one, it used no less than 8. Thanks to it, I thought that readers would get more information and trust the essay.

Q2

I decided to write an essay about "the differences of discourse between Japan and the U.S."

9/20/2015 04:07:40 am

Hi Taiki,

You've chosen an interesting area of research for your paper. However, you need to make your topic more specific. First of all, discourse can be divided into spoken and written, so you need to choose one of those areas. Next, you need to choose an aspect of discourse. For example, an aspect of spoken discourse is the "use of silence in conversation" in Japanese and American cultures. Other types of topics include the differences in politeness, question formation, asking favors, among many others.

Please resubmit a more specific topic before our next class.

Thanks,
Nicole

9/21/2015 08:07:15 am

I changed my topic into "The differences of politeness in terms of spoken discourse in Japanese and American cultures".

AW-Akimitsu

9/20/2015 09:22:22 pm

Hi,nicole.

Q1

When read sample essay and sample reseach paper, I found two differences. First, in research paper there are some quotation from specialist. So, readers can easily know grounds of text. But there is no expert's insistent in essay. Second, sample essay uses a concise expression, so passage is easy to read. But, in research paper, passage is written by complex expression, and is too long. So, to read difficult for readers.

Q2

My reseach paper topic is "the influences of differences in Japanese and English grammar for Japanese English learner"

9/21/2015 04:54:39 am

Hi Akimitsu,

In your topic, you have too many topics: first language acquisition, second language acquisitions, Japanese grammar, English grammar and second language learning. You need to narrow down your topic. For example:

1. The Challenges in Learning English Grammar for a Japanese Learner
2. The Differences between English and Japanese Grammar for Writing
3. The Difference between English and Japanese Grammar for Speaking

Choose one of these topics, and resubmit your topic.

P.S. In Q1, the conjunctions "so" and "but" are used to connect sentences (not start sentences).

e.g. ...., but .... / ...., so ....

9/21/2015 04:11:42 pm

Hello, nicole.

I select the topic "The Difference between English and Japanese grammar for speaking" for my research paper topic.

Thank you for your advice.

Akimitsu

AW-Saeko

9/21/2015 03:46:07 am

Hello Nicole,

Q1
I noticed two differrences when I read the sample essay and the sample research essay. First of all, the length of these documents are different. In the sample essay, the writer used only 454 words, but in the sample research essay, 1812 words are used. Especially, supporting sentences in body paragraphs are very long. Secondly, in the sample research paper, there are many citations. Therefore, readers can find references easily.Not only that but also citations can persuade readers strongly because these become reasons in statement of the writer.

Q2
I chose " The differences of meaning in gestures between Japanese and American. In addition that , I would like to research roles of gestures in conversation." as my topic.There are many misunderstanding by gestures between two countries. For example, when people wave their hand with the flat of the hand under, it means" come here " in Japan. However, it means "go away!" in the US. Furthermore, I also concern about eyecontact, so that I want to write mainly about gestures, if I can afford for writing about eyecontact, I wil do that.

Thanks,
Saeko

9/21/2015 04:43:38 am

Hi Saeko,

Good topic choice Saeko. You can re-word your title as "The Differences between Japanese and American Gestures." The information you gave about the differences in meaning is something you will explain in your body paragraphs.

Good work,
Nicole

AW-Asa

9/21/2015 02:34:43 pm

Q1.
Having read both the sample essay and the sample research paper, I thought that the essay has more personal opinions compared to the research paper. Essays require your own ideas and what you think about the certain topic rather than facts. In contrast, you need to focus on analyzing the topic when you write the research paper. We can determine this difference from some sources used in the research paper while there is none in the essay. Since you are required to write facts, it is necessary to use useful sources or quotes. I could say that the length of those two essays are one of the differences as well. However, I would say that the most crucial distinction is that essays are formed from your own views, and sample papers are written based on the analysis or data.

Q2.
I have chosen Applied Linguistics for my writing. I would like to focus on the differences in the first language process and the second language process. How humans acquire mother language and second language is absolutely different, so I want to make it as my topic and write about it.

9/21/2015 06:57:13 pm

Hi Asa,

You've chosen a very interesting and challenging topic. However, I think it is too complicated for your first research paper because first and second language acquisition are two very large fields of study on their own. This type of paper would be written for a thesis for graduate school. I would recommend you focus on one field of research, either first language or second language acquisition. You can write about "The process of first language acquisition" or "The process of second language acquisition." This would be a good first step to develop your knowledge in one of these areas before you write on both topics in the future. Let me know what you'd like to write on and re-post your topic below.

Thanks,
Nicole

9/23/2015 12:26:23 am

Thank you for the advice. I would like to write about the process of first language acquisition.

AW-Misa

9/21/2015 07:55:26 pm

Q.1
The biggest difference beween the sample essay and the research paper sample is length. The resarch paper has more long body paragraphs. It is written some paragraphs about one subtopic. However, the essay is one paragraph for one subtopic. Therefore, the resarch paper has more detail. The good example is that percentage makes it more easy to understand. The expert opinion also help it have more persuasive. The essay has examples, but it may be the thought of the writer. I think concretness is very important to understand and believe something. The resarch paer has it more than the essay.

Q.2
I want to write the essay about ''the difference of the way of business communication between the West (Japan) and the East (America).''

9/22/2015 07:04:03 am

Hi Misa,

You've chosen an interesting intercultural communication topic. However, when you say "business communication," this is too general. You need to be more specific. For example, you can write about more specific topics like:
a. The Differences between American and Japanese Business Etiquette (=manners)
b. The Differences between American and Japanese Corporate Cultures (=ways of working)
c. The Differences between American and Japanese Communication with Customers
d. The Differences between American and Japanese Communication with Supervisors

Let me know which topic you'd ilke to write about and re-post it below.

Thank,
Nicole

P.S. Also, when you refer to countries in research writing, you need to use their formal names. In the case of America, you need to use the United States (U.S.).

9/22/2015 06:39:13 pm

Thank you for your reply, Nicole.
I chose this topic, ''The Differences between American and Japanese Business Etiquette (=manners).''

And, I'll use the word, the United States, not America. Thank you.

AW-Mayu

9/21/2015 10:29:22 pm

Q1.
There are some differences between sample essay and research essay. At first, I think that the total length of the essay is different. Research essay's total length is much longer than that of sample essay. I found that research essay's total words are almost four times as many as that of sample essay. Research essay's total words are 1812 words and sample essay's total words are 454 words. I think this difference is due to the length of body paragraph. Research essay's body paragraph is so long. Next, I found many quotations of data or opinions of someone (I think those were researchers) in research essay. These things weren't appear in the sample essay. So I think these were difference between an sample essay and a research essay.

Q2.
I'd like to write about "difference of meaning of silence between Japanese and American". I heard that Japanese tend to keep silent many times during their conversation or meeting. On the other hand, western country(like America) tend to talk a lot during their conversation or meetings and don't keep silent so much. I'm interested in these differences in two cultures, so I'd like to write about this topic.

9/22/2015 07:07:36 am

Hi Mayu,

This is a very interesting linguistic topic. It's also a topic I wrote a lot about when I did my graduate studies in applied linguistics.

Your topic is OK, and you can start your research. The example you mentioned is correct, but there is also more to silence in conversation. When you do your research, you'll need to research "politeness theory" and also research "positive" and "negative" politeness. The major research on this area has been done by two researchers named Brown and Levinson.

See you Thursday,
Nicole

AW-Kazuma

9/22/2015 03:46:42 am

Q1
From two samples, it is clear to see that a research paper is longer, more academic, and using more difficult words, compared to an essay. The biggest difference is that a research paper stands on a research, while the essay stands on an opinion. You can see that from the fact that research papers have citations.

Q2
I would like to write about Applied Linguistics. I want to make a research on the differences of SNS-English among several english-speaking and non english-speaking countries.

9/22/2015 07:10:54 am

Hi Kazuma,

Your topic choice is ok. However, since this is a comparison paper, you need to choose two cultures to compare. For example, the differences in the use of SNS English between the United States and Singapore. Remember that both cultures have to make frequent use of English in SNS. This would exclude Japan. Let me know which cultures you'd like to compare and re-post your topic.

Thanks,
Nicole

9/22/2015 10:38:09 pm

I'm going to do a comparison between the U.S. and Hong Kong. Thank you

AW-Nanami

9/22/2015 08:04:14 am

1) Differences between an essay and a research paper is the amount of facts.
In essays, they don't write specific details about where the facts are. On the other hand, research paper shows where they got those information. They also seem to have more specific facts than essays. As my classmates say, it makes it more reliable. Research papers have more specific facts, or supporting sentences and not what the writer thinks. I think that is why the research paper is more than three times as longer than the essay.
I think the idea of making a better essay is to make it short and easy, clean and tidy. But for better research paper, you should get information from reliable resources and be specific about them.

2) I would like to write a research paper about the voices difference between America and Japan. The big topic is about communication. I heard that in America, lower voiced women are more attractive than higher voiced women. In Japan, it is completely opposite. This is just an example, but I think those differences may occur misunderstanding in some situations. I would like to research this reason. I'm not sure if this is an appropriate topic or not, so I would like some advice.

9/22/2015 08:35:01 pm

Hi Nanami,
You've chosen a very interesting intercultural communication topic. As a comparison paper, this will be a little difficult to making comparisons with the U.S. The reason is that there are many different types of cultures in the U.S., so women from different ethnic backgrounds may be influenced by both their ethnic culture and overall American cultures.

Instead, you could focus on Japan. For example, you can write on "The Reason for the Use of the Feminine Falsetto in Japan." Feminine falsetto is the academic term to describe the use of a high-pitched voice for women in Japan. You can explain reasons such as the use of politeness and the infantilization culture. Please re-post your final decision about your topic. Thanks.

9/22/2015 09:31:37 pm

Thank you for your reply.
If that's the case, I would like to change my topic to "The reason for the use of the Feminine falsetto in Japan" instead of the comparison that I wrote before. I would also be researching about how it can affect the politeness and attractiveness the listeners feel from it.
Again, thank you for the advice.

AW-Ruka

9/22/2015 11:30:33 am

Q1
I read both of the documents, the sample essay and the sample research paper, and noticed some major differences between them.
The difference of length was easy to notice. The sample research paper is so longer than the sample essay, especially about body paragraph. The research paper has much more supporting sentences, and detailed explanation. Many citations are also contained in the research paper. On the other hand, the sample essay is short and concise.
I thought the purpose of these documents are completely different.

Q2
For the research paper topic, I descided to write about the differences between the Japanese old tale and the Western fairy tale.
I heard the way of creation and the cultural differences affected on the contents of the tale itself. I felt it so imteresting, and want to try researching in detaile.

9/22/2015 08:39:11 pm

Hi Ruku,

This is a great literature topic. You can reword your topic as "The Differences between Western and Japanese Fairytales."

See you Thursday,
Nicole

AW-Kanako

9/22/2015 02:40:20 pm

1- one of differences in papers is obviously how long they are. Therefore in terms of the numbers of paragraphs and how deep their arguments are, big differences exist. Moreover in sample paper, there isn't any comparison. I thought that this might caused the difference of length. On the other hand, research paper has clearly comparison. Also, research paper has a lot of quotations from others and listed them all at last. This is why research paper seems to have reliability in its argument.

2- I want to choose the differences of hand signs between Japan and America. Especially one that would be misunderstood by local people and one that meanings can be different from region to region.

9/22/2015 08:40:54 pm

Hi Kanako,

This is a great intercultural communication topic with a lot of research. You can re-word your topic as "Differences between Japanese and American Gestures."

See you Thursday,
Nicole

AW-Kotoe

9/22/2015 06:00:30 pm

1 There are some differences between the sample essay and research paper. The first thing to be mentioned is the title. Both of the writers choose the topic about the University’s life, but the research paper’s one is more specific because it clearly mentions the countries the writer wants to talk about: Japan and America. However, in sample essay, the specific country is not remarked. Additionally, in terms of the length of the entire documents, a research paper is much longer: 454 words in Sample essay and 1812 words in research paper, which is due to the fact that it has more citations and mentions the three differences in University respectively. On the other hand, the sample essay is easier to read and simple. Both of them have a good points and bad one, so it is hard to say which is better.

2. I'd like to write about the difference between Japanese and American Anime, because as you know they are really different in many points. I'd like to know waht make them diferrent.
But is this topic too general? If so, I want to write about the difference between Ghibli and Disney.

9/22/2015 08:43:13 pm

Hi Kotoe,

Super topic! You've narrowed down your topic perfectly. You can re-word your topic as "The Differences between Ghibli and Disney Animations."

See you Thursday,
Nicole

AW-Kana

9/22/2015 06:17:23 pm

Hi Nicole,

Q1.
I had found some differences between two essays. In my opinion, the biggest difference between a sample essay and a sample research paper is the length of the whole passage.It is obvious that sample research paper is longer. Also, research paper had many supporting sentences and examples to make it more detailed. It also included many facts. The second thing that I noticed was that research paper's words are more difficult than the essay. As I read the passage, there were few words that I've never heard of. So, I had to search for the definition. Overall, we can see that we need many details to write a research paper.

Q2.
For my research paper topic, I would like to choose, "Comparing woman's places through two Disney films." So far, I am thinking of researching "Snow White" and "Beauty and the Beast." I want to do this topic because I'm interested in Feminism. I am not sure if this topic is ok, so could you give me some advice?

Thanks,
Kana

9/22/2015 08:46:22 pm

Hi Kana,

Great topic choice! It'll be very interesting to compare how the roles of leading female characters have changed through those two movies. You can re-word your title as "The Differences in the Roles of Leading Women Characters in Snow White and Beauty and the Beast."

See you tomorrow,
Nicole

AW-Natsuki

9/22/2015 07:36:24 pm

Hi, Nicole

Q1
I noticed some differences between the sample essay and the research essay. I'd like to say 2 main points which I found. First, the clearest point is the length of them. A sample essay has ony 454 words, on the other hand, a research paper has 1812 words. It's about 4 times as long as a sample one. Body paragraphs have 2 paragraphs.Second point is quotation. The research essay has many quotations and each paragraph has 1 quotation at least. Therefore a research essay can be concrete, in other words, we must search and use many sources to make our essay clear. The sample essay has no quotations so it's not concrete and believabl. However, the research paper has many quotations as I said so it's clear and believavle. For example, it use some number about the score, money and poll. There concreteness can make reader consent.

Q2
I choose the topic about "nonverbal-communication", especially gestures and sign language. I learned the way of sign language is different between Japan and America therefore I'd like to research the difference between Japan and Western cultures, especially America and Canada. Learning these difference is not only interesting but also useful for us to communicate with foreign people. If the extent is too small, I can add one more point, the way of politeness, distance between people or facial expression.

9/22/2015 08:55:23 pm

Hi Natsuki,

You've mentioned a variety of topic in your post. What we need to do now is to narrow your topic choice. First, you mentioned "sign language." This is language used for hearing impaired people (=deaf people). American sign language (ASL) and Japanese sign language are both very different. You can write your research paper on this topic: The Differences between American and Japanese Sign Language.

Next, you also included gestures. Gestures are very difference from sign language because they support our verbal messages. Sign language is an entire language in itself (like English, Japanese, Chinese, etc.). If you like to write on this topic, this is ok. You can say "The Differences between American and Japanese Gestures." In your paper, you need to focus on only two cultures in a comparison paper. Remember that non-verbal communication communicates 80% of our entire message, so non-verbal communication is actually more important than words in spoken communication.

Finally, please do not use the expression "foreign people." This is a very narrow way of explaining the world that has thousands of cultures. Please refer to a specific nationality when talking about people from different cultures (e.g. Americans, French, British, Chinese.). For those who live in Japan, you should call those people non-Japanese residents.

Please repost your final topic below.

Thanks,
Nicole

9/22/2015 09:48:10 pm

I'll write my paper about "sign language" and compare Japanese and American one. Thanks for your advice.

Thanks,
Natsuki

AW-Yoko

9/22/2015 07:57:42 pm

Hello Nicole,

Q1
I think tha most striking difference between sample essay and research paper is the quality and amount of information. As you read, the writer of research paper provides further information for readers than that of sample essay. Sample easy is also described some facts or examples, however, they are too simple and general. On the other hand, research paper is pretty long. So seemingly, it seems that it is difficult to read and understand what the author wants to say. However, in terms of persuasiveness, research paper is better, for there are a lot of information which is quoted from several literatures. So readers can learn new things from it. Giving concrete statistic or others' experiences from reliable sources helps readers understand essay more easily. Moreover it can more fascinate with readers. So comparing with sample essay and research paper, it is quite characteristic of research paper that many citations or others' opinions are used in it and there are a lot of references at end of research paper.

Q2
I would like to write about the differences communication styles between American and Japanese. It is not unusual to misunderstand because of not the individual language skills but the difference of how to communicate with people from other countries, for example, physical facts like behavior, expression and contact, linguistic facts including the difference of context, and national character. I'm very interested in the topic, however, I don't know whether it is specific topic. Should I change or narrow my topic?

9/22/2015 09:03:47 pm

Hi Yoko,

You've mentioned a lot of interesting topics in your post. We need to narrow done your topic. You can write about "The Differences between Japanese and American Communication Styles." However, when you choose your points to compare, you should focus on the linguistic differences. For example, things like assertiveness, eye contact, distance, etc. You can then explain the linguistic differences and also explain how cultural contributes to the difference. Do not include things like "national character." The U.S. is a multicultural country. There are similarities among all Americans, but each ethnic group in the U.S. has a distinct identity. You don't want to be using stereotypes of Americans (or Japanese) in an academic paper.

See you tomorrow,
Nicole

AW Nami Takahashi

9/22/2015 09:38:18 pm

I thought the length was different. An essay is short compared to a research paper. Therefore a research paper is more specific and written in detail. The research paper also used several written materials to discuss about the topic. It contains expert's opinions. On the other hand, an essay doesn't have any information from experts and it seemed like the it's based on the writers opinion. However it's easier for the reader to understand and it's a good way to share something in a convenient way.

I will like to write an report about "children's language acquisition".
I'm apologize that I was absent at the first class. I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Thank you.
Nami

9/23/2015 12:03:39 am

Hi Nami,

You've chosen a challenging linguistic topic for your research paper. There are two types of language acquisition: first language acquisition and second language acquisition. If you are going to write about first language acquisition, you don't need to include "children's" in the title because almost all people learn their first language as children. Now, if you are going to talk about second language acquisition, you can either write about how children learn a second language and how adults learn a second language. You can therefore choose from these topics:
a. The Process of First Language Acquisition
b. The Process of Second Language Acquisition for Children
c. The Process of Second Language Acquisition for Adults

Please repost your final decision about your topic below.

Thanks,
Nicole

AW-Nagisa

9/22/2015 10:51:19 pm

Hello, Nicole

Q1
Read the sample essay and the sample research paper. What is the difference between an essay and a research essay?

The biggest difference between two sentences is there is a bibliography in a research essay, but there is no bibliography in a essay. A bibliography exists for making an essay academic, or convincing. It is because a bibliography will become an evidence of author's claim. Such a principle is applicable to everything around us. For example, if I am a member of some organization, there is a meeting for discussing some strategy for making better the organization. If I have an idea at that time, it is necessary to have a bibliography for making convincing my idea. Otherwise, it wouldn't be adopted even if it is good.
Another difference is that there is a long explanation for one subtopic. In an essay, there is only one paragraph for one subtopic, but in a research paragraph, there are about three paragraph for one subtopic, though the number of subtopic is same.

Q2
What is your research paper topic? (You must give your specific topic - similar to one of the sample topics on the handout from class.)

I will write about differences between British and American literature. Now, we, students in the English department are learning both British and American literature, but we don't know much about the difference between these two subject. Also, next year, we will study something more professional, and now I am troubled which I will study. So I think about the difference everyday now, and I thought it is a good opportunity to think about it in terms of professional facts.

Thank you,
Nagisa

9/23/2015 12:13:14 am

Hi Nagisa,

You've chosen a very general topic for your research paper. You need to be more specific for your topic. First of all, you need to chose a time period (e.g. 18th century literature) and then you need to chose a genre to compare (e.g. crime novels). Once you decide that theme, you can then make your title. For example,
a. The Differences between British and American 18th Century Romantic Novels
b. The Difference between British and American 19th Century Crime Novels

You can also compare novels or authors. For example:
a. The Differences between Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle's Novels

Please repost your topic below.

Thanks,
Nicole

AW-Karen

9/22/2015 11:27:17 pm

Q1. The difference between an essay and a research essay is first the length. Both types have the same construction, but the research essay has more details. Also, there are more specific details and references in a research paper. Whenever something is quoted, the reference is in parentheses. Another difference is the part of speech it is written in. An essay is mainly written in first person, including lots of "I's" and has more feelings and the writer's opinion. On the other hand, research essay are written in third person and is written more academically.

Q2. The topic I would like to write about is: How babies first learn languages.
I hope to get some advice.

9/23/2015 12:16:34 am

Hi Karen,

You've chosen an interesting linguistic topic. You can reword your topic as "The Process of How Babies Learn and Develop Language." For your paper, you'll explain the steps in which babies learn a language.

Good work!

See you tomorrow,
Nicole

AW-Rika

9/22/2015 11:34:03 pm

Hi Nicole,

Q1
The differences between an essay and a research essay are very distinct. The most clear difference is the length and how specific the explanations are. In the sample essay, the supporting sentences are short and they usually do not contain many details or varieties to it. Details for example is weather the fact the writer states is true to every countries or not. On the other hand, a research essay would include all those detailed facts perhaps at times with percentages and numbers. A research essay writer looks deeper down into the topic and is written after huge amounts of research, so the perspective is not one sided.

Q2
The topic I would like to write an essay on is the differences between individualism culture and collectivism culture and how those culture affect the people of those countries.

Thanks, Rika

9/23/2015 12:19:32 am

Hi Rika,

This is one of my areas of expertise. I actually teach a seminar on this topic. For your title, you can reword it as "The Differences between Individualist and Collectivist Cultures."

For this paper, you'll need to research "Cultural Dimensions Theory." This theory will give you some ideas about how to compare individualist and collectivist societies.

Good work!

See you tomorrow,
Nicole

AW-Ayaka

9/23/2015 01:56:00 am

Hello Nicole,

Q1
Comparing the sample essay and the research paper, there is difference in the length. The number of words of research paper is more than three times than essay. Especially, three of the research paper’s body paragraphs are much longer than essay’s ones, although the length of introduction and conclusion are not so different. Also the number of paragraphs is different in the essay and the research paper. The former has a paragraph for each subtopic. However, the latter’ s each subtopics have a few paragraphs. In addition, in the research paper, there are more detailed information, such as examples and quotes. Almost all of paragraphs have at least one quote in the research paper. I think that the essay is written with knowledge and thought the author already has, and the research is not needed. In contrast, in the research essay, the author has to examine the new information about the topic, and write intelligibly.

Q2
I would like to write about the different of the American and the British Gothic romance, or the spread of English in Australia. I want to know wether both are good or not, and which is better. Therefore, I want your advise.

I'm sorry for my late submit.

9/23/2015 02:06:26 am

Hi Ayaka,

You're not late - just in time. You've chosen a very intereesting literature topic. You can reword it as "The Differences between American and British Gothic Romance Novels."

Great work!

See you tomorrow,
Nicole

Miho

9/23/2015 01:59:20 am

I'm sorry for the late post.
Q1. The biggest difference between essay and research paper is the length of body paragraph. The research paper is more detailed about the topic, for example using quotation from some literature based. Sample essay is also included example, and common belief but it is more general than ones in research paper I thought.

Q2.
I would like to choose the topic C "communication" and write about the process of making mixed blood (half) people's identity.

9/23/2015 02:15:24 am

There are some friends around me who is called "half" in Japan. I heard they confused and have mixed feeling about what they truly are. Their nationality is Japan but sometimes people judged them as "Gaijin" because their looking. It is the problem in single nation state I think. So I would like to research and understand the making process of identity and how harf people feel about it.

Thank you.
I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Miho

9/23/2015 02:15:47 am

Hi Miho,

It's a little difficult to understand your topic. First of all, please use the correct (and polite) way to talk about people from two cultures. You need to say "bi-racial." The term "half" or "mix blood" is not politically correct, and can offend people who come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The term "half" that is used in Japan is inappropriate. You can't call someone "half" a person - we are all "whole" people.

Second, to be bi-racial means that both of your parents are from two different backgrounds, so their child is a mixture of both of those backgrounds. This is a fact, so it can't be used as a topic for a research paper.

However, if you are interested in the identity of bi-racial people, such as those in Japan, you can write about topics like this:

a. Discrimination towards Bi-Racial Children and Adults in Japan
b. How Bi-Racial Children are Changing the Japanese Identity

These are just a few ideas. Please repost your topic by 8pm this evening.

Thanks,
Nicole

9/23/2015 03:50:29 am

Dear Nicole

Thank you for your comment.
And I'm sorry for using such word as title without any intention.Of course I didn't mean to offend someone else and judged who they are from. We live in whole world so I think it is strange that using the word "half" oftenly in Japan.
(I saw the news about Miss universe Japan and it used "half beauty" in Japanese mass media! Even though there are increasing movement of people between places in this age, the government encouraged globalization, this problem is not cared too much I thought.)

Having two different culture is wonderful thing. However it could be some difficulties and conflict for their mind if they live in Japan.
That is why I would like to take up this topic. I'd like to explore what does it mean to be multiculturalism,what does it mean to be Japanese and so on. Could I change The title "How bi-racial are making own identity in Japanese society" ? I know It is sensitive and difficult topic, so I will change if it's still not matched as research paper.

Thank you

Kazuna

9/23/2015 03:03:51 am

AWーKazuna

Q1

First of all, the biggest difference is the number of the words. The sample essay has 454 words, however the research paper has 1812 words. It's too long paper. In addition, the research paper has writer's name, birth of this essay and the university's name of writer. It is not in the essay. And the another point I found is that the research paper is written along the "book". Forewing my suggestion, the research paper could not write without specialized book.

Q2
My topic is "difference of English grammar between now and past"

Sorry for late...

9/23/2015 03:48:10 am

Academic Writing: Lesson 1

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