Belajar menulis secara ilmiah atau formal adalah sebuah kebutuhan yang krusial jika kamu saat ini seorang mahasiswa. Salah satu tujuan belajar academic writing adalah untuk menjelaskan beberapa gagasan atau temuan penelitian serta meyakinkan pembaca bahwa suatu penjelasan atau teori tertentu itu benar. Kamu bisa mempelajari kemampuan ini dengan bergabung di Kelas Academic Writing Lister lho.
Nah, sebelumnya, kita bahas dulu apa tujuan, tipe, dan bagaimana contoh teks kategori academic writing ini. Simak yaa!
Tujuan Academic Writing
Empat jenis utama tulisan akademis adalah deskriptif, analitis, persuasif, dan kritis. Masing-masing jenis tulisan ini memiliki ciri dan tujuan kebahasaan yang spesifik. Penulisan akademik itu jelas, ringkas, fokus, terstruktur, dan didukung oleh bukti. Tujuannya adalah untuk membantu pemahaman pembaca. Academic writing memiliki nada dan gaya formal, tetapi tidak rumit dan tidak memerlukan penggunaan kalimat yang panjang dan kosa kata yang rumit.
Tipe Academic Writing
Descriptive
Jenis tulisan akademis yang paling sederhana adalah deskriptif. Tujuannya adalah untuk memberikan fakta atau informasi. Contohnya adalah ringkasan artikel atau laporan hasil eksperimen.
Jenis instruksi untuk tugas deskriptif murni meliputi: ‘identify’, ‘report’, ‘record’, ‘summarise’ dan ‘define’.
Analytical
Jarang ada teks tingkat universitas yang murni deskriptif. Kebanyakan tulisan akademis juga bersifat analitis. Penulisan analitik mencakup penulisan deskriptif, tetapi juga mengharuskan kamu untuk mengatur kembali fakta dan informasi yang kamu gambarkan ke dalam kategori, kelompok, bagian, jenis, atau hubungan.
Jenis instruksi untuk tugas analitis meliputi: ‘analyse’, ‘compare’, ‘contrast’, ‘relate’, and ‘examine’.
Persuasive
Tulisan persuasif memiliki semua ciri penulisan analitis (yaitu, informasi disertai mengatur ulang informasi), dengan tambahan sudut pandang kamu sendiri. Kebanyakan esai bersifat persuasif, dan setidaknya ada unsur persuasif dalam pembahasan dan kesimpulan sebuah artikel penelitian.
Jenis instruksi untuk tugas persuasif meliputi: ‘argue’, ‘evaluate’, ‘discuss’, and ‘take a position’.
Critical
Menulis kritis adalah umum untuk penelitian, pascasarjana dan penulisan sarjana lanjutan. Ini memiliki semua fitur tulisan persuasif, dengan fitur tambahan setidaknya satu sudut pandang lainnya. Sementara menulis persuasif mengharuskan kamu untuk memiliki sudut pandang kamu sendiri tentang suatu masalah atau topik, menulis kritis mengharuskan kamu untuk mempertimbangkan setidaknya dua sudut pandang, termasuk kamu sendiri.
Jenis instruksi untuk tugas critical meliputi: ‘critique’, ‘debate’, ‘disagree’ and ‘evaluate’.
Contoh Academic Writing
Cause Effect Example
Source: academichelp.net
How the Harry Potter Series Became So Popular
The Harry Potter series, written by J.K. Rowling, is perhaps the most popular set of novels of the modern era. With seven books and many blockbuster films to its name, the series has amassed about 15 billion dollars in sales. How did this phenomenon become what it is? For those scratching their heads, the reason can be broken down into several areas: Rowling garnered a generous initial contract for her book, separate book covers were created for both teens and adults, midnight releases/promotions/pre-orders made the public more fanatic about the series, and fan blogs were rampant. In fact, these are just a few of the main reasons why the Harry Potter took off the way it did.
The first book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” was rejected 12 times before it was picked up by Bloomsbury—a small publisher in England. At the time, Rowling was living on benefits as a single mother, so receiving this contract was her first step to success. However, getting a book contract does not ensure the success of a book. The story was adored by children and adults alike, and this had much to do with the popularity of the initial book and the series as a whole (Rappaport, Sarah).
In light of this, her publisher made separate covers for young readers and adults. According to BusinessInsider.com, “Adults love reading the Harry Potter books, but few want to be seen toting around a child’s book. To make it easier for adults, Bloomsbury Publishing, the British publishing house that first bought the rights to Rowling’s books, published a second version of the books with “adult” (i.e., less colorful and more boring) book covers” (Aquino, Judith). This made it easier for a full range of ages to enjoy the series. This is not an easy feat for young adult fiction.
Another factor that worked like a charm was that when the Harry Potter series became an obvious success, the publisher, and Rowling herself through her own website for the books, conducted midnight releases, special promotions, and pre-ordering to engage readers even more. According to BusinessInsider.com, “Starting with the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, crowds of people wearing black robes, ties and round-frame glasses began showing up at bookstores for midnight release parties in 2000. Customers who feared their local bookstore would run out of copies responded by pre-ordering over 700,000 copies prior to the July 8, 2000 release date, according to Gunelius. The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series became the fastest-selling book in history, reports The New York Times, with more than 11 million copies sold during the first 24 hours in three markets alone” (Aquino, Judith). The fandom around the books created more lucrative opportunities for the series.
Also, based on fans, blogs were created that were dedicated to the story, details, plot, characters, and much more about the series. In the beginning, Rowling did not have too much in the way of advertising, and the fans did a lot of work for her. According to HubSpot, “The fans took over and created many viral campaigns on her behalf talking about the excitement they had over upcoming releases. Harry Potter is often a trending topic on Twitter, Facebook events and page are abundant and thousands of bloggers create posts on their behalf. These promotions are more genuine because they come from the source, the fans, instead of the person who makes a profit” (Leist, Rachel). This organic advertising propelled the Harry Potter novel series into being the most successful one ever.
Now that Rowling has sold millions of copies of her Harry Potter books and has seen each one adapted into films, merchandise, fan art, and more, we can safely say that this series is a global phenomenon. Through an initial contract, advertising for both teens and adults, special releases and parties, and organic advertising from fans via the internet, Harry Potter and his universe took over as the most successful bestselling book of all time.
Expository Essay
Source: academichelp.net
April Fools’ Day
Possibly the funniest day of the year is April Fools’ Day. It happens on the first of April every year, and it comprises pranks and jokes on friends and family, and sometimes strangers. The phrase to use is “April Fools!” after you complete a prank or joke. But there is much more to this day than these common facts. There is a mysterious history of this celebration. There is no real consensus on when the holiday officially or unofficially began, but this essay will deal with all of the main theories.
The earliest possible mention of April Fools’ Day is in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, written in 1392. In the story “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” it is mentioned that “Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.” This seems like a jokey way of saying the first of April. However, modern scholars believe there was a misprint, and that Chaucer meant another date—specifically the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia on the 2nd of May (“The Origin of April Fool’s Day”).
The next piece of evidence about April Fools’ Day comes from the French poet Eloy d’Amerval. He wrote about “poisson d’avril” which means “fish of April” (Amerval, Eliy d.). Some scholars say that April Fools’ Day started in the Middle Ages in Europe, where the New Year was celebrated on April 1st. Those who had New Year’s Day on January 1st made fun of those who partook in the celebration on April 1st by sending people fishes. In fact, January 1st was made the mark of the new year officially only in 1564 according to the Edict of Roussillon (“The Origin of April Fool’s Day”).
Speaking of another mention of April Fool’s Day, in 1539, the Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote a poem about a nobleman who made his servants go on “foolish errands” (“The Origin of April Fool’s Day”). In a similar region, in the Netherlands, the beginning of this day was initiated with the Dutch victory at Brielle in 1572 over the Spanish. The fool, in this case, was the defeated Spanish Duke Álvarez de Toledo. Yet, scholars do not know how to explain this event becoming an international holiday (Brielle).
There are also two other theories that relate to more ancient times. According to History.com, “Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather” (“April Fools’ Day”). As you can see, more and more theories crop up the greater you investigate this holiday.
Lastly, we come back to Great Britain. In 1686, writer and philosopher John Aubrey wrote about a celebration called “Fooles Holy Day.” Besides all the obscure references, it is certain that the celebration became popular through Great Britain in the 18th. According to History.com, “In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them” (“April Fools’ Day”). As time went on, and the celebration became more widespread, it became a one-day holiday.
As you might have noticed, April Fools’ Day has a confusing history. There are multiple theories about its origins. It variously started in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, and many other places in Europe. It may or may not have been the mark of a new year, and it may or may not have been connected to the vernal equinox. One would have to be a fool to accept one theory.
