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De Los Santos 1

Raquel De Los Santos

Burhan

English 102

8 April 2018

Writing is more than just an essay

Introduction

Writing is one of the very first things a child learns in school because it is used

everywhere. It is also an essential skill. It gives power to the writer to convey their points to the

reader. Writing is so much more than an essay. It can be as simple as a writing your name, or as

complex as writing a textbook. The important thing to remember is that there are specific forms

of writing for every discipline. The goal for students in English 102 at the University of Arizona.

They were tasked to find out “what are the academic writing practices for their specific academic

Discipline.?” For example, policy briefs are specific to Political Science Program. These briefs

are used to persuade people to reform policies. This writing practice is specific to my academic

discipline, which is political science. The hardest thing for college students to understand is that,

in order to be successful in your field of study, it is important that you understand your desired

field and how to communicate effectively in writing.

Literature Review

There are three terms that will be discussed to understand the foundation of this paper.

They are academic writing, genre, and discipline. It is said that “academic writing is one of the

essential skills that university students are expected to master” (Gimenez). Further, writing
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academically is grouped into specific disciplines which means that writing will differ between

different fields of study. Gimenez states in his article Academic writing in the disciplines:

Practices in nursing, midwifery and social work that “disciplines determine the specific genres

students need to be able to produce” (Gimenez). Disciplines are specific fields that people go

into. Genre represents how people in a certain field communicate with one another through

writing. Thus, it is very important for students to research their desired field of employment to

ensure that they understand and practice their genre of writing while they are in school.

Students will not be blindsided in their careers if they learn to write effectively and understand

their genre of writing.

Research methods

This project involved three main stages. I initially started my research with an

observation conducted at The School of Government and Public Policy. My major is Political

Science which falls within the School of Government and Public Policy and was perfect for

answering my research questions. The Political Science department is located on the 3rd floor

of Social Sciences building. I chose to observe the Political Science department, so I could learn

more about my academic discipline. Also, the advising department is located there. I felt that the

advising area would have the most information about this academic discipline. I observed the

Political Science department by spending an hour pacing the hallways and sitting and watching

others go through their average day. I also spent my time reading signs, brochures, flyers, and

posters. I even reviewed different types of policy briefs. This allowed me to walk away with a

lot of information I did not know. After my observation, I also conducted interviews with two

different upperclassmen.
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The first interview was with Sarah, who is a Senior in the Political Science Major, with a

concentration in International Relations. Sarah is a senior in college. She will be graduating in

May of 2018. I felt that since she was an upperclassman and has practically completed the major,

she could give me insight into the academic writing practices within the discipline. My second

interview was with Mike who is also a Political Science student. Unlike, Sarah, he has a

concentration in American Politics. I thought interviewing him was appropriate because he is an

upperclassman and can provide good insight into the academic writing practice in the discipline

of American Politics. Mike is a junior in college. He has completed most of the requirements in

his major and is very knowledgeable about the genre of writing in his field. lot. After I

completed both interviews, I asked for copies of policy briefs to further my research. Lastly, I

concluded with a genre analysis of policy briefs. This was important because I could find

patterns, and see how to construct a policy brief, what information needs to be included, and see

what the organization of the policy brief looks like. I also discovered that although Sarah and

Mike have different concentrations in the field of political science, but their policy briefs were

very similar in style and content.

Findings

Analyzing the data gathered from the observations, I learned that The School of

Government and Public Policy involves the Political Science major along with other majors.

They are big on connecting students to outside opportunities. They offer opportunities both home

and abroad. They offer internships all over the world, opportunities to shadow congressional

workers, and they also offer study abroad trips in Mexico and other places. This allowing student

to put into practice what they have learned in the classroom and apply it to the real-world

situation. I came to the conclusion that policy briefs are the main practice of academic writing
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within the Political Science major. I came to this conclusion by analyzing the data gathered from

interviewing students within this major.

Policy Briefs are “a mixture of research and opinion paper” (pence 3/14). The design for

Policy Briefs is typically two pages long and DO NOT include page numbers. Each page is

broken down into two columns. Policy briefs DO NOT follow the traditional 5-paragraph format,

but they follow a 4 paragraphs format. Each paragraph is separated by titles. Policy Briefs

include statistics, graphs, and pictures to get the point across.

The style of the policy briefs is very formal. It is descriptive, complex, filled with

information, and includes possible solutions. Some terms used can probably only be understood

by people in this field. The punctuation is good. It utilizes mostly periods and commas.

Abbreviations are used to abbreviate the policy name (DACA instead of Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals). The sentence structure is a variation of compound and complex sentences.

Rarely if ever do they use simple. They also use statistics, graphs, and pictures to make their

point, and offer the reader another way to look at the main idea. Policy briefs are usually written

in the third person.

After conducting a genre analysis, I came to the conclusion that the headings go in the

left-hand corner. The policy that is being discussed is centralized and is the largest size font on

the entire page. The policy name is also colored. The titles stand out by being a different font

size, bolded, colored, and at times underlined. They also include footnotes, which provide more

information at the bottom of the page. Policy briefs are very informative, they pack a lot of

information into two pages. Each paragraph is detailed and serves a very specific purpose. The

paper starts off with an abstract, which is an overview of the paper. Then gives a background

paragraph, which is where the writer gives background information on the policy. From there is a
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paragraph titled current situation, where the writer writes about the policies current situation. The

last paragraph is the writer’s thoughts on a recommended course of action, where the writer

writes about what they would do to improve the policy. In other words, policy briefs tell you

what, past, present, and future of a policy.

Conclusion

Writing is crucial to the Political Science major. Policy briefs are the main academic

writing practice in this discipline. A policy brief is a mixture between a research and opinion

paper. They require research but also ask for your plan to improve the policy. This purpose of

this paper is to convince the reader to modify or implement a new policy. Policy briefs are set up

in a 2-page paper divided into two columns. It is typed in 10-point font to maximize space. They

include images and graphics. The paper is broken down into five sections to organize the ideas in

a clear and concise way. Policy briefs are understood by people in this discipline. The complex

format, requirements make it hard for people who aren’t in this discipline to understand.

Learning to write in your specific discipline is the hardest thing for college students to do It is

one of the first things we learn in grade school. It is important to realize that although you have

the basics of writing, it does not mean you will be successful in your life. There are different

genres of writing within each discipline or field of study. A business major will probably never

write a policy brief, just like a Political Science major will probably never write a legal

memorandum or legal brief. This is due to the fact that different types of writing are specific to

specific disciplines and follow a certain design, style, and organization. People communicate

within their field of study people in those disciplines can understand the process, but that is fine

because writing practices are specific to each genre.


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Work cited

Gimenez, Julio. "Academic Writing in the Disciplines: Practices in Nursing, Midwifery and

Social Work." Utrecht Studies in Language and Communication.22 (2010): 197,211,234.

De Los Santos, Raquel A, and Mike Pence. “Academic Writing Practices.” 14 Mar. 2018.

De Los Santos, Raquel A, and Sarah Sanders. “Academic Writing Practices 2.” 16 Mar. 2018.

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