Course International Business Law
Academic Writing in English
By Drs. Lisette van Hulst

Where do you start?
With building a structure!

Clear structure
Create a hierarchy of nested arcs: Essay, sections, paragraphs, sentences.
The overall essay structure;
• Introduction
- Background  and relevance
- Your research question
• Main body
- Argumentation
• Conclusion
- Concluding the research question

A paragraph is a basic unit of organization in writing. A group of related sentences. Each paragraph must have a function in the overall story.
The final sentence always concludes the paragraph.
Structure of paragraphs;
1. Topic sentence
2. Supporting material such as examples, quotes and statistics.
3. End the paragraph with coming back to the ‘big arc’.
The advantages of paragraphs like this is that they are very clear and can be read step by step. Make it possible to summarise the text by reading the first sentences.
It makes it easy for the writer to keep their structure while writing and re-writing the essay. You can list your main points.

The introduction is different, there you put the clue at the end. You start with an anecdote or an event. The you put the issue/problem, the general view and opposing view. ‘This raises the question whether’, you end with the research question!

The format conclusion exists of the parts;
• In this essay, we considered…
• We argued that…
• Hence,… (your answer)
• This means that…

Academic argumentation
• Appropriate and convincing formulation
- Selecting the right words
- Composing clear English sentences
• Arguments + fair treatment of opponents
- Composing convincing paragraphs

Academic vocabulary
You want to be precise and you do not want misunderstandings.
‘To get’ can mean to receive, to collect, to retrieve, to become, to comprehend. Use intelligent, ‘pretty’ words. Such as words from French or Latin. When you say ‘get together’, use ‘gather’!

To ask               To enquire, to question
To show            To demonstrate, to present
To see               To perceive, to observe
Growth              Increase, expansion
Shrinkage          Decrease, decline, reduction
Need                 Requirement, necessity, poverty, penury, destitution

Use the Oxford Learners’ Dictionary!

Academic verbs
To look into / right mouse click / synonyms. Or Shift F7.
Word can also help you with finding the better synonyms.

To look into               To examine, investigate
To find out                 To discover, to reveal
To point out               To indicate, to emphasize
To turn down             To reject, to refuse, to decline
To get rid of               To eliminate, to remove
To take on                 To accept, to confront

Become aware of
• Ambiguous words
• Common words

Use formal spelling! No apostrophes!  They mean possession and you should not use them for plurals.

Clear English sentences
• Minimum: subject + finite verb
• Some verbs also require an object / two object
• Do not write in Dutch style