daijobu Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Does anyone happen to know where MCT comes down on including questions in academic papers? Something like, "Why were the early pioneers motivated to move to the West?" Is this considered appropriate for academic essay writing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 No idea about MCT, but I wouldn't use that type of question in an academic paper. Writing a real question in terms of a statement, though is a different matter. For example, So and so questioned the validity of x,y,z which lead to the investigation of whatever. IMHO, a simple question written like your example is typically a sign of lack of confidence in developing a strong thesis statement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I haven't seen it addressed in MCT, although to be fair, I am confident enough in my academic writing that I find myself not referring to the teacher's manual much at all after giving an assignment. I agree with the PP, I would make my student rewrite that sentence. There are better ways to phrase whatever point you want to get across. There may be rare situations when questions like that could be included in academic writing, but I wouldn't accept it unless my student was already a skilled and experienced writer and the sentence fit the tone and purpose of the overall piece. I don't think it absolutely breaks a rule, but it's not something I want to see in student work. I also would not want to see a question in the title or in any subject heading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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