Bridge to university · Humanities
Bridge: academic reading and writing
Thesis statements, reading research articles, summary and paraphrase, academic vocabulary and avoiding plagiarism, for students starting university.
About this deck
University writing asks for more than a well-organized high school essay. You are expected to make an arguable claim, support it with evidence from scholarly sources, credit those sources correctly, and write in a clear academic register. This deck introduces the vocabulary and habits behind that work: thesis statements, topic sentences, evidence and analysis, counterarguments, the structure of research articles and how to read them efficiently, summarizing and paraphrasing in your own words, reporting verbs and hedging, and the rules of academic integrity.
It is useful for any first-year student, not only those in arts programs, because nearly every faculty assigns lab reports, essays or literature reviews. Try writing a one-line example for each card from your own interests; building your own phrases is more useful than copying lists of stock expressions. When you review the integrity cards, think about your own note-taking habits, since accidental plagiarism usually starts in messy notes. Frequent first-year problems include a thesis that is only a topic, paragraphs that drop in quotations without explaining them, paraphrases that swap a few words but keep the original structure, and assuming that rules about citation or generative AI are the same in every course. Always check the syllabus.
Before you start: Grade 12 English or equivalent; no special background needed.
All 39 cards
Cover the definitions with a sheet of paper and test yourself, or use the study modes above.
Thesis and argument
- Thesis statement
- One or two sentences stating a paper's central, arguable claim and often its main reasons; usually placed at the end of the introduction.Example: Remote work improves productivity for routine tasks but weakens mentoring for new employees.
- Arguable claim
- A position a reasonable reader could dispute, unlike a plain fact or a purely personal preference.Example: Fact: tuition rose. Debatable: tuition increases reduce access for rural students.
- Topic sentence
- The opening sentence of a body paragraph that states its point and ties it back to the thesis.
- Evidence
- Data, quotations, examples or research findings used to support a point; each piece needs explanation, not just insertion.
- Analysis
- Explaining how and why the evidence supports the claim; often the thinnest part of first-year essays.
- Counterargument
- A reasonable opposing view that you present fairly and then answer, which makes your position more credible.
- Signposting
- Words and phrases that guide readers through your structure, such as first, however, as a result and in contrast.
Reading
- Abstract
- A short summary at the start of a research article giving its purpose, method, main results and conclusion.
- IMRaD structure
- Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion: the usual layout of an empirical research article.
- Strategic reading order
- Read the abstract, then the introduction and discussion, then the figures; dig into methods and results only as needed.
- Primary source
- Original material, such as a study reporting new data, a historical document or the novel being analysed.
- Secondary source
- A work that interprets or discusses original material, such as a review article or a textbook.
- Peer-reviewed journal
- A publication whose articles are checked by independent experts in the field before they are accepted.
- Annotating
- Marking a text as you read with questions, key claims and connections, so you engage with it instead of highlighting everything.
- Evaluating a source
- Ask who wrote it, for whom, with what evidence, when, and whether experts reviewed it.
Summarizing
- Summary
- A short restatement of a text's main ideas in your own words and structure, still with a citation.
- Paraphrase
- Rewording a single passage in your own words and sentence structure, about the same length, with a citation.
- Direct quotation
- A source's exact words inside quotation marks with a citation; use it sparingly, when the wording itself matters.
- Patchwriting
- Copying a source sentence and swapping a few words; it still counts as plagiarism even with a citation.
- Close-the-book method
- Read a passage, close the source, write its main idea from memory, then reopen and check for accuracy and accidental echoes.
Vocabulary and style
- Hedging
- Language that signals suitable caution, such as suggests, may, appears to or in most cases.Example: The results suggest a link, rather than the results prove a link
- Reporting verbs
- Verbs that introduce a source and show its stance, such as argues, claims, finds, notes, questions or disputes.
- Nominalization
- Turning a verb into a noun, such as analyse into analysis. Common in academic prose, but overuse makes writing heavy.
- Concise writing
- Cutting filler: use because instead of due to the fact that, and to instead of in order to.
- Formal register
- A style that avoids slang, contractions and casual address and prefers precise vocabulary.
- Personal word list
- A running list of useful academic words from your readings, each with an example sentence you wrote yourself.
- Transitions for contrast
- However, nevertheless, by contrast and on the other hand signal that the next idea pushes against the previous one.
Academic integrity
- Plagiarism
- Presenting someone else's words, ideas, data or work as your own without credit, whether deliberately or through carelessness.
- Academic integrity
- Honesty and fairness in all scholarly work; every university has a formal policy and penalties for breaches.
- Self-plagiarism
- Submitting your own earlier assignment again without the instructor's permission.
- Citation style
- A set of rules for crediting sources, such as APA, MLA or Chicago; the instructor or department decides which to use.
- In-text citation
- A brief reference inside the sentence, such as (Lee, 2024, p. 12), linked to a full entry in the reference list.
- Common knowledge
- Widely known facts that need no citation, such as Ottawa being the capital of Canada. When unsure, cite.
- Generative AI rules
- Policies differ between courses: read the syllabus, ask the instructor, and disclose any permitted use as required.
- Notes that prevent accidental copying
- Put exact wording in quotation marks with page numbers, and keep your own ideas visually separate from source material.
Writing process
- Outline
- A plan listing the thesis, main points and supporting evidence in order before drafting.
- Revision versus editing
- Rethinking argument and structure, versus fixing sentences, grammar and formatting.
- Reverse outline
- After drafting, write one line per paragraph stating its point, then check the order and look for gaps.
- Writing centre
- A campus service where trained tutors help at any stage of an assignment; they guide you but do not write it for you.