14.5: Glossary of Key Terms

Glossary of Key Terms

Academic Essay
A focused piece of writing that presents a main point or argument and supports it with reasoning, evidence, and analysis.

Academic Integrity
The practice of giving proper credit to sources and completing academic work honestly. Academic integrity includes avoiding plagiarism and citing words, ideas, images, and data correctly.

Academic Voice
A clear, professional, and evidence-based style of writing appropriate for college-level work. Academic voice does not need to sound overly formal or complicated.

Accessibility
The practice of designing writing, documents, and digital materials so that people with different abilities and technologies can use them. Accessibility may include headings, alt text, captions, readable fonts, and strong color contrast.

Active Reading
Reading with attention and purpose by previewing, annotating, asking questions, identifying claims, and noticing evidence.

Analysis
The process of breaking down a text, issue, image, or idea into parts in order to explain how it works and why it matters.

Annotated Bibliography
A list of sources that includes citation information and a short explanation of each source’s main idea, credibility, and usefulness for a project.

Annotating
Marking or taking notes on a text while reading. Annotations may include questions, summaries, reactions, key terms, claims, or evidence.

Argument
A claim or position supported by reasons and evidence. In college writing, an argument should be logical, focused, and connected to credible support.

Audience
The person or group who will read, view, or listen to a piece of writing. Audience affects tone, examples, detail, language, and organization.

Bias
A particular perspective, preference, or leaning in a source. Bias becomes a problem when a source ignores evidence, presents only one side, or uses emotion instead of reasoning.

Body Paragraph
A paragraph in the middle of an essay that develops one part of the thesis with evidence, explanation, and analysis.

Brainstorming
A prewriting strategy used to generate ideas before drafting. Brainstorming may include listing, mapping, questioning, or freewriting.

Citation
Formal information that identifies a source. Citations help readers locate sources and show that the writer is giving proper credit.

Claim
A statement that expresses a writer’s main point, position, or interpretation. Strong claims are specific and supportable.

Coherence
The logical flow of ideas in a paragraph or essay. Coherence helps readers understand how sentences and paragraphs connect.

Comma Splice
A sentence error that occurs when two complete sentences are joined with only a comma.

Conclusion
The final section of an essay. A conclusion brings the essay to a thoughtful close by reinforcing key ideas, explaining significance, or offering a final insight.

Context
The situation, expectations, background, or conditions surrounding a piece of writing. Context may include the assignment, course goals, academic norms, or cultural background.

Controlling Idea
The specific point a paragraph makes about its topic. The controlling idea keeps the paragraph focused.

Credibility
The trustworthiness of a source or writer. Credible sources usually have clear authorship, evidence, citations, publication information, and appropriate expertise.

Critical Reading
Reading that goes beyond basic understanding to examine how a text works, what evidence it uses, what assumptions it makes, and what perspectives may be missing.

Drafting
The stage of the writing process in which a writer turns ideas into sentences and paragraphs. Drafts do not need to be perfect.

Editing
The stage of writing focused on sentence-level issues such as grammar, punctuation, word choice, clarity, and citation formatting.

Ethnographic Analysis
A type of writing that studies people, communities, cultures, behaviors, or social practices through observation, description, reflection, and analysis.

Evidence
Information used to support a claim. Evidence may include examples, facts, statistics, expert opinions, research findings, quotations, paraphrases, summaries, or logical reasoning.

Feedback
Comments or responses from instructors, peers, or the writer that help improve a draft. Feedback is part of the writing process.

Fragment
An incomplete sentence that is missing a subject, verb, or complete thought.

Freewriting
A prewriting strategy in which a writer writes continuously for a short period without worrying about grammar, organization, or correctness.

Growth Mindset
The belief that writing ability can improve through practice, feedback, revision, and persistence.

In-Text Citation
A brief citation placed inside the essay near borrowed information. In-text citations usually point readers to a full entry on a Works Cited or References page.

Introduction
The opening section of an essay. An introduction gives context, prepares the reader, and usually presents the thesis.

Main Idea
The central point or message of a text, paragraph, or essay.

Mechanics
The technical features of writing, including punctuation, capitalization, spelling, formatting, and sentence boundaries.

Metacognition
Thinking about one’s own thinking or learning. In writing, metacognition often happens through reflection and self-assessment.

MLA Style
A citation and formatting style commonly used in humanities courses. MLA often uses author-page in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

Multimodal Writing
Writing that combines more than one mode of communication, such as words, images, sound, layout, color, charts, or video.

Organization
The arrangement of ideas in a paragraph, essay, or project. Strong organization helps readers follow the writer’s thinking.

Paragraph
A focused group of sentences that develops one main idea with explanation, evidence, and analysis.

Paraphrase
A restatement of a source’s idea in the writer’s own words and sentence structure. Paraphrases still require citation.

Peer Review
A process in which classmates read and respond to each other’s drafts. Peer review helps writers improve clarity, organization, evidence, and development.

Plagiarism
Using someone else’s words, ideas, images, data, or work without proper credit. Plagiarism can be intentional or accidental.

Prewriting
The early stage of the writing process when writers explore ideas, ask questions, plan, gather information, or organize thoughts before drafting.

Proofreading
The final check for small errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, formatting, and mechanics before submitting a piece of writing.

Purpose
The reason for writing. A writer’s purpose may be to explain, argue, analyze, reflect, inform, persuade, or respond.

Quotation
The exact words from a source placed in quotation marks or block quote format. Quotations must be introduced, explained, and cited.

Reflection
Writing or thinking about one’s own learning, writing process, choices, challenges, and growth.

Research
The process of asking questions, finding credible information, reading sources, evaluating evidence, and using sources to support or explore ideas.

Revision
The stage of writing focused on re-seeing and improving ideas, organization, clarity, evidence, and logic. Revision often involves larger changes than editing.

Run-On Sentence
A sentence error that occurs when two or more complete sentences are joined incorrectly without proper punctuation or connecting words.

Signal Phrase
A phrase that introduces source material, such as “According to Smith” or “The article argues.” Signal phrases help integrate evidence smoothly.

Source
Any text, image, video, article, book, website, or other material used to gather information or support writing.

Summary
A shortened, objective version of a text’s main ideas written in the writer’s own words.

Supporting Details
Examples, explanations, evidence, facts, statistics, or reasoning used to develop and support a main idea.

Synthesis
The process of combining ideas from multiple sources to show patterns, relationships, agreements, disagreements, or new insights.

Thesis Statement
The central claim or main point of an essay. A strong thesis is specific, focused, and guides the entire essay.

Tone
The attitude or feeling conveyed through writing. Tone may be formal, informal, respectful, serious, reflective, persuasive, or conversational depending on the audience and purpose.

Topic Sentence
A sentence, often near the beginning of a paragraph, that states the paragraph’s main idea.

Transition
A word, phrase, or sentence that connects ideas and helps readers follow the writer’s logic. Examples include however, for example, therefore, in addition, and as a result.

Visual Analysis
A type of writing that examines how images, design, layout, color, symbols, and visual choices communicate meaning.

Visual Rhetoric
The way images and design elements persuade or communicate ideas. Visual rhetoric includes choices about color, layout, spacing, font, images, and emphasis.

Works Cited / References Page
The final list of sources used in an essay. MLA uses “Works Cited,” while APA uses “References.”

Writing Process
The cycle writers use to develop and improve writing. Common stages include prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing or submission.