Reference no: EM133307399

Case: Using the AFN article, "Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery," a 300 word introduction that discloses its main points and also directly describes your position in relation to this piece.

Both of these are techniques used in academic writing to avoid "secrecy" in writing.

Sometimes we think that we should withhold identifying our conclusions until the end of an essay. Maybe we think our writing is more engaging if there is a surprise ending or a big reveal of a secret we have kept from our reader until the end. Essay as murder mystery where we don't know who did it until the end (unless we 'cheat' and flip to the back of the book . . .).

But, in fact, academic writing is more like a murder mystery that shows us who did it right at the beginning and then engages us as we learn how the brilliant investigative team found and interpreted evidence, linked related evidence together to identify and then find the suspect. No secrets; no surprises.

Another kind of secret is the secret that hides who the author of the essay is and also what their background is. Disclosing background is to be direct and open about one's relationship to the topic under discussion. Disclosing background and aspects of one's identity is especially important where power dynamics are in play between the scholar and those whose traditions, history, identity are being studied. So, where one is discussing victims, for example, of religious violence it is important to be clear about whether you yourself are a victim of the violence, you belong to the victimized community or to the community responsible for the violence, or you are an outsider to the entire case.