Where strong essays come from, and how to turn your Week-1 claim into a sentence worth defending.
A draft topic and claim, plus your Writing Journal set up.
Find the evidence to defend that claim, and sharpen it into a real thesis.
Workbook Ch 4 to 7, knowledge & evidence, the CRAAP test, annotated bibliographies and thesis statements, plus the new worked-example pages at the end of each chapter.
Sceptical reading, source triage, and a bibliography that lives on your desk all semester, not one you assemble the night before.
What an educated reader in your field already knows and no one disputes.
Anything from someone's specific research, analysis, or argument.
“Korea has the lowest birth rate in the OECD.” Common knowledge, or does the number need a citation? Where, exactly, is the line?
| Kind | What it is | Best when… |
|---|---|---|
| Statistical | Numerical data from a named source (KOSIS, World Bank). | claiming scale, frequency, or trend. |
| Empirical | Findings from experiments, fieldwork, observation. | arguing a causal mechanism or effect. |
| Testimonial | Quote or paraphrase of a recognised expert. | a credentialled voice backs your reading. |
| Textual | Direct evidence from a primary text, law, dataset. | interpreting a specific document or artefact. |
| Anecdotal | A specific story or case. | making a general claim concrete, never alone. |
My grandmother always says everything was cheaper before, so inflation must be a serious problem for older Koreans.
A 2024 KOSIS survey found 71% of respondents over sixty rated rising prices their “most serious worry,” against 49% nationally. For my grandmother in Daegu, that figure is a daily calculation at the market.
An anecdote can light up a paragraph. It cannot carry one, frame it with evidence of another kind.
| Letter | Stands for | You're really asking… |
|---|---|---|
| C | Currency | When was it published, and is that date still relevant? |
| R | Relevance | Does it address your question, or just mention the topic? |
| A | Authority | Who wrote it, what are their credentials, who published it? |
| A | Accuracy | Is the evidence inside it cited, checkable, consistent? |
| P | Purpose | Why was it written, to inform, sell, persuade, provoke? |
Sources that fail aren't bad, they're simply unfit for this essay.
“Coupang's Last-Mile Bet: How Logistics Density Is Reshaping Korean Retail.”
Maeil Business · July 2023 · senior business reporter · cited by three later industry reports. Draws on a CFO quote & KOSIS retail data.
Verdict, use it. But a single article can't carry the essay; pair it with a peer-reviewed study or a primary filing.
2023, inside the window for a 2026 essay.
Direct hit on logistics density.
National daily; senior reporter; later cited.
Cross-checks with KOSIS & a named CFO quote.
Journalism, not promotional. Acceptable.
| Source | Why it fails CRAAP |
|---|---|
| A Reddit thread about Coupang delivery times | Authority, anonymous; Accuracy, unverifiable. |
| A 2014 piece on “the future of Korean e-commerce” | Currency, the world changed; figures are dead. |
| Coupang's own annual report | Purpose, promotional. Good for facts about Coupang, not for judging it. |
| An AI-generated essay scraping uncredited sources | Authority none; Accuracy fabricated. |
CRAAP still applies. Chosun, Hankyoreh, JoongAng = national papers; Maeil Business = respected sectoral daily. Stats at KOSIS, filings at DART. Name the publication, give the date, translate the title in brackets.
A classmate cites ChatGPT as a source in their essay. What do you tell them?
Your annotated bibliography needs four sources in two kinds — every one CRAAP-passed and cited in your discipline's format. Start collecting them now; it's due next week.
For every source you'll use, write 5 to 8 sentences that do four things:
Write the annotation the day you read the source, not the night before it's due. The semester is long and your memory is not the tool you think it is.
Jin, D. Y. (2022). Artificial intelligence and the post-pandemic Korean media industries. International Journal of Communication, 16, 4421–4439.
Jin argues “Hallyu 4.0” is defined by infrastructure, recommendation systems wired to Korean production pipelines, across three cases (BTS, Squid Game, Pachinko).
Peer-reviewed; respected open-access journal; author has published on this for fifteen years.
Supports paragraph three, Korean cultural export is now platform-mediated. Rebuts the “BTS-as-exception” counter-claim.
“The Korean cultural product no longer travels on its own; it is carried.” (Jin, 2022, p. 4431).
Which one you use is decided by your discipline, not your preference. Pick one and be perfectly consistent.
Author, date. In-text: (Jin, 2022). References alphabetical by author.
The reader sees who and when at the point of citation, right for argument-driven fields.
Numbered. In-text: [1]. References listed in citation order.
Keeps technical prose uncluttered, the number does the work, the list holds the detail.
Some HASS courses, especially literature, ask for MLA instead, author-page in text, a Works Cited list. Same logic, different wrapper, full comparison in Workbook §11.4.
Park, S., & Lee, J. (2023). Last-mile logistics and retail competition in Korea. Journal of Asian Business, 41(2), 112 to 130.
In-text → (Park & Lee, 2023)
[1] S. Park and J. Lee, “Last-mile logistics and retail competition in Korea,” J. Asian Bus., vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 112 to 130, 2023.
In-text → … as shown in [1].
Two academic/professional/trade sources + two other reliable sources, every one formatted correctly and consistently. Inconsistent formatting reads as carelessness.
It is not a topic. Not a question. Not a fact. It is the one sentence your entire essay exists to prove.
A clear thesis makes the body paragraphs almost write themselves. A vague one leaves you reaching for the next sentence on every line.
Twenty minutes here saves four hours on the draft.
A reasonable reader could disagree. “Graphene has unique properties” is a fact; “Graphene is the most plausible substrate for flexible electronics” is a claim.
Not “the internet changed society”, but how, for whom, in what way.
STEM hypothesis-driven · HASS interpretive · Business recommendation-driven. The flavours aren't interchangeable.
Cover why it matters in the same sentence, or the very next one.
Starting from scratch? Begin with an observation the reader accepts, then add your analysis, what you make of it. Together they form the thesis.
Graphene is known for unique conductive properties.
These properties can transform energy storage.
Graphene's conductive properties have the potential to transform energy storage by enabling more efficient, sustainable battery designs.
The same thesis engine, tuned to each discipline's expectations. Read your track's example closely.
Graphene is a useful material.
Graphene's conductivity and flexibility make it the most plausible substrate for flexible electronics, despite manufacturing costs that have kept it out of consumer devices.
K-pop is popular around the world.
K-pop's global rise reflects less organic fandom than a deliberate export strategy, in which idol-training systems and social-media algorithms manufacture both the stars and the demand for them.
Take the claim you narrowed in Week 1 and build it with the formula.
Swap thesis statements. Can your partner state what your essay will argue, and disagree with it? If not, it's not specific enough yet.
Presentation prep: body & voice. Physical message, vocal delivery, and finishing your annotated bibliography, your first graded homework.
Week 02 · Next, Presentation prep & the annotated bibliography