Writing in a Academic Style

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Writing in a Academic Style
Dr John Warren
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What we are going to cover

• Some guidance and friendly advice on improving
  your formal writing
• Some rules you must obey or die!!

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Types of academic writing

• Lab reports
• Literature reviews / essays / exams
• Honours dissertation
• Published scientific papers

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Essay planning
Draft Write something (anything!)
Analyse title
Ruthlessly redraft
Read!
Proof read!!!
Flow diagram
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Think about the structure and the story line

• Break the text into sections with sub headings
• Follow the brief
• Tell the reader where the story is going

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Think about what you are saying!!!!!

• Should species die out then their natural
  resistance to disease is eliminated
• Geese are smaller than swans but are larger than
  ducks. Swans are larger than geese and ducks.
  Ducks are smaller than geese and swans
• There are few sites of conversational interest
  at Frongoch

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More howlers

• Farmers should not stick to the same areas, they
  should move every year
• The next development over the horizon is
  genetically modified orgasms
• Other species of vegetation inhibit the site

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Introductions

• Written last of all
• After you know what you are going to say
• Can be a map of the essay
• briefly mentioning the sections following
• Can justify why it is worthy of study
• for essay titles that you choose

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Blue mens socks

• Adult numbers
• Experimental students
• Mobile numbers
• Data were extracted from the late Professor Smith
• FYM students (Final Year Module)
• There was a significant effect of X on Y
• There was a significant relationship between x
  and y.

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Care using spell checks!

• Diary cows vs Dairy cows
• Tip use the thesaurus / synonyms to check the
  meaning of words
• And care with words not in spell checks
• Like plant names wood enemy, wood anaemia,
  Cecil the oak
• and Brecon (the Welsh fern)

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Precise language, being picky or an evolving
language?

• Data were not data was
• Wireless and radio
• Commuters must buy a ticket
• Remember it could be read anywhere in the English
  speaking world

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Take care with technical jargon

• The origin and maintenance of the capitulum
  polymorphism in Senecio vulgaris L. (Groundsel).
• Flower colour phenology in British mesotrophic
  grassland communities.

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Avoid colloquialisms

• Mucking out
• Finishing off
• Pleaching
• Dyking
• Jack Jennet
• Jumping-off

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Shaping the argument for an essay

• Up front model
• The evidence for and against an idea, after it
  has been stated
• Evidence to suggest that the plays attributed to
  Shakespeare were actually written by Marlowe will
  be considered in this essay
• The thriller model
• Introduce the theme without giving a conclusion
• This essay considers the theory that plays
  attributed to Shakespeare were written by his
  contemporary Marlowe

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The body of the essay

• Keep a focus on the subject at hand
• Represent all (or most points of view)
• Indicate stages in your argument
• However, Therefore, Moreover, Additionally, That
  notwithstanding, etc
• But do not overuse these!

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The body of the essaycont

• Reference (important/ most/ all) facts
• Give a value judgement on equivocal evidence
• Use case studies, specific examples
• Add weight to arguments
• Look out for relations between facts
• Make comparisons, analogies, contrasts, etc

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Conclusions

• Written second to last
• I have told you
• Not suitable for short essays (lt2000 words)
• The answer is
• Giving the answer to a question posed in the
  introduction
• Where this essay could go next
• Identifying further areas of research into the
  unknown
• Care! Could make you look stupid!

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Past passive tense

• Impersonal (almost never I, we, me, our, etc)
• In the past tense for what you found or did for
  an experiment
• In the past tense for what other researchers
  found or did in an experiment
• In the present tense for generally accepted truths

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Past passive tense

• The sample was weighed
• The tourists were questioned
• Smith et al. (1999) found numbers of bats to
  fall
• Brown et al. (2002) reported grain yields
  increased
• The sun rises in the east
• Milk yields decline by 3 per week after peak
  lactation (James et al. 2000)
• Cats are the main predators of sparrows in
  Sheffield (Jones et al. 1992 Smith et al. 2003)

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Write in proper sentences

• Do not write in lists
• Construct a proper argument
• A sentence must have a verb
• Not
• Teaching skills for the new generation of
  University entrants.
• Not
• Between your knees on a bale or stool.

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Other stuff that gets on my nerves

• Avoid contractions
• (e.g. dont, cant, didnt)
• Limit use of abbreviations
• (define on first use, then use throughout)
• Woolly language
• (The advantages were good and the
  disadvantages were bad)
• The word DONE
• Spelling
• (Word spell check is not enough, read your work)
• Random capitals
• Do not Capitalise words Just because they are
  Important in the sentence.

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Each sentence should convey a single point
avoid long sentences
Avoid redundancy
Avoid ambiguity
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• Given all these factors arguing against the
  retention of the 365-day calving interval, the
  main case forcing its retention are the extensive
  grazing systems now far more common in the UK
  than in 1979, where cows calve in the early
  spring to produce most of their milk from cheap
  grass.

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• Given all these factors arguing against the
  retention of the 365-day calving interval, the
  main case forcing its retention are the extensive
  grazing systems currently popular. These systems
  are now far more common in the UK than in 1979.
  In these systems cows calve in the early spring
  to produce most of their milk from cheap grass.

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Redundancy

• Very much greater milk yield
• This essay will analyse the effect of the growth
  hormone preparation (under title Growth
  Hormone)
• We conducted an experiment to investigate
  (under the title of the experiment)

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Ambiguity

• Make sure that it is very clear what it is you
  are talking about
• Care with use of words such as
• This (in this report)
• That (in that experiment)
• Which (which was found not to be the case)
• It (it was greater than that)
• etc

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Report facts accurately

• Give a reference (preferably peer reviewed) for
  all scientific statements
• Make clear what is speculation
• Give the good basis for that speculation
• Enable the reader to judge

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Using references

• All but well established facts need a reference
• All references in the text MUST appear in the
  reference list and vice versa
• The reference must say what you claim it says

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Citing references in text

• Just the surname(s) and year of publication
• With the authors name as part of the sentence
• Jones (1999) stated that
• Smith and Western (1990) noted
• Rose et al. (2004) investigated
• With the reference at the end of a statement
• on poor quality diets (Brown et al. 1999)
• was noted (Smith et al. 1903 Jones 1999)

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The Internet as a source of reference

• Is (mostly) rubbish
• It can change from one day to the next
• There is nothing to vouch that it is true
• Is often opinion rather than fact
• e.g. For an essay on foxhunting
• League Against Cruel Sports
• Countryside Alliance
• Opinion only not facts

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Avoid using quotes

• Avoid lifting blocks of text
• Unless the exact wording is important
• Rewording text demonstrates your understanding
  and avoids the you being accused of plagiarism
• One or two key quotes may be acceptable

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Bibliographies - Harvard Referencing

• Journal
• Bennett, H. Gunter, H. Reid, S. (1996) Through
  a glass darkly images of appraisal. Journal of
  Teacher Development 5 39-46. 
• Journal (where author anonymous)
• How dangerous is obesity? (1977) British Medical
  Journal 6069 1115. 
• Books
• Mohr, L.B. (1996) Impact analysis for program
  evaluation. 2nd ed. London, Sage.
• Chapters in books
• Whitehead, C.C (1991) Nutrition and growth of fat
  and lean broiler genotypes. In Recent Advances in
  Animal Nutrition. Eds. Haresign, W. and Cole,
  D.J.A. London, Butterworths.

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The Take Home Message

• Answer the brief
• Structure your text
• Provide evidence to support your arguments
• Keep the language simple and clear
• Read what you have written