postgraduate resources academic writing

7/29/2019 POSTGRADUATE RESOURCES ACADEMIC WRITING

1/12

Alison Brown, SLC 1

POSTGRADUATE RESOURCES

ACADEMIC WRITING

Table of Contents

Introduction

Writing Structure

Macro levelStructure

Middle levelParagraphs

unitydevelopment

cohesion

Micro levelSentences

academicstyle

sentencestructures

usingsources(intextreferencing)

TipsHow to develop as a writer


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Alison Brown, SLC 2

POSTGRADUATE RESOURCES

ACADEMIC WRITING

Introduction

Postgraduate writing should demonstrate: aclearunderstandingofsubjectmatter

anabilitytoanalyseandevaluateinformationforrelevance,accuracyandauthority

alogical,flowingstructure

Be aware that: writingandTHINKINGareintegrallyconnected.Youcantwritewellifyoudonthaveenough

ideasandinformationaboutwhatyouwanttosay.

much

of

the

writing

process

is

RE

WRITING.You

will

need

to

draft

and

revise

your

work

several

timesuntilyouachieveanappropriatestructureandlevelofclarity.

To develop your writing you need to: Becomefamiliarwiththediscoursesofyourdiscipline

Differentareasofstudyhavedifferentdiscourses(typesofwritingstructuresandlanguageuse).

Forexample,engineerswriteverydifferentlyfromsocialscientists.Youneedto:

lookforandpayattentiontothetypesofwritinginyourfield

buildyourvocabularyanduseofthespecificterminologyofyourdiscipline.

Beresponsibletoyourreader(audience)

Youarenotwritingonlyforyourlecturer.Youraudienceisaneducatedreaderwhodoesnotknow

yourspecifictopicarea.Youneedtoguidethemclearlyanddirectlythroughthepointsthatyouare

making.Thisisdonethrough:

havingaclearstructure

makingexplicitlinksbetweentheideasyoupresent

Writing Structure

Youmayberequiredtowriteinseveralgenres:thesis,essay,report,casestudyoracombinationofthese.All

academicwritingtaskshavesomethingincommonthreelevelsofstructure.

1. macrostructure(typeoftext,anditsmajorsubdivisions)

2. middlelevelparagraphdevelopment

3. microlevelsentencestructureandstylechoices

1. MACRO-LEVEL

Type of text

Structure of texte.g. chapters, sections,sub-sections

2. MIDDLE-LEVEL

paragraphs- unity- cohesion- adequatedevelopment(enoughinformation)

3. MICRO-LEVEL

sentence structure

academic style


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Alison Brown, SLC 3

Insomemacro-s

truc

tures

(suc

hasasc

ien

tific

thesis

)thema

insec

tionsare

fairlyse

t;ino

thers

(suc

hasmanysty

leso

freport

)some

sect

ionsarese

tbu

tmuc

ho

ftheorgan

isa

tion

isopen.

Youcrea

teyouro

wns

truc

turew

ithheadingsan

dsubheadings.

Ina

tra

ditiona

l

essa

yyoumapou

tconnec

tedse

tsofp

aragrap

hs.

Linktoessaywri

tingan

dwri

tingreports

Loo

ka

tthe

threesamp

les

truc

turesin

the

tableremem

ber

theseareon

lyposs

ibilities.

Thesisscientificstructure

Report(orthesis)stru

cture

Essay(traditional)structure)

Abst

ract

Acknowledgements

Listoffigures

Glos

sary

1.0Introduction

1.1

Aim

1.2

Participants

1.3

Researchquestions

2.0L

iteraturereview

2.1

2.2etc

3.0M

ethodology

4.0R

esults

5.0D

iscussion

6.0C

onclusion

7.0R

ecommendations

8.0R

eferences

Summary

ListofFigures

ListofAbbreviations

1.0INTRODUCTION

1.1

THEEXISTINGSITE

1.2

PROJECTOUTLINE

2.0SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENTSTRATEGIES

2.1

ENERGYCONSE

RVATION

2.1.1

Passivesolardesign

2.1.2

Insulation

2.1.3

Vegetation

2.1.4

Solarpowe

r

2.2

WATERCONSER

VATION

2.2.1

Rainwater

collection

2.2.2

Irrigations

ystems

3.0DEMOLITONAND

CONSTRUCTION

3.1

RECYCLINGMA

TERIALSetc.

4.0CONCLUSION

5.0RECOMMENDATIONS

6.0REFERENCES

6.0APPENDICES

Introduction

Brieflocationoftopic

Areastobecovered

Thesisstatement:

Englishwillnotbecomethed

ominantworld

language

Body

Pointbypointdevelopmento

fargument

widespreaduseofEnglishinofficial

organisations/science/technology

rapidspreadofEnglish

incultural

domain

BUT

Englishspeakersvastly

outnumbered

byspeakersofotherlanguages

BacklashagainstAmericanculture

Possiblenewtechnolog

ytoariseout

ofNEScountry

Conclusion

Summaryofarguments

Returntothesis

Organisationwithinthebroadstruct

ure

You

willneedtobrainstormandmapout

thetopics,argumentsandexamplesyouneedtocoverwithinthebroaderstructure.

Thisisamessy,creativeph

aseasyoumove

betw

eenyourtopicarea,yourreadingsan

dyourearlyplan.

ButitisacrucialT

HINKINGphase.

Onceyouhaveanideaofstructurethewritingcan

fallintoplace

.

Somecommonpatternsoforganisationinclude:

chronologicaldevelopm

entbytimeorder

Thiscanbeusefulfordescribingscientificprocessesorthedevelopmentofaconcept.

logicaldivisionofideas

e.g.

bigpicturetodetail,supportingandopposingarguments

orderofimportance


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Alison Brown, SLC 4

Example

Hereare

two

possible

plans

for

the

body

of

an

essay

on

the

following

topic.

Structural Plan 1 Structural Plan 2

CountryA

i. globalisationthreat1

ii. globalisationthreat2

iii.globalisationthreat3

CountryB

i. globalisationthreat1

ii. globalisationthreat2

iii.globalisationthreat3

iv.globalisationthreat4

c)similarities

between

countries

A

&

B

d)differencesbetweencountriesA&B

e)underwhatconditionsisglobalisationathreat

tothesovereigntyofnations

a)Howglobalisationthreatenscountries:

i.Threat1:whatisit?

exampleusingcountryA&/orB

ii.Threat#2:whatisit?


iii.Threat#3:whatisit?


b)Isglobalisationathreattothesovereigntyofstates

overall?Whatsignificantdifferencescanbefound

betweencountriesA&B?

Canwegivereasonsforthesedifferences?

Topic:Globalisationisathreattothesovereigntyofstates.Discuss,usingoneortwocountriesasexamples.(Assumeyouhavealreadydefinedthetermglobalisationintheintroduction).

Middle Level Structure paragraphs

Withinthesectionsandsubsectionsofyourwritingtask,paragraphsformthenextlayerofstructure.

Aparagraphhasthreeimportantfeatures:

unity

development

cohesion

Unity

Aparagraphshouldcontainonemainideaorclaim,expressedinatopicsentence,oftenthefirstsentence.The

paragraphshouldhavealogicalstructuresothatallthesentencesareconnectedandflowfromthecentraltheme.

Therearemanytypesofparagraphstructure.Thisisproblemsolution.


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Alison Brown, SLC 5

Topic sentence (expressing the problem) Theemphasisofthecriminaljusticesystemhasuntil

recentlybeenonthebattlebetweentheoffender/

defendantandthestate/prosecutorandnot theactual

harmexperiencedbythevictim.InFactvictimshavehadminimalparticipationinthecriminaljusticeprocess;theirrolebeingprimarilytoprovideinformationtothestateprosecutorwithnoinvolvementinprosecutionandsentencing.McShaneandWilliams(1992,p.260)contendthat victimneglectis

notsimplyaresultofindifference,itisalogicalextension

ofalegal

system

which

defines

crime

as

an

offence

againstthestate.Theyarguethatthisneglectcanbe

remediedbytrainingofpersonnelwithinthecriminal

justicesystemandthroughvictimsupportservices.

Expansion of point

Evidence/ support

Solution

Development

Aparagraphhastohaveenoughinformationinittojustifybeingaparagraph!Itshouldconsistofamainpointthat

isthenfurtherelaboratedon.Somepossibledevelopmentmodelsinclude:

expansionthepointisfurtherdefinedorbrokendownandanalysedorreframedforclarification.

illustrationexamplesorscenariosaregiven

evidenceresearchbasedorsometimesexperiencebasedsupportforthepoint

applicationhowthiscanthenoperateinpractice

Theremayalsobeasentencewhichcommentsonthematerialorrelatestheexpandedpointbacktomaintopicofthat section of the writing.

Learner anxiety in the classroom

Topic sentence-main

idea

Expansion of

point(italic)

Comment

The research on anxiety suggests that like self-esteem, anxiety can be experienced at various

levels (Oxford 1999).At the deepest or global level,trait anxiety is a more permanent predisposition

to be anxious. Some people are predictably and generally anxious about many things. At a moremomentary, or situational level,state anxiety is experienced in relation to some particular event or

act. As we learned in the case of self-esteem, then, it is important in a classroom for a teacher to try

to determine whether a students anxiety stems from a more global trait or whether it comes from a

particular situation at the moment.

Source: Brown, H.D (2000) Principles of teaching and learning. 4th Ed. NY:Addison Wesley Longman


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Alison Brown, SLC 6

Workshop Activity 2different paragraph structures

Cohesion within paragraphs

Textcohesionisthewaythewritingholdstogether,tomakesense.Eachsentenceshouldrelatetotheothersentences

intheparagraph.Anumberofcohesivedevicesassistincreatingtextcohesion.

keywords(orsynonyms)repeated

pronouns(it,she,they)referringtoapersonorthingalreadymentioned

referencewords(that,this)whichlinkrelatedideas,e.g.onesuchexperiment;inthisway;these

generalclasswords(thesecharacteristics,thisprocess)

conjunctionsandsentenceconnectors(but,however,furthermore,yet)

signpoststoemphasisetherelationshipsexpressed(ontheotherhand;incontrast;inaddition;

moreover;first,second..)

parallelstructures(usingarepeatedgrammaticalform)

Inthefollowingparagraphthesentencesareallaboutmummificationbuttheyjumpallovertheplace.Thereisno

overallparagraphplanandtheyjumpallovertheplace.

Hereisthesameparagraphrevisedwithaplan(fromgeneraltospecific)andclearerlinkstohelpthereader

The ancient Egyptians were masters of preserving dead peoples bodies by making mummies of them. Mummiesseveral thousand years old have been discovered nearly intact. The skin, hair, teeth, finger- and toenails, and facialfeatures of the mummies were evident. It is possible to diagnose the diseases they suffered in life such assmallpox, arthritis, and nutritional deficiencies. The process was remarkably effective. Sometimes apparent werethe fatal afflictions of the dead people: a middle-aged king died from a blow on the head, and polio killed a childking. Mummification consisted of removing the internal organs, applying natural preservatives inside and out, andthen wrapping the body in layers of bandages.

The ancient Egyptians were masters of preserving dead peoples bodies

by making mummiesof them. The process of mummificationconsisted of

removing the internal organs, applying natural preservatives inside and out,and then wrapping the body in layers of bandages. Itwas a remarkably

effective practice. Indeed, mummiesseveral thousand years old have been

discovered nearly intact. Theirskin, hair, teeth, fingers and toenails, and facial

features of the mummies are still evident. Theirdiseases in life, such as

smallpox, arthritis, and nutritional deficiencies, are still diagnosable. Even their

fatal afflictions are still apparent: a middle-aged king died from a blow on the

head: a child king died from polio.

Topic sentence is bold

Words in italics nouns repeatedand then pronouns

Boxed words: links betweensentences

Underlined words:Parallel grammatical form forparallel content

Adapted from: Fowler, Aaron & Anderson (2001) The little brown handbook, New York: Addison Wesley (pp. 81-2)


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Alison Brown, SLC 7

Cohesion across paragraphs

Thereshouldalsobecohesivelinksbetweentheparagraphs.Thesealertthereadertotherelationshipsbetweenthe

pointsyoupresent.Thefollowingseriesofparagraphsusesabasicliststructure(awritingequivalentof 1,2,3)

Thisstructureisveryusefulforgroupingsectionsoftextthatdevelopasetofpoints.Theseparagraphsmaythen

besetoffagainstothersectionsoftext(asincomparison).

Billing bytes received does have some flaws. First, many network protocols sendacknowledgments from the destination to the source, resulting in users who offerservices to the network receiving bytes of data from the network that they did notrequest. Fortunately, acknowledgment packets are usually quite small. These bytescould be ignored, however, by network devices that can compute the total number ofacknowledgments seen. Also, the organization that computes the bills can recognizethe users who offer services to the network and possibly offer then a discount ontheir bills.

Anotherproblem with billing based on bytes received is that unsolicitednetwork data, such as electronic mail, adds to the user's bill. This flawcanperhaps be overlooked because many users send and receive mail on the sameorder of magnitude. This might not be the case, however, when a user is on themailing list and receives many mail messages. In this situation, theuser is on themailing list for a reason and their bill should reflect the receipt of this data as a resultof this network service.

Still anotherpossible imperfection in this billing method arises from each userreceiving data from the network as the organization monitors it formanagement reasons, as illustrated in Fig. 6.5.

However,

Topic sentences in

bo ld

Problem 1 (flaws)Text mark ers and

reference words are initalics. These words

orient the reader through

the text, clarifying the

topic focus at each stage

Problem 2(problem)

The subject repeated in afull but slightly alteredform is in a boxProblem 3 (imperfection)

The subject repeated butwith a general word

method is in a box

Source:Leinwand,A.,&Fang,K.(1996).NetworkManagement:apracticalperspective,Reading,Mass.:AddisonWesley(p.102)Workshop Activity 3Rewriting for greater cohesion

3. Micro-level sources, sentences and academic style

Everysentenceinyourwritingshouldbeincludedforaspecificreasonandshouldconnectwiththesentencesaround

itandtheoveralltopic.Eachsentenceshouldmakelogicalandgrammaticalsenseandbeexpressedinan

appropriatelyacademicstyle.Someaspectsofacademicstyleyouneedtobeawareofinclude:

Degrees of certainty

Thereis

rarely

absolute

proof

of

an

event

or

adirect

causal

relationship

between

phenomena.

There

are

more

often

correlationsandlinks.Thismeansthattentativelanguage(suchastendsto,indicatesthat,suggeststhat,themajorityof)isoftenappropriate.Forexample:

Thistendstooccurwheneverthereisadownturnincommodityprices.

Howeverwhenyouknowsomethingalwayshappensandyoucanbeconfidentitwillhappenthesamewayinthe

futureyoushouldnotbetentative.

Thisoccurswheneverthereisadownturnincommodityprices.

Third person voice (unless the personal aspect is an important part of the work)Thethirdpersonvoice(it,they,he,she,theauthors,rsearchers)distancestheselffromtheworkandappearsmore


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Alison Brown, SLC 8

objectivethanthefirstpersonI,weorsecondpersonyou.Thirdperson.

Vocabularychoiceevidentlyplaysaroleindeterminingwhichtopicsaretakenupbyspeakers.

Firstperson

Ifoundthatthevocabularychoiceplayedaroleindeterminingwhichtopicsspeakerstakeup.

However,insometypesofwriting(suchasreflectivejournalwritingandcreativeartsexegeses)thefirstpersonis

usedtoreflectthepersonal,subjective,processbased,exploratorynatureofthestudyorproject.Youmayneedto

negotiatethisaspectwithyourlecturers.

Contractions (shortened forms)

Usethefullformsofwords,e.g.donotinsteadofdont;cannotinsteadofcant;itisinsteadofits.Forexample:Unemploymentfigureswillnotimproveuntiltheeconomyisstronger.Contractionsareacceptableifyouarequotingfromtranscripts,personaljournalsordiariesoraspartofahighly

personalthesisstyle.

Nominalisation (noun forms)

Academicwritingusuallyhasmorenounstructuresthanverbstructures. Thesenounformsareusefulincondensing

textandwhenthefocusisonconditionsorresultsratherthanactions.However,toomuchnominalisationcanmake

thewritingverydenseanddifficulttoread.

Forexample:

Heavily nominalised (noun forms underlined)

Thecompanysoriginalconclusionthattheestablishmentofincreasedflexibilityinattendancehourshas

resultedinadecreaseinabsenteeism,wasendorsedinthemostrecentanalysis.

Rewritten for greater clarity (verb forms underlined)

Inarecentanalysisthecompanyconfirmeditsearlierconclusionthatgreaterflexibilityinattendancehoursfor

workersreducesabsenteerates.

Passive and active voice

The passive voice emphasises the action over the person doing the action (the actor). It is a very useful technique when the actor

is not important to the event. For example.

Active

MyclassmatesandImeasuredtherefractiveindexoftheliquid.

Passive

Therefractiveindexoftheliquidwasmeasured.

However, the passive voice (particularly in conjunction with nominalization) can contribute to writing sounding very formal

and losing clarity.

Passive

Agreementastotheneedforrevisionsinthetermsofthetreatywasreachedbythetwosides.

Active(and

part

passive)

Thetwosidesagreedthatthetermsofthetreatyshouldberevised.


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Alison Brown, SLC 9

Direct questions

Ingeneralyourwritingshouldrestrictdirectquestionsto:

yourspecificresearchquestions(thesis,exegesis,aresearchpaper,project,report,reflectivejournal)

anemphasisoftherelationshipbetweenaspectsofyourwriting

Example: Natural resource managementSohowcanthedesireforenvironmentalprotectionandtheequally,ifnotmore,potentdesireforeconomic

developmentberesolved?Thisiswheretheoriststendtocontradictoneanother..Smith(2003)recommends

that..whileJones(2004)believesthatwithout.anyresolutionisunlikely.

Thisquestioniscalledarhetoricalquestion.Itisusedtoengagethereaderinakindofconversation.Itisaquestionthathasstrongreflexivepowers,sinceitisthepersonwhoasksthequestionwhothenattemptstoanswer.

Formal forms of quantity with positive verbs

No Theanalysisyieldednonewresults (moreformal)

Theanalysisdidnotyieldanynewresults

Little Therecentbudgetallocatedlittlefundingtotheprogram(moreformal)

Therecentbudgetdidnotallocatemuchfundingtotheprogram

Few Thereseemtobefewviablesolutionstothisproblem(moreformal)

Theredonotseemtobemanyviablesolutionstothisproblem

Note: fewmeanshardlyany ;afewmeansthreeorfour

Much MuchresearchhasbeenconductedintoglobalwarmingMany (these are more formal than "a lot of")

Conciseness

Trytousethemoststraightforwardtermandreduceunnecessarywords.Herearesomecommon wordy phrases

thatcanbereducedintomoreconciseforms.

Wordy (or redundant) Concise

in recent years recently

with a high degree of certainty certain

at this moment in time currently, now (not nowadays)

in close proximity (to) close (to)

advance planning planning (all planning is in advance)co-operate together co-operate (means together)

few in number few

crisis situation crisis (this is a situation)

a great deal of much/many

in order to to

make adjustments adjust

is reflective of reflects

is capable of can


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Alison Brown, SLC 10

In text referencing (using sources)

Youwillneedtosupportthepointsyoumakewithevidenceandexamplesfromotherresearch.Itisimportanttodo

thisthoughtfullyandcarefullysoyoudonotplagiarise.

Look at the student paraphrased versions of Hardens idea, with evaluative comments.

Originalmaterial:

Harden, J 1996, Enlightenment, empowerment and emancipation: the case for critical pedagogy in nurse education

Student version 1:

Nursingisbyfarthelargestoccupationgroupinhealthcare.Yet,nursescanbeseenasanoppressedgroup.Thisviewissupportedbythefactthatnurseslackcontrolovertheirownprofession.Theydonothaveautonomyor

accountability.Thehistoryofthedominationandoppressionofwomenisthelinktoexplainingthedominationof

nursing.

Student version 2:

Althoughnursesformthelargestoccupationalgroupinthehealthcareprofession,theycanbeseenasanoppressed

group.Harden(1996)statesthatthedominationofnursesisinextricablylinkedtothehistoricaloppressionand

dominationofwomeninsociety.Fornurses,sheclaimsthisoppressionisillustratedbytheextremelylimited

professionalindependencetheyhaveasseenbytheirlackofaccountabilityandcontrolovertheirprofession.

Student version 3:

Despite nurses forming the largest group in the healthcare professions, Harden (1996) claims they can be categorisedas an oppressed group(p.33). She explains the domination of nurses as a reflection of the historical oppression anddomination of women in society. For Harden (1996), this subservient role of nurses is illustrated by their lack ofautonomy, accountability and control over their own profession(p.33).

nurses can be viewed as an oppressed group, a view supported by the fact that nurses lack autonomy,accountability and control over their own profession. Yet nursing is by far the largest occupational group within thesphere of healthcare, so why is it so powerless? For me the history of the domination of nursing is inextricably linked

to that of the domination and oppression of women.

The student has copied most of the original. There is no indication of where the students voice ends and the citedwriters voice begins. There is no author or date (no reference).Therefore the text is plagiarised.

It is still not clear which ideas come from the reference and which from the student. Although the source has beenacknowledged, many sections have been taken directly from the original, and should have been acknowledged asquotes. Moving a few words around or using a few synonyms does not make it your writing or your ideas.Therefore, this is also a plagiarized version.

Here the student has made much better use of the original. Some words have been paraphrased. Words takendirectly from the original are clearly marked as quotes (note that they are only in italics in this example to showwhat has been quoted).Also, the source is clearly documented.


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How to develop as a writer

Read for structure and clarity.

Improvingyour

reading

strategies

and

your

judgement

of

writing

quality

will

have

an

impact

on

your

writing

skills.

Notehowotherwriters:

presenttheirmainposition

definekeyterms

structureheadingsandsubheadings

organiseparagraphs

usevisualsupportmaterials(charts,tables,illustrations)

linkideas (cohesivedevices)

citeothersourcesasevidenceorsupportfordiscussionandanalysis

Get started and write regularly

Dont putoffwritingyouneedtoleaveplentyoftimeforthinkingandrevision.

Trytowritesomethingeveryday:notes,personalreflections,mindmaps.

Letyourideasflowfreelyatthestartandthenimposeastructureuponthem

Write with awareness

Beclear:writingisalinkbetweenyourownunderstandingandyourabilitytomakeothersunderstand

whatyoumean.

Useasimple,structuredapproachifyouarenotconfidenttotestoutnewgroundwithinthediscipline.

Ifandwhenyoubreakwithtradition,makesurethatyoucanjustifythisdecision.


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References

Brown,H.D2000,Principlesofteachingandlearning,4thEd.AddisonWesleyLongman,NewYork

Dyson,F.1979,DisturbingtheUniverse,Harper&Row,NewYork.

Fowler,H.RandAaron,J.E.2001,Thelittlebrownhandbook,Longman,NewYork

Gee,J.P1992,Thesocialmind:language,ideologyandsocialpractice,BerginandGarvey,NewYork

Harden,J.1996,Enlightenment,empowermentandemancipation:thecaseforcriticalpedagogyinnurseeducation,

in

NurseEducatorToday,Vol.16,pp.3237

Leinwand,A.andFang,K1993,Networkmanagement:apracticalperspective,AddisonWesley,Reading,MASS,p.102

OLeary,M.andMeas.N.2001,Learningfortransformation:astudyoftherelationshipbetweenculture,values,experienceanddevelopmentpracticeinCambodiaKromAkphiwatPhum,Battambang,Cambodia

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