Andrea Boero

Clear Comprehensive

Avoid informal language

Avoid plagiarism

Important:

Show your understanding of the subject

Academic

writing

Do not use colloquial language or slang

Do not use shortened forms of words and phrases incorrectly

Avoid using personal language Avoid using language that is

emotional Avoid using unnecessary

words Do not shift verb tense

unnecessarily Do not use questions and

commands

What NOT to do

Write objectively

Write clearly

Use technical vocabulary of your subject area

Use standard English

Use correct English

Use non-discriminatory language

What to do

Academic writing

using third person rather than first or second person (i.e. avoid using I, we, you)

using standard English (avoid clichs and slang)

using academically sound sources of information to back up your arguments

Factual

Impersonal

Unemotional

Logical

Precise

Objective writing

write a plan to organise your writing before you start

write academic paragraphs correctly

write shorter sentences (no longer than a couple of lines)

punctuate correctly (poor punctuation affects clarity)

edit your writing for meaning

Write clearly

Colloquial expression

Formal alternative

Reached a happy medium

Reached an acceptable compromise

Get through it Survive

Easier said thandone

More difficult in practice

In recent years Recently

Got out of hand Was no longer under control

Explore every avenue

Investigated alternatives

Retirement is something most of us must face sooner or later.

Retirement is inevitable. At the end of the day, grammar

and punctuation still count in your essay writing.

Lecturers expect students to use correct grammar and punctuation in their essays.

This exercise shows a couple of things about formal writing.

This exercise demonstrates some of the problems students have with their formal writing.

Do not use colloquial

vocabulary

Do not use contractions at all.

Use acronyms correctly The general rule is to write the name in full first time with

the acronym in brackets immediately after. For the rest of the essay, use the acronym.

Be consistentonce you have written the acronym, use it all of the time. DO NOT use full stops between the abbreviated letters.

If you need to make an acronym into a plural, then add a lower case 's' without using an apostrophe (e.g. PhDs, IQs).

If an abbreviation is commonly used as a word, you can use it in the abbreviated form without writing it in full first.

Shortened forms of words

and phrases

Avoid using common abbreviations e.g. (use for example instead)

etc. (use and so forth instead)i.e. (use that is instead)

vs. (use versus instead)& (use and instead)

If you do use these abbreviations, then they must be placed inside brackets. For example: The rules of plagiarism (i.e. copying

another's work inappropriately) were carefully explained.

Shortened forms of words

and phrases

Evaluate the effectiveness of plagiarism training workshops for university students.

My observations of the literature on student essay writing are that students who participate in a training program on plagiarism perform better in their assignment tasks. Therefore, I think that all university students should be trained in how to avoid plagiarism.

A MORE APPROPRIATE STYLEStudies (reference required) of student performance on essay writing reveal that students who receive training in plagiarism avoidance are more likely to perform well in their essay tasks. Therefore, training in plagiarism avoidance is recommended for university students.

Do not use personal pronouns in your formal writing, unless you are asked to discuss your personal experiences.

Personal

pronouns

Wordy phrases Using better English

It would appear that Apparently

With the exception of

Except

In connection with About

A large majority of Most

Are found to be in agreement with

Agree

In the event that If

Arrive a decision Decide

For a further period of ten years

For another ten years

In the field of education

In education

In the case of third question

In the third question

At the present time, overseas companies are

Overseas companies are now

Do not clog up your writing with words that dont need to be there.

Wordiness

Do not shift from one tense to another if the time frame for each action or event is the same.

Many students experience (present tense) difficulties with plagiarism until they were assisted (past tense) to understand some basic rules.SHOULD BE WRITTEN ASMany students experience (present tense) difficulties with plagiarism until they are assisted (present tense) to understand some basic rules.

It is customary to write most academic papers in the present tense.

Verb tense

Question and command sentences are not required in formal academic writing.

QuestionEssay writing is an important skill for tertiary students. Don't you see how many marks are given for this?SHOULD BE WRITTEN AS A STATEMENTEssay writing is an important skill for tertiary students. Academic essays can attract a considerable proportion of assessment marks in most degree programs.

CommandNow, let's discuss how to help students to stop plagiarising in their academic essays.SHOULD BE WRITTEN ASThe first issue is to find ways to assist students to avoid plagiarising in their academic essays.

Questions and commands

turning in someone else's work as your own

copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

Plagiarism

All knowledge is built from previous knowledge. As we read, study, perform experiments, and gather

perspectives, we are drawing on other peoples ideas. Building on their ideas and experiences, we create our own. When you put your ideas on paper, the reader needs to

distinguish between the building block ideas borrowed from other people and your own newly reasoned perspectives or conclusions.

You make these distinctions in a written paper by citing the sources for your building block ideas.

Providing appropriate citations will also help readers who are interested in your topic find additional, related material to readin this way, they will be able to build on the work you have done to find sources.

WHY ARE WE SO CONCERNED

ABOUT PLAGIARISM?

Show that you have a clear understanding of the material youve read.

Refer to your sources to support the ideas you have developed.

Distinguish youranalysis of what youve read from the authors analyses.

WHY ARE WE SO CONCERNED

ABOUT PLAGIARISM?

Paraphrasing means taking another persons ideas and putting those ideas in your own words.

Paraphrasing does NOT mean changing a word or two in someone elses sentence, changing the sentence structure while maintaining the original words, or changing a few words to synonyms.

If you are tempted to rearrange a sentence in any of these ways, you are writing too close to the original.

Paraphrasing

Tip: Take notes from your

reading with the book closed. Doing so will make it easier to put the ideas in your own

words.

Step 1: Accentuate the positive. Change your attitude about

using citations.

Step 2: How can I keep track of all this

information? Improve your note-

taking skills.

Step 3: So many details, so little time!

Locate the appropriate style

manual.

How can I avoid plagiarizing?

Using citations allows you to show off your understanding of the material and the assignment. And instead of showing what you dont know, citing your sources provides evidence of what you do know and of the authority behind your knowledge.

Just make sure that your paper has a point, main idea, or thesis that is your own and that you organize the source material around that point.

Are you worried that you have too few citations? Do you have enough evidence or proof to support the ideas you put

forward? Why should the reader believe the points you have made? Would adding another, expert voice strengthen your argument? Who

else agrees or disagrees with the ideas you have written? Have you paraphrased ideas that you have read or heard? If so, you

need to cite them. Have you referred to or relied on course material to develop your

ideas? If so, you need to cite it as well.

Positive attitude about

citations

Do you feel that you use

too many citations? Too few?

Start by carefully noting all the bibliographic information youll need.

Next, try thinking about your notes as a kind of transitional space between what youve read and what youre preparing to write. What is the author trying to explain? Why does s/he think these points are important? How has s/he decided to construct the argument? How does the structure of the argument affect the readers response

to the authors ideas? How effective is the authors argument?

Finally, be careful to use quotation marks to distinguish the exact words used by the author from your own words so that when you return to your notes later in the writing process, you wont have to guess which ideas are yours and which ones came directly from the text.

Improve your note-taking

skills

Quoting Paraphrasing -Summarizing

Cite properly

Paraphrase correctly

Inset quotes And dont over-quote

Reference accurately

How to check for plagiarism

Examples of plagiarism

Examples of plagiarism

University of New England. N.D. Academic Writing. http://learninghub.une.edu.au/tlc/aso/aso-online/academic-writing/academic-style.php#dont

Birmingham City University. 2011. Study Guides: Writing. http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.20.htm

The University of North Carolina. 2014. Plagiarism. http://en.writecheck.com/blog/2013/05/09/how-to-check-for-plagiarism

The University of Edinburgh. N.D. Tips for academic writing and other formal writing. http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/jbednar/writingtips.html

Bibliography

Thanks!