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Formalities of academic writing & academic probity
Summer term 2015
Alexandra Rudolph Vera Eichenauer
[email protected]‐heidelberg.de [email protected]
This presentation is partly based on the BA-course „Academic Writing“
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Formalities & plagiarism
I. Formal structure
II. Layout
III. Citations & references
IV. Academic writing style
V. Plagiarism
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I. Formal structure
• Cover page • Declaration of originality • Table of contents • List of figures and tables • List of abbreviations • Introduction • Main analysis • Conclusion • References • Appendix • Declaration of originality
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I. Formal structure: cover page
• Title of the seminar/Master thesis
• Information about the author: – First and last name, contact address (at least e-mail);
Student ID
• Name of university / institute
• Academic term (e.g. Summer term 2015)
• Name of the seminar / study program
• Name of the lecturer
• Submission date
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I. Formal structure: Table of contents
• Captions and page references
• One method of numbering
• Subdivisions with one subsection make no logical sense (e.g. 2.2.1 without a section 2.2.2).
• Level of subdivision should correspond to the length of the article/paragraph.
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I. Formal structure: List of figures and tables
• Captions and page references of all figures and tables are listed on a new page after the table of contents.
• Within your thesis, number figures and tables are consecutively.
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I. Formal structure: List of figures and tables
• Next to the figure or table: • Figures and tables have a caption describing
ist main characteristics (no interpretation) – What is displayed (e.g. Comparison of …., Descriptive
statistics)
– Information about e.g. the data (The data covers 130 countries for the years 1990-2012) or estimation model
– Legend (e.g. colors in graph)
– Reference to source of figure/table
– The reader should be able to understand the main message of the graph with the caption only
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I. Formal structure: Introduction
• Motivation, broad context, relevance:
Capture the reader‘s interest
• Research question
• Method: empirical (descriptive stats, modification), theoretical (comparison, extension), literature review
• Overview of the structure of the paper (depends on length of paper)
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I. Formal structure: Main analysis
The main analysis discusses (& answers) the research question but also problems and limits of your approach.
– Advice:
• Don‘t try to write down everything you have read.
• Only include facts and literature that help answering
your research question.
• Clearly distinguish facts and comments as well as analysis and opinion (also from other researchers: their interpretation of findings are often an overstretch of actual results)
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I. Formal structure: Conclusion
• Link main findings to research question and motivation (from introduction), again mention methodology („summarize“ thesis)
• Options: policy implications, possible extensions of the analysis („research agenda“/future research)
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I. Formal structure: References
• All references mentioned (not used!) in the text.
• One citing style.
• Alphabetically (by last name of first author)
• Note:
• Within text use consistent order of citation if several authors are named
• E.g., (name, 1999; name 2001; name, 2010)
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I. Formal structure: Appendix
• Additional tables and graphs (mentioned in text/footnote)
– Empirical thesis: robustness checks; list of countries in sample; data sources
– Theoretical thesis: proof, other calculations
– Literature review: usually none
• Data coded by yourself (or relevant section of interview transcripts)
• Data code & data (to be submitted with thesis)
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I. Formal structure: Declaration of originality
• The author declares that he/she wrote the thesis without help from others and that he/she indicated whenever content and ideas other than one‘s own were used.
• Needs to be signed.
• You can write a declaration of originality yourself or use this one :
– http://www.eth.uni- heidelberg.de/md/eth/studium/erkl__rung_zu_plagiaten.pd f
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II. Layout
• Ask your supervisor! • Standard:
– Times New Roman 12pt – Line spacing: 1.5 – Margin: 2.5cm (left +1cm, for binding) – Justified – Page numbering:
• bottom right, except cover sheet, table of contents, declaration of originality
– Footnote: bottom, consecutive numbering – Graphs: consecutive numbering, caption and source – First line of each paragraph is indented (except after
caption)
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III. Citations & References
• When to cite?
–Direct citations
– Indirect citations
–Marginal cases
• How to cite?
– In the text
– In the bibliography
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III. Citations: Direct citations
Direct citations: text that is copied verbatim: quotation marks “ ”
Remember:
• Long direct citations should be avoided.
• If necessary: indent the citation
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III. Citations: Direct citations (cont.)
General rules for direct citations:
1. You may not change neither the word order nor the
punctuation
2. Emphases, that are not highlighted in the original
document must be indicated: [Emphasis by author]
3. Omissions are indicated by three dots in square
brackets: [...]
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III. Citations: Direct citations (cont.)
General rules for direct citations: 4. Source of citation: directly after citation in brackets
– Last name of author(s), publication year: page number.
– Examples:
• Dreher 2009a: 11
• Dreher and Nunnenkamp 2010: 111
• Dreher et al. 2011: 1111
Reference must be listed in bibliography
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III. Citations: Direct citations: examples
1. Naím (2007: 95), for example, describes emerging donors like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela as “rogue aid providers [who] couldn’t care less about the long-term well- being of the population of the countries they ‘aid’.”
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III. Citations: Direct citations: examples
1. Naím (2007: 95), for example, describes emerging donors like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela as “rogue aid providers [who] couldn’t care less about the long-term well- being of the population of the countries they ‘aid’.”
2. She finds that “[c]orporate engagement in natural disaster response has grown significantly in both scale and diversity during the last decade. Today, it is a central component of the international response machinery and is becoming more and more important with each new disaster” (White 2012: V).
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III. Citations: Direct citations: examples
1. Naím (2007: 95), for example, describes emerging donors like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela as “rogue aid providers [who] couldn’t care less about the long-term well- being of the population of the countries they ‘aid’.”
2. She finds that “[c]orporate engagement in natural disaster response has grown significantly in both scale and diversity during the last decade. Today, it is a central component of the international response machinery and is becoming more and more important with each new disaster” (White 2012: V).
3. The IEG (2011: 6) concludes that “trust funds are a way to circumvent the allocation system of the MDBs’ [multilateral development banks] country-based business model.”
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III. Citations: Indirect citations
• Use of ideas and arguments of other authors without direct citation
• Reference next to idea/argument used (otherwise: plagiarism)
– Indicate page number for books (not necessary for articles but useful when writing)
– Reference must be included in bibliography
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III. Citations: Indirect citations: examples
1. In many cases, bilateral donors use trust funds to complement their bilateral programming when their aid agencies do not have sufficient presence or expertise in countries to implement programs effectively (OECD 2010: 40; 2011: 29).
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III. Citations: Indirect citations: examples
1. In many cases, bilateral donors use trust funds to complement their bilateral programming when their aid agencies do not have sufficient presence or expertise in countries to implement programs effectively (OECD 2010: 40; 2011: 29).
2. The IEG evaluation (2011:6f) also suggests that donors appreciate the World Bank as a trustee because of its capacity, expertise and strong working relations with governments, and reports that five out of eight donors acknowledged using trust funds to influence the World Bank.
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III. Citations: Indirect citations: examples
• Several authors; complementary information
• Examples:
1. However, while research has revealed the importance of leaders’ personal interests in the allocation of public goods (Hodler and Raschky 2014; Kramon and Posner 2013), few studies have investigated how leaders’ interests affect foreign aid allocation within countries (see Dionne, Kramon and Roberts 2013 on Malawi; and Öhler and Nunnenkamp 2013 on 27 African recipients).
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III. Citations: Indirect citations: examples
• Several authors; complementary information
• Examples: 1. However, while research has revealed the importance of
leaders’ personal interests in the allocation of public goods (Hodler and Raschky 2014; Kramon and Posner 2013), few studies have investigated how leaders’ interests affect foreign aid allocation within countries (see Dionne, Kramon and Roberts 2013 on Malawi; and Öhler and Nunnenkamp 2013 on 27 African recipients).
2. Over the 2000-2011 period, China’s official financing flows to Africa alone are estimated to amount to US$ 73 billion (Strange et al. 2014).
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III. References: Footnotes
• Several reasons for footnotes • Short digressions
– Deviating opinions in the literature that should be mentioned but are not important to your argument
– Details or clarification of a mathematical derivation, data, variable construction
– …
• NOT in footnotes – Information necessary for argumentation or
interpretation of results – Introduction of abbreviations
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III. References: Bibliography
• 2 possibilities to make a bibliography 1. One bibliography: all references -> Economics
• Alphabetical order (Last name first author/institution/journal)
2. By type of source: Books, Articles, Websites
• Different citing styles – Consistency!
– Ask your supervisor
– Popular: APA, Harvard citation style • http://citavi.com/images/forum/Citavi_Zitierstiluebersicht.pdf
– Literature management programs allow to change citing style easily
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III. References: Examples
• Research articles – Name, first name & name, first name (year). Title. Journal,
Number (Issue), page numbers.
• Dittmer, J., & Dodds, K. (2008). Popular geopolitics past and future: Fandom, identities and audiences. Geopolitics, 13(3), 437-457.
• Working Paper – Name, first name (Jahr). Title. Place Working Paper Series
Number. • Dreher, A., Nunnenkamp, P., & Schmaljohann, M. (2013). The
allocation of German aid: Self-interest and government ideology. Kiel Working Paper No. 1817.
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III. References: Examples
• Internet
• Name/„Title“ (Year). Title. Caption. Website (last visited). • z.B. Eichenauer, V. & Rudolph, A. (2015). How to write a thesis?
(Master). http://www.uni- heidelberg.de/fakultaeten/wiso/awi/professuren/intwipol/thesis_and _seminar_writting_ma_ss_15.html (17.4.2015).
• z.B. Seminar Abschlussarbeiten (2015). How to write a thesis?(Master). Vera Eichenauer und Alexandra Rudolph. http://www.uni- heidelberg.de/fakultaeten/wiso/awi/professuren/intwipol/thesis_and _seminar_writting_ma_ss_15.html (17.4.2015).
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III. References: Citing
• Newspaper article
– Newspaper/ Name, first name (Year). Title. Caption. Journal, Date of publication.
• Sengupta, Somini (2015). U.N. Calls on Western Nations to Shelter Syrian Refugees. New York Times, 17.4.2015 (online publication).
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IV. Academic writing
• Academic language
– Be specific and precise
– Read academic work
– No personal (political) opinions
• Academic probity
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IV. Academic Writing: Academic language
• Use „economist“ jargon
• Make clear and concrete statements
• Short sentences
• „I“-form possible (see journal articles)
• No colloquial language
• Use meaningful synonyms
• Be aware of false friends in non-native language
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IV. Academic Writing: Academic language
• Grammar – Active rather than passive
– Use tenses coherently
– Avoid filler words
• Structure – Explicitly link your statements to the hypothesis
(repeatedly)
– Be reader-friendly: • Make transitions between paragraphs and sections
• Announce to reader what to expect next
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V. Plagiarms
• For academic work in general:
– All thoughts that are not your own and not general knowledge of the discipline (e.g., externalities) must be referenced
• Make arguments in your own words
– Your thesis may not consist of more or less direct citations
– Supervisor marks student’s own contribution!
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V. Plagiarism
• Ghostwriter
• Full plagiarism
• Self plagiarism
• Translation plagiarism
• Use of text without referencing
• Paraphrasing without referencing
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V. Plagiarism
1. Why is plagiarism a problem?
– No learning experience
– Proof of performance not produced
– Violation of copyright
– Academia is committed to truth and insight
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V. Plagiarism
2. Plagiarism is not a minor offence!
– Minimum: lower mark
– Re-writing of thesis (new topic)
– Expulsion from study program and universities
– Withdrawal of academic title
Academic probity
• Increased media attention
• Declaration of originality:
e.g.: http://www.eth.uni-
heidelberg.de/md/eth/studium/erkl rung_zu_plagiaten.pdf
• In case of doubt: indicate source
Stylistic inconsistencies are obvious indicators of plagiarism for supervisor
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Empirical analysis (STATA)
Empirical thesis
• Save your work
• Manual saving prone to mistakes -> use automatic backup
• Save original data seperately (in a seperate folder)
• Structure data, code,...:
– Overview
– Mistakes
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Data management
• Structure your data from the beginning
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Data management
Suggestions:
• One folder for each data source
• Create a folder "original data „ that contains data that are never used in STATA
• Save processed data in a new folder or with a new name (or both)
• Save in data folder: Link to data homepage, Coding manuals etc.
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Do-files
• One could type each command seperately – Slow and prone to mistakes – Not replicable
• Use code (do-file) – To read data into STATA, modify and save it – Merge data to final data set for analysis – For data analysis
Replication possible
• Do-files are the main output of empirical research
• Final do-files must run through without error message
• Use one do-file for all data work and the analysis
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Do-files
Do-files are more useful if you comment why your perform commands • Text after a „*“ is recognised as comment by STATA
• One can also comment of several lines /*
text */
The more comment your do-file, the easier it will be for you to get back to your data work and for your supervisor to judge the quality of your work.
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Do-files: preamble
Useful commands
• clear all deletes memory and closes all windows
• version 12.0 to indicate program version
• set more off/on to set whether program runs through or whether you need to confirm each time the results window is full
• capture log close to close a (potentially) still open command window
• log using name to open a new log file
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Do-files
• Make notes in the beginning /* xxx */
– e.g. what your last steps were, what you plan to
do next etc.
• Each do-file consists of three aspects
1. Data preparation
2. Data merge
3. Data analysis
Do-files: folder structure
• Create a folder for your thesis
– E.g. "C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Thesis
• Within this folder: a Stata folder, a folder Raw Data, a folder Do-Files, a folder Literature, and a folder Text
– Do-files should best be saved with a date (JJ//MM//DD)
– Create a Old folders so that old do-files or text versions are not lost
– Saving do-files regularly with a new name allows to go back to old versions if the do-file does not run through.
Do-files: Stata folder
Within the folder „STATA“: folders „data processed“ und „tables“
• STATA folder: save raw data here (original data seperately!)
• „Data processed“: save processed, merged and final data set here
• „tables“: save results in form of tables and figures
The End
