Writing tips

1. Writing tips MGM4105 7

2. Writing Tips • Active/passive – too much passive is boring. • Tenses – use present tense to describe general principles or results (“These results indicate that . . .”); past tense to describe past findings (Smith’s 1999 study found that . . ). • In the introductory chapter, the present tense is the most common. • Literature reviews can be written in the past, present perfect or present. Think carefully about your choice as it will have subtle influences on your meaning.

3. Writing Tips • The methodology (what you did) and the results (what you found) will be in the past tense. • The discussion or conclusion may again be a mixture of past when summing up what has gone before, and the present tense, when reflecting 'general truths'.

4. Writing Tips • Using a highlighter, identify the topic sentences. It is usually found at the start of each paragraph. The topic sentence summarizes the central idea of a paragraph and acts as a signpost to what is to follow in the paragraph. • If you have a paragraph without a topic sentence, ask yourself what the main point of the paragraph is, and write this up as the topic sentence.

5. Writing Tips • You can signpost at all levels of text: through chapter headings and subheadings, introducing and concluding paragraphs, paragraphs, sentences, and words. You can use signpost words, phrases and sentences to tell the reader where your writing is going. Simple examples are, 'first', 'next' and 'finally'. • Use link words to make each step of your argument easy to identify. Link words or transition words include: 'however, 'also', 'too', 'in addition', 'like', 'similarly', 'in the same way', 'but', 'on the contrary', 'therefore', 'as a result'.

6. Writing Tips Sentence and paragraph length • If your paragraphs are very short it may be that your points need more development. Each paragraph must have at least three sentences. About three to four paragraphs per page should be about right.

7. Writing Tips Sentence and paragraph length • There should be one main idea in each sentence. As a rule of thumb, if a sentence is more than three lines long, consider breaking it into two sentences. • Use paragraphing to help the reader. Look at the shape of your text on the page. If you see a continuous block, your paragraph is probably too long and difficult for the reader. Try breaking up the paragraph, using clear topic sentences.

8. Writing Tips Subtle argument • Use tentative verb forms. Often it is not possible or appropriate to make a definite statement or come to a single conclusion, so the use of tentative language is often a feature of academic writing. • For example, rather than concluding that the cause of 'a' is 'b', try more tentative forms such as: 'may be' or 'might be'. Rather than asserting your claims, qualify your writing with expressions like 'it is likely that' or 'it is possible that'.

9. 2.5 The Association between Ethnic group and Customer Satisfaction Empirical research found that there were differences in the service expectations for retail banks among ethnic groups (Snow, Bartel and Cullen, 1996). For instance, Lopez, Hart and Rampersed (2007) examined the association between ethnicity and customer satisfaction level in the financial service sector and revealed that respondents from the three largest regional ethnic groups (African-American, Latinos and Non-Latino Caucasians) weighted the importance of several of the ten service quality dimensions quite differently. Thus, it is likely that ethnic groups in Malaysia would also perceive various aspects of satisfaction differently. Hence, H2 was proposed as below. H2: There are significant mean differences in various aspect of satisfaction across ethnic groups.

10. WHAT DO THE EXAMINERS LOOK FOR? Examiners want to see that you can:  set up a theoretical framework for your research, with the goals clearly set out in the • introduction and summarized in the conclusion  show your reader that you have a clear understanding of the key • concepts/ideas/studies/ models related to your topic

11. WHAT DO THE EXAMINERS LOOK FOR? Examiners want to see that you can:  talk about the history of your research area and any related controversies  discuss these ideas in a context appropriate for your own investigation  evaluate the work of others  clarify important definitions and terminology  develop the research space you will also indicate in the introduction and abstract •  narrow the problem down; make the study feasible •  structure the review, using headings as appropriate •  use good expression and punctuation •  use your referencing system correctly •  use current literature as well as older sources •  identify the range of resources you have used •  write in an interesting way

12. WHAT DO THE EXAMINERS LOOK FOR? Examiners want to see that you can:  narrow the problem down; make the study feasible  structure the review, using headings as appropriate  use good expression and punctuation  use your referencing system correctly  use current literature as well as older sources

13. WHAT DO THE EXAMINERS LOOK FOR? Examiners want to see that you can:  identify the range of resources you have used  write in an interesting way