Academic Project Writing

1. Academic ProjectWriting The University of York Katy Mann

2. Academic Writing Task 1:Discuss in 2s- 1.How is writing an extended project different from writing at school?

3. Academic • learned or scholarly. • conforming to set rules, standards, or traditions; conventional: academic painting. • acquired by formal education, esp. at a college or university: academic preparation for the ministry. • (initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to Academe or to the Platonic school of philosophy Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2008.

4. Rules/beliefs governing academic writing • TASK 2 • Why do academics write? • List with the person next to you all the reasons writing is necessary for further study.

5. Why do we write at university? • To inform, engage, educate, illuminate, communicate • To discuss, debate, argue, assert, claim • To stretch thinking,provoke and question • To summarise, synthesise and review • To explain research methods and results so scholars can learn or develop it. • To inspire, create, refine, propose, postulate • To critique, examine, reappraise, refine, reflect • To analyse, evaluate, scrutinise and sift • To order thoughts and ideas • To have a voice/ make public/ be original and creative

6. Skills expected for further study • Before further study comprehension/ understanding and memorising are often the skills required. • What new skills are developed through further study and shown in writing?

7. Updated version of Bloom’s ( 1964) taxonomy of cognitive learning

8. Higher order skills • Creating- your own piece of writing by combining your experience and reflection with the synthesised evaluated work of other scholars. • Evaluation-evaluating the work of other authors, combining the writing of several different sources. • Synthesis-bringing together strands of your argument to create a coherent message to the reader. • Analysis-breaking down arguments into their constituent parts, dissecting an author’s logic, identifying key issues in reports, surveys, articles etc. • Application- taking someone’s idea , or view, or theory, and giving a practical example to show that you can apply this idea or view or theory. In other words, you can relate to the real world.

9. How do I demonstrate higher order skills in my writing? • By reflecting the reading you have done. • By using a variety of reporting verbs/ adjectives and adverbs to demonstrate your evaluation and critical thinking. • By reflecting on what you have done and relating this to the theory.

10. Reflecting the reading • Academic writing includes citation to inform your reader that you have read widely and have made connections between the literature. Many scholars suggest that writing is the way your tutor discovers what you have learnt independently ( Carroll;2002;Mallon, 1991; Neville, 2007).

11. Academic writing is an ongoing conversation between scholars • Through the process of writing new ideas can evolve and develop. • Your job is to illuminate , inspire and convince your reader. • In order for communication in academic discourse to be as meaningful and effective as possible it is loosely governed by a set of internationally recognised principles.

12. Consider the effect of referencing here: Many arguments have been advanced in favour of the benefits of returning a patient with a stroke to the open plan unit ( Brown, 1999; Thompson, 2004;Willis, 2002).These include the positive support reported by the patients and the quality of the follow up care. However , the advantages of allowing patients with a stroke to stay in the same room have not been fully examined yet (Allen, 2001).

13. Reporting verbs • One word & super power Demonstrate Argues Indicates Suggests Proposes Builds on

14. Reporting verbs • In pairs list as many reporting verbs as you can think of and discuss what they show about your opinion of the reading? • E.g. suggests/ states

15. Reporting Verbs • describes • States • Points out • Illustrates • Writes • notes • Claims • Asserts • Demonstrates • Shows • Proposes • suggests Neutral Evaluation

16. Sources • Which sources do you use in your writing? • Why do you think these sources are useful and interesting for your reader? • How do you make your voice clear in your writing? • Which sources do you think your reader values? Why?

17. Books, journals, websites, conference papers, government reports, your experience, websites, newspaper articles

18. Synthesise a variety of sources

19. Your voice • How do you make your voice clear in academic writing? Discuss with your partner.

20. Academic writing • Some scholars have argued convincingly that academic writing has six key qualities/features (Gillett, 2000; Harper, 2008).

21. What are the key principles? Gillett (2000) identified six main principles that underpin and govern academic discourse : • Complexity, • Objectivity, • Formality, • Hedging, • Explicitness • Responsibility

22. Complexity Academic writing is more complex and dense than other written discourse genres such as newspaper reports. It contains the following features: • Nominalisation(lots of abstract nouns) • Lexical density ( lots of varied vocabulary largely drawn from Latin and Greek-avoid repetition ). • Synthesis of ideas from a wide range of sources, therefore plentiful in-text citations . • Structural conventions e.g. general to specific moves, a vertical structure where ideas develop

23. General to specific • Academic writing funnels information, it leads the reader into the context. e.g. Previous studies on geropsychiatric units have focused on the complexity of the care needs of older patients ( Brown, 2001), the social and financial difficulties they experience ( Allen, 2000) and the specific admission and discharging processes they require ( Alexander, 1999). Despite these contributions, research on the needs of the practitioners has been scarce. This project will examine these needs……

24. Objectivity Writing must be reasoned and analyse all angles and arguments. • No bias, no sexist/racist language • Neutral tone and stance • Balance of arguments for and against-evidence is weighed • Open-mindedness, global and local aspects • Temperance, lack of emotive terms • Balance of personal voice and impersonal voice ( Andrews and Mitchell, 2001)

25. Formality Academic writing is written for a formal audience and its tone should contain no informal features. Discuss in pairs what informal features should be avoided in your opinion.

26. Informality • Informal aspects to avoid in academic writing No contractions can’t we’d. • No slang, no colloquialisms, no idioms, • No unfinished sentences e.g. etc.andso on …, • No inaccurate spelling/ American spelling or grammar, • No jargon, • No repetition, ideas/ vocabulary • Few phrasal verbs, point out, put forward • No vagueness e.g. some/people a lot of • No unacknowledged sources

27. Hedging • The academic writer should actively question and re-evaluate work at all times. • Thus academic writing contains terms such as may, might, could, Research seems to suggest, it may indicate, perhaps. • Detached/ disinterested energy in discussion (Andrews and Mitchell, 2001)

28. Explicitness • Academic writing moves from general statements to very specific examples. PEEE! • Research must be accurately summarised and synthesised and include all the details. • Examples and case studies need to be accurate, exact and drawn from reliable sources. • You must include the full breadcrumbs so that your reader can easily find the sources you referred to. ( In text and References).

29. Academic writing: PEEEEE Point_____________________________- Explain Empirical evidence Examples Experience Evaluate

30. Responsibility • You are part of the research community and have a responsibility to use information, data and research without distorting it, or making false claims. • You must obey the rules of the academic community, no plagiarism, collusion, unethical practice, falsification of data.

31. The basic principles University writing requires you to adhere to certain key principles to ensure that your voice is heard and taken seriously in the your subject. • Follow a generally recognised pattern or structure. • Use a formal tone and complete forms of words. • Demonstrate high order skills such as synthesis, evaluation ,analysis and critical thought. • Avoid all items that may confuse the reader. • Be original and insightful and accurate. • Provide full references and avoid plagiarism.