It feels difficult when you write some text academically. Why feel difficult? Because you don’t know how to write academic style.
You need to know how to write academic style in english. It is important to express your opinion in english. There are some kind of rules to write like academic style.
Plagiarism
When you write essay, paper and journal, you want to avoid “Plagiarism”. If you do not know what it is, you will make a mistake.
When you use some text, graphs and images, you need to check below.
- Keep giving the source.
- Don’t just copy and paste.
- Use citation including your own.
When you take a quotation from a source and give a citation, it can be plagiarism depending on the length.
Summarizing
The points for summarizing
-
- sentence
- Title, Author, main idea and complete sentence own words
- Direct quote - statistic, data, using quotation mark, 3-4 words for original sentence
- Main ideas - who, what, when, where, why
- supporting details - no minor details, use transition 1st, 2nd and 3rd details
- concluding statement
- No opinions don’t use I think, I believe I feel and etc
The step for summarizing
- scan the text and make note
- outline the main idea of each section in your own words.
- develop the pieces
- Don’t add your interpretation
- Arrange the information
- citation and paraphrasing
- Ask who, what, why, when, where and how questions to you.
Cite source with Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” Magazine Title(Italic). date month abbrev year: page numbers.
Paraphrasing
Quoting
Academic style
Grammar
Structure
The style
Correct punctuation
Paragraphs
This information from the book and sites.1
There are three important points for paragraphs
- Unity
- Coherence
- Development
The points
- The paragraph must contain a topic sentence
- All remaining sentences should support and develop the topic sentence
- Only one main idea should be developed
- The sentences should flow smoothly and logically
- A concluding sentence may be added but is not essential
structure
- A topic sentence
- The main topic of the paragraph
- The controlling idea
- Supporting sentences
- These develop the topic sentence
- A concluding sentence
- This signals the end of the paragraph and laves the reader with important points to rember, but is often unnecessary.
- This signals the end of the paragraph
- Leaves the reader with important points to remember(unnecessary)
Cohesion
The text for coherence
Linking ideas
- Firstly,
- The most important reason,
- The next step,
- In addition to…
- The result of…
Indicating the structure of the paragraph
- ..for three main reasons.
- ..in the following respects..
- There are two methods of..
- ..has two advantage and one disadvantage
Rhetorical questions
- What is the important point? It is…
Concluding sentences
- In short,
- In summary,
- Indeed,
- Therefore, it is clear that…
Layout
There are two kind of methods to signify where a paragraph begins and ends.
- Indent the paragraph
- Leave a space between paragraphs
cohesion
Info Ordering
Given-News
Organising flow
Your text must also have a sense of unity (‘coherence’), that you are discussing something, not simply introducing/ briefly touching on a list of ideas.
Creating focus
‘Topic’ and ‘comment’ are very closely connected to the concepts of ‘given’ and ‘new’ information.
The topic is the matter or idea currently being discussed in the text.(Given)
The comment is what is being said about the matter or idea currently being disccused.(New)
Topical progression
There are four kinds of patterns to show topic.
Constant Topic
When we explain the same topic in each sentence.
| Topic | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | B | A: a item |
| A | C | A: It |
| A | D | A: The item |
Progressive Topic
When we expand comments in each sentence.
| Topic | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | B | B: the same plate |
| B | C | B: the holographic plate, C: experimental model |
| C | D | C: the model |
Hypertopic
When we provide examples about the topic.
| Topic | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | B | A: A lot of different items |
| A1 | C | A1: First one |
| A2 | D | A2: Second one |
| A3 | E | A3: The last one |
Split topic
When we explain some kind of subtopics related to the comment.
| Topic | Comment | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | B | B: Two kind of items |
| B1 | C | B1: One item |
| B2 | D | B2: The other thing |
Common problems
- If you fail to provide a consistent topic, readers will have difficulty in seeing what your text is about.
- Readers may not follow the logic between your sentences if you don’t use the expected patterns of topical progression.
- Careless use of synonyms to refer to the same concept can lead to confusion.
- Problems with topical choice and topical progression may cost you money and the chance to get published.
Reparing problems
- Use direct repetition, synonyms, or superordinate terms
- Use a pronoun (it, they / this, these)
- Use a ‘topicalising phrase’
- Use an ‘active-passive shift’
- Use an ‘equative shift’
- Use an ‘animate-inanimate shift’
- Use an ‘personal-impersonal shift’
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Oshima, A. and Hogue, A. (1999), Writing Academic English, 3rd Edition, USA: Pearson ↩