Academic writing for reports

Dr Michelle Reid Study Adviser, University of Reading

Overview of the workshop

• What is academic writing?

• Writing objectively, concisely, accurately and directly

• Using the first person

• A few words about grammar and punctuation

• Proofreading

To start you thinking about audiences…

In groups of three:Give each person in the group a number: 1,2, or 3Consider this story:

“The government is planning to raise fees for university students.”

Write the story in the style of: 1. A tabloid headline2. An academic report3. A text message to a friend

What is academic writing?

Writing academically means writing in such a way that your information sounds credible and authoritative.

It does not mean:

– Using long words– Writing complicated sentences with lots of semi-

colons and colons– Finding more “academic” sounding words in a

thesaurus

When writing academically for reports

• Have one main point per paragraph

• Use shorter sentences

• Write in the past tense – you are describing research that has taken place

• Avoid using phrases that sound clichéd or like informal speech

• Write words out in full, for instance use 'do not' instead of 'don't‘

• Do use appropriate technical terms, but try to avoid unnecessary jargon

Be accurate

• Give clear, non-subjective descriptions

• Use definite and precise measurements

• Avoid vague and ambiguous terms like “for a little while”

Worked example

“The mixture went light purple-ish like parma violet sweets. Some of it was tipped away and the rest was put on the heat for a little while.”

How might this extract be improved?

Be objective

• Report what the evidence tells you, even if it was not what you hoped to find

• Be careful when interpreting what results show – what evidence is there to support your interpretations?

• Do not present unsupported or personal opinions

• Take a balanced view

Worked example

“The results showed that 75% of students surveyed would not call the police if their bike was stolen on campus. I think this is obviously because the police are totally untrustworthy. They all suspect us of sponging off the state, so they don’t make much effort to help students.”

What is the main problem with this extract?

Be concise

• Include sufficient description so someone else could repeat your research

• Avoid including unnecessary small details (e.g. “His mother called on the phone”)

• Write things once, clearly and simply – no need to repeat information in many different ways

Worked example“The focus groups were carried out in the library, which

provided a central meeting place, and is commonly known to all students, so this suggested they could find it easily. The researchers disputed how to recruit people and after long arguments, settled on using email and an advert on the university noticeboard. At the first group, 5 students attended. One of the students kept receiving calls from his mother on his mobile, and this disturbed the group as he kept leaving the room to answer the phone”.

How could this extract be improved?

Be direct

• Write to express, not to impress

• Use simple, clear words, rather than hunting in a thesaurus

• Think about your audience – can they understand what you mean?

Worked example

“The results of the aforementioned experiment were collated in a systemized manner with all due care and attention. Once the results had been collected and processed with the appropriate process, it was necessary to perform the analysis upon them which was conducted using the computer statistical package previously mentioned in the methodology.”

Is this a good writing style for a report?

Activity: Summarising information

Working in small groups –

• Look at your report extract and summarise it in 1 or 2 sentences

• We will then link all the summaries together – does this give an accurate description of the whole report?

Using the first person • Check with your dept whether writing in the first

person is acceptable

• It may be acceptable to use “I” when reporting on observations / work placements (e.g. PGCE, Social Work) and writing reflectively

• Use the first person “I” sparingly and only if necessary

• Most scientific reports are not reflective accounts, so no need to describe how well you felt you personally did the experiment

Worked example

“I conducted the experiment with the piglets, but felt that I could have done better. This was the first time I have worked with animals and I found it hard to get them to hold still while I took the measurements”.

Its this extract suitable for a report?

A few words about punctuation and grammar

The following resources can help you develop these:

Internet Grammar of Englishwww.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/

An online course in English grammar, free to those accessing it from a computer on a university domain.

Academic writing guides (University of Reading) www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/Studyresources/sta-

academic.asp Short and easy to follow guides on grammar, punctuation, writing

style, and proofreading.

ProofreadingTop tip - DO IT!

Proofreading makes the difference between:

- A professional, accurate report

and

- A sloppy, error-ridden report

Proofreading• Leave the report for a few days – come to it with a

fresh perspective

• Read it aloud

• Beware of curse of spell check – will not distinguish between “pubic / public”!

• Look over past reports – make a note of your common mistakes to look out for.

• Can get a friend to look over it, but proofreading is a valuable skill to develop yourself too.

Further resources

LearnHigher report writing webpages www.learnhigher.ac.uk/learningareas/reportwriting/home.htm

Guides and exercises on all aspects of reports.

Academic Phrasebank (Manchester)www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/

A bank of phrases appropriate for use in academic writing. Good when you're not sure how to start, or when you want to

develop your academic writing vocabulary.

Any questions?

Thank you and good luck with your report writing!