Chapter 8 - Style

Group Members: Helen 9310001A Stan 9310003A Sally 9310021A

General 9310026A Judy 9310036A

Peggy 9310032A

8a – Aim for a readable style

Clear Thought: know and understand your topic

A readable style + mastery of content

= EXCELLENT paper

8a-1 Understand your sources Reread the difficult part until you totally

understand. Do not pretend to understand!!!!!

Never quote something you’re not clear.

Paraphrasing author's idea is a useful way to

test your understanding.

8a-2 Be accurate

Names, dates, and statistics (numbers)

Ex. The United Nations (UN) officially was founded on 24 October 1945, increasing its member states to 192 until 28 June 2006.

8a-3 Be exact

Know well about your topic

Without being vague or fuzzy

Use the correct technical terms

8a-3 Be exactEx. The European Union (UN) is a political and economical c

ommunity, which was founded together by six founding members in 1957.

Revised. After WWII, in order to guarantee its lasting peace, the European Union (UN) was founded as a political (intergovermental co-operation and abolition of border control ) and economical (single market: freedom of movement of people, goods, services) community together by its six founding members : Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1957.

8a-4 Be concise Condense a lot of information in few words.

Ex. The development level of public

transportation in European countries is

high.

Revised. public transportation is highly

developed in European countries.

8a-4 Be concise Redundant expressions

Ex. A bald-headed baby boy asked an extra added egg for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in the morning.

8a-4 Be concise

Meaningless words or phrases

Ex. In actual fact, they were introduced for the first time yesterday.

8a-4 Be concise

Snobbish dictionEx. A person desiderative of love is

usually a solitariness and hollowness person. This kind of person will chase love without judgment, so we had better recommend him/her to ascertain other focus in his/her life.

8a-4 Be concise

Ex. A person who pursues love is

usually loneliness and emotional emptiness. This kind of person will chase love blindly, so we had better recommend him/her to find out other focus in his/her life.

8a-5 Vary your sentences

Bad writers – Write the same kinds of sentences

again and again . → Prepare going to hell!!!

Good writers – Combine some sentences or beginning

some others with a different words. → Mavis will love you FOREVER!!!

8a-5 Vary your sentences

Ex. (BAD ONE) Sam comes from America. He will

stay in Taiwan for 15 days. He said this is his second time to visit Taiwan. He plans to visit his friends here. He can not speak Chinese. He still desires to visit different cities in Taiwan. He is so exciting. He can not wait for this trip.

8a-5 Vary your sentences Ex. (GOOD ONE) Sam comes from America, and he

will stay in Taiwan for 15 days. Besides, he said this is his second time to visit Taiwan, so he plans to visit his friends here. Although he can not speak Chinese, he still desires to visit different cities in Taiwan. In fact, he is so exciting, and he can not wait for this trip.

8a-5 Vary your sentences Learn to juxtapose short and long sentences.Ex. Hualien is the place I like most. It's a middle-sized city located in eastern Taiwan. People are lucky to appreciate a lot of seashore scenes due to its location. At the same time, people can enjoy the breeze that blew across the surface of the ocean.

8a-5 Vary your sentences

Learn to subordinate.Ex. Coordinate: I read a book. Suddenly a man rushed in. Subordinate: Suddenly a man rushed in when I read a book.

8a-5 Ways to vary your sentences

Learn to use parallel constructions.Ex. Not parallel: The old man sit on the sofa. Then he started reading the newspaper. Later

he also drank a cup of coffee. Parallel: The old man sat on the sofa, read the newspaper, and drank a cup of coffee.

*Note: All verbs are active and in the past.

8a-6 Use the active voice

active passive Don’t use passive voice because ① Objective – myth② Textbookish③ Stilted④ Avoid sexism

Verbs

Passive

The most influential theory in 20th century, Relativity, is proposed by Einstein. And the development of new energy, nuclear power was influenced by this theory.

Active

Einstein proposed the most influential theory in 20th century, Relativity. And this theory had influenced the development of new energy which is nuclear power.

8a-6 2 exceptions call for the passive voice

① For an occasional change of pace② For the sake of focus

Tip: Using active voice tends to reduce wordiness.

8a-7 Use an appropriate point of view

In the past, most instructors insisted

that research papers be written only

from the third-person point of view,

and keep the writing objective.

Today many prestigious journals have

relaxed their rules. Authors routinely

use the “I’ or “we” point of view to

report research data or draw

attention to their findings.

First point of view: use “I”, “we”, and “my” those kind of words in your research paper.

Ex. In my research I found that the most extreme negative criticism of Jefferson Davis places the full weight of the southern defeat on his head.

What’s first-person point of view and third-person point of view?

Third-person point of view: use kind

of “objective” words in sentences.

Ex. Research indicates that the most

extreme negative criticism of

Jefferson Davis places the full weight

of the Southern defeat on his head.

Use first-person point of view re third-person point of view?

Ask you instructor

Expressing your personal comment or judgment first-person

8a – Aim for a readable style 8a-8 Avoid sexist language

In writing, watch for language that reflects the values and biases of a male-dominated society.

ex. A doctor should always look after

the best interest of his patients. his their

Use plural nouns and pronouns

A doctor should always look after the best interest of his patients.

their

his or her

A doctor should always look after the best interest of patients.

avoid the use of gender-biased words

mankind, chairman, congressman,

poetess, woman surgeon, actress.

human or humankind, chair,

member of congress, poet,

surgeon ,or actor.

“thon”- sort for “that one”

use in place of he or him when the person’s gender is not identified.

Example: when a police officer comes, I will

ask him.when a police officer comes, I will

ask thon.

Use passive voice

Original passage:

As soon as the doctor arrives, the

nurse will notify him.

passive voice :

Upon arrival, the doctor will be notified

by the nurse.

8b - Make your introduction clear

Clearly explain what your paper proposes to argue, assert, or do.

8b-1 Strategies for lively introductions

A. Use a quotation

B. Ask a question

C. Present an illustration

a. Use a quotation

Help readers to plunge into the topic.

Applicable to the topic

Ex. "Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."   (George Bernard Shaw)

b. Ask a question

Attract your reader into your topic.

Ex. Would you have more children because of the welfare?

c. Present an illustration

Use anecdotes or examples to let your readers willing to read your paper.

Arouse readers desire of reading.

Ex. P.150

8c. Write an effective conclusion

1. Summarize your main point2. Suggest what the reader should do3. End rather than stop

8c-1 Summarize your main points

Review the major ideas in your paper Avoid more explanation, last- minute

asides, and detail analysis

8c-2 Suggest what the reader should do

Ex. We have to educate our younger because when we put the idea of how to help the environment, when they grow up, they will have a different thinking. We need to put three ideas in our mind, reuse, reduce and recycle. As we have these three ideas in mind, we can do a lot more to help our environment.

8c-3 End rather than stop To stop is simply to place a period at the

end of your paper

Ex. So, as you have read in this paper, the television footage of combat was simply inadequate.

Revise. Because time constraints allowed only a tiny part of the action associates with combat in Vietnam to be aired on television; because the mechanics of television reporting (need for camera, sound equipment, film) handicapped field reporting; and because Americans refused to watch scenes depicting battlefield suffering, what Americans saw on television during the Vietnam War was cinema, not reality.