fine tuning and editing
DESCRIPTION
Fine-tuning and editing of your academic writing.TRANSCRIPT
Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Tutorial 6
Structure of this tutorial
- Fine tuning your work
- Editing
- Academic Writing and Culture
Fine-tuning
Academic Language Centre
Fine-tuning
This tutorial concentrates on:
-The consistency of your line of argument
-The support for your claims
-The logic behind your arguments
-Improving clarity and flow
-Writing more concise sentences
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Supporting claimsEvidence that supports your claims
should be:
Clear
Accurate
Relevant
Credible
Significant
Critical thinking:Make sure that you clearly distinguish between
- facts and opinions
- certainties and uncertainties
both while you are reading and when you are writing.
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Logical fallacies:• Hasty generalisation (jumping to a conclusion, claim
based on too little evidence):• Commercials in favour of unhealthy food should be
forbidden, because they lead to a consumption-oriented society and subsequently to overweight .
• Oversimplification (linking 2 events as if one caused the other directly, whereas the causes may be more complex):
• Obesity leads to people becoming depressed. • Inappropriate appeal to the reader / inappropriate
tone• Obesity costs an unnecessary amount of valuable
health care time, time that could be better spent on curing other diseases.
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Relative clauses:There are two types of relative clauses:1.Defining relative clauses, in which the information that you give is essential2.Non-defining relative clauses, in which the information that you give is extra.Compare: My sister who lives in London is a musician.My sister, who lives in London, is a musician.
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Relative clauses:- Defining:By 4.30, there was only one painting
which /that hadn’t been sold. (essential, no comma)
- Non-defining:The train, which was already an hour
late, broke down again. (extra, commas used)
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Being concise:Concise: short and clear, expressing what needs to be said without unnecessary words(Advanced Learners’ Dictionary)
Typical examples of unnecessary words:
• really• quite• basically• totally• completely
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Editing
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editing
Final check before submitting the paper:
-Think of a good title
-Argumentation check
-Vocabulary check (formal English)
-Grammar and spelling check (not
everything is picked up by a computer!)
-Bibliography
-Consistent lay-out
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Spelling checkers
- “Can we use a spelling checker?”
- Yes, however……….
Candidate for a Pullet Surpriseby Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar (1992)
(also known as “Ode to a spell checker”)
“I have a spelling checker.It came with my PC.It plane lee marks four my revueMiss steaks aye can knot sea…..
Candidate for a Pullet Surprise (continued)
…….Eye ran this poem threw it,Your sure reel glad two no.Its vary polished inn it's weigh.My checker tolled me sew…….
Candidate for a Pullet Surprise (continued)
…..A checker is a bless sing,It freeze yew lodes of thyme.It helps me right awl stiles two reed,And aides me when eye rime…………….”
Style Sheet (on BB-site)
-Font and font size.
-The line spacing
-The margins
-paragraphing
-Use of page numbers
-Personal details, name of tutor, word count
etc.
-Title, footnotes, style of referencing
Bibliography.
The title:
Titles often contain one or more of the
following elements:
-a reference to the main topic
-a reference to the aim of the author
-a reference to the conclusion
-the main topic as a question
-a general statement which is then refined
Academic Language Centre
nominalisationAcademic writers frequently use the noun forms of verbs; rather than focusing on the action (verb) they focus on the concept (noun).
Water hyacinths are rapidly spreading into drainage systems and are restricting the rate at which the water flows.(=verb)The rapid spread of water hyacinths into drainage systems is causing restrictions in the rate of water flows.(=noun)
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Academic Writing and Culture
- Paragraph Structure
- Plagiarism in a cultural context
Linguistic differences
Languages differ in:
• Vocabulary• Syntax• Grammar
These are linguistic criteria
Rhetorical differences
- Sociologists and anthropologists: logic
is a cultural phenomenon
- Diversity in culture leads to diversity in
logic
- Logic is not a universal phenomenon
- Logic is the basis of rhetoric, so
rhetoric is not universal either
Rhetoric and academic writing- English: thought patterns evolved from
Platonic Aristotelian thought (ancient Greece)
- Thought patterns are linear:- Paragraph starts with a topic sentence;- Subdivisions of topic statement;- Each subdivision supported by
examples/illustrations;- Goal: to develop idea in topic
statement, then relate that to rest of essay.
“Foreign” writing
- Feedback students receive:- Information is there but paragraph
lacks structure- Paragraph lacks cohesion
Problem: writing by foreign students often violates the expectations of the native reader.
Arabic (Semitic) languages
Old Testament:
(1) His descendants will be mighty in the land
andThe generation of the upright will be blessed
(2) For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous:But the way of the wicked shall perish
Oriental writing
Definition of college education:‘Colleges are institutions of education that give degrees. We need culture and education in life. While animals have remained as they were, man has made progress because he has learned about civilization. To improve our high civilization, we need education. Therefore college education is important and we don’t need to question it.’(Based on Kaplan 2001:17)
Romance and Russian writing- Digressions away from topic
sentence
- Sometimes very long sentences
Figures (1)
English Semitic Oriental
Figures (2)
Romance Russian