Academic writing Archives - Page 9 of 15

Numbers in essays

August 24, 2009 by Roy Johnson

sample from HTML program and PDF book

1. A general rule for the presentation of numbers (excluding those dealing with science and mathematics) is that numbers below a hundred are written, and numbers above one hundred are presented by digits:

four brown horses	ten years old
she is twenty-two	3,500 tonnes of coal
286 casualties	200 metres long

2. Notice that numbers expressed in more than a single word are hyphenated:

thirty-six ninety-eight fifty-five

3. Even above one hundred, round numbers are often expressed as words:

one thousand two million three billion

4. However, very large numbers are often expressed in a combination of figures and units of millions or billions:

Social benefit payments were running at $7.8 million per day compared with only $5.6 million a year ago.

5. Where two different series of quantities are being discussed, it may clarify matters if words are used for one series and numbers for the other:

Ten wards in the county emergency hospital contained 16 beds each, but fifteen others contained as many as 30.

6. The following example taken from a piece of journalism illustrates this general rule with mention of numbers both below and above one hundred.

One of the nuclear weapons systems would be a four-boat Trident strategic missile fleet with 512 warheads compared with the 192 urged by Labour and the Liberal Democrats to match the numbers in the Polaris fleet it replaces.

7. Do not begin sentences with a numeral (such as 46 or 107). Either rearrange the sentence, or write out the number (as Forty-six or One hundred and seven).

8. Decimals and percentages should be expressed in figures, and the word ‘percent’ should be written out, except in scientific writing:

With interest currently running at 8 percent, the total monthly repayment figure would be almost $2.5 million.

9. When expressing dates before the Christian era, remember to put the numbers of the earlier date first, and give the later date in full to avoid confusion:

Nebuchadnezzar (1792-1750 BC) not Nebuchadnezzar (1792-50 BC)

10. Dates after the Christian era should be expressed in the same way, but with the era written first:

Nebuchadnezzar (1792-1750 BC) but Pope Sixtus III (AD 432-440)

11. The use of Roman numerals is normally confined to the names of monarchs and popes, for the acts of plays, and for the volumes and subdivisions of books:

Edward VI	Pope Pius IV
Othello III.iv.18	Chapter XII
Part III	Act V, Sc 3

12. In numbers above a thousand or more, the thousands are marked off with a comma:

10,000 BC 1,500 metres

13. Notice that the plurals of numbers are formed by the addition of s alone. The apostrophe is not required:

in the 1920s pilots of 747s

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Online style guides

September 16, 2009 by Roy Johnson

The Writer’s Workshop
Writing skills, grammar, teaching notes, bibliographic style, tips, and plenty more.
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/

Guide to Grammar and Writing
Very good grammar guide, plus other resources.
http://www.englishgrammar.org/

Purdue On-line Writing Lab
Purdue’s famous OWL, useful for general writing concerns
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

How to Cite Electronic Sources
Practical examples from Library of Congress.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/start/cite/index.html

The Elements of Style
William Strunk, Jr.’s original 1918 classic. The ‘bare bones’ approach to common problems.
http://www.bartleby.com/141/

On-Line Study Resources
Style, grammar, essay-writing, citations and footnotes, plagiarism and presentation from the University of New South Wales.
http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/olib.html

WIRED Style
Wired Magazine’s online version of their print publication Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age. A guide to writing and editing which looks at the problems thrown up by the new language of the digital age.
http://hotwired.lycos.com/hardwired/wiredstyle/

alt.usage.english – Style FAQ
Mark Israel’s Frequently Asked Questions covers common English usage questions, word etymology, online and offline references, and more.
http://www.english-usage.com/faq.html

WebGrammar
Judy Vorfeld’s excellent site covers some of the most common writing mistakes, including spelling, grammar and homonym errors.
http://www.webgrammar.com

IEEE Computer Society Style Guide
Handy if you wish to submit papers going to their journals, or do any work using their style.
Download the style guide here (PDF)

Here are some other UK journalism styleguides available online:

Financial Times Lexicon

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Online! a guide to using Internet sources

November 20, 2009 by Roy Johnson

academic referencing and writing style guide

This is a handy spiral-bound pocketbook which offers a compact guide to academic writing and its relation to the Internet. It presents standards for accessing, evaluating, and quoting Net sources. Most importantly, it shows you how to present digital referencing in academic writing. These are issues facing many students [and tutors] in the sudden eruption of the digital world into what was a bibliographic tradition dating back to the early Renaissance.

The orientation is entirely American, but it includes models for citation in four different systems: the Modern Languages Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), Council of Biology Editors (CBE) and Chicago University Press styles. Any of these could be adapted by European readers. They go into all the nit-picking details of where colons and angled brackets should be placed, where to use mono-spaced fonts to indicate addresses, and how best to break long URLs across consecutive lines.

The guide also includes tips for writing and publishing on the Net, and a directory of Net sources in the major academic disciplines. There is a rather good glossary, imaginatively placed at the front of the book; it has a full index, and the contents pages are well-designed. It includes some very helpful tips by the way – such as examples of lesser-know but useful URLs, and it even includes a brief chapter on how to create your own Web site.

In a bibliographic world where locations are ever-shifting, and where files can be updated on the hour, it includes important details on the dating and updating of files for the purposes of academic accuracy, and the evaluation of sources.

There has been some discussion in mailing list groups recently which has criticized the obsession with accuracy on these issues as an arm of the academic establishment’s concern with form at the expense of content. (This seems to be an issue which is more prevalent in the US than the UK it seems.) However, anybody who anticipates referencing digital sources in academic writing will find this a useful resource – and terrific value at the price.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger, Online! a reference
guide to using Internet sources, New York: St Martin’s Press, 1997, pp.162, ISBN: 0312150237

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Open Source Research

September 5, 2010 by Roy Johnson

why tax-funded research should be in the public domain

Open Source Research offers a new challenge to higher education. In the UK a traditional academic teaching post carried three requirements – teaching, research, and administration. Time and energy were normally allocated to these activities in either equal parts, or at least in that order of precedence. Good teachers gave lectures, conducted seminars and tutorials, looked after their allocation of students, and participated (however reluctantly) in departmental committees and faculty boards. That was in the past.

With the introduction of the (Labour) government’s Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) all that changed. The emphasis of job descriptions morphed entirely into measurable research and tangible outcomes. We know the result: staff transferred as much teaching as possible onto poorly-paid and inexperienced part-time teachers – usually post-graduate students hoping the experience would give them some advantage in the greasy-pole process of seeking tenure.

It is now not uncommon to hear of staff packing any remaining teaching commitments into one term (or semester) – giving them two-thirds of a year free to do as they wish. At professorial level it’s even worse. At my former university a well-known academic with an international reputation on a six-figure salary taught for two hours once a fortnight, refused to make his email address or his telephone number available to anyone, and lived outside the UK, jetting in for his celebrity seminars every two weeks and returning home the same day.

Nice work if you can get it – all at taxpayers’ expense. The only down side to this system so far at the academics are concerned is that they are under an obligation to write articles and books and get them published. Failure to do so usually means being punished with a heavier teaching load or even worse, with extra departmental duties.

So the system, if it is working properly, means that academic staff members investigate some self-chosen topic of interest in their discipline. They then write articles that are published in academic journals, and any book-length studies are produced by academic or commercial publishing houses. They are given the time to do this work, there is even a system of sabbatical leave (a term, semester, or year off work) and they are paid salaries throughout.

Notwithstanding the nature of such employment codes, the economics of this system warrant further scrutiny. In the case of academic journals it would appear that no money actually changes hands. Academics publish their work with no payment. They do so with the incentive of professional kudos and points added to their RAE ratings. But in fact the publisher charges university and college libraries an enormous amount for subscription to the journal. This is true even in the digital age when more and more publications fail to find their way into print. The recorded number of people who actually read these scholarly articles is truly microscopic. Figures between one and five readers per article are quite common. So the system is expensive and inefficient.

In the case of academic and commercial book publishers the system is a little more murky, but similar principles apply. Most in-house university presses are heavily subsidised, even if they claim to be economically independent of their parent-host. [They commonly do not have to factor in the cost of office and storage space, and maybe not even staff salaries.] Nevertheless, they produce worthy, non-popular works which are sold to an audience of college and university libraries at a huge cost.

Here is a case in point. I have recently reviewed a very good publication of this kind (many are far from good) – a collection of essays on literature and cultural history which retails at the handsome figure of one hundred and twenty pounds. That is more than twenty times the price of a popular classic, and way beyond the book-purchasing budget of most normal human beings.

The authors of this compilation may not be too worried about this state of affairs. They have their academic salaries, they will have received a small sum (or maybe even nothing) for their chapters. Their reward comes from enhanced academic status or an invitation to speak at a conference, the costs of which will be paid by their employer.

Commercial book publishers operate virtually the same system. A very small advance payment on future possible sales will be acceptable for an author whose wages are anyway being paid. If the book sells, the publisher profits far more than the author (who is not primarily motivated by sales income); and if it doesn’t sell, it goes into the slush pile of remaindered titles along with all the many other unsold books. The author can still add this publication to the departmental RAE submission and go on to write more books that don’t sell.

There are two things fundamentally wrong with this state of affairs. One is that public funding is being used and abused, the other is that the whole system of research, its publication and its consumption could be conducted far more efficiently (and at almost zero cost) by using the resources of the Internet.

It is now more than ten years since Steven Harnad published his Subversive Proposal that the results of academic research should be made available via a process of digital ‘self-archiving’ in the form of Web pages. He even thought through the process of peer approval, comments and corrections so that the final product was just as rigorously inspected as a traditional journal article. His main objective at the time was to overcome the terribly laborious process of academic print publishing that can result in delays of up to two years before an article sees light of day. But in fact the same arguments can be made to suggest that research funded by taxpayers money should automatically be put into the public domain. After all, if the public has paid for it, the results should be available to everybody.

Nobody would lose from such a system, and all interested parties would stand to gain in some way. The academic staff member writes a paper and publishes research findings onto a web site – maybe one established by the host university. The content of the paper goes through any peer appraisal and revision process, and then is put into immediate circulation and made available to the public – far more quickly than its print equivalent. The university keeps the public kudos of a ‘contribution to knowledge’; the author is likely to have far more readers and more feedback; and the public has access to work that it has paid for.

Of course there may be special cases. Some science departments have financial partnerships with commercial and industrial companies which involve copyright, patents, and intellectual property rights issues. This is another example of taxpayers subsidising commercial interests, but these might reasonably be excluded from such schemes. But the vast majority of research is carried out in subjects with little or no commercial value at all. It lies unread, unloved, and ignored, buried far out of sight in departmental archives and library vaults.

There isn’t even any reason why those with a saleable product shouldn’t publish in print as well as digitally. If an article of a book-length study proves popular in its Web space, that is a compelling endorsement so far as print publishers are concerned. And the arguments regarding free online access versus for sale in print are now well known. Making something available free on line enhances the chance of people buying the same thing in printed format, especially in minority interest and specialist subjects.

So – just as any information gathered by a government should be made available free of charge to the public (population statistics, government spending figures, Ordnance Survey maps) the results of research conducted in publicly-funded universities should be available to the people who pay for it through their taxes. In fact whilst they’re at it, I can’t think of any reason why universities shouldn’t publish their course syllabuses and teaching materials as well – can you?

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Overcome writer’s block

September 16, 2009 by Roy Johnson

techniques for getting started

1. Writer’s block is much more common than most people imagine. But it can be overcome. Don’t imagine that you should be able to write impeccably at your first attempt. Most successful writers make several drafts of their work. They edit what they write, correct mistakes, make additions and deletions, and generally re-write extensively. Writing fluently and clearly is an advanced skill.

2. Don’t just sit staring at the blank piece of paper or the editing screen: it will only make you feel worse. Do something else, then come back to the task. Best of all, write something else – something you know you can write. This will help you to feel more confident.

3. Do some different type of writing as a warm-up exercise. Write a note or a letter to one of your friends. Re-write some of your earlier work, or just write something for your own amusement. This may help to release you from the blocked condition.

4. Don’t try composing in your head if you get stuck. Put down even your scrappiest ideas, so that you can see what you are dealing with. It may help you to identify any problems which are holding you back. If in doubt, put it down anyway. You can always delete it or change it later.

5. Get used to the idea of planning and making notes for what you are going to write. Don’t try to work with all the information stored in your head. A sound working plan and good notes will take the strain off you – and will prompt you with ideas, which in turn will prevent any ‘blocks’ developing.

6. Be prepared to make two or three attempts at anything you write. The first may not be very good, but it can be corrected, altered, changed – or even thrown away. Nobody need see your first attempts, so you don’t need to worry how bad they are – provided you pass on to a second or a third draft.

7. Some people develop a block because they think that mistakes and crossings-out on the page will result in ‘wasted paper’. Use scrap paper for your first drafts. The most common causes are a lack of preparation and the misguided idea that it is possible to write successfully at the first attempt.

8. If you are using a computer, you might try printing off your first attempts and editing them on paper. Some people work best in this combination of two mediums. Even professional writers edit on both screen and paper.

9. Writer’s block is a very common problem. Even experienced writers sometimes suffer from it. Don’t think that you are the only person it affects. What you need to know is how to get out of the blocked condition.

10. Here are some statements made by people suffering from writer’s block. They could help you identify your own case if you have this problem. They are followed by tips on how to effect a cure.

‘I’m terrified at the very thought of writing’

Cause – Perhaps you are just not used to writing, or you are out of recent practice. Maybe you are over-anxious and possibly setting yourself standards which are far too high.

Cure – Limber up and get yourself used to the activity of writing by scribbling something on a scrap of paper or keying in a few words which nobody else will see. Write a letter to yourself, a description of the room you are in – anything just to practise getting words onto paper. Remember that your attempts can be discarded. They are a means to an end, not a product to be retained.

‘I’m not sure what to say’

Cause – Maybe you have not done enough preparation for the task in hand, and you don’t have any notes to work from and use as a basis for what you want to say. Perhaps you haven’t yet accumulated enough ideas, comments, or materials on the topic you are supposed to be discussing. Possibly you have not thought about the subject for long enough.

Cure – Sort out your ideas before you start writing. Make rough notes on the topics you wish to discuss. These can then be expanded when you are ready to begin. Brainstorm your topic; read about it; put all your preliminary ideas on rough paper, then sift out the best for a working plan. Alternatively, make a start with anything, then be prepared to change it later.

‘My mind goes blank’

Cause – Maybe you have not done enough preparation on the topic in question and you are therefore short of ideas or things to write about. Perhaps you do not have rough notes or a working plan to help you make a start. Maybe you are frightened of making a false start or saying the wrong thing.

Cure – Make notes for what you intend to write about and sort out your ideas in outline first. Try starting yourself off on some scrap paper or a blank screen. You can practise your opening statement and then discard it once you are started. Put down anything that comes into your head. You can always cross it out or change it later.

‘It’s just a problem of the first sentence’

Cause – These can be quite hard to write! There is quite a skill in striking the right note immediately. You may be thinking ‘How can I make an introduction to something which
I have not yet written?’ Maybe you have not created a plan and don’t know what will follow any opening statement you make. Perhaps you are setting yourself standards which are much too high or unrealistic. Maybe you are fixated on the order of your statements – or just using this as an excuse to put off the moment when you will have to start.

Cure – Leave a blank space at the beginning of what you are going to write. The first sentence can be written later after you have finished the rest. Make a start somewhere else and come back to it later. Alternatively, write any statement you wish, knowing that you will change it later.

‘I’m not quite ready to start yet’

Cause – This could be procrastination, or it’s possible that you have not finished digesting and sorting out your ideas on the subject.

Cure – If it is procrastination, then use the warming up procedure of writing something else of no importance just to get yourself into the mood. If it is not, then maybe you need to revise your notes, drum up a few more ideas, or make a working plan to give you a point from which to make a start.

‘I’ve got too much information’

Cause – If you have several pages of notes, then maybe they need to be digested further. Maybe you have not selected the details which are most important, and eliminated anything which is not relevant.

Cure – Digest and edit your material so as to pare it down to what is most essential. Several pages of notes may need to be reduced to just one or two. Don’t try to include everything. Draw up a plan which includes only that which is most important. If your plan is too long, then condense it. Eliminate anything which is not absolutely necessary for the piece of work in hand.

‘I’m just waiting for one small piece of information’

Cause – Maybe you feel that a crucial piece of background reading – a name, or just a date is holding you up. You may be waiting for a book to be returned to the library. But this is often another form of procrastination – making excuses so as not to face the task in hand.

Cure – Make a start without it anyway. You can always leave gaps in your work and add things later. Alternatively, make a calculated guess – which you can change if necessary at a later stage when you have acquired the missing information. Remember that your first draft will be revised later anyway. Additional pieces of information can be added during the editing process.

‘I’m frightened of producing rubbish’

Cause – Maybe you are being too hard on yourself and setting standards which are unnecessarily high. However, this can sometimes be simply a fear of putting yourself to the test.

Cure – Be prepared to accept a modest achievement at first. And remember that many people under-rate their potential ability. It is very unlikely that anybody else will be over-critical. If you are a student on a course, it is the tutor’s job to help you improve and become more confident.

‘I’m stuck at the planning stage’

Cause – This may be a hidden fear of starting work on the first draft, or it may possibly be a form of perfectionism. It may be that you are making too much of the preparation stages, or alternatively that you are stuck for ideas.

Cure – Make a start on the first draft anyway. You can create a first attempt which may even help you to clarify your ideas as you are writing it. This first draft may then be used to help you devise and finalise another plan – which can then be used as the basis for your second or final draft.

‘I’m not sure in what order to put things’

Cause – Maybe there are a number of possibilities, and you are seeking the best order. Perhaps there is no ‘best’ or ‘right’ order. You are probably looking for some coherence or logical plan for your ideas.

Cure – Draw up a number of different possible plans. Lay them out together, compare them, then select the one which seems to offer the best structure. Be prepared to chop and change the order of your information until the most persuasive form of organisation emerges. Make sure that you do this before you start writing, so that you are not trying to solve too many problems at the same time once you begin.

‘It’s bound to contain a mistake somewhere’

Cause – You may be so anxious to produce good work that your fear of making a mistake is producing the ‘block’. Alternatively, this may be a form of striving for the impossible, or setting yourself unreachably high goals so as to create an excuse for not starting.

Cure – Your first efforts should only be a draft, so you can check for mistakes at a later stage. Be prepared to make a start, then deal with any possible errors when you come to re-write the work later. Very few people can write without making mistakes – even professional authors – so there is no need to burden yourself with this block.

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Page layout for essays

August 23, 2009 by Roy Johnson

sample from HTML program and PDF book

1. Academic page layout – using word-processors
Modern word-processors allow you to create attractive page layout for your documents. The impression made by your essays or reports will be enhanced by good design. You should practise controlling the basic functions of your word-processor to improve the presentation of text on your pages.

2. Margins
The default settings of most word-processors create a margin of one inch at each edge of the page. You should try increasing your side margins (say, to one-and-a-half inches). This not only improves the appearance of your work on an A4 page, it leaves more room in which your tutor can write comments.

3. Fonts
For the main text of your essay, choose a font with serifs (‘Times Roman’, ‘Garamond’, or ‘Schoolbook’).

These make the text easier to read. Avoid sans-serif fonts such as ‘Arial’ or ‘Helvetica’: these make continuous reading more difficult. They may be used for headings however.

Display fonts (such as ‘Poster’ or ‘Showtime’) should not be used at all for academic work. They are designed for advertising.

4. Font Size
In most cases, the size of font chosen should be eleven or twelve points. This will be easy to read, and will appear proportionate to its use, when printed out on A4 paper.

5. Quotes
Where you have quotations of more than three lines, they should normally be set in the same font as the body of the text, but the size may be reduced by one or two points. This draws attention to the fact that it is a quotation from a secondary source.

6. Spacing
Your word-processor will have single line-spacing as its default. This will produce a neat page. However, your text may be more usefully laid out in double line-spacing. This will leave more room for tutor comment.

7. Paragraphs
If you decide to stay with single line-spacing, put a double space between each paragraph. (In this case you do not need to indent the first line of the paragraph.)

8. Justification
You have two choices. Full justification arranges your text in a straight line on both the left and right-hand margins Left-justified will be straight only on the left, leaving the text ‘ragged’ on the right. This has the advantage of producing more regular word-spacing – but full justification will probably have a better visual effect overall.

9. Indentation
Never adjust your indentation using the spacebar. This will create very uneven layout when you print your document. Always use the TAB stop and the INDENT key. Remember that a TAB stop indents just the first line of a paragraph. The INDENT key will indent the whole of the paragraph.

10. Indenting quotes
Take full advantage of indenting to regularise your presentation of
quotations. Use double indentation for those longer quotations which would otherwise occupy more than two or three lines of the text in your essay. Try to be consistent throughout.

11. Indenting paragraphs?
If you do not show paragraphs by double-spacing, you will need to indent the first line of each new paragraph.

12. Italics and bold
Use italics for the titles of books and journals. (Also use it for emphasis.) Bold is best reserved for headings and sub-headings.

13. Headings
Headings, sub-headings, or essay questions may be presented in either a slightly larger font size than the body of the text, or they may be given emphasis by the use of bold.

14. Capitals
Don’t use continuous capital letters in a heading. This looks unsightly, and it makes the heading difficult to read.

15. Underlining
There is no need to underline headings or titles [even though many people think it is good practice]. If something is a title, a heading or a question at the top of an essay, then the larger font, or the use of bold should be enough to give it emphasis and importance. Underlining just makes text harder to read.

16. Page numbering
Use the automatic page-numbering feature to place numbers on all the pages of your essays. If for some reason you find this problematic (which many do), add the numbers by hand.

17. Hyphenation
If your word-processor automatically hyphenates words at the end of a line, take care to read through the work and eliminate any howlers such as ‘the-rapist’ and ‘thin-king’.

18. Widows and orphans
In laying out your pages, you should avoid creating paragraphs which start on the last line of a page or which finish on the first of the next. (These are called, in the jargon of the printing trade, ‘Widows and Orphans’). The solution to this problem is to control the number of lines on a page so as to push the text forward. An extra space at the bottom of a page is more acceptable than just one or two lines of text at the top of the next.

19. Page density
Do not create pages which are dense with closely-packed text. These will have an unattractive and off-putting effect.

20. Form
Don’t try to imitate the appearance of a printed book. Remember that an academic essay serves a different function. Leave plenty of white space around your work, and let the text ‘speak’ to the reader.

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Paragraphs in essays

August 24, 2009 by Roy Johnson

sample from HTML program and PDF book

1. The purpose (and definition) of paragraphs in essays is that they deal with just one topic or major point of argument in an essay. That topic or argument should normally be announced in the opening sentence, which is sometimes called a ‘topic sentence’.

2. The sentences which immediately follow the topic sentence should expand and develop the statement, explaining and relating its relevance to the question in general.

3. This opening statement and amplification should then be followed by evidence to support the argument being made. You should provide illustrative examples which are discussed as an explanation of the central idea.

4. Paragraphs in most academic essays should normally be between 50 words minimum and 200 words maximum in length. They could be longer if you were explaining a topic in detail in an extended piece of work.

5. The last sentence of a paragraph should try to round off consideration of the topic in some way. It may also contain some statement which links it to the one which comes next.

6. Consecutive paragraphs may be linked with terms such as ‘However’ and ‘On the other hand’ so as to provide a sense of continuity and structure in your argument. If you are in any doubt however, let them stand separately and speak for themselves.

7. The recommended structure of a typical paragraph in academic writing is as follows. It is rather like a smaller version of the structure of a complete essay.

The opening topic sentence
A fuller explanation of the topic sentence
A discussion of its significance
Consideration of examples or evidence
A concluding sentence

8. What follows is an example taken from an essay written in response to the question ‘Discuss the case for and against political censorship of the media.’

The arguments against political censorship however can be made on grounds which are surely just as firm. The moral arguments usually centre on notions of ‘freedom of information’ and the individual’s ‘right to know’. The legal arguments point to inconsistencies in current regulations as applied to the various forms of media (books, television, newspapers) and to differences in the law between the UK and other western countries. There are also a number of social and political arguments ranging from objections of class bias in the composition of those bodies which frame regulations, to similar objections to the ownership and control of the various forms of media. Exploring each one of these arguments in turn, it is possible to see that the case against political censorship can be just as strong.

9. Avoid very short paragraphs which contain only one or two sentences. These are sometimes used in fiction or journalism for dramatic effect. In an academic essay however, this device does not allow you to develop an argument or discuss evidence.

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Plagiarism in essays

August 24, 2009 by Roy Johnson

sample from HTML program and PDF book

1. Plagiarism in essays occurs when you take someone else’s ideas or words and try to pass them off as your own original work. In its worst form this happens when someone is stuck for ideas and lifts a passage from a textbook, hoping that the use of this ‘borrowed’ material will not be noticed. [It is usually very noticeable.]

2. Sometimes this can happen unintentionally, because the student uses a passage from someone else’s work – but forgets to put quote marks around it. These lifted passages are easily noticeable because of the sudden shift in tone in the writing.

3. You should always acknowledge the original source of any words or ideas which you use in your own work. Any attempt to pass off work which is not your own is regarded as cheating in academic circles, and is usually severely censured.

4. You can either acknowledge any idea you use in summary form:

This is what the critic Stanley Fish has called ‘interpretive communities’ (1) as a strategy in his argument that …

5. Alternatively, you can interrupt your own argument to briefly quote a passage from the original source. As Stanley Fish suggests:

Interpretive communities are made up of those who share interpretive strategies not for reading (in the conventional sense) but for writing texts, for constituting their properties and assigning their intentions. (1)

6. In both cases you must acknowledge that original source, either in a footnote or an endnote, which is shown as follows:

NOTES
1. Stanley Fish, Is There a Text in this Class, Harvard University Press, 1980, p.169.

7. Unless you have specifically been asked to discuss or summarise other people’s arguments, you should avoid composing an essay by stringing together accounts of other writers’ work.

8. More difficult instances occur when dealing with ideas that are in the public domain. For instance, you might not know who first thought of a concept you wish to bring into play. In such a case you should simply acknowledge the fact that the idea is not your own.

What follows is the rather stringently worded code on plagiarism from a typical university handbook.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the theft or appropriation of someone else’s work without proper acknowledgement, presenting the materials as if they were one’s own. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and the consequences are severe.

a) Course work, dissertations, and essays submitted for assessment must be the student’s own work, unless in the case of group projects a joint effort is expected and indicated as such.

b) Unacknowledged direct copying from the work of another person, or the unacknowledged close paraphrasing of somebody else’s work, is called plagiarism and is a serious offence, equated with cheating in examinations. This applies to copying both from other student’s work and from published sources such as books, reports or journal articles.

c) Use of quotations or data from the work of others is entirely acceptable, and is often very valuable provided that the source of the quotation or data is given. Failure to provide a source or put quotation marks around material that is taken from elsewhere gives the appearance that the comments are ostensibly one’s own. When quoting word-for-word from the work of another person quotation marks or indenting (setting the quotation in from the margin) must be used and the source of the quoted material must be acknowledged.

d) Paraphrasing when the original statement is still identifiable and has no acknowledgement, is plagiarism. A close paraphrase of another person’s work must have an acknowledgement to the source. It is not acceptable to put together unacknowledged passages from the same or from different sources link these together with a few words or sentences of your own and changing a few words from the original text: this is regarded as over-dependence on other sources, which is a form of plagiarism.

e) Direct quotation from an earlier piece of the student’s own work, if unattributed, suggests that the work is original, when in fact it is not. The direct copying of one’s own writings qualifies as plagiarism if the fact that the work has been or is to be presented elsewhere is not acknowledged.

f) Sources of quotations used should be listed in full in a bibliography at the end of the piece of work and in a style required by the student’s department.

g) Plagiarism is a serious offence and will always result in imposition of a penalty. In deciding upon the penalty the University will take into account factors such as the year of study, the extent and proportion of the work that has been plagiarised and the apparent intent of the student. the penalties that can be imposed range from a minimum of zero mark for the work (without allowing resubmission) through to downgrading of degree class, the award of a lesser qualification (eg a Pass degree rather than Honours, a certificate rather than a diploma) to disciplinary measures such as suspension or expulsion.

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Planning a Dissertation

February 21, 2015 by Roy Johnson

planning, structure, headings, and creating order

Planning a dissertation – what is it?

A dissertation is a piece of academic writing normally submitted as part of a Bachelors or a Masters degree (BA or MA). In some cases the term ‘dissertation’ might be used interchangeably with thesis, which (in the UK) is normally reserved to describe work at PhD level.

A dissertation can comprise anything from 8,000-10,000 words up to as many as 20,000 words, depending on the subject, and is normally shorter than a PhD thesis. It is written to show that you can produce an original idea, engage in academic research, and follow the conventions of argument and written presentation at this level.

The main problem for most people is that they’re unlikely to have written such a long piece of work before. Dealing with large amounts of information and producing a long and coherent piece of writing isn’t an easy task. The conceptual skills required and the burden of generating so much writing can seem overwhelming. For this reason it is vital that you create a plan before you start.

The following guidance notes give an explanation of what’s required and a template to help you make that plan. The notes are a series of headings which will help you to clarify your ideas and create the outline or structure for what you have to do. They are not a timetable and they don’t cover the reading and research work involved in producing a dissertation. That part of the process is covered under Managing a dissertation.

Use these headings to generate an outline plan before you start any serious writing. The plan can be modified or enhanced as you go along – but at any given time you will have an overview of the project. This will help you to identify (name) any writing on which you’re working and decide its relevant position within the overall scheme. It will also save you from feeling ‘lost’ amongst your notes and your research materials.

It’s helpful to create your initial writing as chunks, or parts of the whole piece, rather than conceiving of the finished object at this stage. This gives you the opportunity to work on any one chunk whenever it’s convenient for you without becoming overwhelmed.

The title

You should have at least a rough idea of what you are going to write about. The provisional title does not have to be exact, and you can change it slightly as you go along. The act of creating a title forces you to clarify in your own mind the most important elements of your project.

It’s possible to start out with a long and possibly a slightly hazy title. But as you do more work generating the dissertation, the title should become shorter and more clearly expressed. [Some science subjects might require longer titles because of the complex names of chemicals or biological processes.]

The prime importance of the title is that it should specify exactly what your dissertation is about. Its secondary purpose is to act as a reminder while you’re writing that each part of the work should be directly related to its stated purpose. Your dissertation might be –

an argument
a survey
an investigation
a project
an analytic study

But the title is the most succinct expression of its subject and purpose.

The summary

Many dissertations also require an abstract or summary. This is a digest or a shorter version of the work as a whole. The abstract draws out in shortened form what’s contained in the complete thesis. It might also be known as a précis or a synopsis.

This might well be one of the last things you finalise. A summary is difficult to write before you’ve produced the work as a whole. But even a provisional summary will help you to keep the overall project in mind This too can be modified and updated as your work progresses.

The introduction

As in the case of the title and summary, the introduction might be something you only finish writing after you’ve done the main work of the dissertation. After all, it’s not easy to introduce something that’s not yet been written. However, you should have some idea of how you will introduce the main body of the work. It might be something like any of the following:

a description of what follows
the historical context to the subject
the origins of a problem to be studied
a summary of recent opinions
a digest of current research

Once again, even if you decide to change part of the dissertation as your work progresses, it’s better – at any given point – if you have a stated intention of how you propose to introduce the main body of your work. This ‘intention’ will help you to conceptualise the work as a whole and keep its structure alive in your mind.

Literature review

If the regulations call for it, you’ll need to include a section or chapter offering a literature review. This is a survey of the recent research findings on your topic or subject. You need to show not only that you have read the latest studies, but that you are able to digest their findings and arguments.

This is something that you can quite easily work on and store separately whilst you’re working on the rest of your dissertation. The exact position of the review in your plan will be determined by the conventions of your subject. It usually precedes the methodology, and will almost certainly come before any results.

Methodology

This is an optional section, depending on the subject of your dissertation. Subjects that involve any sort of scientific or quantitative investigation will require an account of the methods used. This account will include an explanation of how the research has been designed and implemented, and why the particular collection of data and the method of analysis has been chosen. The methodology might be qualitative, quantitative, or experimental, and it might involve gathering information and subjecting it to close scrutiny and analysis. Arts and humanities subjects tend not to have quasi-scientific methodologies, but rely on the close examination and analysis of materials and texts, followed by the your own persuasive arguments.

Structure

A dissertation is often organised into a number of parts or chapters. The subject under enquiry might suggest or determine what these parts or chapters could be. Splitting your work into separate parts will make the process of composition easier. It means that whilst working on one part, you can temporarily separate it from the others. The arrangement of these parts might be determined by –

chronological order
logical progression
steps in a process
narrative sequence
equal significance
category groupings

The following are three practical examples based on this notion of creating structure. One further advantage of following this procedure is that the total word-count for the dissertation can be (roughly) divided between these sections or chapters (plus the introduction and conclusion) to produce a well-balanced whole.

A historical study of economic depression in the 1930s might be split into four main chapters covering the years 1930-1933, 1934-1936, 1937-1939, and 1939-1940
A study of Shakespeare’s tragedies might have four separate main chapters, one each on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth
A study of inner-city pollution might be structured by separate sections on traffic density, open green spaces, air pollution, and housing density

Conclusion

You might not know the final conclusion of your dissertation project until you finish writing, but you can fill in this section with what you think or hope it might be.

This is a very good case where the title of your dissertation might be of help. If your dissertation title includes ” … show the influence of X on the work of Y …” you know that your conclusion must discuss examples of the work of Y and should reveal instances of the influence of X.

Bibliography

Colleges and universities usually have their own house guidelines for the manner in which bibliographic information is presented. In addition to this, various subjects and disciplines follow their own conventions – or they might adopt internationally recognised systems such as the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA), the Harvard System, or the Modern Language Association (MLA) system for bibliographic presentation.

It’s very important that you acquaint yourself with the system used for your subject and make sure you know all the small details of referencing, citation, and the listing of sources – including references to materials on the Internet.

Fortunately, this part of the dissertation is easy to produce, because you simply add to the list of texts and secondary sources you have used as you go along. The bibliography might even be divided up into primary and secondary sources.

Planning a dissertation – related study guides

How to fail your dissertation
Comic but very useful tips on how to avoid common mistakes

How to write a thesis abstract
A tutorial on how to create a one-page summary for longer works

How to solve research problems
Study tips for recovering from common errors and bad planning

Definitions of a thesis at Wikipedia
Structure, style, and variations by country, plus web links

How to write a thesis and which software tools to use
Data management, mind maps, creating structure, and bibliographies

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Planning essays

August 24, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. Planning essays – strategy
You can approach planning essays using a number of different writing strategies. Some people like to start writing and wait to see what develops. Others work up scraps of ideas until they perceive a shape emerging. However, if you are in any doubt at all, it’s a good idea to plan your work. The task of writing is usually much easier if you create a set of notes which outline the points you are going to make. Using this approach, you will create a basic structure on which your ideas can be built.

2. Plans
This is a part of the essay-writing process which is best carried out using plenty of scrap paper. Get used to the idea of shaping and re-shaping your ideas before you start writing, editing and re-arranging your arguments as you give them more thought. Planning on-screen using a word-processor is possible, but it’s a fairly advanced technique.

3. Analyse the question
Make sure you understand what the question is asking for. What is it giving you the chance to write about? What is its central issue? Analyse any of its key terms and any instruction terms. If you are in any doubt, ask your tutor to explain what is required.

4. Generate ideas
You need to assemble ideas for the essay. On a first sheet of paper, make a note of anything which might be relevant to your answer. These might be topics, ideas, observations, or instances from your study materials. Put down anything you think of at this stage.

5. Choosing topics
On a second sheet of paper, extract from your brainstorm listings those topics and points of argument which are of greatest relevance to the question and its central issue. Throw out anything which cannot be directly related to the essay question.

6. Put topics in order
On a third sheet of paper, put these chosen topics in some logical sequence. At this stage you should be formulating a basic response to the question, even if it is provisional and may later be changed. Try to arrange the points so that they form a persuasive and coherent argument.

7. Arrange your evidence
All the major points in your argument need to be supported by some sort of evidence. On any further sheets of paper, compile a list of brief quotations from other sources (together with page references) which will be offered as your evidence.

8. Make necessary changes
Whilst you have been engaged in the first stages of planning, new ideas may have come to mind. Alternate evidence may have occurred to you, or the line of your argument may have shifted somewhat. Be prepared at this stage to rearrange your plan so that it incorporates any of these new materials or ideas. Try out different arrangements of your essay topics until you are sure they form the most convincing and logical sequence.

9. Finalise essay plan
The structure of most essay plans can be summarised as

Introduction
Arguments
Conclusion

State your case as briefly and rapidly as possible, present the evidence for this case in the body of your essay, then sum up and try to ‘lift’ the argument to a higher level in your conclusion. Your final plan should be something like a list of half a dozen to ten major points of argument. Each one of these points will be expanded to a paragraph of something around 100-200 words minimum in length.

10. Relevance
At all stages of essay planning, and even when writing the essay, you should keep the question in mind. Keep asking yourself “Is this evidence directly relevant to the topic I have been asked to discuss?” If in doubt, be prepared to scrap plans and formulate new ones – which is much easier than scrapping finished essays. At all times aim for clarity and logic in your argument.

11. Example
What follows is an example of an outline plan drawn up in note form. It is in response to the question ‘Do you think that depictions of sex and violence in the media should or should not be more heavily censored?’. [It is worth studying the plan in its entirety. Take note of its internal structure.]

Sample Plan

QUESTION: ‘Do you think that depictions of sex and violence in the media should or should not be more heavily censored?’

Introduction

Sex, violence, and censorship all emotive subjects

Case against censorship

1. Aesthetic: inhibits artistic talent, distorts art and truth.

2. Individual judgement: individuals have the right to decide for themselves what they watch or read. Similarly, nobody has the right to make up someone else’s mind.

3. Violence and sex as catharsis (release from tension): portrayal of these subjects can release tension through this kind of experience at ‘second hand’.

4. Violence can deter: certain films can show violence which reinforces opposition to it, e.g. – A Clockwork Orange, All Quiet on the Western Front.

5. Censorship makes sex dirty: we are too repressed about this subject, and censorship sustains the harmful mystery which has surrounded us for so long.

6. Politically dangerous: Censorship in one area can lead to it being extended to others – e.g., political ideas.

7. Impractical: Who decides? How is it to be done? Is it not impossible to be ‘correct’? Any decision has to be arbitrary

Case for censorship

1. Sex is private and precious: it should not be demeaned by representations of it in public.

2. Sex can be offensive: some people may find it so and should not have to risk being exposed to what they would find pornographic.

3. Corruption can be progressive: can begin with sex and continue until all ‘decent values’ are eventually destroyed.

4. Participants might be corrupted: especially true of young children.

5. Violence can encourage imitation: by displaying violence – even while condemning it -it can be legitimised and can also encourage imitation amongst a dangerous minority.

6. Violence is often glorified: encourages callous attitudes.

Conclusion

Case against censorship much stronger. No necessary connection between the two topics.

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sample from HTML program and PDF book

sample from HTML program and PDF book

sample from HTML program and PDF book

planning, structure, headings, and creating order

Planning a dissertation – what is it?

The title

The summary

The introduction

Literature review

Methodology

Structure

Conclusion

Bibliography

Planning a dissertation – related study guides

sample from HTML program and PDF book

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