academic-writing-style.ppt

Aspects of Academic Writing Style,What is academic style?,Formal use of language Citation of sources Makes an argument through a thesis sentence Formal structure Introduction Thesis Body Conclusion,Formal use of language,Avoid contractions use full form: don’t = do not, can’t = cannot what’s more = what is more Avoid Idioms and clichés every coin has two sides, double-edged sword Avoid slang and informal constructions,to avoid,In a word broaden ones horizons society (needs to be defined) As we all know,Academic Style (creating arguments),Use a tentative style tends to appears to suggest that would seem to This indicates,Example of Tentative style,Panic occurs whenever there is a decrease in consumer confidence. Panic tends to occur whenever there is a decrease in consumer confidence.,Tentative language,Today everyone uses credit cards for all their shopping. Drinking alcohol is bad for you. The economic crisis will have disastrous consequences for the whole world. Teleworking leads to isolation. Men are worse drivers than women.,Two-word verbs,Formal Verbs,Researchers have found out that this drug has serious side effects. Researchers have determined that this drug has serious side effects. With women especially, there is a lot of pressure to conform to a certain physical shape. With women especially, there is a great deal of pressure to conform to a certain physical shape.,Rewrite in a formal style,The positive feedback made up for the problems we came across during the trials. The positive feedback compensated for the problems encountered during the trials. You can clearly see the differences between these two learning processes. The differences between these two learning processes can be clearly distinguished.,Rewrite in a formal style,The subjects didn't have much difficulty with the task. The subjects did not have much difficulty with the task. We found example after example of autonomous systems in lots of countries. We found numerous examples of autonomous systems in many countries.,Rewrite in a formal style,These days a lot of kids are starting school early. Years ago, they began at 5, but now it’s normal to start at 4 or younger. Why is this? One thing is that moms need to get back to work. Is it good for the kids? Jenkins has studied this and says that early schooling causes social problems like stealing, drug taking, etc. I think he’s right and we should pay moms to stay at home.,Original article,Currently, significant numbers of children are starting school at the age of four or less, whereas 30 years ago five was the normal age. There appear to be various reasons for the change; mothers, for example, need to rejoin the labor force. There are mixed views about the effects of this change on the children concerned. Jenkins (1989) claims that early school attendance causes social problems such as theft and drug taking. There seems to be considerable evidence to support his views and there may be an argument in favor of a subsidy for women to stay at home with their children.,Rewrite in a formal style,Why are there so many traffic jams on the roads these days? One thing is that public transport like trains, buses, etc. is so pricey. A long time ago cars cost a lot but now, unfortunately, they’ve got a lot cheaper. Another thing is that driving is a lot nicer than waiting for a bus. The trouble is that if everyone buys a car the roads get packed.,Original Article,There appear to be two principal reasons for the growing traffic congestion. Firstly, public transportation has become increasingly expensive in relation to the falling cost of driving. In addition, car ownership is much more convenient than using public transportation. Together, these factors result in higher vehicle density.,Some Good Advice,Many instructors encourage writers to use a familiar, conversational speech in their writing. This is useful to avoid a needlessly complicated style. Academic writing should avoid certain features of conversational language: slang clichés sentence fragments spelling that reflects casual pronunciation idioms,,While your essays should not sound exactly like a conversation you would have with friends, your writing style should still sound like living, natural English.,Academic Writing Maintains an objective impersonal style,Suggest improvements to the following sentences to avoid use of “you” and “we.” 1. You can apply the same theory of learning to small children. The same theory of learning can be applied to small children.,objective style,2. The figures are accurate to within 1%, but you should note that local variations may apply. The figures are accurate to within 1%, but it should be noted that local variations may apply.,objective style,3. In the second section of the report, we will consider the environmental consequences. In the second section of the report, environmental consequences will be considered.,objective style,4. You can only do this after the initial preparation has been conducted. T。