Success in Academic Writing

229 Pages·2013·1.91 MB·English

by  Trevor Day

Success in Academic Writing
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Success in Academic Writing
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Trevor Day
© Trevor Day 2013
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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Typeset by Aardvark Editorial Limited, Metfield, Suffolk
To Anthony and Tessa, a continuing source of inspiration
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface x
Acknowledgements xii
Chapter 1 The Nature and Process of
Academic Writing 1
1.1 Why is writing so important? 2
1.2 The nature of academic writing 5
1.3 The process of writing 12
1.4 Playing to your strengths and preferences 20
1.5 In conclusion: the process of academic writing 21
Chapter 2 Understanding the Nature of an
Assignment 23
2.1 The IPACE model 23
2.2 Putting IPACE into practice 33
Chapter 3 Kinds of Writing 36
3.1 Questions to ask your assessor 36
3.2 Two ends of a spectrum 37
3.3 Business-style report writing 37
3.4 Critical reflective writing 44
Chapter 4 Researching an Assignment 52
4.1 Being strategic 52
4.2 Different strategies for different assignments 53
4.3 Being selective (using RABT) 57
4.4 Becoming more discerning 63
Chapter 5 Being a Purposeful Reader and
Note-taker 66
5.1 Kinds of reading 66
5.2 Beginning with the end in mind 68
vii
viii Contents
5.3 Surveying (scanning and skimming) 70
5.4 Establishing a purpose 72
5.5 Deciding on a reading strategy 73
5.6 In-depth reading (using SP3R) 75
5.7 Annotating and note-taking 76
Chapter 6 Planning and Structuring your Writing 81
6.1 Beginnings, middles and ends 81
6.2 Essays 84
6.3 Practical reports 86
6.4 Presentations 90
6.5 Posters 95
6.6 Dissertations 96
6.7 Planning: from large- to small-scale 101
Chapter 7 Composing 105
7.1 Balancing the critical and the creative 106
7.2 Composing your first draft 107
7.3 Writing to a prompt 109
7.4 Freewriting 109
7.5 The ‘no composing’ approach 112
7.6 Managing your composing 113
7.7 Twelve ways to overcome writer’s block 115
Chapter 8 Words and Images 120
8.1 The role of visual elements 120
8.2 Content and design 121
8.3 Using tables 122
8.4 Using graphs and charts 124
8.5 Other kinds of figure 130
Chapter 9 Citing, Referencing and Avoiding
Plagiarism 132
9.1 Citing and referencing 132
9.2 Citing, referencing and academic integrity 135
9.3 Using citations and quotes 137
9.4 Plagiarism 145
9.5 Avoiding plagiarism 147
9.6 Remember, your writing is an argument – your argument 149
Contents iixx
Chapter 10 Reviewing and Editing Your Work 151
10.1 Fulfilling the brief 152
10.2 Structure and argument 153
10.3 Paragraphs 154
10.4 Sentences 157
10.5 Grammar 162
10.6 Punctuation 165
10.7 Spelling 168
10.8 Presentation 169
Chapter 11 Using Technology to Help You 172
11.1 Using your word processor’s functions (but critically) 173
11.2 Using bibliographic databases 176
11.3 Using reference management software 180
11.4 Creating tables and figures 180
11.5 Handling large documents 183
Chapter 12 Moving Forward 186
12.1 Cycles of learning 186
12.2 Making the most of feedback 188
12.3 Where to get help 192
12.4 Final word 192
Glossary 194
Answers 199
Cited References and Further Reading 208
Index 213