Academic English 2012

Rita Pacheco

Communication Service

October 2012

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

TOPICS COVERED

Prepositions

Writing numbers

Choosing British or American English

Relative Clauses

Being Succinct

Making your writing more formal

Taking the “you” out of your work

The Active and Passive Voice

End Focus

Using Grammar to Argue a Point

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

PREPOSITIONS

TriMARES is on the water

TriMARES is at the river

TriMARES is in the water

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

PREPOSITIONSUse ON with surfacese.g. ON the ceiling/table/wall

Use ON with directionse.g. On the left

Use ON with days of the weeke.g. On Monday

Use AT with placese.g. AT the bus stop/door/cinema

Use AT with places on a pagee.g. AT the top of the page

Use AT with timese.g. At midday/3.00pm

Use IN with spacese.g. IN a room/building/garden

Use IN with watere.g. IN the water/river/sea

Use IN with linese.g. IN a line/queue

Use In with parts of the daye.g. In the afternoon/morning

Use IN with months and yearse.g. In 2001/June

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

PREPOSITIONS

Using grid services on software applications

Using values on a database

This programme is available in the internet

The use of rule induction algorithms on real world

problems

At the proxy field tick the box

Insert the following text at the box below

in

in

on

in

In

in

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

PREPOSITIONS

Considered as Considered

Composed by Composed of

Consists in Consist of

Compared with Compared to

According with In accordance with OR according to

Based in Based on

Focus in Focus on

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

WRITING NUMBERS

The comma and the decimal point is different to other European

languages in British and American English :

One hundred = 100

One thousand = 1,000

One million = 1,000,000

One hundred and two pounds and fifty pence = £102.50

NOT 102,50 £

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

CHOOSE AMERICAN OR BRITISH ENGLISH?

Vs

DO NOT MIX THEM

International Journals – American English European projects – British English INESC Porto Website – British English Spell check

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

RELATIVE CLAUSES

We use relative clauses to give additional

information about something without starting

another sentence.

By combining sentences with a relative clause,

your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid

repeating certain words.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

HOW TO FORM RELATIVE CLAUSES

A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?

Do you know the girl…?

Do you know the girl is talking to Tom?who

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

HOW TO FORM RELATIVE CLAUSES

RELATIVE PRONOUN USE EXAMPLE

Who subject or object pronoun for people

I told you about the researcher who works at INESC TEC.

Which subject or object pronoun for animals and things

Do you see the robot which is on the floor?

Which referring to a whole sentence He couldn’t read which surprised me.

Whose possession for people, animals and things

Do you know the professor whose work has been awarded?

Whom object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative

clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer

who)

I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.

That subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in

defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)

I don’t like the article that you wrote.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

HOW TO FORM RELATIVE CLAUSES

RELATIVE ADVERB MEANING USE EXAMPLE

When in/on which refers to a time expression

the day when we met him

Where in/at which refers to a place the place where we met him

Why for which refers to a reason the reason why we met him

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

RELATIVE CLAUSES – TWO TYPES

Defining Relative Clauses give detailed information

defining a general term or expression. Defining relative

clauses are not put in commas and are often used in

definitions.

Example: Do you know the student who is talking to

professor Tom?

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

RELATIVE CLAUSES – TWO TYPES

Non-Defining Relative Clauses give additional information

on something, but do not define it. Non-defining relative

clauses are put in commas.

Example: The researcher, who/whom we met yesterday,

is very good.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

RELATIVE CLAUSES

Relative clauses with who, which, that as the subject

pronoun can be replaced with a participle:

Example:

I told you about the researcher who works at INESC TEC. I

told you about the researcher working at INESC TEC.

Examples:

To carry out the verification on which method To verify which

method…

A system that can realize estimations… A system that can

estimate…

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

BE SUCCINCT

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

CONNECTING WORDS

Connecting word Use

However Introduce a contrasting idea

On the other hand* Introduce a contrasting idea

Furthermore Introduce additional information

In addition Introduce additional information

Nevertheless Introduce a contrasting idea

Consequently/subsequently/hence Introduce a result/consequence

Thus/therefore Introduce a result/consequence

* too informal for published works

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

LINKING PARAGRAPHS AND SENTENCES

Use a topic sentence to begin each paragraph

Eliminate very short paragraphs

Repeat key words for cohesion

Repeat sentence structure for cohesion

The results clearly show that the tests successfully revealed the

results that the team had expected, that the charge would gradually

increase as the time decreased, which is what occurred, although it

did not occur consistently and did not show a clear repetitive pattern.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

Splitting Sentences:Techniques

The charge was expected to

However, this result

Technique1: RepetitionTechnique 2: Connecting words

Get information Obtain information

Do a study Conduct a study

It seems to be It appears to be

To show To demonstrate

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

MAKE YOUR WRITING MORE FORMAL

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

MAKE YOUR WRITING MORE FORMAL

Informal FormalHelp AssistStop CeaseBegin CommenceShow DemonstrateTell InformGet ObtainNeed RequireWrong IncorrectIn charge ResponsiblePoint out Highlight

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

PHRASES TO AVOID

Be precise and where possible use dates and figures

Etc Too informal – use “such as”

Among others Too informal – use “such as”

i.e. Too informal

So Too informal

Like Too informal “such as”

Research work Redundant

A lot of Vague

Many Vague

A few Vague

Some Vague

Why?

• More credible

• Less biased

• More formal

Examples:

The authors used two methods to verify the results

Two methods were used to verify the results

I believe that this result will greatly contribute to the area.

This result will greatly contribute to the area.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

TECNIQUES TO REMOVE THE AUTHOR

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

TECNIQUES TO REMOVE THE “YOU”

Most people take drug overdoses because they find that it's difficult to sort out their problems clearly. That's why you should treat your patients in a clear way. That means you should treat your patients in a way that helps them to tell the difference between their problems and find ways to deal with them.

Most overdoses are taken when individuals are finding it difficult to resolve their life problems in a clear way. For this reason, the approach to treatment must, above all else, be a clear one; that is, one which helps the patients separate out each of their problems and plan ways of dealing with them.

TechniquesThe passive voice – but be carefulFocus on the research not the researcher e.g. “The results indicate…”

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

Although the passive voice is more common in scientific writing,

sentences in the active voice can be more concise.

Using the active voice for the majority of your sentences makes your

meaning clear for readers.

Overuse of the passive voice can cloud the meaning of your sentences .

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

CHANGING PASSIVE TO ACTIVE

Examples from INESC TECOriginal: In this paper it is proposed the introduction of sensory feedback (force and torque sensing) in a robotic framework. Revised: This paper proposes the introduction of sensory feedback (force and torque sensing) within a robotic framework. Original: The effectiveness of the proposed approach was proved through the experiments, showing that force control improves significantly robot performance, making robots more human-like, flexible and with capacity to make decisions. Revised: The experiments show that the proposed approach is effective. They have demonstrated that force control can significantly improve the robot’s performance, making it more human-like, flexible and giving it the ability to make decisions.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

WHICH ONE? AND WHEN?

Use the Passive Voice to write without using personal pronouns or the

names of particular researchers as the subjects of sentences - the focus is

on the action and not on the agent.

BUT

Use the Active Voice when the agent is more important than the action

itself.

Use the Active Voice to make your message clearer.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

In each of your sentences place the most vital word or part at the end of each clause / sentence.

Compare these three sentences (the most important information is underlined):

“The result may be catastrophic, as shown by this study” “As shown by this study, the result may be catastrophic” “This study shows that the result may be catastrophic”

The final two sentences have much more impact.

END FOCUS

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

USING GRAMMAR TO ARGUE A POINT

Compare these two sentences:

1. Smith claims that language is innate; however, it is clear that this is not the case. 2. Smith has claimed that language is innate; however, it is clear that this is not the case.

By putting Smith in the past tense, the new information is automatically considered more up to date.

HOW IT’S DONE

• Composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV) are among the most effective

solutions for high pressure storage of compressible liquid and gaseous fluids.

Their characteristic high stiffness-to-weight and strength-to-weight ratios make

them suitable for both static and mobile applications. However, since operating

higher pressures are continually sought to achieve higher energy densities in

storage systems, safety aspects become critical.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

HOW IT’S DONE

• The next sections will present an overview of such developments

according to specific concepts and sensing platforms (…).

• The next sections review the progress in optical sensing based on PCF (…).

• The COPV typically consist of an inner liner and an outer composite

overwrapped layer.

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

ACADEMIC WRITING IN ENGLISH | SCOM 2012

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

Final Worksheet

See if you can spot any errors