Academic Writing

The Mechanics

Sentences Must have a subject and a verb

and maybe an object Who, what the subject is doing, to what

Pay attention to the tense Keep the main subject and verb close together Create complex compound sentences

Use connecting words And punctuation

Check for clarity Do you have a long preamble at the start?

Makes it difficult for the reader to get the point Are the subject and verb close enough together?

Makes it difficult for the reader to get the point

How to write a sentence Start with the subject

What the sentence is about E.g. Software Development Projects

Perhaps add a short introductory phrase Keep subject and verb close

E.g Software development projects frequently fail due to a

lack of understanding of requirements by the project team.

OR However, it is widely recognised that software

development projects frequently fail due to a lack of understanding of requirements by the project team

Problems Sentence Fragments

Incomplete, cannot stand alone E.g.

Emphasising the fact that software development is difficult.

Corrected The consistent level of software project failure as reported

in the Standish Chaos reports emphasises the fact that software development is difficult.

Punctuation - Comma Separate items in a list

Software development consists of the phases analysis, design, implementation, testing and maintenance.

To mark a phrase at the start or end of a sentence However, …

To mark a phrase in the middle of sentence The number of software

development projects considered to be failures, as identified in the Standish Chaos reports, has remained largely consistent for the last five years.

First part, non-essential part, second part

To join main clauses The waterfall model is still

widely quoted as a model of software development, but it is recognised as being unrealistic.

To introduce a quote As Boehm states, “

Beware of the ‘comma splice’ Joining two sentences with a

comma

Incorrect? Business analytics has been identified as one

of the top ten technologies in the last few years, typically it is in the top five.

This proves that sequential software development processes do not reflect the reality, detailed surveys of project teams will support this.

Punctuation – Colon Use after a statement to introduce

explanation, clarity, illustration or reinforcement of that statement

Initial Statement : Second Statement Can be used to introduce a quote

Punctuation – Semi-Colon Join two sentences closely related in meaning To replace words like ‘and’, ‘so’, ‘but’… To replace words like ‘however’, ‘moreover’,

‘further’ in the middle of sentences To separate items in a list if commas are

already used Key researchers in the field of software

development are Barry Boehm, creator of the Spiral model; the main developer of the RAD methodology, James Martin; and Kent Beck, creator of the XP methodology.

Punctuation – Apostrophe Indicate possession

Comes directly after the affected owner David’s… The student’s … The students’…

It’s = ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ Its – belongs to it Generally do not use contractions

Can’t, don’t, won’t etc

Paragraph A collection of related sentences dealing with

a single topic. Use to decompose your narrative

Break it into chunks Present ideas coherently

Each paragraph Should have a clear central point Focus on one topic Contain only relevant information

If you feel your paragraph addresses more than one topic Introduce another paragraph

Useful Resources Grammar Basics

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/ Establishing Arguments

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/01/

Writing Concisely http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01

/ Sound Alike Words

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/660/01/

Useful Phrases http://www.englishforresearch.com/phrasebooks/e

xamples.htm