Tips for Effective Academic Writing

Dr. Theresa Jiinling TsengChina Medical University

Teaching Excellence Project1/16/2009

General Advice

Begin Early I’m too busy now, and I’ll start later when I

have more time . . . Select an Appropriate Topic

Contribution to the field (a niche) Interest Resources available

Gathering Resource Materials

Sources: The references, footnotes of books & journal

articles Library research: lib catalogues, electronic

resources, lib stacks References of conference papers Personal communication with experts

Remember to record the sources, using the assigned format.

Reading and Writing

Browse to get general understanding, take notes (key words).

Always have something available for a quick read. Sift and save the best.

Form a thesis statement. Create two files: the main text and

references. Read the selected references in depth.

Annotate your bibliography entries. Type the quotes, your comments regarding the topic.

Overview of the Research Paper:IMRD Introduction (I): General to specific. Cite and

comment. Methods & Materials (M): High in using

passive voice. Results (R): Findings Discussion (D): Specific to general, high in

citation, discussion, and qualifications.

Tense?

Which part should you start when you write?

Methodology Sections (Past Tense) Materials, apparatus, procedures, participants,

definitions, statistic procedures Some commonly used phrases:

In an effort to reduce ______, ______ In order to establish______, _____ For the purpose of this study,_____ is defined

as_______ Based on the feedback from the pilot study, __

_______ (Swales & Feak, 2004, p. 229)

Results Sections (Past Tense)

Judging the right strength of the claim (Hypotheses supported? To what extent? )

Highlighting key findings from the data. Making generalized comparisons

One emerging pattern Procedure/justification (optional) Location statement Statement of general finding (Hypotheses supported?) More specific statements to interpret the results Example/case/commentary (optional)

*An Example of “Results”

Children’s self-initiated Use of

Pain Relieving Methods

The children reported 13 successful types of self-initiated pain relieving methods. As shown in Table 2, most of the children reported using distraction, resting/sleeping, positioning/immobility and asking for pain medication when they experienced pain. (Swales and Feak, 2004, p. 239)

Moves in Writing Introduction

Move 1. Establishing a research territory A. By showing its importance, centrality,

problematic or relevant in some way (optional) B. By reviewing items of previous research in

the area (obligatory=ob)

Move 2 Establishing a nicheA. Indicating a gap in previous knowledge (ob)

Move 3 Occupying the nicheA. By outlining purposes or stating the nature of the present research (ob)

Move 1-A: Language Focus: Claiming Centrality Recently, there has been growing interest in … The possibility of . . . has generated wide interest in. .

. The development of . . . is a classic problem in. . . The development of . . . has led to the hope that. . . The . . . has become a favorite topic for analysis. . . Knowledge of . . . has a great importance for . . . The study of . . . has become an important aspect of .

. . A central issue in . . . is. . . (Swales & Feak, 2004, pp. 250-251)

Move 1-B: Reviewing the Literature (obligatory)Three major patterns: 1. Past—researcher activity as agent, reference to sin

gle studies: a. Jones (1997) investigated the causes of illiteracy.

2. Present Perfect—areas of inquirya. The causes of illiteracy have been widely investigate

d (Jones 1977, Ferrara 2000, Hyon 2004)b. There have been several investigations into the caus

es of …3. Present—reference to state of current knowledge

a. “Illiteracy appears to have a complex set of causes.”b. “The causes of illiteracy are complex (Jones 1997, Fe

rrara 2000, Hyon 2004)” (Swales & Feak , 2004, pp.254-255)

Move 1-B: Reviewing the Literature (obligatory) continued Pattern 1 (single studies, past ) and Pattern 2

( areas of inquiry, present perfect) focus on what previous researchers did. Common in humanities.

Pattern 3 (current knowledge, present) focus on what has been found. Often adopted by medical research.

*Subtle Differences in Tenses

1. Jones (1997) concluded that illiteracy can be related to. . .

2. Jones (1997) has concluded that . . .

3. Jones (1997) concludes that . . .

From 1 to 3 increasingly closer to current state of knowledge.

Citational present is also used with famous important sources: e.g., Plato argues that …

Move 2: Establishing a Niche

A mini-critique to indicate the gap of knowledge

Language Focus: Little (Uncountable)

However, little information/work/data/research . .. Few (Countable)

However, few studies/investigations/ researchers/attempts. . .

Avoid using a full negative like “no studies”

Establishing a Niche—Negative Statements (Using Verbs) However, previous research in this field

has_____________ concentrated on disregarded failed to consider ignored/neglected to consider been limited to/been restricted to overestimated overlooked/suffered from/underestimated misinterpreted

Establishing a Niche—Negative Statements (Using Adjectives) Nevertheless, these attempts to establish a

link between dental fillings and disease are at present ___________ controversial/incomplete/inconclusive misguided/questionable/unconvincing/ Unsatisfactory

*Establishing a Niche—Using Contrastive statements However, it remains unclear whether… It would thus be of interest to learn how… If these results could b confirmed, they would

provide strong evidence for… The findings suggest that this approach might

be less effective when… It would seem, therefore, that further

investigations are needed in order to …

Move 3 Occupying the Niche

Two variations in occupying the niche: 1. Purposive (P): The author(s) indicate their

main purpose or purposes E.g., The aim of this paper is to give…

2. Descriptive (D): The author(s) describe the main feature of their research E.g., This paper reports on the results obtaine

d…

Move 3 Occupying the Niche

Try to identify the following statements: _____In this paper we give preliminary results

for. . . _____This study was designed to evaluate… _____Our primary objective in this paper is to

provide . . . _____ We now report the interaction between

. . .

Tense and Purpose Statements

Use present tense when referring to the type of text—paper, article, thesis, report, research The aim of this paper is to . . .

Use present or past tense when referring to investigation—experiment, investigation, study, survey, etc. To be safe, use present tense. This type of investigation was/is carried out in

order to . . .

zLoc

Location of the Purpose Statement

In longer research papers, the thesis (purpose) statement is usually at the end of an introduction: The purpose of this paper is to . . . This paper describes and analyzes. . . My aim in this paper is to . . . In this paper, we report on . . .

Completing an Introduction (e.g.)

Purpose/Description + a secondary statement The present work extends the use of the last

model to asymmetric, body-vortex cases, thus increasing the range of flow patterns that can be investigated. In addition, an effort is made to improve the numerical procedure to accelerate the convergence of the interative solution and to get a better rollup of . . . (Swales and Feak 2004, p. 264. Copy © 1984 AIAA)

Move 3 Occupying the Niche, in addition to purpose statement, also By listing research Qs or Hypotheses By announcing principle findings By stating the value of the present research (use

qualifications: 1. ___ may be due to…, 2. ____ can be attributed to…3. ____ would seem to stem from ____)

By indicating the structure of the research paper (The plan of this paper is…Section II describes…In Section III, a …is constructed…. ___ is tested in Section IV. Finally, Section V…)

Discussion Sections

Length of Discussion: In life sciences, it is believed that a long Discussion implied weak methods and results, while social scientists and humanities may well believe the opposite

Results deal with facts--descriptive; Discussions deal with points--interpretive.

Discussion Sections

Should be more than summaries of the results.

Should be more theoretical or More abstract More general More integrated with the field More connected to the real world More concerned with implications or applications

Language for Discussion

Examples: In this paper we have investigated. . . The main purpose of this paper has been to. .

. The survey reported on in this study has

produced a wealth of data

Discussion Moves

Move 1. Points to consolidate your research space (obligatory) Highlight intelligently the strengths (more) …

Move 2. Points to indicate the limitations of your study (optional) highlighting intelligently its weaknesses (less)

Move 3. Points to recommend action or to identify useful areas of further research (optional)

Move 1 in Writing Results: Consolidate Your Research Space 1a. Report your accomplishments by

highlighting major findings 1b. Relate and evaluate your data in the light

of previous research. 1c. Interpret your data by making suggestions

as to why the results are the way they are. 1d. Anticipate and deal with potential criticism

Language Focus: Generalization in Discussion Sections Specific: As we can see in Table 1, 84% of th

e students. . . High level of generality: The results indicate t

hat the students performed above the 12th grade level.

Phrases of generality: Overall, . . . In general, . . . On the whole. . .

With . . . exception(s), The overall results indicate. . .

Expressions of Limitation

It should be noted that this study has been primarily concerned with. . .

This analysis has concentrated on . . . This findings of this study are restricted to . . . This study has addressed only the question

of. . . The limitations of this study are clear. . . We would like to point out that we have

not. . .

Conclusions Limitations

State that certain conclusions should not be drawn (Swales & Feak, 2004, p. 276) However, the findings do not imply. . . The results of this study cannot be taken as ev

idence for. . . The lack of . . . Means that we cannot be certa

in. . .

Reconfirming the Value of Your Study

Notwithstanding its limitations, this study does suggest. . .

Despite its preliminary character, the research reported here would seem to indicate. . . .

However exploratory, this study may offer some insight into. . .

Abstract

Two major approaches: Result-driven: findings RP summary

Structured Abstract: Background Aim Method Results Conclusion

What Have We Learned?

Start _________. Don’t wait until the last minute. Find an __________ topic. (Niche) A RP should include 4 sections: IMRD Start writing with the ______ section. Medical papers usually use ______ tense. Explain the contributions of your paper (longer). State

its limitations (shorter). Make claims cautiously. _____your paper before you submit for publication.

Last Step: Editing

Put your writing away for a period of time and read it with fresh eyes.

Ask colleagues to read and give feedback. Have the paper go through a final English

reviewer by a professional editor.

References

Swales, J. M. & Feak, C. B. (2004). Academic Writing for Graduate Students. Ann Arb

or, MI: University of Michigan Press.

http://www.kgsupport.com/Tips on Writing an Academic Paper.pdf