Fine tuning and editing

Academic Writing for Graduate Students

Tutorial 6

Structure of this tutorial

- Fine tuning your work

- Editing

- Academic Writing and Culture

Fine-tuning

Academic Language Centre

Fine-tuning

This tutorial concentrates on:

-The consistency of your line of argument

-The support for your claims

-The logic behind your arguments

-Improving clarity and flow

-Writing more concise sentences


Supporting claimsEvidence that supports your claims

should be:

Clear

Accurate

Relevant

Credible

Significant

Critical thinking:Make sure that you clearly distinguish between

- facts and opinions

- certainties and uncertainties

both while you are reading and when you are writing.


Logical fallacies:• Hasty generalisation (jumping to a conclusion, claim

based on too little evidence):• Commercials in favour of unhealthy food should be

forbidden, because they lead to a consumption-oriented society and subsequently to overweight .

• Oversimplification (linking 2 events as if one caused the other directly, whereas the causes may be more complex):

• Obesity leads to people becoming depressed. • Inappropriate appeal to the reader / inappropriate

tone• Obesity costs an unnecessary amount of valuable

health care time, time that could be better spent on curing other diseases.


Relative clauses:There are two types of relative clauses:1.Defining relative clauses, in which the information that you give is essential2.Non-defining relative clauses, in which the information that you give is extra.Compare: My sister who lives in London is a musician.My sister, who lives in London, is a musician.


Relative clauses:- Defining:By 4.30, there was only one painting

which /that hadn’t been sold. (essential, no comma)

- Non-defining:The train, which was already an hour

late, broke down again. (extra, commas used)


Being concise:Concise: short and clear, expressing what needs to be said without unnecessary words(Advanced Learners’ Dictionary)

Typical examples of unnecessary words:

• really• quite• basically• totally• completely


Editing


editing

Final check before submitting the paper:

-Think of a good title

-Argumentation check

-Vocabulary check (formal English)

-Grammar and spelling check (not

everything is picked up by a computer!)

-Bibliography

-Consistent lay-out


Spelling checkers

- “Can we use a spelling checker?”

- Yes, however……….

Candidate for a Pullet Surpriseby Mark Eckman and Jerrold H. Zar (1992)

(also known as “Ode to a spell checker”)

“I have a spelling checker.It came with my PC.It plane lee marks four my revueMiss steaks aye can knot sea…..

Candidate for a Pullet Surprise (continued)

…….Eye ran this poem threw it,Your sure reel glad two no.Its vary polished inn it's weigh.My checker tolled me sew…….

Candidate for a Pullet Surprise (continued)

…..A checker is a bless sing,It freeze yew lodes of thyme.It helps me right awl stiles two reed,And aides me when eye rime…………….”

Style Sheet (on BB-site)

-Font and font size.

-The line spacing

-The margins

-paragraphing

-Use of page numbers

-Personal details, name of tutor, word count

etc.

-Title, footnotes, style of referencing

Bibliography.

The title:

Titles often contain one or more of the

following elements:

-a reference to the main topic

-a reference to the aim of the author

-a reference to the conclusion

-the main topic as a question

-a general statement which is then refined


nominalisationAcademic writers frequently use the noun forms of verbs; rather than focusing on the action (verb) they focus on the concept (noun).

Water hyacinths are rapidly spreading into drainage systems and are restricting the rate at which the water flows.(=verb)The rapid spread of water hyacinths into drainage systems is causing restrictions in the rate of water flows.(=noun)


Academic Writing and Culture

- Paragraph Structure

- Plagiarism in a cultural context

Linguistic differences

Languages differ in:

• Vocabulary• Syntax• Grammar

These are linguistic criteria

Rhetorical differences

- Sociologists and anthropologists: logic

is a cultural phenomenon

- Diversity in culture leads to diversity in

logic

- Logic is not a universal phenomenon

- Logic is the basis of rhetoric, so

rhetoric is not universal either

Rhetoric and academic writing- English: thought patterns evolved from

Platonic Aristotelian thought (ancient Greece)

- Thought patterns are linear:- Paragraph starts with a topic sentence;- Subdivisions of topic statement;- Each subdivision supported by

examples/illustrations;- Goal: to develop idea in topic

statement, then relate that to rest of essay.

“Foreign” writing

- Feedback students receive:- Information is there but paragraph

lacks structure- Paragraph lacks cohesion

Problem: writing by foreign students often violates the expectations of the native reader.

Arabic (Semitic) languages

Old Testament:

(1) His descendants will be mighty in the land

andThe generation of the upright will be blessed

(2) For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous:But the way of the wicked shall perish

Oriental writing

Definition of college education:‘Colleges are institutions of education that give degrees. We need culture and education in life. While animals have remained as they were, man has made progress because he has learned about civilization. To improve our high civilization, we need education. Therefore college education is important and we don’t need to question it.’(Based on Kaplan 2001:17)

Romance and Russian writing- Digressions away from topic

sentence

- Sometimes very long sentences

Figures (1)

English Semitic Oriental

Figures (2)

Romance Russian

Education

Fine tuning and editing