How to Write Like a
Graduate Student
Recognizing the Difference Between
Social and Academic Language
• When using social, or informal, English in daily
conversation, it is possible to communicate by using
slang and without using English in a grammatically
correct way.
• You can be understood without using:
• articles
• prepositions
• sophisticated vocabulary
• pronoun reference
Recognizing the Difference Between
Social and Academic Language
• When comparing social and academic language,
students should look for the following differences:
Use Precise Language
• Avoid using idiomatic language
• At the eleventh hour, bend over backwards, needle in a
haystack
• Avoid using informal language
• Nowadays, back in the day, lots of
• Avoid using vague language
• A long time ago, in today’s society
If your language is
imprecise, your ideas
probably are, too.
Making Your Language and
Ideas More Precise
Bad:
At the eleventh hour, the government decided to bail
out the banks to keep the economy from nose-diving.
Better:
The government waited until the economic collapse
was imminent before deciding to maintain economic
stability by providing financial assistance to the
insolvent banks.
Making Your Language and
Ideas More Precise
Bad:
Nowadays, fiction writers continue to experiment with
form, but they less frequently do so solely for the sake
of rebelling against established conventions.
Better:
Since the postmodern era, fiction writers have continued
to experiment with form, but they less frequently do so
solely for the sake of rebelling against established
conventions.
Make Sure Your Thoughts Are
on the Page
• Your reader cannot read your mind.
• When you present an idea, lay all the important
components of the idea out on the page.
Bad:
• The school implemented new policies to address the
problems.
Better:
• The school implemented new policies, such as a later start
time, more nutritious lunches, and mindfulness training for
all students, to address the problems of student fatigue and
burnout.
Eliminate Wordiness
Interrogate every word in the sentence to make sure it is
providing something important and unique. If words are
imprecise or redundant, they should be deleted or replaced.
Wordy:
The teacher demonstrated some of the various ways and
methods for cutting words from my essay that I had written
for class. (22 words)
Concise:
The teacher demonstrated methods for cutting words from my
essay. (10 words)
Eliminate Wordiness
Wordy:
Our website has made available many of the
things you can use for making a decision on the
best dentist. (20 words)
Concise:
Our website presents criteria for determining the
best dentist. (9 words)
Eliminate Wordiness by
Combining Sentences
Wordy:
The supposed crash of a UFO in Roswell, New
Mexico aroused interest in extraterrestrial life.
This crash is rumored to have occurred in 1947.
(24 words)
Concise:
The supposed 1947 crash of a UFO in Roswell,
New Mexico aroused interest in extraterrestrial
life. (16 words)
Incorporating Other Scholars’
Ideas into Your Writing
• Good research writing involves using other scholars’
ideas, in the form of quotations or paraphrases, in
your writing to:
• Provide background information that lays the
foundation for your argument or findings
• Support a point you are making with a preexisting
theory, finding, analysis, statistic, example, definition,
or other type of evidence
• Set up a point that you would like to add to, qualify, or
argue against
Primary Sources
•
Primary source: a document or physical object that was written or
created during the time under study. These sources were present during
an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular
event.
your research findings, diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news
film footage, autobiographies, official records, newspaper articles, poetry,
drama, novels, music, art, photographs, furniture, clothing, buildings
Secondary Sources
•
Secondary source: interprets and analyzes primary sources. These
sources are one or more steps removed from the topic of study.
Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary
sources in them.
Scholarly journal articles, scholarly books, dissertations
Incorporating Other Scholars’
Ideas into Your Writing
• Remember that you are the expert in your writing.
You should not let other scholars’ ideas take over
your writing.
• Do not let other scholars speak for you. Use their
words and ideas to support your own ideas.
Referring to Your Sources in
Your Writing
• Refer to the scholars that you cite by their last names.
Smith (2001) argues…
• If it seems important to introduce a source’s credentials,
you may include their full name and some brief
information about them the first time you mention them.
After that, refer to them by last name only.
Dr. Harvey Mizell, a Philadelphia-area obstetrician, has given a
number of talks within his community about the risks associated
with maternal obesity during pregnancy.
Quote Sandwich
Quote Sandwich
The increase in spending on animal healthcare is well
documented by both national statistics and anecdotal evidence.
In an interview, one veterinarian observes, “in the past ten
years clients in my office have doubled their spending on
surgeries. I believe that this is in small part due to changes in
my clientele, but through speaking with clients and
observing this change, I have also come to believe that the
increase in surgeries points to a change in the way that
Americans view their pets” (Smith, 2003, p. 171). While pet
owners of the past were less likely to spend large amounts of
money on sophisticated lifesaving surgeries, today’s pet owner
is more likely than ever to view his or her pet as a member of
the family. Many contemporary pet owners will spend any
amount necessary, even if it means financial hardship for
themselves, to extend a pet’s life by a few years or less.
Incorporating Direct
Quotations into Your Writing
Embedded quote
While Raymond Branch had access to computers from a
young age, Dora Lopez had to “reach much further afield
for the material and communicative systems needed to
support her learning” (Brandt, 1997, p. 6).
Quote introduced in a signal phrase
Brandt (1997) argues, “literacy as a resource becomes
available to ordinary people largely through the
mediations of more powerful sponsors” (p. 6)
Useful Signal Phrases for
Introducing Quotations
X acknowledges that _________.
X questions whether _________.
X agrees that _________.
X refutes the claim that _________.
X argues that _________.
X reminds us that _________.
X believes that _________.
X reports that _________.
X denies/does not deny that _________.
X suggests that _________.
X complains that _________.
X urges us to _________.
X concedes that _________.
X states________.
X demonstrates that _________.
X writes________.
X emphasizes _________.
According to X___________.
X notes_________.
X observes that _________.
Examples of Quotations
Introduced with Signal Phrases
• Dwight Bolinger (2001) notes that “in a society where women
and farmers are regarded as inferior, sex differences and
occupational differences become class differences” (p. 99).
• Malcolm X writes (1965), “I was so fascinated that I went onI copied the dictionary’s next page. And the same experience
came when I studied that. With every succeeding page, I also
learned of people and places and events from history” (p. 89).
• Elizabeth Wong comments (1999), “The language was a
source of embarrassment. More times than not, I had tried to
dissociate myself from the nagging, loud voice that followed
me wherever I wandered in the nearby American supermarket
outside Chinatown” (p. 291).
Punctuating Quotations
• Put quotation marks “ ” around the quote and use
the author’s exact words
• After the quote, put the page number in parentheses,
and the period after the parentheses.
• Insert ellipses (...) wherever you delete any words
from the original quotation
• Use brackets ([ ]) to add words or substitute words in
the original quotation.
Punctuating Titles of Sources
You Mention in Your Writing
• Put the titles of shorter works like articles, essays, poems,
chapters, and songs in quotation marks:
• “Rereading Chicana Literature”
• “Problem-Based Learning”
• “Mother Tongue”
• Italicize the titles of longer works like books, movies,
magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and musical albums:
• The Godfather
• The Great Gatsby
• The Dallas Morning News
Final Tips
• Read, read, and read some more.
• Pay attention to the moves that scholarly writers
make.
• Notice what you like and dislike in scholarly writing.
• Keep a vocabulary list.