Academic Writing
The Mechanics
Sentences
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Must have a subject and a verb
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Pay attention to the tense
Keep the main subject and verb close together
Create complex compound sentences
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and maybe an object
Who, what the subject is doing, to what
Use connecting words
And punctuation
Check for clarity
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Do you have a long preamble at the start?
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Makes it difficult for the reader to get the point
Are the subject and verb close enough together?
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Makes it difficult for the reader to get the point
How to write a sentence
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Start with the subject
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What the sentence is about
E.g. Software Development Projects
Perhaps add a short introductory phrase
Keep subject and verb close
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E.g
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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
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Sentence Fragments
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Incomplete, cannot stand alone
E.g.
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Emphasising the fact that software development is difficult.
Corrected
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The consistent level of software project failure as reported in the Standish
Chaos reports emphasises the fact that software development is difficult.
Punctuation - Comma
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Separate items in a list
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Software development consists of
the phases analysis, design,
implementation, testing and
maintenance.
To mark a phrase at the start or
end of a sentence
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However, …
To mark a phrase in the middle of
sentence
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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.
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First part, non-essential part, second part
To join main clauses
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To introduce a quote
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The waterfall model is still widely
quoted as a model of software
development, but it is recognised as
being unrealistic.
As Boehm states, “
Beware of the ‘comma splice’
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Joining two sentences with a comma
Incorrect?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Indicate possession
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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
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Can’t, don’t, won’t etc
Paragraph
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A collection of related sentences dealing with a single
topic.
Use to decompose your narrative
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Each paragraph
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Break it into chunks
Present ideas coherently
Should have a clear central point
Focus on one topic
Contain only relevant information
If you feel your paragraph addresses more than one topic
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Introduce another paragraph
Useful Resources
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Grammar Basics
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Establishing Arguments
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http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01/
Sound Alike Words
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http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/01/
Writing Concisely
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http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/5/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/660/01/
Useful Phrases
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http://www.englishforresearch.com/phrasebooks/examples.htm