Dr Jasmine Kilburn-Small
Part 2: Writing Your Dissertation

nd
• Worth 20% of your overall dissertation module mark
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It should include a literature review and research plan.
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It should be a maximum length of 1000 words excluding all appendices, footnotes, tables and the bibliography.
–
MSc Economics Handbook

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Purpose/aims of your dissertation, hypotheses (200 words)
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Short literature review – identify main voices, major themes, theories, viewpoints, arguments (400 words)
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Research plan: Data/analysis/models
(400 words)

 Keep a research journal to note down possible ideas.
 Consider your own interests, and strengths and weaknesses as a researcher and writer.
 Start thinking about it as early as possible.
 Choose a topic that will allow you to demonstrate your skills and knowledge and evaluative capabilities.
 Choose a topic that will produce elements of originality.
 Choose a topic that is suited to the time-frame and word limit.
 Choose a topic that is practically achievable.
SCS: Student Academic Development

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/current/modules/ec959/details/dissertations/ec959-
1366057-analysing-the-effect-of-going-into-foster-care-on-educational.pdf
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/current/modules/ec959/details/dissertations/ec959-
1353622-proposal-introducing-hyperbolic-firms.pdf
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/current/modules/ec959/details/dissertations/ec959-
1358708-von-schenck-caspar-dissertation-proposal.pdf

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Think about your topic; get to know your literature and data
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Generate a hypothesis that you would like to test, or take a hypothesis that you wish to disprove and create a Null Hypothesis (The null hypothesis (H
0
) is a hypothesis which the researcher tries to disprove, reject or nullify).
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Plan how to test your hypothesis using the data you have
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Test your hypothesis and draw conclusions

 What point of view are you proposing?
 Are you agreeing with someone/something?
 Are you refuting anything?
 Are you redefining or reformulating something?
 Are you bringing new material together?
‘Advertisers seek only to ensure that consumers make more informed choices’. Discuss.
Adverts do provide information, but they do not only provide this. They may also be manipulative (these could be covert or overt e.g. from government health warnings to using information selectively and distorting the truth).

The purpose of this study is to identify which demographic factors (age, sex, ethnicity) correlate with which social lifestyle factors (social networks, number of sexual partners, employment, education, residence) to determine risk factors in young adult injection drug users (IDUs) currently or recently in rehabilitation.
Source: Chris Hart, Doing Your Masters Dissertation (Sage, 2005), p.86

Overall, my essay argues that...
Central to this discussion is the view that…
A key finding raised by this discussion is....
This essay aims to/seeks to

What is a thesis statement?
 It is a sentence capturing the core of your argument / the direction the essay will take
 It should establish a specific, arguable, and significant claim

Which establishes a specific, arguable, and significant claim?
1) Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson is a social commentary on life in a small town during the time of slavery.
2) Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson tells a story of a black slave named Tom who was given the opportunity to be free, and shows how his life progresses while growing up in a society dominated by white influence.
3)In Pudd’nhead Wilson, Mark Twain illustrates that identity is mostly a matter of social construction, created through societal pressures, and only minimally a reflection of congenital nature.

Understanding essay title OR Choosing a topic
Finding /Selecting relevant information and reading
Reading and making notes
Selecting appropriate structure (text organisation)
Organising and writing the main body
Organising and writing the conclusion
Organising and writing the introduction
Critical reading, revising drafts, re-writing, compiling bibliography
Final proofreading

ALL academic writing requires you to be:

Reluctance to critique experts
Mistaking critical analysis for ‘just commenting on the bad points’
Assuming tutors and experts always ‘have the answers’. Critical thinking means pursuing your own answers.
Our own assumptions, preconceptions, biases, experiences, beliefs etc.
From Cottrel (2005) Chapter 1

According to Halpern critical thinking is “thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed” (p. 6).
This requires students to:
(a) develop a sceptical approach to problem solving and decision making
(b) break down problems into their simplest components;
(c) search for evidence that both supports and refutes a given conclusion
(d) maintain a vigilant attitude toward their personal biases, assumptions, and values that may interfere with making an objective decision.
Halpern, D. F. (2003) Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Being Evaluative = Give your verdict as to what extent a statement or findings within a piece of research are true, or to what extent you agree with them. Provide evidence taken from a wide range of sources which both agree with and contradict an argument. Come to a final conclusion, basing your decision on what you judge to be the most important factors and justify how you have made your choice.
Criticism or being Critical involves:
1) Producing a judgement
2) Providing evidence to support it
Analysis : Break an issue into its constituent parts. Look in depth at each part using supporting arguments and evidence for and against as well as how these interrelate to one another.

Traditionally, it has been assumed that unconscious processes were rather automatic, inflexible, and independent of top-down cognitive control (see Hommel, 2007; Kiefer et al., 2012 for reviews). However, accumulating evidence shows that unconscious information processing is not fully automatic, but can be modulated by several topdown cognitive and attentional factors. Overall, the instructed task-set and subjects' strategy strongly affects the strength, direction and depth of subliminal information processing (Kunde et al., 2003; Greenwald et al., 2003; Ansorge and Neumann, 2005;
Kiefer and Martens, 2010; Al-Janabi and Finkbeiner, 2011; O'Connor et al., 2011). For example, the top-down instructed task-set, e.g., either to read aloud a visible target word or to categorize it as representing natural or artificial objects, can change the processing route taken by an unconscious (masked) word preceding the target word
(Nakamura et al., 2007).
Van Gaal Simon et al , ‘The role of consciousness in cognitive control and decision making’, in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Vol, 6 (2012) 3

Traditionally, it has been assumed that unconscious processes were rather automatic, inflexible, and independent of top-down cognitive control (see Hommel, 2007; Kiefer et al., 2012 for reviews). However , accumulating evidence shows that unconscious information processing is not fully automatic, but can be modulated by several topdown cognitive and attentional factors. Overall, the instructed task-set and subjects' strategy strongly affects the strength, direction and depth of subliminal information processing (Kunde et al., 2003; Greenwald et al., 2003; Ansorge and Neumann, 2005;
Kiefer and Martens, 2010; Al-Janabi and Finkbeiner, 2011; O'Connor et al., 2011). For example , the top-down instructed task-set, e.g., either to read aloud a visible target word or to categorize it as representing natural or artificial objects, can change the processing route taken by an unconscious (masked) word preceding the target word
(Nakamura et al., 2007).
Van Gaal Simon et al , ‘The role of consciousness in cognitive control and decision making’, in Frontiers in
Human Neuroscience Vol, 6 (2012) 3

vs
States what happened
States what something is like
Says how to do something
Identifies the significance
Evaluates (judges the value) strengths and weaknesses
Argues a case according to evidence
Notes the method used
States options
Indicates whether the method is is appropriate/suitable
Gives reasons for the selection of each options

vs
Lists details
Lists in any order
States links between items
Gives information
Evaluates the relative significance of details
Structures information in order of importance
Shows the relevance of links between pieces of information
Draws conclusions

You must do more than simply take information from other sources and use it construct an answer.
You must be able to demonstrate a professional academic’s ability to critically assess the academic work of other, published authors.
… or in other words: critical writing simply means putting your critical reading / critical thinking on paper.

According to Halpern critical thinking is “thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed” (p. 6).
This requires students to:
(a) develop a sceptical approach to problem solving and decision making
(b) break down problems into their simplest components;
(c) search for evidence that both supports and refutes a given conclusion
(d) maintain a vigilant attitude toward their personal biases, assumptions, and values that may interfere with making an objective decision.
Halpern, D. F. (2003) Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking . Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

In your project you should look for where you can make a contribution, which contains elements of originality.
 New topics, new comparisons, new contexts.
 Bringing together two different theories or approaches.
 Minor to Major – which minor things are worth exploring. further.
Can you lay the emphasis somewhere different?
 Noting what is not being said.
 Identifying and challenging an existing and dominant assumption.
 Doubt everything.
Alistair Bonnett, How to Argue, 2 nd edn (2008), pp.112-127
SCS: Student Academic Development

“When discussing the decline in audience participation, Kershaw argued that during the
1980s and 1990s, when ‘audiences were refashioned as customers’ (Kershaw, 2007,
194), theatres began to adopt the rhetoric of ‘increased accessibility’ and ‘democratic empowerment’ in relation to the type of ‘service’ (ibid) they could offer their audiences.
He posits that such schemes were ‘driven more by the cultural marketplace than any enthusiasm for theatrical hustings ’ (ibid). In this final case study, I hope to have challenged this masquerade of ‘hospitality’ and instead, introduced more authentic ways of positioning WAC as a potentially progressive, open and hospitable site for WAC users to engage in acts of conviviality in its theatre building.
”
( Processes of ‘positive multiculturalism’ in practice: an extended case study with Warwick Arts Centre (WAC), PhD Thesis, School of Theatre, Performance & Cultural
Policy Studies, p. 326).
How does this writing fulfil the requirement for originality?
SCS: Student Academic Development

“When discussing the decline in audience participation, Kershaw argued that during the
1980s and 1990s, when ‘audiences were refashioned as customers’ (Kershaw, 2007,
194), theatres began to adopt the rhetoric of ‘increased accessibility’ and ‘democratic empowerment’ in relation to the type of ‘service’ (ibid) they could offer their audiences.
He posits that such schemes were ‘driven more by the cultural marketplace than any enthusiasm for theatrical hustings ’ (ibid).
In this final case study, I hope to have challenged this masquerade of ‘hospitality’ and instead, introduced more authentic ways of positioning WAC as a potentially progressive, open and hospitable site for WAC users to engage in acts of conviviality in its theatre building.
”
( Processes of ‘positive multiculturalism’ in practice: an extended case study with Warwick Arts Centre (WAC), PhD Thesis, School of Theatre, Performance & Cultural
Policy Studies, p. 326).
How does this writing fulfil the requirement for originality?
SCS: Student Academic Development

• Has the Rise of Institutional Investors Increased Market Concentration in the Real Economy?
• Much A do For Very Little Fiscal Auster and the Case for Debt Restructuring in Jamaica
• Revolution Incorporated: An Event Study Analysis of Sanctions and
Political Connections in Iran
SCS: Student Academic Development

Your data means a lot to you; you have spent hours studying it. Assume your reader has not. Clearly define key words and definitions in the context of your data.
Evaluate sources:
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Bias
– is not necessarily bad. But keep the reader informed
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Reliability
–
What methods/procedures were used? Strengths and weaknesses? Would they produce the same result if repeated?
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Validity
–
Did the data measure what it set out to measure?

Use figures and tables to:
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Add/ clarify/ support statements or arguments
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Help reader’s understanding – visual representation/ easy comparison
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Always refer to them in your text
e.g.
See Fig 4, etc. If not discussed in your text, they should not be there.

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Number figures and tables separately and consecutively (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 or 1.1, 1.2, 2.1,
2.2, etc.) and list them in a contents page
(Table of figures)
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Write Table in full (Table 4, etc.) and caption in full on top of the table
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You may use ‘Figure’, ‘Fig.’ or ‘Fig’, (e.g.
Fig. 4), and include with the caption below the figure
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Whatever conventions used, be consistent.

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Look at the exemplar dissertations for ideas: www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/pg/dissertations

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PARAPHRASE : their idea, but in your own words.
SUMMARY : a short version of the original, including the main ideas, but in your own words.
QUOTATION : a direct extract from the original, in
“ quotation marks ” or as a display quotation.

• Every time you paraphrase, summarise , or quote from a source. Every time you make a point supported with evidence.
• If you are referencing an idea that extends throughout a text you do not need to give a page number.
• If you suggest that ‘It is often argued’ you need to provide multiple references (e.g at least 3)
• You do not need to provide an exhaustive list of everyone that has ever argued a common point. Make a selection.

It is repetitive and boring to write ‘Smith says...’ over and over again.
Fortunately, there is a wide choice of reporting verbs in English. Reporting verbs can indicate either (a) the author’s personal viewpoint, (b) your viewpoint regarding what the author says, and/or (c) the author’s viewpoint regarding other literature.
Boynton (1982, p. 79) warns the reader that ordinary chocolate is “too frail to withstand heat, moisture and proximity to baked beans”.
Smith (2005) disagrees with Fry (2003) when she maintains that many students have trouble with reporting verbs.
Some people subscribe to the idea that chocolate is unhealthy, but Boynton’s
(1982) book refutes this claim.
McDonald (2012) investigates the effects of alcohol on memory and stresses that further research be done as a matter of urgency.

An awareness of differences in social and cultural circumstances, thus, goes beyond a merely tokenistic recognition of an individual’s faith and beliefs: rather, it involves empathy and a full engagement with the person who is dying, through effective listening. Nigel Hartley describes this as the ‘craft’ of the worker’s role (Book 2, Unit 4, p.
71 ).

According to Arnold (1932: 11), culture, like religion, is not just for personal edification, but has an allimportant social function to fulfill before it becomes complete :
Culture, which is the study of perfection, leads us… to conceive of true human perfection as a harmonious perfection, developing all sides our humanity.
Arnold’s view of culture is particularly relevant to this discussion, because….

Longer quotations need to be indented and set apart from your text:
Is it possible to freely obtain all relevant information and perfectly predict asset prices? The answer depends on the market efficiency. According to Malkiel (1992):
A capital market is … efficient if it fully and correctly reflects all relevant information in determining security prices.
This implies that it is impossible to make economic profits on the basis of that information set.

Short quotations can be incorporated into your own sentence:
Laurel promises to pay an extra £1,000 to Petunia if the work is finished on time. The promise is only enforceable if there is consideration, i.e.
“ a detriment to the promisee and/or a benefit to the promisor ” (Brown, 1999, 2).

http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

• Direct display quotations are relatively few in number and kept as short as possible
• Don’t let the quotations do all the work for you
• The quotation has to fit into your argument and be relevant
• Three part structure to display quotations:
INTRODUCE > QUOTE > COMMENT
• Only quote when you can’t paraphrase it any better yourself
• You must quote if you are using the words of another writer

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/elearning/support/tools/jiscpds/avoi dingplagiarism2/presentation/avoiding_plagiarism_rules.pdf
University of Warwick PLATO PLA giarism T eaching O nline http://www.warwick.ac.uk/services/elearning/plato/plagiarism/menuplag
.html

Referencing requires two things: a citation and a corresponding reference.
Together, they must indicate a traceable resource.
Good referencing is:
VIGOROUS
ACCURATE
CONSISTENT

Although Handy (1994) has argued that education is the key to economic success for individuals, organisations and nations, a majority of adults in the UK have yet to be convinced or persuaded of this argument. In 1999 only forty per cent of adults had participated in any sort of formal learning in the previous three years. Of these, a significant majority was from social class groups A, B and C. Only a quarter of adults from semi-skilled or unskilled work backgrounds had involved themselves in formal education
(Tuckett 1999 ). The consequences for people without qualifications who lose their jobs are often serious. A study of long-term unemployed people in Yorkshire found that sixty-one per cent had no educational qualifications, and a significant number of these had special learning needs. ( Y&HES
1998 ). There would appear to be a link too, between lack of qualifications, poor health and a disengagement from participation in political or civic life, and could aggravate the situation of unemployment for the people concerned ( Hagen, 2002 ).

Indeed, Author A considers that climate change, as possibly any other propagandistic discipline, has now lost purpose (2007). As such, the very concept of climate seems to be ridiculed by its very evolution in modern society where society is divided into three categories, “namely the enthusiast warriors, obviously, opposing the sceptics. Together, the two battle and preside over a third, the largely ignorant or blatantly notinterested segment ” (Author B, 2001) .
References:
Author A (2007), Source 1, London: Publisher X, p. 45
Author B (2001), Source 2 , New York: Publisher Z, p. 267

If you want to quote someone that you have only read in a secondary source, then either find the original source text and refer to that or…
As Freud (1900), cited in Smith (1999, p. 24) indicates: “ ………………..
”

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Harris (2004)
Harris, Barnes and Jones (2004)
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Harris et al . (2004)
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Harris (2004a); Harris (2004b)

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Citing more than one study:
Research has shown that corruption and money are closely linked (Harris 2004; Mozarius, 1997; Stolbahler, 1976)
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One author citing another:
Jassop (in Harris, 2004: p62) suggests that everyone would like to be rich.

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McCarthy, P. and Hatcher, C. (1996).
Speaking persuasively: Making the most of your presentations.
Sydney: Allen and Unwin

Beaver, G. 2000. Enterprise in recession: The role and context of strategy.
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation,
1(1): 23-31.
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Robinson, M. (2012).
British banking: How it broke down and how to rebuild it.
BBC news article, 21 August 2012. [Available online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19330495] (Accessed: 5 th May
2013)

Towards A European Banking Union: Modelling Pitfalls In EU Bank Supervision, submitted 2013

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Ensure you attribute any ideas, numbers and data in your text to the source
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Paraphrase where possible, and use direct quotes only when absolutely necessary
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Include your inline citations right from the start - manage your references!

Paraphrase : to restate someone else’s ideas in your own language at roughly the same level of detail.
Original Text
Before the last century no humans had visited Antarctica, and even today the vast continent has a winter population of fewer than 200 people. However, a recent report from a New Zealand government agency outlines the scale of the pollution problem in the ice and snow.
Paraphrase
Antarctica was unexplored until the twentieth century, and still has a tiny population in relation to its size. Yet it suffers from various pollution problems which have been described in a report by a
New Zealand government agency (Smith, 2000).
REFERENCE to the original source!!!

A summary has two main aims:
(1) to reproduce the overarching ideas in a text, identifying the general concepts that run through the entire piece
(2) to express these overarching ideas using precise , specific language.
You must also make decisions about which concepts to leave in and which to omit, taking into consideration your purposes in summarising and also your view of what is important in this text.

Summarise: to reduce the most essential points of someone else’s work into a shorter form.
Original Text
South Korea is planning to move its capital from Seoul to a new site in the middle of the country. Although Seoul has been the capital since the fourteenth century, the city of over 20 million is now very crowded, and also close to the hostile armies of North Korea. The new capital is planned to cost $45 billion, with construction finishing by 2012. There is, however, strong opposition to the project, since similar schemes in other counties have taken far longer and cost much more than originally planned.
Summary
It is planned to move South
Korea’s capital from Seoul to a central site by 2012, at a cost of $45 billion. Although
Seoul is crowded and too near the border, critics claim that this scheme will be too expensive and take too long
(Smith, 2000).
REFERENCE to the original source!!!

• Summarise long sections of work, like a long paragraph, page or chapter
• To outline the main points of someone else's work in your own words, without the details or examples
• To include an author's ideas using fewer words than the original text
• To briefly give examples of several differing points of view on a topic
• To support claims in, or provide evidence for, your writing

People whose professional activity lies in the field of politics are not, on the whole, conspicuous for their respect for factual accuracy.
Politicians often lie.
It is undeniable that the large majority of non-native learners of
English experience a number of problems in attempting to master the phonetic patterns of the language.
Many learners find English pronunciation difficult
The climatic conditions prevailing in the British Isles show a pattern of alternating and unpredictable periods of dry and wet weather, accompanied by a similarly irregular cycle of temperature changes.
British weather is changeable

Avoiding plagiarism: Which of these do you consider to be unacceptable?
1.Change some of the words and sentences in a text, but keep the overall structure of the text and the vocabulary the same as in the original text.
2.Take some short fixed phrases from several different sources and put them together with some of your own words.
3.Copy a paragraph directly from the source with no changes.
4.Copy a paragraph making only small changes. For example, replace some words with words with similar meanings.
5.Copy out an article from a journal or textbook and submit it as a piece of your own coursework.
6.Cut and paste a paragraph: use the sentences of the original but put one or two in a different order and leave one or two out.
7.Paraphrase a paragraph: rewrite the paragraph but change the language, organisation and detail, and give your own examples.
8.Quote a paragraph by placing it in quotation marks and acknowledge the source.
9.Rewrite a passage from another writer and present it as your own work.
10.Take just one word or phrase from a text because it is very well expressed.
11.Use another author's organisation and way of arguing.
Most people would agree that the only really acceptable one is 8, and, even then, you need a good reason for quoting. None of the others would be acceptable without acknowledgement. 2, 7 and 10 may be acceptable to some lecturers and departments in some cases.
http://www.uefap.com/writing/exercise/plagiar/plagex1.htm

Formality
In general this means in an essay that you should avoid: a. colloquial words and expressions; " "stuff", "a lot of", "thing",
"sort of“ b. abbreviated forms: "can't", "doesn't", "shouldn't“ c. two word verbs: "put off", "bring up“ d. sub-headings, numbering and bullet-points in formal essays – but use them in reports.

With women especially, there is a lot of social pressure to conform to a certain physical shape.
With women especially, there is a great deal of social pressure to conform to a certain physical shape.
Significantly, even at this late date, Lautrec was considered a bit conservative by his peers.
Significantly, even at this late date, Lautrec was considered somewhat conservative by his peers.
It focused on a subject that a lot of the bourgeois and upper-class exhibitiongoing public regarded as anti-social and anti-establishment.
It focused on a subject that much of the bourgeois and upper-class exhibitiongoing public regarded as anti-social and anti-establishment.

Objectivity : the main emphasis should be on the information that you want to give and the arguments you want to make, rather than your personal feelings or biases .
The question of what constitutes "language proficiency" and the nature of its cross-lingual dimensions is also at the core of many hotly debated issues in the areas of bilingual education and second language pedagogy and testing.
Researchers have suggested ways of making second language teaching and testing more "communicative" (e.g., Canale and Swain, 1980; Oller, 1979b) on the grounds that a communicative approach better reflects the nature of language proficiency than one which emphasizes the acquisition of discrete language skills.
We don't really know what language proficiency is but many people have talked about it for a long time. Some researchers have tried to find ways for us to make teaching and testing more communicative because that is how language works. I think that language is something we use for communicating, not an object for us to study and we remember that when we teach and test it.
Which is the most objective?
http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

1. Quantity
Say no less than is required
Say no more than is required
2. Quality
Don’t say what you believe to be false
Don’t say things for which you lack evidence
3. Manner
Be clear
Be specific
Be brief
Be orderly
4. Relevance
Be relevant

The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure.
(Judith Butler)
Well, it was all a bit much for the theorists to explain, and everyone has a different idea about it.

•Clichés/ very common phrases or figures of speech
•Generalised statements
•General/vague vocabulary: e.g get, said, did
•Foreign words and jargon is you can think of an
English equivalent
•Wordiness/waffle
•Emotional appeals to morality, common sense etc.

Expressing your own ideas…
A reader will normally assume that any idea not referenced is your own. It is therefore unnecessary to make this explicit.
Avoid personal phrases such as “In my opinion” or “I think…”
Use alternatives, such as: ‘It can been argued’, ‘It appears that’, ‘Research suggests’ etc
SCS: Student Academic Development

Is your text any better for the use of the 1 st person pronoun?
Is the argument any better/stronger?
Is the paragraph clearer in any way?
Read your text leaving the 1st person pronoun out: does the result change or alter the meaning of your passage at all?

I always think that global warming is nothing but an over-inflated, over-rated issue made up by newspapers and politicians. The Earth,
I feel , would be much better off if left alone to take care of itself.
On the other hand, I believe that Politician X makes some believable points about solid fuels. You can see that in fact solid fuels will be in short supply soon. I don’t think that our generation will solve this issue, however. Actually, if you burn whatever there remains today, that will make scientists discover other fuels quicker.
Global warming appears to be and over-rated issue suggested by media and politics. The Earth, in fact, may be in a better position to self-manage. On the other hand, Politician X can be considered a credible source for discussions on solid fuels. Although these seem to be running out, our generation is unlikely to be able to resolve this. In fact, exhausting the current reserves of solid fuel may accelerate the process aimed at finding renewable sources for the future.

As well as being costly and financially extravagant, the venture is reckless and foolhardy.
> The venture is foolhardy as well as costly .
The solutions which were discussed last night have a practical benefit which is easily grasped by people who have no technical training.
> The solutions discussed last night have a practical benefit , easily grasped by non-technical people.

Place key words in strategic positions:
People are less afraid of losing wealth than of losing face in this image conscious society.
In this image conscious society , people are less afraid of losing wealth than of losing face.
(Examples from Northey, 2002)

Everything you write needs to be there for a reason and must relate directly to the question.
Before you hand in your work:
1) Check every sentence
2) Check every paragraph
Ask: Why is this here? How does it develop my argument? What would be lost if I removed it?
Also use the text revision checklist!

 Addressing course/module objectives
 Developing an argument
 Using evidence to support that argument
 Being critical
 Being evaluative (including making judgments/drawing conclusions)
 Awareness of context - what other people have said on the issue
 Accurate and vigorous citing and referencing
 Demonstrating knowledge and understanding of taught concepts
 Expressing your own opinions
 Accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation

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Eliminate redundant sentences and repetitions
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Remove irrelevant material, regardless of how
‘interesting’ it is
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Sentence reduction

Do’s and Do not's !
Ask the ‘So What?’ Question
Do answer the question…
Do be concise…
Do ensure you are supporting your arguments with evidence…Reference!
Do put forward your opinion… academically!
Do proof read every sentence
Don’t give an information overload
Don’t simply summarise
Don’t present over simplified statements
SCS: Student Academic Development

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Compared and contrasted different view points?
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Evaluated strengths and weaknesses of different writers, views and arguments?
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Commented on the quality and methods of research or studies discussed?
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Evaluated quality, bias, validity and reliability of the data/research you are using?
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Looked at different models/econometric specifications to contrast and compare?
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Explained your choice of methods?

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Compared and contrasted your findings with the Literature
Review?
 Answered the ‘so what?’ question? Findings need to be analysed and explained with regard to their importance in the relevant context
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Challenged, questioned, reappraised previously held positions?
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Made recommendations for policy and/or practice?
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Evaluated the quality of your study?


Write as you go along; don’t wait to gather
‘enough’ literature or data

Do not underestimate the time required for this final and vital stage of writing!

Some useful resources for essential information on all aspects of academic writing http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/skills/awp/
The Writing E-Line: Academic writing advice via a dedicated email service!
Submit a specific question, with an optional 250 words example of your work and receive feedback and suggestions within a week.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/skills/awp/advice/eline
The Writing Mentors: Peer-to-peer Support Programme (drop-in)
Three Mentors, currently doctoral level researchers in disciplines directly related to Academic
Writing, will help you with your undergraduate assignment writing, weekly See: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/skills/awp/advice/writing_mentors/