Academic Writing
Lecture 2
Nahid Shahmehri **
Department of Computer and Information Science
Linköping University
** Slides borrowed from Magnus Merkel
Outline
 Last time
 Objective & structure
 Text types: general-to-specific, summaries, critiques
 Overview: Research paper
 Language issues
 Proofing and revision
 Citations and references
 Plagiarism and how to avoid it
 The seminar assignments
2013-09-18
Sid 2
Linköpings universitet
Repetition: Steps to write a summary
2013-09-18
1.
Skim the text and divide the text into sections (possibly by the
use of subheadings)
2.
What is the purpose of the summary? Inclusion in a research
paper? Show your teacher that you have understood a particular
area? The answers to such questions may help you to select the
relevant sections to focus on.
3.
Read the text thoroughly, and take notes of the most relevant
and important information.
4.
Write in your own words the main message of each section.
Try to write a one-sentence summary (topic sentence) for each
section.
5.
Write down the main supporting points for the major topic
(no details)
6.
Go through the process again, and revise.
Sid 3
Linköpings universitet
Repatition: Writing critiques
 Critique means critical assessment (could be positive or negative,
or both)
 Common types of critiques: book reviews, film reviews.
 Common structure: 1. short summary, 2. evaluation.
 Critiques are used in academic circumstances as
2013-09-18
1.
An attempt to develop analytical reading
2.
A way to train students to integrate new knowledge with previous knowledge
3.
A way to provide students with a better picture of what is expected
in their research field.
4.
An attempt to ensure that students do reading assignments
5.
An assessment of understanding
Sid 4
Linköpings universitet
Summaries vs. Critiques
 Summaries should provide an accurate account of the content
of the source material.
 Critiques should contain evaluations within their “field’s
accepted standards of judgment”.
 Critiques should be fair, i.e. don’t apply evaluation criteria from
other fields, keep it to the specific tradition.
 Different emphases on critiques in different fields:
 Humanities: “interesting” arguments
 Social sciences: the methodology
 Natural science and engineering: the results and their
implications.
2013-09-18
Sid 5
Linköpings universitet
Research paper structure
-- (verify this! )
-- (helps even reading papers)
 Title
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
2013-09-18
Sid 7
Linköpings universitet
Overview of a Research Paper (RP)
Verify this!
General
Introduction (I)
Specific
Methods and
Materials (M)
Results (R)
Discussion (D)
Specific
General
2013-09-18
Sid 8
Linköpings universitet
Language issues
 American or British English?
 Be consistent. Synonyms not often a good idea…
 Passive or active voice?
 Tense usage?
 Learn “connectives” that can make your text cohesive.
 Use proofing tools and other people for reviewing your text.
2013-09-18
Sid 19
Linköpings universitet
Proofing tools
 Spell checkers
 Grammar tools
 Hyphenation
 Many false alarms
 Improved considerably the last fifteen years! Use them!
 An automatically grammar checked text is far from being a good
text.
 But… best “proofing tool” is probably a colleague.
2013-09-18
Sid 20
Linköpings universitet
Academic writing tradition
full of contradictions:
 Show that you know
your field

Make your own
significant contribution
 Appeal to experts
and authorities

Improve, analyse or
disagree with experts
and authorities
 Improve your English
by mimicking what
you hear and read

Use your own words,
your own voice

Present your own
ideas and thoughts
clearly
 Give credit where
credit is due
Reports as examination
 Scientific writing – building your work on the writings of
somebody else.
 Examination – convincing your assessor that you understand
what you're writing about.
Reports as examination
Potential problems
 Collaboration when not permitted
 Plagiarism
Charges of cheating are brought before the Disciplinary Board
and may result in suspension.
Reports as examination
How? Give credit where credit is due!
 Be clear about sources, use citations when quoting,
paraphrasing or borrowing ideas.
 Collaborative writing or not?
Managing your sources
 Using citations (Ragnemalm, 2007), (Ragnemalm 2007) or
[1]
 and references:
Ragnemalm, Eva L. Talk given at Linköping University on the 15th of
october 2007.
[1] Ragnemalm, Eva L. Talk given at Linköping University on the
15th of october 2007.
What if you have a reference from www?
Keep a copy of the text, write a date of visit!.
Distinguish between Quotations & Citations
When you use another's exact words.
 Quotation marks ”indicate exactly what words were written or
said”.
 The citation (Ragnemalm, 2005) or [12] indicates from where.
To use another's exact words without indicating is plagiarism.
Use quotations sparingly.
Paraphrases
 When you rewrite a piece of text using your own words but
retaining the general message.
 Paraphrasing is plagiarism if the citation is left out OR if the
wording is too close to the original.
 Make sure you keep the message of the original text!
Paraphrasing examples
Original text (from Lu, 1997):
Descartes introduces the possibility that the world is
controlled by a malicious demon who has employed all his
energies to deceive him.
Paraphrase:
Descartes suggests that the world is controlled by an evil
demon who may be using his energies to deceive him
(Lu, 1997).
Plagiarism
even though the citation is provided, the sentence
still has exact wording (italicized).
Paraphrasing examples, cont'd
Original text (from Lu, 1997):
Descartes introduces the possibility that the world is
controlled by a malicious demon who has employed all his
energies to deceive him.
Paraphrase:
Descartes suggests that the evil power who rules the world
may be attempting to mislead him (Lu, 1997).
Comment:
Not plagiarism, the language is fully rewritten, and a citation
is provided.
What if the citation was missing?
Paraphrasing examples, cont'd
Original text (from Lu, 1997):
Descartes introduces the possibility that the world is
controlled by a malicious demon who has employed all his
energies to deceive him.
Combination of paraphrase and quotation:
Descartes suggests that the evil power who rules the world
may be using “all his energies to deceive him” (Lu, 1997).
Comment: Not plagiarism, the paraphrased portion is fully
rewritten, the exact language is quoted, and a citation is
provided.
Borrowed ideas
 Somebody else's new concept
 Somebody else's observations
 Somebody else's general idea
 Somebody else's chain of reasoning
 Somebody else's diagram
 Somebody else's table
 Somebody else's figure

 etc.
When not to cite?
 Your own ideas
 Your own conclusions
 Your own reflections
 Your own analysis
 Your own experience
 Your own observations
 etc.
 When using ”common knowledge”
Choosing when to cite, exercises
Do you have to give credit? If so, how? If not, why?
Situations:
➢
➢
➢
➢
You are reporting new insights about your own experiences.
You are using an editorial from your school's newspaper with
which you disagree.
You use some information from a source without ever quoting
it directly.
You have no other way of expressing the exact meaning of a
text without using the original source verbatim.
Choosing when to cite, exercises
Situations:
➢
You are reporting new insights about your own experiences.
NO
➢
You are using an editorial from your school's newspaper with
which you disagree.
YES (quotes or citations)
➢
You use some information from a source without ever quoting
it directly.
YES (you are borrowing ideas)
➢
You have no other way of expressing the exact meaning of a
text without using the original source verbatim.
YES, quote
Urkund – discovering plagiarism
Urkund is a service provided for Swedish universities.
•
Reports are submitted to Urkund
•
Comparisons with database and the web
•
Teacher is informed of similar documents
Academic writing
Give credit where credit is due.
Assignment 2
 Write up a critical reflection on 4 papers
 Similar conditions as previous assignment
2013-09-18
Sid 39
Linköpings universitet
Hope you learn much by working on your
assignments!
2013-09-18
Sid 40
Linköpings universitet