Tips for Effective
Academic Writing
Dr. Theresa Jiinling Tseng
China Medical University
Teaching Excellence Project
1/16/2009
General Advice
 Begin Early

I’m too busy now, and I’ll start later when I
have more time . . .
 Select an Appropriate Topic
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Contribution to the field (a niche)
Interest
Resources available
Gathering Resource Materials
 Sources:
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The references, footnotes of books & journal
articles
Library research: lib catalogues, electronic
resources, lib stacks
References of conference papers
Personal communication with experts
 Remember to record the sources, using the
assigned format.
Reading and Writing
 Browse to get general understanding, take
notes (key words).
 Always have something available for a quick
read. Sift and save the best.
 Form a thesis statement.
 Create two files: the main text and references.
 Read the selected references in depth.
Annotate your bibliography entries. Type the
quotes, your comments regarding the topic.
Overview of the Research Paper:
IMRD
 Introduction (I): General to specific. Cite and
comment.
 Methods & Materials (M): High in using
passive voice.
 Results (R): Findings
 Discussion (D): Specific to general, high in
citation, discussion, and qualifications.
Tense?
Which part should you start when you write?
Methodology Sections (Past Tense)
 Materials, apparatus, procedures, participants,
definitions, statistic procedures
 Some commonly used phrases:

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In an effort to reduce ______, ______
In order to establish______, _____
For the purpose of this study,_____ is defined
as_______
Based on the feedback from the pilot study,
_________ (Swales & Feak, 2004, p. 229)
Results Sections (Past Tense)
 Judging the right strength of the claim (Hypotheses
supported? To what extent? )
 Highlighting key findings from the data.
 Making generalized comparisons
 One emerging pattern
 Procedure/justification (optional)
 Location statement
 Statement of general finding (Hypotheses supported?)
 More specific statements to interpret the results
 Example/case/commentary (optional)
*An Example of “Results”
Children’s self-initiated Use of
Pain Relieving Methods
The children reported 13 successful types
of self-initiated pain relieving methods. As
shown in Table 2, most of the children
reported using distraction, resting/sleeping,
positioning/immobility and asking for pain
medication when they experienced pain.
(Swales and Feak, 2004, p. 239)
Moves in Writing Introduction
Move 1. Establishing a research territory

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A. By showing its importance, centrality,
problematic or relevant in some way (optional)
B. By reviewing items of previous research in
the area (obligatory=ob)
Move 2 Establishing a niche
A. Indicating a gap in previous knowledge (ob)
Move 3 Occupying the niche
A. By outlining purposes or stating the nature
of the present research (ob)
Move 1-A: Language Focus: Claiming
Centrality
 Recently, there has been growing interest in …
 The possibility of . . . has generated wide interest
in. . .
 The development of . . . is a classic problem in. . .
 The development of . . . has led to the hope that. . .
 The . . . has become a favorite topic for analysis. . .
 Knowledge of . . . has a great importance for . . .
 The study of . . . has become an important aspect
of . . .
 A central issue in . . . is. . .
(Swales & Feak, 2004, pp. 250-251)
Move 1-B: Reviewing the Literature
(obligatory)
Three major patterns:
1. Past—researcher activity as agent, reference to
single studies:
a. Jones (1997) investigated the causes of illiteracy.
2.
Present Perfect—areas of inquiry
a.
b.
3.
The causes of illiteracy have been widely
investigated (Jones 1977, Ferrara 2000, Hyon 2004)
There have been several investigations into the
causes of …
Present—reference to state of current knowledge
a.
b.
“Illiteracy appears to have a complex set of causes.”
“The causes of illiteracy are complex (Jones 1997,
Ferrara 2000, Hyon 2004)” (Swales & Feak , 2004,
pp.254-255)
Move 1-B: Reviewing the Literature
(obligatory) continued
 Pattern 1 (single studies, past ) and Pattern 2
( areas of inquiry, present perfect) focus on
what previous researchers did. Common in
humanities.
 Pattern 3 (current knowledge, present) focus
on what has been found. Often adopted by
medical research.
*Subtle Differences in Tenses
1. Jones (1997) concluded that illiteracy can be
related to. . .
2. Jones (1997) has concluded that . . .
3. Jones (1997) concludes that . . .
From 1 to 3 increasingly closer to current
state of knowledge.
Citational present is also used with famous
important sources: e.g., Plato argues that …
Move 2: Establishing a Niche
 A mini-critique to indicate the gap of
knowledge
 Language Focus:
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Little (Uncountable)
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Few (Countable)
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However, little information/work/data/research . ..
However, few studies/investigations/
researchers/attempts. . .
Avoid using a full negative like “no studies”
Establishing a Niche—Negative
Statements (Using Verbs)
 However, previous research in this field
has_____________
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concentrated on
disregarded
failed to consider
ignored/neglected to consider
been limited to/been restricted to
overestimated
overlooked/suffered from/underestimated
misinterpreted
Establishing a Niche—Negative
Statements (Using Adjectives)
 Nevertheless, these attempts to establish a
link between dental fillings and disease are at
present ___________

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controversial/incomplete/inconclusive
misguided/questionable/unconvincing/
Unsatisfactory
*Establishing a Niche—Using
Contrastive statements
 However, it remains unclear whether…
 It would thus be of interest to learn how…
 If these results could b confirmed, they would
provide strong evidence for…
 The findings suggest that this approach might
be less effective when…
 It would seem, therefore, that further
investigations are needed in order to …
Move 3 Occupying the Niche
 Two variations in occupying the niche:
 1. Purposive (P): The author(s) indicate their
main purpose or purposes

E.g., The aim of this paper is to give…
 2. Descriptive (D): The author(s) describe the
main feature of their research

E.g., This paper reports on the results
obtained…
Move 3 Occupying the Niche
 Try to identify the following statements:
 _____In this paper we give preliminary
results for. . .
 _____This study was designed to evaluate…
 _____Our primary objective in this paper is to
provide . . .
 _____ We now report the interaction
between . . .
Tense and Purpose Statements
 Use present tense when referring to the type
of text—paper, article, thesis, report, research

The aim of this paper is to . . .
 Use present or past tense when referring to
investigation—experiment, investigation,
study, survey, etc. To be safe, use present
tense.

This type of investigation was/is carried out in
order to . . .
Location of the Purpose Statement
 In longer research papers, the thesis
(purpose) statement is usually at the end of
an introduction:
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The purpose of this paper is to . . .
This paper describes and analyzes. . .
My aim in this paper is to . . .
In this paper, we report on . . .
Completing an Introduction (e.g.)
 Purpose/Description + a secondary statement
 The present work extends the use of the last
model to asymmetric, body-vortex cases, thus
increasing the range of flow patterns that can
be investigated. In addition, an effort is made
to improve the numerical procedure to
accelerate the convergence of the interative
solution and to get a better rollup of . . .
(Swales and Feak 2004, p. 264. Copy © 1984
AIAA)
Move 3 Occupying the Niche, in
addition to purpose statement, also
 By listing research Qs or Hypotheses
 By announcing principle findings
 By stating the value of the present research (use
qualifications: 1. ___ may be due to…, 2. ____ can
be attributed to…3. ____ would seem to stem from
____)
 By indicating the structure of the research paper (The
plan of this paper is…Section II describes…In
Section III, a …is constructed…. ___ is tested in
Section IV. Finally, Section V…)
Discussion Sections
 Length of Discussion: In life sciences, it is
believed that a long Discussion implied weak
methods and results, while social scientists
and humanities may well believe the opposite
Results deal with facts--descriptive; Discussions
deal with points--interpretive.
Discussion Sections
 Should be more than summaries of the
results.
 Should be more theoretical or
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More abstract
More general
More integrated with the field
More connected to the real world
More concerned with implications or applications
Language for Discussion
Examples:
 In this paper we have investigated. . .
 The main purpose of this paper has been
to. . .
 The survey reported on in this study has
produced a wealth of data
Discussion Moves
 Move 1. Points to consolidate your research
space (obligatory)

Highlight intelligently the strengths (more) …
 Move 2. Points to indicate the limitations of
your study (optional)

highlighting intelligently its weaknesses (less)
 Move 3. Points to recommend action or to
identify useful areas of further research
(optional)
Move 1 in Writing Results:
Consolidate Your Research Space
 1a. Report your accomplishments by
highlighting major findings
 1b. Relate and evaluate your data in the light
of previous research.
 1c. Interpret your data by making suggestions
as to why the results are the way they are.
 1d. Anticipate and deal with potential criticism
Language Focus: Generalization in
Discussion Sections
 Specific: As we can see in Table 1, 84% of
the students. . .
 High level of generality: The results indicate
that the students performed above the 12th
grade level.
 Phrases of generality: Overall, . . . In
general, . . . On the whole. . .
 With . . . exception(s),
 The overall results indicate. . .
Expressions of Limitation
 It should be noted that this study has been
primarily concerned with. . .
 This analysis has concentrated on . . .
 This findings of this study are restricted to . . .
 This study has addressed only the question
of. . .
 The limitations of this study are clear. . .
 We would like to point out that we have not. . .
Conclusions Limitations
 State that certain conclusions should not be
drawn (Swales & Feak, 2004, p. 276)
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However, the findings do not imply. . .
The results of this study cannot be taken as
evidence for. . .
The lack of . . . Means that we cannot be
certain. . .
Reconfirming the Value of Your Study
 Notwithstanding its limitations, this study does
suggest. . .
 Despite its preliminary character, the
research reported here would seem to
indicate. . . .
 However exploratory, this study may offer
some insight into. . .
Abstract
 Two major approaches:
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Result-driven: findings
RP summary
 Structured Abstract:
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Background
Aim
Method
Results
Conclusion
What Have We Learned?
 Start _________. Don’t wait until the last minute.
 Find an __________ topic. (Niche)
 A RP should include 4 sections: IMRD
 Start writing with the ______ section.
 Medical papers usually use ______ tense.
 Explain the contributions of your paper (longer). State
its limitations (shorter).
 Make claims cautiously.
 _____your paper before you submit for publication.
Last Step: Editing
 Put your writing away for a period of time and
read it with fresh eyes.
 Ask colleagues to read and give feedback.
 Have the paper go through a final English
reviewer by a professional editor.
References
Swales, J. M. & Feak, C. B. (2004). Academic
Writing for Graduate Students. Ann Arbor,
MI: University of Michigan Press.
http://www.kgsupport.com/Tips on Writing an
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