Academic Writing 2: the solution

If you find yourself doing the form of wooliness in 1: have no fear. Without fail your existing writing will contain what you want to say. It is just buried.

It is common for students beginning their studies to write like in this way.

Imagine you are emerging from a fog of confusion to a sunny upland of clear vision and knowledge!

Treat your first attempts at writing as rough notes and Rewrite – yes rewriting is normal, is natural and everyone has to do. It is not a weakness. Do the following:

1. Circle the words buried in the paragraphs that are the core of what you want to say. These are what I call KEYWORDS
2. Create an introduction to your section using these KEYWORDS and repeat the KEYWORDS in the sentences that follow along the lines of…..

Degree level papers require critical reflection and use the academic form and structure below to show that the writer has read books, compared different ideas and then critically reflects on the information. ‘Critical reflection’ is a new method that can easily be learnt by you.

You always begin with an Introduction. Laid out and numbered exactly as below!

1.0 : Introduction

• This project is a study of (keyword a) and (keyword b) and covers the subjects of keyword d,e,f, etc.
• These subject areas (keyword a, b, c, etc) are important to the project because…….

Then start a new section

1.01: Title

including keyword a in the title
See (navtext.doc) for method to follow from then on…
3. Include a summary at the end of the section reminding the reader of how the researcher will use the information, will be valueable and why such as how the research will improve (or not) his own product.

This example is a paper that requires you to: "Write a critical evaluation of 3 web sites"

Typical Before (poor) (GCSE – School level) and After (good)(Degree standard) writing structures.

 

BEFORE

AFTER

Web site A Ramble rambmle ramble Keyword A –navigation  ramble rameblmrramble Ramlbelarameblarmalralmrlmalmlr Keyword B – use of illustrations Ramlbelarameblarmalralmrlmalmlr Aasldalskdnlaksdnlasdalsldn Keyword  C – advertising Ramlbelarameblarmalralmrlmalmlr Web site B Ramlbelarameblarmalralmrlmalmlr Keyword B – use of illustrations Ramlbelarameblarmalralmrlmalmlr Aasldalskdnlaksdnlasdalsldn Keyword  C – advertising Ramlbelarameblarmalralmrlmalmlr Ramble rambmle ramble Keyword A –navigation  ramble  rameblmr ramble Ramlbelarameblarmalralm rlmalmlr

1.0 Introduction In this section five web sites called will be studied for Keywords: ease of navigation, use of illustrations and advertising. These subject areas (Keywords) are significant for the project because ----- 1.1 WEB 1 1.1.1 ease of navigation 1.1.2 use of illustrations 1.1.3 advertising 1.2 WEB 2 1.2.1 ease of navigation 1.2.2 use of illustrations 1.2.3 advertising 1.3 WEB 3 1.3.1 ease of navigation 1.3.2 use of illustrations 1.3.3 advertising 2.0 Summary Summarise qualities of each site and explain why.   Web 1 Web 2 Web 3 Subject 1 XX XXXX XXXXX Subject 2 XX XXXX XXXX Subject 3 X XXX XXX fig 1: Summary of relative values of You might visualise the relative qualities where x = a valuable quality. You must also explain summary grid in words. You must give the illustration or data a figure number and title and usually in italics. Surprise! This is critical evaluation