. academic writing .ppt

Psychology

1. H Zwide
2019

2. ACADEMIC WRITING
Scholarly and relating to education -very formal
Written as essays; long (extended) papers; research
proposals & reports; theses; dissertations; journal
articles; etc…
Usually written in third person & impersonal
The register usually should be appropriate for a
particular field the piece of work is written for…e.g. a
paper will have different language or jargon from that
of a legal profession.

3. ESSAY WRITING
Assessment Guidelines
Accurate presentation & reflective analysis of
concepts, ideas and theories from appropriate
disciplines
Need for a coherent & good organisation of the work
Appropriate use of material
Application to the context of your subject area

4. Analyzing the question
Preparation & understanding important; not
important in writing a ‘brilliant’ essay which does NOT
answer the question
Read the question(s) carefully and if possible discuss it
with someone, identify what is expected to be done
Most essays will involve two parts: an instruction and a
subject matter…e.g. instruction may be ‘Discuss,
Evaluate….; subject maybe ‘environment, gender or age

5. Analyzing the question
Task -identify instruction and subject matter in this
question: Critically analyze the relevance of the EPS
231 Module in the BSc. N & MW. Programme.

6. Gathering material
Necessary to carry out a literature search on the topic
and collect books, articles and other relevant materials
relevant to the subject. These may include notes you
have made from your lectures
Might be that you need to redo your essay plan in light
of info you have gained through your research into the
topic
Need to analyze subject area so that you can search
relevant info in a logical and relevant way

7. Analyzing the question
Thus, need to clearly the topic of your title as well as
any other restrictions that define it
May need to make notes for understanding; processing
ideas; organizing and storing info; an opportunity for
reflection; and avoiding plagiarism

8. Writing the essay
Should be relatively easy as most of the thinking,
planning, order…….has already been done
Check your grammar, and all the other necessities in
academic writing
Emphasis on clear objectives and logical presentation
of material into a sharp analysis of the evidence
An argument or essay is an inter-related series of
statements (critically treated) intended to establish
preposition(s) or conclusion(s).

9. PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is the process of copying another person's
idea or written work and claiming it as original
Specific form of cheating which is almost wholly found
in respect of course assignments completed by
students independently
Plagiarism may thus take many forms:
unacknowledged incorporation into student’s work
without quotations or citation of the sources;
summarizing or paraphrasing someone’ work without
acknowledgement….

10. Why students plagiarize
Not being fully aware about it
Short-term panic response when an assignment is due
and time is short..hence ‘copy & paste’
Desperation to pass or succeed…
Different academic traditions

11. Why not to plagiarize
Plagiarism is illegal
Pride in your work
Real level of attainment
Tradition in most academic institutions and academic
writing

12. The Harvard style of citing and referencing
Citing means formally recognising, within your text,
the resources from which you have obtained
information.
Citation is the passage or words quoted within your
text, supported with evidence of the source.
Bibliography is the list of sources you have used.
Reference is the detailed description of the item from
which you have obtained your information.

13. Why referencing important
During your studies or practice you will often refer to
work produced and written by someone else.
You need to prove that you have some idea of what has
been written on the subject previously, but absolutely
must not pretend the ideas are yours –this is called
plagiarism or cheating.
Thus, acknowledge the work of other writers and
researchers

14. Why referencing important cont
Demonstrate the body of knowledge on which you
have based your work
Enable other researchers to trace your sources easily
and lead them on to further information.
When you are searching the literature on your chosen
subject, it is important to save or note down precisely
all the details of the references to sources that you
find.

15. Harvard system
When writing note about an essay question, remember
to include all the relevant facts for each reference,
whether it is a reference to a journal article, book,
video, web site or other source.
There are a number of systems, Why use Harvard
system?
Standard system of citing and listing references makes
it easier to trace academic and other knowledge
efficiently.

16. Harvard system cont’d
This system was developed in the USA and grew in
popularity during the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the
physical and natural sciences and more recently the
social sciences.
Over several decades it has become the most common
system in use internationally and is frequently the
standard house style for academic journals.

17. Harvard system cont’d
The Harvard system has advantages of flexibility,
simplicity, clarity and ease of use both for author and
reader.
References are listed alphabetically in the bibliography
and cited in the body of the text so there is no third
place to look such as footnotes and chapter references,
which are features of other systems.

18. Citation within text: at each point in the text that
refers to a particular document, insert the author’s
surname and publication year in brackets. E.g. Medical
Sociology means…..(Tembo, 2008)
Direct quotations: defined deviance as “abcd…..” (2008,
Tembo, p.24).
Multiple authors:(Tembo, Kunda & Zulu, 2010)…
Four or more authors:Tembo et al., (2011) discussed
socialisation in the context of….

19. Other citations -task
Journals …electronic and print
Edited books…..
Periodical such as newspapers, magazines….
Scriptural…..
Photographs, illustrations, artwork…..
Internet source….

20. Bibliography
The bibliography appears at the end of your work
It is organised alphabetically and is evidence of all the
sources you have used in your research
The first two elements of each reference in your
bibliography, i.e. author and date, appear in the text of
your work.
This enables the reader to move easily between the
citation in the text and the bibliography in order to
trace the relevant reference.

21. Bibliography cont’d
You should highlight the title of the books using bold
type, underlining or italics.
Whichever you choose you must be consistent for all
the references in your bibliography.
In your bibliography, in order to maintain consistency
in your referencing, you should only use the initial
letters of the writer’s first name; even when you have
more information.

22. Bibliography cont’d
To reference a book in your bibliography include the
following information in this order:
(1) Author(s), editor(s) or the organisation responsible for
writing the book
(2) Year of publication –in brackets
(3) Title and subtitle (if any) –underlined, in bold, or in
italics and followed by a full stop
(4) Series and individual volume number (if any) –
followed by a full stop
(5) Edition if not the first, for example 2nd ed.
(6) Place of publication if known –followed by a comma
(7) Publisher –followed by a full stop

23. Examples
Mohr, L.B. (1996) Impact analysis for program
evaluation. 2nd ed. London, Sage.
Bowlby, J. (1951) Maternal care and mental health.
Monograph Series, no. 2. Geneva, World Health
Organization.
Davis, B. et al. (2000) Physical education and the study
of sport. 4th ed. London, Mosby.

24. Quoting from another book
Confederation of British Industry (1989) Towards a
skills revolution: a youth charter. London, CBI. Quoted
in: Bluck, R., Hilton, A. & Noon, P. (1994)
Information skills in academic libraries: a
teaching and learning role in higher education.
SEDA Paper 82. Birmingham, Staff and Educational
Development Association, p.39.

25. Edited book
A common mistake is to confuse the name of the
contributor to a book of collected writings with that of
the editor.
It is important to include the editor of the book in the
bibliography as this is the information that would be
needed to trace the source on a library catalogue, for
example.

26. Journals
Bennett, H., Gunter, H. & Reid, S. (1996) Through a
glass darkly: images of appraisal. Journal of Teacher
Development, 5 (3) October, pp.39-46.
Johnson, H. (1999) An information skills model: do we
need one? SCONUL Newsletter, 17 Summer, pp.3-5.

27. Newspaper articles
Baty, P. (1998) Learners are born, says report. Times
Higher Education Supplement, 16 January, p.5.

28. Task –other citations
Translations
Theses, published and unpublished
Encyclopaedia
Dictionaries
Thesaurus
Conference presentaions, etc…