business academic writing for business researchers.ppt

Educative and informative

1. Academic Writing
Danielle M. Kwasnik, Ed.D
Nova Southeastern University
Contributors:
Donald Gainey, Ed.D
Nancy Maldonado, Ph.D
Steve Thompson, Ph.D

2. What is Academic Writing Style?
•When writing in an academic writing style, do not write as
you would normally speak.
•Avoid informal language, such as slang or colloquialisms, or
contractions.
•Structure your language carefully, using complete
sentences and paragraphs. Although bulleted lists are
acceptable, they should not be overused because your
writing would start to look like it was just notes.
•You can get ideas of the kind of writing favored in your
subject area by looking at relevant research papers in
academic journals. Also, when you are reading for your
course, you might find it useful to look at the style of writing.
•You will find your ability to write in an effective academic
style will improve the more you read, and the more practice
you get in writing.

3. Academic writing…
•is formal.
•is impersonal and objective.
•is cautious or tentative.
•references other writers’
work.

4. Informal vs. Formal words or phrases
INFORMAL
•try to find out
•carry out
•look at carefully
•make sure is true
•show
•get rid of
FORMAL
•Investigate
•conduct
•examine
•verify
•demonstrate
•eliminate

5. Academic Writing Style Tips
•Strive to be clear, concise, and precise.
•Say exactly what you mean.
•Complete sentences.
•Clear construction of paragraphs. Treat
each paragraph as a section around an
idea. Do not extend paragraph length
more than one full page.

6. Academic Writing Style Tips
•Avoid first person.
•Sentence variety.
•Very rare use of hypothetical
questions. They tend to
weaken the voice of the
writer.

7. Academic Writing Sample
Interpersonal communication is defined as an interactional
process between two people, either face-to-face or through mediated
forms (Lane, 2001). Interpersonal communication theories explore
concepts such as cognitive processing, relationship development,
processing and maintenance, and influence (Burleson, 2001). In general,
interpersonal communication theories provide a way for individuals to
better understand themselves and others in the context of their
communication (Arai, Shockley-Zalabak, & Wanca-Thibault, 2001).
It is hardly practical to study each individual person in society;
therefore, researchers studying interpersonal communication have had to
concentrate on generalizations that can be made to produce broader
knowledge regarding communication behaviors (Salwen & Stacks, 1996).
There are four specific perspectives from which interpersonal
communication can be studied: (a) relational (qualitative) communication,
in which the roles of sender and receiver are sharedby two people
concurrently in order to generate meaning; (b) situational (contextual)
communication, which takes place between two people in a specific
context; (c) quantitative, dyadic interactions, including impersonal
communication; and (d) functional (strategic) communication strictly for the
purpose of achieving interpersonal goals (Lane, 2001). While the study of
interpersonal communication is clearly expansive, scholars must gain a
broad understanding of interpersonal communication theories in order to
determine how people can improve and enhance organizational
communication skills.

8. Grammar Checks for Writing
•Subject-verb agreement
•Run on sentences—two or more
complete sentences together punctuated
as one sentence. Use a semi colon (; ) or
a period ( .) to correct this.
•Avoid second person (YOU); use third
person, and stay consistent using third
person.

9. Grammar Checks for Writing
•Select present tense if possible;
sometimes past tense is necessary, but
stay consistent with tense.
•Spelling
•Use of quotation marks—put commas
and periods inside of quotes. “The new
dog is brown.”
•Introductory clauses need a comma.
•Use “who”and not “that”when referring
to people.
•Certain words or phrases should be
avoided if possible: “hopefully”and “a
lot.”

10. Helpful Grammar Links
Brief Overview of Punctuation: Semicolon,
Colon, Parenthesis, Dash, Quotation
Marks, and Italics
Pronoun usage:
•http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
pronouns1.htm
Pronoun-antecedent agreement:
•http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
pronouns.htm
Subject-verb agreement
•http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
sv_agr.htm
Passive and active voice
•http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
passive.htm

11. Helpful Grammar Links
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
•http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/gra
mmar/g_overvw.html
The Guide to Grammar and Writing --
Answers to any other grammar issues
•http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
marks/marks.htm
Punctuation Made Simple:
•http://lilt.ilstu.edu/golson/punctuation/intro.h
tml

12. Writing Tips
•Do not give life to inanimate objects. For
example, schools cannot "think.“
•Avoid ambiguous sentences. Follow
"this," "that," "these," and "those," with the
words to which the terms refer.
•Spell out acronyms when they first
appear; thereafter, use the acronym
[Example: "The National Education
Association (NEA) cited the following..."]
•Do not use the first names of reference
citations in your text.

13. Writing Tips
•Cite primary sources whenever possible.
Sometimes secondary sources have
inaccurate pages citations and quotes, or
both. If you intend to use the information
in your paper, go back to the original
source.
•Prefer the active voice to the passive
voice. "The man bit the dog" is more
interesting than "The dog was bitten by
the man," and uses fewer words.
–No. An in-service program was set up
by the school system.
–Yes!School personnel established an
in-service program.

14. Writing Tips
•Avoid weak, verbose, wishy-washy
constructions.
–No. It was hoped that in the near
future the students would seem to
benefit from the new program.
–Yes! Students will soon benefit from
the new program.
–No. In an article by Smith and Jones
(2004) it was contended that high
expectations by a school faculty could
help scores obtained by students to
increase. (There are many better
ways!)
–Yes! Smith and Jones (2004) noted
that high faculty expectations
seemed...

15. Writing Tips
•Paragraph. Except for emphasis and news
reporting, one sentence is not a paragraph.
A paragraph has a topic sentence, some
sentences expanding on the topic sentence,
and a conclusion or transition sentence.
•Plan. Draft. Edit. Revise. Consider your idea
carefully. Write it. Review and edit your
writing. Check spelling, grammar, and
content.
•Proofread your work carefully. Is your work
clear, concise, cogent, and correct? Does it
make sense to you?
•Have someone else proofread your work.
You often are too close to your own work to
see inconsistencies, errors, etc. Does your
work make sense to a friendly critic? Will
your work make sense to an unfriendly
critic?

16. Writing Tips
•Don’t write or say “between you
and I.”
•Don’t write “alot.”
•Don’t confuse the contraction
“it’s”with the possessive “its.”
•Don’t use “loose”when you
mean “lose.”
•Don’t confuse “their,”“there,”
and “they’re.”
•SPELL CHECK DOES NOT
CATCH EVERYTHING!!!

17. Commonly Confused Words and Phrases
•Affect or effect? As a verb, effectmeans “to
bring about”or “to accomplish,”while affect
means “to influence.”
•Allude or elude? You alludeto the document
where a fact may be found; you eludea question
that you cannot answer.
•Can or may? Canrefers to ability; mayrefers to
permission.
•Farther or further? Fartheris more appropriate as
a distance word, while furtherworks best as a
term of time or quantity.
•Good or well? In reporting conditions such as
health or performance use wellrather than the
adjective good, although when describing
attitude, it is proper to say, “I feel good today.”

18. Commonly Confused Words and Phrases
•Imply or infer? When you imply, you indicate
or suggest something by word or action,
without actually say it. When you infer, you
deduce or draw a conclusion from the
evidence.
•Irregardless or regardless? Irregardless is
incorrect.
•Precede or proceed? When you go ahead or
in front of, you precede. When you begin or
carry on some action, you proceed.
•Principle or principal? A principalis the head
of a school, a chief official or an original sum
(as in a loan). A principleis a fundamental
truth.