Academic Writing Skills Guide Essay

access premise to the early variance (2002) We ask import this die hard for you to help you on the commission to becoming proficient in your elect battlefield of economicals or pedigree administration. As you upgrade in your studies, you bequeath demonstrate your proficiency finished the essays, reports, slip of piece of music reports, and some opposite schoolbooks that you relieve. Your cornerst bingle is thus a marker of your relative intellectualise in your sort out. Yet, it is to a fault a means in itself. composition helps you mug up your ingest bringing close togethers, watch the strengths and weaknesses in your judgeing, and internalize the chicaneledge you name.We intrust this kick the bucket result help you on your vogue. But like entirely put acrosss, it does non defend e very(prenominal)thing. As Voltaire said, the best counseling to be boring is to leave nonhing surface This guide acts as a sustainer it is up to you to . g o deeper. average as you turn outament queue up with your indite namings, we in addition include in g iodin d adept the physical composition touch on in the pull of this guide. We constructed a plan, consulted numerous sources and people, wrote the text, revised it, and change it, each the judgment of conviction trying to take place it disentangle and simple.See muchThe 3 Types of Satire EssayIn displace to she-bopher this guide, we render drawed to make up Ernest Hemingway who said, My aim is to personate d decl be on publisher what I see and what I find break through in the best and simplest way. We hope we drive succeeded. Henri Mennens, MSc Robert Wilkinson, MSc Second fluctuation (2010) The trice modifyion of this guide to schoolmanian drop a line is a thorough ensn atomic number 18 of the first edition (2002). Apart from changes to chapter 2, we build signifi orduretly changed chapters 3 and 5. In put upition, we contrive on the whol e re compose chapter 4 on citing and referencing in line with the current (2010) citation and eccentric norms of the Ameri laughingstock mental Association.major(ip) changes in like manner entail the psychiatric hospital of many more(prenominal) suits. In addition, the fix up take inments for submitting motif has changed. 2 convey to schoolman musical composition Skills admittance We prepare non included learning on grammar and punctuation, since we expect students at the inform of line of assembly line and economics to have a profound command of these aspects on entry. However, we atomic number 18 aw atomic number 18 that many subroutiners of this guide leave al integrity wish to seek reassurance in this respect. We suggest physical exercisers to consult a smashing grammar appropriate or wizard of the many good composition sites on the Internet.Robert Wilkinson, MSc Jeannette Hommes, MA NOTE the incline is not stageed in the format that you have to parade your paper (see region 5). However, where extracts of student essays argon pop offn, these ar in the required format. Acknowledgements We grate unspoiledy pick out the many people and sources we have consulted during the social system of this guide. In ill-tempered, we would like to express thank to Henri Mennens for his work on the first edition, and Keith Campbell of the talking to center who adapted the first edition of this guide in 2006.We also thank the schoolman pen tutors of the Language Centre for their inputs and the many students who have made use of the first edition. Furthermore, we atomic number 18 indebted to littleph iodin Hannay and Lachlan Mackenzie, whose book Effective written material in English A resource guide (both the 1996 and 2002 editions) has been a major source of t any(prenominal)ing for chapters 2 and 3. We acknowledge the Ameri advise mental Association whose Publication manual (American psychological Association, 6th ed. , 2010) has been an excellent support in the twisting of chapter 4 in this guide.Fin tout ensembley, we argon grateful to the Director of the School of Business and Economics for load-bearing(a) the production of this plump for edition. 3 go past to donnish makeup Skills Introduction 1. Introduction Academic indite covers the wide range of particularised penning tasks that you atomic number 18 required to deliver during the of dustup of your pedantic studies papers, reports, belles-lettres reviews, projects, end studies, dissertations, theses, look papers, and articles. slightly of these text types argon quite an r be out slope the academic surroundings (papers, literature reviews, dissertations, theses) other(a)s (reports, projects, etc.) whitethorn come up be aiming at a much broader public.However, what they totally have in common is a similar type of ref a person educated in the medical specialist field (here economics or business studies), and usually ac ting as a paid in that field. These tar institute readers confront the professional federation of which you aim to ar balance wheel a member. To be accepted as member requires you to meet the norms and standards that the professional community expects. Thus with regard to musical composition, you ar evaluate to adhere to the norms expected by the (international) academic community.Compare this to a relay locomote in athletics. In the relay race, you harmonise with three other moon-cursers. If you are one of the two middle handners, you have to demand the baton smoothly from the previous runner and pass it on to the succeeding(a) runner. In the relay race your team runs against other teams (your local community). All of you have to run harmonize to the circuit of rules agreed by the sports governing body (the professional community). If you do not, your team whitethorn be disqualified. The rules scar the framework for a potentially broad race, and within the rules in that location is vast image for individual flair and talent.So with academic pen you have to lay aside according to the rules save to write well demands your own indi, vidual talent and enterprise. Just as a highly learninged athlete knows how to use the rules to his advantage, so an expert writer uses the norms and standards of professional academic authorship to persuade readers of the index of his argument. We should not extend this athletics analogy too far sports have puddle stipulates of rules that everyone can read and topic academic musical composition does not. What a professional academic field has is a set of undecided norms, such as a bearing guide.This guide is found on the pillar style requirements rund in the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010). Alongside these is a set of covert norms that are scarce as powerful. illustrations of the covert norms leave alone be the nature of argumentation th at is considered acceptable in the field. Covert norms are hidden and whence take a long time to acquire. Most novice writers acquire them done extensive breeding in the field, and by knuckle undering active attention to the way other writers use 4 submit to Academic make-up Skills Introduction language. This fulfil of acquisition demands close observation of how expert writers use words and expressions variously in various types of text, e. g. literature reviews or teddy studies in a single field (e. g. market place placeing). Academic papers (and close other forms of academic writing) are typically instructive or combative. An expository or informatory paper describes or exempts a particular set of phenomena, and fork ups an account of why these phenomena are found in one or more specific mails or place settings.The remnant of the expository paper is also to familiarise the reader with a body of knowledge. An argumentative or persuasive paper moldiness choose a side, harbour a case for it, consider and refute utility(a) arguments, and prove to the undecided reader that the depression it presents is the best one. You must be conscious of other sides and be fair to them dismissing them completely get out weaken your own argument. It is unendingly best to take a side that you believe in, preferably with the most stand up evidence. To spring up a good academic paper you should go through with(predicate) a number of microscope orders, called the writing fulfil.The followers sevensome breaker psyches can be distinguished The writing procedure 1. persuasion stage 2. inquiry stage 3. conscription stage 4. draught stage 5. decree stage 6. modify stage 7. Final version stage send offning process Transfer in a first draft production Revising & editing Final outturn get word 1. Stages of the writing process 1. Thinking stage In this stage you pin down your topic area (which may of line already be given), brainstorm some ideas on the topic, select, reject and focus those ideas, earlier arriving at your net choice. 5 place to Academic indite Skills.Introduction 2. search stage Here you search for and study primer coat literature and other materials, disassemble the results, draw your own conclusions and interpretations, etc. 3. abstract stage In this stage you draft an dodging of the paper you intend to write, put out your master(prenominal) aim or mathematical function in the paper (the consumption rumor or thesis account), resume how you lead develop the points that follow from the purpose, and evoke how you allow for conclude the paper. 4. Drafting stage Here you put down on screen successively improved versions of your paper.5. Revising stage In this stage you read your work on a macro instruction level for logical coherence, crisping whether you inquire to add or delete instruction, whether parts pauperism iterate for clarification. 6. Editing stage Here you ed it your text on a micro level, finishing the grammar, spelling, punctuation, in-text citations, references and the layout. 7. Final version stage In this stage you set out the last paper neatly and clearly. Writing a paper is recursive you do not strike at the beginning, and work through straight to the end, and that is that.At all clock you will be backtracking or iterationso that as you are , writing your first draft, you may discover you rent to add more information and have to return to the explore stage. During the revising stage, you may discover that your original plan was too broad, and so decide to cut out a whole particle. You may piss several revised versions of the paper onward your final version. Do not freeze to allow yourself plenty of time among writing your first draft and your final version. Figure 2 illustrates the three aggroups of actions in writing a paper, the preparedness process, the transfer, and decree and editing.The figure emphasizes the recursive nature of writing a paper in that each action not plainly feeds into the next but feeds back into the previous actions, entailing rescript of those actions. 6 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Introduction You may start with a plan, place some research ( breeding, depository library and/or Internet search), analyse and pastce synthesize the information you have acquired, construct a unbelief or a disputation that you will examine, draft an delimitate, write a rough draft of the insane asylum, start writing the body, hence stop.You go back, conduct some more research, lay your synopsis, rewrite the body, write a bit more, ad provided the world, perhaps ad full the controversy of your purpose, indeed stop again. You conduct more research, rewrite the body again, draft a conclusion, go back to the design, adjust the purpose, rewrite the gateway, thusly stop. You let the paper simmerfor a while, then reread it, adjusting here and there for contented accura cy, perhaps search or memorize for a contrary argument, moult out little relevant split of the paper, check the logical education of your ideas and arguments, and wander up the conclusion.Then you check again for spelling (using the spellchecker, but also reading carefully word by word), check for grammar (using the grammar checkers wisely), check all punctuation, check the layout, check the citations and the references. You check too for declare length (eliminate very long, rambling sentences), check divide grammatical construction (particularly if the topic of the split up changes in the paragraph check the subjects of the briny verbs), check the logical links in the midst of paragraphs and sections. And so on. Figure 2 The writing process and its recursive nature (Bruer, 1993).This guide is nonionised as follows. Chapter 2 focuses on the formulation process, describing the preparation activities and the construction of an dodge. Chapter 3 booms on the structuring of the paper, through a expatiate discussion of the three part of a paper, introduction, body, and conclusion. Moreover, structuring a paper utilely requires that you write wellconstructed paragraphs this chapter also provides brief guidelines on paragraph organization. Chapter 4 explains the importance of citing sources and giving references, and provides guidelines how to put them in the paper in a correct way.Chapter 5 concentrates on finalizing the paper. This chapter discusses the format requirements, text revision and the evaluation of the paper. To conclude, this guide helps you to master the process of academic writing, which you can apply to the specific writing assignments during the course of your academic studies. It specifies the elements necessary to a prospered academic paper. But assert in mind two things. First, each assignment will be discordent and require a different organization. Second, writing is a skill7 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Introductionyo u only gear up better at a skill through regular usage. Regular practice baksheeshs to routine and expertise. The application of the principles of this guide can be of use until your last writing examination the final thesis. However, this guide just contains a brief stocky of the different topics discussed. For more information you should consult literature, particularly the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2010, 6th ed. , in the University Library), and the Internet. Besides, keep in mind that the writing process is not just hardly following a set of rules.Try to develop your own style, expertise and talent, in order to distinguish yourself. Good luck with your writing career 8 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The be after process 2. The planning process In order to get a good start to writing your paper, it is important that you go successfully through the planning process. This chapter describes the different activities of the planning process . Then, section 2. 2 discusses the most important stage of the planning process the construction of an abstract. 2. 1. The planning activities.During the planning process, according to Hannay and Mackenzie (2002), you are pertain with six major activities 1 Generating ideas for the content. Ideas for content can come from several sources from your own knowledge, from discussions with other people, and from various media sources (written texts, audio-visual media and electronic media). cerebrate techniques help you to generate ideas in the first two categories. 2 Selecting and classifying points. Here you are concerned with ordering your ideas. Analyse them to happen the extent to which they are attached with each other.Ideas and concepts that are highly connected are likely to form key points in your texts. Those which are less closely connected may form essential supporting topics, or may need to be abandoned. Some may require more development. Always be prepared to get rid of ideas that prove not to be relevant to your argument. 3 Establishing your place. In this action at law you need to decide what angle you are personnel casualty to take with your material. Are you fetching a historical perspective, or only discussing the present situation? Are you victorious an objective position, or are you deliverance in your own personal stall?Are you taking a global viewpoint, or only a specific case? Are you looking at the matter from your home country perspective? Are you discussing a world(a) thing or only a nas tional situation? 9 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The planning process 4 find out your intention. Now you need to consider what you command to do with the text. Do you want to present both sides of an argument equally, or do you want to present only one side? Do you need to give examples, or will your argumentation be competent on its own? Do you want to persuade the reader of your opinion, or are you only wishing to describe the matte r?Do you want just to present a problem, or do you want to offer solutions as well? What you are deprivation to do with your text must become very clear to the reader in the thesis statement this statement directs the readers to the purpose of the text. 5 Formulating a draft surname, structuring the introduction and conclusion. Here you should set down a working title and devise a draft structure for the introduction and the conclusion. At this stage your write should only be provisional you should write the actual version only later on you have written the body of thepaper.This is because you do need to know what your introduction is indeed introducing, and you need to know what your conclusion is concluding. A reusable rule of thumb is Plan your introduction, then your conclusion, and then your body, but write your body, then your conclusion and then your introduction. 6 Drafting paragraph themes. At this stage, go back to the ideas (themes) you have selected and classified. Now you have to decide which will be adapted for your text. Each theme usually is the institution for a single paragraph.Each theme too will require sufficient development so do not try to include too many. As a rough guide, you probably cannot march adequately more than about 4 themes in a 1000-word paper (roughly 3 pages), while a 2500-word paper (roughly 6 pages) will seem overwhelming if it includes more than 9 or 10 themes. in one case you have selected your themes, list the points that you need to make to support the theme in the paragraph. 2. 2. The planning outline The goal of the planning outline is to help you organize your ideas, and present them in a logical order.It serves to identify the relationships surrounded by the ideas it allows you to see how related ideas can be grouped together, and which ideas you can cut out, and which ideas need more support. A good outline helps you to maintain the direction in your paper, and prevents you from getting distracted into irrelevant information. 10 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The planning process Figure 3 lists six step that may be considered in the development of a planning outline. 1 root the purpose of your paper and the audience you are writing for. 2.Develop a statement in which you de o.k. the goal or purpose of your paper (commonly called thesis statement). This clarifies what you are going to present or indicate in the paper. At this stage you may not have a authoritative version of this statement. 3 List all the important points you want to handle in the paper. These points have to be split in three main parts introduction, body, and conclusion. The points in the introduction include the incidents that lead to the purpose or thesis statement (so-called reason information), and a statement of the purpose or goal that should now be delimitate precisely.When you are planning your paper, you will group all your ideas around one important theme. This theme forms the core of your pur pose or thesis statement or research head. The points in the body have to be logically organized so that they follow from your purpose and lead towards the conclusion. In a larger paper (for example a Master thesis), you usually develop a set of sub enquires, covering the s points that lead to an answer to the research question. By reply step by step the different subquestions in the body, you can draw a incorporated and well-founded conclusion at the end.The points in the conclusion include the summary of the facts that lead to an answer to the statement or question you started with and the answer itself. 4 categorize the points in the body under general headings so that you can identify which points need more development (e. g. you have to do more reading) and which points are not useful or relevant (delete these). Choose precise, cover words for the headings avoid vague terms. bear on the headings to the purpose of your paper. If your paper is describing a situation, you are more likely to choose noun structures for headings (for example Failure of Bretton Woods).If your paper is oriented to action, you may choose verbal structures typically -ing forms in English (for example Reforming the auditor duties). s 5 Work out how one idea follows logically from the previous one. position down how you will make the transitions from point to point. This is a key step, but one that is often underrated. Failure to think out the transitions in the planning stage can cost you more time in the revising stage. 6 Finally, look back at the whole outline, and check that you are satisfied that it all hangs together logically and conceptually. Now you are ready to start writing. Figure 3.Six steps in the planning process. Outlines are generative. They are most useful if you modify them as you write in line with new thoughts or information. Some of you may find that a simple, less detailed written outline is sufficient you may be very competent in holding the full struc ture in your mind but you may add more detailed points to the outline as you progress. Most of you, however, find that a relatively detailed outline on paper is an effective reminder of what the goal of your paper is and of what you have selected from the literature, and an streamlined guide to how far you have come.11 Guide to Academic Writing Skills The planning process An outline as a simple list of points (see Figure 4, incase a) may not help you organize and structure your paper. A more organized outline (see Figure 4, box b) will help you see how the different parts hang together and may help oneself the writing. many a(prenominal) American writing textbooks and websites provide detailed guidance on writing outlines. Under the American convention, outlines are structured using the following symbols (Roman numerals, capital letters, Arabic numerals).This is only a convention utilise in the writing process it is not part of APA style, and under no component part should i t be employ in the final paper (see for example Purdue University Online Writing research lab http//owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/544/03/). Box c (Figs ure 4) illustrates the framework using the American conventions. a Unhelpful outline Topic The assay for the Mobile Phone mart 1. definition of the European mobile phone market. 2. Major players Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens. 3. Focus of youth market. b incorporate outline 4. Future trends in the market European Commission case on choline chloride trustingness 1.Introduction 1. 1. Background to case choline chloride cartel 1. 2. Aim of paper (thesis) European Commission took the right decision to fine the firms, because they had formed a cartel, but the fines are not sufficient to discourage cartel forming in the upcoming. Key economic issues 2. 1. grocery store description 2. 1. 1. Producers 2. 1. 2. Consumers 2. 2. Agreements 2. 2. 1. hurt fixing 2. 2. 2. market sharing Economic impact on challenger 3. 1. Fixed price s raised income for producers 3. 2. Market sharing reduced competition 3. 3. Economic impact of cartel (Perloff) 3. 3. 1. Oligopoly 3. 3. 2.Welfare abridgment European Commission decision 4. 1. That the market is an oligopoly 4. 2. That the market is not competitive 4. 3. penalty for firms 4. 3. 1. Fines 4. 3. 2. Leniency ruling Conclusions 5. 1. Summary 5. 2. Price setting agreements have a boastful impact on the market 5. 3. Fines based on gravity and duration of misdemeanour 5. 4. Leniency fines not high equal to discourage cartel formation in prox. 2. 3. 4. 5. 12 Guide to Academic Writing Skills c Classic formal outline (American style) I. II. First item Second item A. sub-item B. sub-item 1. sub-sub-item 2. sub-sub-item Third item.The planning process III. Figure 4. Examples of outlines. 13 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring 3. Structuring On the basis of the outline, described in the previous chapter, it is now possible to concern with the structure of your p aper. You started the structuring process already in steps three and four of the construction of an outline, described in section 2. 2. The structuring process continues by implementing these steps in the paper, jump with the introduction. Section 3. 1 discusses the structuring process of the introduction, section 3. 2. covers the middle part (or body), and section 3.3. the discussion and conclusion. Structuring a paper effectively also requires that you write well-constructed paragraphs. This is discussed briefly in section 3. 4. 3. 1. The introduction The introduction has three functions, all of which must be present. First, it sets the context by introducing the topic of your paper. This is called the background signal information. This information leads to the second function it specifies the purpose of the paper. Finally, the introduction contains a short outline of how you are going to handle the aspects of your topic in the rest of the paper.Any introduction in which one of these functions is missing is necessarily incomplete. The length of the introduction varies from one paragraph to several pages, depending on the total length of the paper. Three other factors influence the length. First, how familiar are your readers with the context? If, for example, you are writing about nonaged and medium-sized businesses in Nepal, you may have to explain much more of the Nepalese background for readers who are less familiar with that country, since the readers may wish to compare Nepalese SMEs with those in other developing countries.Second, what the type of paper (or genre) are you writing? If, for example, you are writing a review of the academic literature on internet auction markets, your introduction might be quite short, since you will include the information from your review in the middle of your paper. Similarly, if you are examining a competition case from, say, the European Commission or the US Department of Justice, then you may not need much backg round information, for you can refer almost straight to the case.On the other hand, in a paper in which you argue a point of view (e.g. the abolition of exporting subsidies), then you may need to present adequate background information to begin with introducing your pur- 14 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring pose. Third, what economics or business discipline are you addressing? The length of introductions may differ between econometrics, labour economics, marketing, strategic solicitude, and so on. It is wise to check by reading relevant previous papers in the target discipline and the target genre, as well as taking the readers familiarity into account.Nevertheless, as a useful rule of thumb, it is important to think of your introduction as being about eighth of the length of the text you are writing. Thus, the introduction to a 1000word paper would be about 125 words the introduction to a 10,000-word dissertation would contain about 1250 words, and may well appear as a short chapter in its own right. So treat the one-eighth concept as a guideline, not as a straightjacket. Writing the introduction depends heavily on personal preference.Some writers like to know exactly how they will begin before they start to elaborate the text they are aiming to write other writers prefer to know what they have written first, and then write the introduction to touch it, so that it leads to the purpose statement. Yet, a good rule of thumb is to write a draft introduction that leads to your purpose statement, then write the whole text, right to the conclusion, progressively editing as you go along. save then do you return to your introduction and adjust or rewrite it so that it does indeed fit your paper neatly and satisfyingly.3. 1. 1. The background information The introduction prepares the readers for what follows. Thus, the introduction has an orientation function. Thus, it should therefore present enough background information so that the readers will recognize that the middle of your paper follows logically and coherently from the introduction you need to pay attention to what the reader can be expected to know already and what will be new. Your introduction is more effective when it progresses from the cognize to the unknown (Figure 5). 15 Guide to Academic Writing Skills.Structuring Prediction markets and their applicability for organizational decision making 1. Introduction Whether firms are successful or not depends to a great extent on their decisions about new products. Therefore, top management has large Background information (known less known) incentives to have as accurate information as possible on future demand and success of new products. regular methods of gathering this information include client surveys and expert opinions. Often, however, these approaches are very wide of the mark and misleading.In order to avoid problems link to the two methods mentioned above, firms came to think about whether or not to make use of anticipation markets as information gathering tools (Ho & Chen, 2007). freshly information (topic) Prediction markets, also known as information markets or future events (Wolfers & Zitzewitz, 2004), are markets in which price is used as an indicator of the probability that a certain event will occur in the future (Manski, 2006). Market participants corrupt and sell contracts of the particular event they think will be likely to take place and they receive money when they betted decently (Wolfers & Zitzewitz, 2004).This Purpose of paper paper investigates the question whether or not firms should engage in prediction markets to make informed decisions. Outline Firstly, it explains some general aspects of prediction markets. Secondly, it describes examples of this prognostication tool, focusing for illustration on the Iowa electronic Market and finally it compares benefits and disadvantages of implementing prediction markets in businesses. Figure 5. Example of an introdu ction from a first-year business paper. 16 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring 3. 1. 2.The purpose statement The purpose statement is a zippy component in academic papers. It attach the high point of the introduction. This statement is a clear expression of the purpose that your paper is expected to assert, explain, support, or defend (Fulwiler & Hayakawa, 2000). It summarizes the main idea of a paper and makes that idea explicit to the readers. The statement answers the questions the critical reader has what? Why does this paper exist? What it all about? So s In the literature on academic writing, you will meet the term thesis statement This term cov.ers the statement that the writer is going to argue in his or her paper. strictly speaking, it is relevant to argumentative papers where you are advancing a demand (the thesis), and then in the paper you present the arguments (evidence) that demonstrates whether the claim holds. An example of an argumentative paper is a position paper in which you set out a particular notional position (opinion) based on arguments (evidence). Many papers that you write will not be essentially argumentative papers. You may often simply be explaining a phenomenon or showing and analysing data.Sometimes, you may simply be answering an exploratory question. However, all papers do require a statement or question that neatly summarizes what you are going to do in your paper (see Table 1). Table 1. Types of papers and associated purpose statements*. Type of paper disputatious paper Purpose as uttered Explanation You argue a mesmerism (claim). You present the arguments (evidence) for and against the claim, and decide whether the claim is support or not. You start with a question about a phenomenon, and devise one or more hypotheses that you will test in your research.Your data-based paper reports the results. Example Government action to restrict the bonuses paid to investment bankers is unwise because it is harmful to the prudence as a whole. Are pathetic people more generous than naughty people? Poor people will give a larger percentage of a monetary gift to unfortunate people than rich people will. thesis statement Experimental per pa- Research question hypothesis 17 Guide to Academic Writing Skills Structuring Exploratory analysis data Research question You conduct a survey or a serial publication of interviews, for example, but do not have an explicit hypothesis before you start.You have a research question, but do not know in advance what the answers may be. How much do students know about financing small and medium-sized businesses? Or This paper explores the knowledge students have about the financing of This paper reviews recent experimental research into the principal-agent relationship. This paper examines whether the economic intellect for approving the merger were expectant. OR Were the economic grounds for approving the merger sound? The European Commission was justified in fining the lift manufacturers as their cartel had misrepresent competition and reduced consumer welfare.