Word bank for academic writing, Cheat Sheet of English Literature

Download Word bank for academic writing and more Cheat Sheet English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! The Academic Phrasebank is a general resource for academic writers. It makes explicit the more common phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of academic writing. Academic Phrasebank A compendium of commonly used phrasal elements in academic English in PDF format 2014b edition Dr John Morley ee PDF Download version ©2014 The University of Manchester 1|Page About Academic Phrasebank Theoretical Influences The Academic Phrasebank largely draws on an approach to analysing academic texts originally pioneered by John Swales in the 1980s. Utilising a genre analysis approach to identify rhetorical patterns in the introductions to research articles, Swales defined a ‘move’ as a section of text that serves a specific communicative function (Swales, 1981,1990). This unit of rhetorical analysis is used as one of the main organising sub-categories of the Academic Phrasebank. Swales not only identified commonly-used moves in article introductions, but he was interested in showing the kind of language which was used to achieve the communicative purpose of each move. Much of this language was phraseological in nature. The resource also draws upon psycholinguistic insights into how language is learnt and produced. It is now accepted that much of the language we use is phraseological in nature; that it is acquired, stored and retrieved as pre-formulated constructions (Bolinger, 1976; Pawley and Syder, 1983). These insights began to be supported empirically as computer technology permitted the identification of recurrent phraseological patterns in very large corpora of spoken and written English using specialised software (e.g. Sinclair, 1991). Phrasebank recognises that there is an important phraseological dimension to academic language and attempts to make examples of this explicit. Sources of the phrases The vast majority of phrases in this resource have been taken from authentic academic sources. The original corpus from which the phrases were ‘harvested’ consisted of 100 postgraduate dissertations completed at the University of Manchester. However, phrases from academic articles drawn from a broad spectrum of disciples have also been, and continue to be, incorporated. In most cases, the phrases have been simplified and where necessary they have been ‘sifted’ from their particularised academic content. Where content words have been included for exemplificatory purposes, these are substitutions of the original words. In selecting a phrase for inclusion into the Academic Phrasebank, the following questions are asked: does it serve a useful communicative purpose in academic text? does it contain collocational and/or formulaic elements? are the content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) generic in nature? does the combination ‘sound natural’ to a native speaker or writer of English? When is it acceptable to reuse phrases in academic writing? In a recent study (Davis and Morley, 2013), 45 academics from two British universities were surveyed to determine whether reusing phrases was a legitimate activity for academic writers, and if so, what kind of phrases could be reused. From the survey and later from in-depth interviews, the following characteristics for acceptability emerged. A reused phrase: e should not have a unique or original construction; e should not express a clear point of view of another writer; depending on the phrase, may be up to nine words in length; beyond this ‘acceptability’ declines; ® ~ may contain up to four generic content words (nouns, verbs or adjectives which are not bound to a specific disciplinary domain). 4|Page Some of the entries in the Academic Phrasebank, contain specific content words which have been included for illustrative purposes. These words should be substituted when the phrases are used. In the phrases below, for example, the content words in bold should be substituted: ¢ Xis a major public health problem, and the cause of..... ¢ Xis the leading cause of death in western-industrialised countries. The many thousands of disciplinary-specific phrases which can be found in academic communication comprise a separate category of phrases. These tend to be shorter than the generic phrases listed in Academic Phrasebank, and typically consist of noun phrases or combinations of these. Acceptability for reusing these is determined by the extent to which they are used and understood by members of a particular academic community. Further work Development of the website content is ongoing. In addition, research is currently being carried out on the ways in which experienced and less-experienced writers make use of the Academic Phrasebank. Another project is seeking to find out more about ways in which teachers of English for academic purposes make use of this resource. References © Bolinger, D. (1976) ‘Meaning and memory’. Forum Linguisticum, 1, pp. 1-14. ¢ Davis, M. and Morley, J. (2013) 'Use your own words: Exploring the boundaries of plagiarism’. In EAP within the higher education garden: Cross-pollination between disciplines, departments and research, John Wrigglesworth (Ed.). Proceedings of the BALEAP Conference, Portsmouth 2011. Reading: Garnet Education. © Hopkins, A. & Dudley-Evans, A. (1988). ‘A genre-based investigations of the discussions sections in articles and dissertation’. English for Specific Purposes, 7(2), 113-122. e Pawley, A. and Syder, F.H. (1983). ‘Two puzzles for linguistic theory: nativelike selection and nativelike fluency’. In: Richards, J.C. and Schmidt, R.W. (Eds.), Language and Communication, pp. 191-226. Longman: New York. e Sinclair, J. (1991) Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ¢ Swales, J. (1981). Aspects of article introductions (Aston ESP Research Report No. 1). Birmingham: Language Studies Unit: University of Aston. ¢ Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 5|Page Major sections 6|Page Highlighting a controversy in the field of study To date there has been little agreement on what .... One major issue in early X research concerned .... The issue has grown in importance in light of recent .... One observer has already drawn attention to the paradox in.... Questions have been raised about the safety of prolonged use of .. Debate continues about the best strategies for the management of.... In many Xs, a debate is taking place between Ys and Zs concerning .... This concept has recently been challenged by X studies demonstrating The debate about X has gained fresh prominence with many arguing that .... More recently, literature has emerged that offers contradictory findings about One of the most significant current discussions in legal and moral philosophy is .... One major theoretical issue that has dominated the field for many years concerns .... The controversy about scientific evidence for X has raged unabated for over a century. The causes of X have been the subject of intense debate within the scientific community. The issue of X has been a controversial and much disputed subject within the field of .... In the literature on X, the relative importance of Y has been subject to considerable debate. Highlighting inadequacies of previous studies Researchers have not treated X in much detail. Previous studies of X have not dealt with .... Half of the studies evaluated failed to specify whether .... Most studies in the field of X have only focused on.... Most studies in X have only been carried out in a small number of areas. The generalisability of much published research on this issue is problematic. The experimental data are rather controversial, and there is no general agreement about Such expositions are unsatisfactory because they .... The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than Y. Research on the subject has been mostly restricted to limited comparisons of .... The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y. However, few writers have been able to draw on any systematic research into .... However, much of the research up to now has been descriptive in nature .... However, these results were based upon data from over 30 years ago and it is unclear if .... Although extensive research has been carried out on X, no single study exists which .. X’s analysis does not take account of .... nor does she examine .... Highlighting a knowledge gap in the field of study What is not yet clear is the impact of X on... No previous study has investigated X . There has been little quantitative analysis of .... The neurobiological basis of this X is poorly understood. Until recently, there has been no reliable evidence that .... In addition, no research has been found that surveyed .... Little is known about X and it is not clear what factors .... This indicates a need to understand the various perceptions of X that exist among .... So far this method has only been applied to .... So far, however, there has been little discussion about .... However, far too little attention has been paid to .... However, the evidence for this relationship is inconclusive .... However, much uncertainty still exists about the relation between .... 9|Page However, there have been no controlled studies which compare differences in .... In contrast, very little is known about X in non-mammalian vertebrates and in.... no single study exists which .... no studies have been found which .... Although no controlled studies have been reported. . some research has . . While been carried out on X. only two studies have attempted to investigate .... Whilst ” the mechanism by which .... has not been established. there have been few empirical investigations into there is very little scientific understanding of .... Apart from Smith (2014), there is a general lack of research in.... Despite this, very few studies have investigated the impact of X on... Several studies have produced estimates of X (Smith, 2002; Jones, 2003), but there is still insufficient data for... Indicating the focus, aim, argument of a short paper This paper contests the claim that .... This paper will review the research conducted on.... This paper will focus on/examine/give an account of .... This paper seeks to remedy these problems by analysing the literature of... This paper examines the significance of X in the rise of .... This essay critically examines/discusses/traces .... This account seeks to .... In this paper | argue that .... In the pages that follow, it will be argued that .... This paper attempts to show that... In this essay, | attempt to defend the view that .... The central thesis of this paper is that .... The aim of the paper is to provide a conceptual theoretical framework based on.... The purpose of this paper is to review recent research into the .... Stating the purpose of research The major objective of this study was to investigate ..... The aim of this study was to clarify several aspects of .... The aim of this study is to investigate the differences between X and Y. The aim of this research project has therefore been to try and establish what .... The main aim of this investigation is to assess the doses and risks associated with .... The aim of this study is to shine new light on these debates through an examination of.... The objectives of this research are to determine whether .... The main purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of .... This paper investigates the usefulness of... This thesis intends to determine the extent to which .... and whether .... This thesis will examine the way in which the .... This research examines the emerging role of X in the context of .... This case study seeks to examine the changing nature of .... This dissertation seeks to explain the development of.... This dissertation aims to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding .... This study systematically reviews the data for...., aiming to provide .... 10|Page Part of the aim of this project is to develop software that is compatible with . There are two primary aims of this study: 1. To investigate .... 2. To ascertain .... Drawing upon two stands of research into X, this study attempts to .... One purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which these factors were .... This study seeks to obtain data which will help to address these research gaps. This study therefore set out to assess the effect of X ...., and the effect of .... Research questions or hypotheses The central question in this dissertation asks how... This research seeks to address the following questions: In particular, this dissertation will examine six main research questions: The hypothesis that will be tested is that .... The key research question of this study was whether or not .... This study aimed to address the following research questions: Another question is whether .... Synopsis of the research design, method, source(s) of data Five works will be examined, all of which.... Data for this study were collected using .... This dissertation follows a case-study design, with in-depth analysis of .... This study was exploratory and interpretative in nature. The approach to empirical research adopted for this study was one of .... The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on.... By employing qualitative modes of enquiry, | attempt to illuminate the .... This work takes the form of a case-study of the... Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this investigation. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in the data analysis. Qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted to provide .... A holistic approach is utilised, integrating X, Y and Z material to establish .... The research data in this thesis is drawn from four main sources: .... The study was conducted in the form of a survey, with data being gathered via.... Indicating significance This project provided an important opportunity to advance the understanding of ..... This study provides an exciting opportunity to advance our knowledge of .... This is the first study to undertake a longitudinal analysis of .... The findings should make an important contribution to the field of ..... Therefore, this study makes a major contribution to research on X by demonstrating .... The study offers some important insights into .... This study aims to contribute to this growing area of research by exploring .... There are several important areas where this study makes an original contribution to .... Indicating limitations The thesis does not engage with .... Due to practical constraints, this paper cannot provide a comprehensive review of .... It is beyond the scope of this study to examine the .... The reader should bear in mind that the study is based on.... Another potential problem is that the scope of my thesis may be too broad. A full discussion of X lies beyond the scope of this study. 11|Page Recent evidence suggests that .... (Smith, 1996; Jones 1999; Johnson, 2001) Recently, in vitro studies have shown that X can... (Patel et a/., 1997; Jones et al., 1998). Several studies investigating X have been carried out on.... Several attempts have been made to .... (Smith, 1996; Jones 1999; ....). Several studies thus far have linked X with Y (Smith, 2002; Jones 2004; . Several studies have revealed that it is not just X that acts on..... (Smith, 1996; Jones .... Several biographies of Brown have been published. Smith (2013) presents ..... The geology of X has been addressed in several small-scale investigations and.... Data from several sources have identified the increased X and Y associated with obesity. Previous studies have reported .... (Smith, 1985; Jones, 1987; Johnson, 1992). Previous research has indicated that various X indicators have a positive impact on.... Previous research findings into X have been inconsistent and contradictory (Smith, 1996; .. Numerous studies have attempted to explain .... (for example, Smith , 1996; Kelly, 1998; ....) A number of authors have reported analyses of trends in X that demonstrated .... A number of studies have found that .... (Smith , 2003; Jones, 2004). A number of studies have examined X (e.g. Smith, 2003; Jones, 2005), but to date none has .... Xs have been identified as major contributing factors for the decline of many species (1). X has also been shown to reverse the anti-inflammatory effects of Y in murine-induced arthritis. Twenty cohort study analyses have examined the relationship between .... At least 152 case-control studies worldwide have examined the relationship betwee Other studies have considered the relationship .... The relationship between X and Y has been widely investigated (Smith, 1985; Jones, 1987, .... The causes of X have been widely investigated (Jones, 1987; Johnson, 1990; Smith, 1994). Factors thought to be influencing X have been explored in several studies. It has been suggested that levels of X are independent of the size of the Y (Smith et a/., 1995). It has conclusively been shown that X and Y increase Z (Smith et al., 1999; Jones, 2001 It has been demonstrated that a high intake of X results in damage to .... (Smith, 1998; Reference to current state of knowledge There is an unambiguous relationship between X and Y (Rao, 1998). X is one of the most intense reactions following CHD (Lane, 2003). X has been found to oppose the anti-inflammatory actions of Y on Z (Alourfi, 2004). A relationship exists between an individual’s working memory and their ability to .... (Jones, 2002). GM varieties of maize are able to cross-pollinate with non-GM varieties (Smith, 1998; Jones, 1999). Reference to single investigations in the past: researcher(s) as sentence subject found that as levels of literacy and education of the population rise .... Smith (1999) showed that reducing X to 190°C decreased .... (see Figure 2) . demonstrated that when the maximum temperature is exceeded .... investigated the differential impact of formal and non-formal education on .... Jones et al. (2001) analysed the data from 72 countries and concluded that .... reviewed the literature from the period and found little evidence for this ..... 14|Page interviewed 250 undergraduate students using semi-structured .... studied the effects of X on unprotected nerve cells. performed a similar series of experiments in the 1960s to show that .... carried out a number of investigations into the... conducted a series of trials in which he mixed X with different quantities of .... measured both components of the... labelled these subsets as .... examined the flow of international students .... identified parents of disabled children as .... used a survey to assess the various .... Wang et al. (2004) have recently developed a methodology for the selective introduction of .... Reference to single investigations or publications in the past: time frame prominent In 1975, Smith et al. published a paper in which they described .... In 1990, Patel et al. demonstrated that replacement of H2O with heavy water led to .... Thirty years later, Smith (1974) reported three cases of X which.... In the 1950s, Gunnar Myrdal pointed to some of the ways in which .... (Myrdal, 1957) In 1981, Smith and co-workers demonstrated that X induced in vitro resistance to .... In 1990, Al-Masry et al. reported a new and convenient synthetic procedure to obtain .... In 1984, Jones et al. made several amino acid esters of X and evaluated them as.... Reference to single investigations in the past: investigation prominent Preliminary work on X was undertaken by Abdul Karim (1992). The first systematic study of X was reported by Patel et al. in 1986. The study of the structural behaviour of X was first carried out by Rao et al. (1986)..... Analysis of the genes involved in X was first carried out by Smith et al (1983). One study by Smith (2014) examined the trend in.... A recent study by Smith and Jones (2012) involved .... A longitudinal study of X by Smith (2012) reports that .... A small scale study by Smith (2012) reaches different conclusions, finding no increase in .... Smith’s cross-country analysis (2012) showed that .... Smith’s comparative study (2012) found that... Detailed examination of X by Smith and Patel (1961) showed that .... Brown’s (1992) model of X assumes three main .... In an analysis of X, Smith et a/. (2012) found .... In an investigation into X, Smith et a/. (2012) found .... In another major study, Zhao (1974) found that just over half of the .... In a study which set out to determine X, Smith (2012) found that . In a randomised controlled study of X, Smith (2012) reported that In a large longitudinal study, Smith et a/. (2012) investigated the incidence of X in Y. In one well-known recent experiment, limits on X were found to be..... (Al-Masry, 2013) Reference to single investigations in the past: research topic as main focus To determine the effects of X, Zhao et al (2005) compared... X was originally isolated from Y in a soil sample from .... (Wang et a/., 1952). The electronic spectroscopy of X was first studied by Smith and Jones1 in 1970 X formed the central focus of a study by Smith (2002) in which the author found .... X was first demonstrated experimentally by Pavlov (Smith, 2002). In his seminal study .... 15|Page The acid-catalyzed condensation reaction between X and Y was first reported by Smith in 1872 To better understand the mechanisms of X and its effects, Al-Masry (2013) analysed the .... The way in which the X gene is regulated was studied extensively by Ho and colleagues (Ho et al. 1995 and 1998). Reference to what other writers do in their text: author as subject Smith (2013) identifies X, Y, and Z as the major causes of.... Perez (2013) draws on an extensive range of sources to assess .... Toh (2013) mentions the special situation of Singapore as an example of.... Al-Masry (2013) uses examples of these various techniques as evidence that .... Smith (2013) questions whether mainstream schools are the best environment for .... Jones (2013) draws our attention to distinctive categories of X often observed in... Brown (2013) considers whether countries work well on cross-border issues such as .... Smith (2013) discusses the challenges and strategies for facilitating and promoting .... Jones (2013) provides in-depth analysis of the work of Aristotle showing its relevance to .... Rao (2013) lists three reasons why the English language has become so dominant. These are: .... Smith (2013) traces the development of Japanese history and philosophy during the 19th century. Smith (2013) defines evidence based medicine as the conscious, explicit and judicious use of ..... Rao (2013) highlights the need to break the link between economic growth and transport growth... By drawing on the concept of X, Smith has been able to show that .... Drawing on an extensive range of sources, the authors set out the different ways in which .... In Chapter 2, Smith provides us with a number of important .... In the subsequent chapter, Smith examines the extent to which .... Some analysts (e.g. Carnoy, 2002) have attempted to draw fine distinctions between .... Other authors (see Harbison, 2003; Kaplan, 2004) question the usefulness of such an approach. In her major study, In her seminal article, In her classic critique of ...., In her case study of ..., Smith (2012) identifies five characteristics of .... In her review of...., In her analysis of ...., In her introduction to ....,’ Reference to another writer’s ideas or position (author as subject) According to Smith (2003), preventative medicine is far more cost effective, and therefore .... As noted by Smith (2003) X is far more cost effective, and therefore .... points out argues Smith maintains preventative medicine is far more cost effective, and therefore . that . (2013) claims better adapted to the developing world. concludes suggests Smith (2013) argues for an explanatory theory for each type of irrational belief. 16|Page Describing Methods In the Methods section of a dissertation or research article, writers give an account of how they carried out their research. The Methods section should be clear and detailed enough for another experienced person to repeat the research and reproduce the results. Where the methods chosen are new, unfamiliar or perhaps even controversial, or where the intended audience is from many disciplines, the Methods section will tend to be much more extensive. Typical stretches of text found in this section of a research article or dissertation along with examples of the kind of language used for these are listed below. Note that for most of the functional categories in this section, the verbs are written in the simple past tense. Describing previously used methods To date various methods have been developed and introduced to measure X: In most recent studies, X has been measured in four different ways. Traditionally, X has been assessed by measuring... Different authors have measured X in a variety of ways. Previous studies have based their criteria for selection on The use of qualitative case studies is a well-established approach in .... This test is widely available, and has been used in many investigational studies. Case studies have been long established in X to present detailed analysis of Recently, simpler and more rapid tests of X have been developed. Radiographic techniques are the main non-invasive method used to determine... A variety of methods are used to assess X. Each has its advantages and drawbacks. Data were gathered from multiple sources at various time points during .... Giving reasons why a particular method was adopted or rejected A case study approach was used to allowa.... Qualitative methods offer an effective way of .... A quantitative approach was employed since .... The design of the questionnaires was based on... The X method is one of the more practical ways of . The semi-structured approach was chosen because .... The X approach has a number of attractive features: .... The second advantage of using the multivariate method is For this study, the X was used to explore the subsurface .... Smith et al. (1994) identify several advantages of the case study, .... It was decided that the best method to adopt for this investigation was to The study uses qualitative analysis in order to gain insights into .... It was considered that quantitative measures would usefully supplement and extend the... Many of the distributions were not normal so non-parametric signed rank tests were run. One advantage of the X analysis is that it avoids the problem of.... The sensitivity of the X technique has been demonstrated in a report by Smith et al (2011). However, there are certain drawbacks associated with the use of.... The main disadvantage of the experimental method is that .... A major problem with the experimental method is that .... There are certain problems with the use of focus groups. One of these is that there is less .... Indicating a specific method X was prepared according to the procedure used by Patel et al. (1957). The synthesis of X was done according to the procedure of Smith (1973). X was synthesised using the same method that was detailed for Y, using .... 19|Page This compound was prepared by adapting the procedure used by Zhao et al. (1990). An alternative method for making scales homogenous is by using... Samples were analysed for X as previously reported by Smith et al. (2012) Describing the characteristics of the sample Eligibility criteria required individuals to have received .... A random sample of patients with .... was recruited from .... Forty-seven students studying X were recruited for this study. Just over half the sample (53%) was female, of whom 69% were.... Of the initial cohort of 123 students, 66 were female and 57 male. Only children aged between 10 and 15 years were included in the study. Eligible women who matched the selection criteria were identified by .... The students were divided into two groups based on their performance on.... All of the participants were aged between 18 and 19 at the beginning of the study... Two groups of subjects were interviewed, namely X and Y. The first group were.... The project used a convenience sample of 32 first year modern languages students. Participants were recruited from 15 clinics across ...., covering urban and rural areas .... The initial sample consisted of 200 students, 75 of whom belonged to minority groups. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 male offenders with a mean age of 38 years Publications were only included in the analysis if .... Articles were searched from January 1965 until April 2010. A systematic literature review was conducted of studies that .... All studies described as using some sort of X procedure were included in the analysis. Indicating reasons for sample characteristics Criteria for selecting the subjects were as follows: The area of study was chosen for its relatively small ... Five individuals were excluded from the study on the basis of... A small sample was chosen because of the expected difficulty of obtaining .... The subjects were selected on the basis of a degree of homogeneity of their .. A comparison group of 12 male subjects without any history of X was drawn from a pool of.... Describing the process: infinitive of purpose In order to identify the T10 and T11 spinous processes, the subjects were asked to... In order to understand how X regulates Y, a series of transfections was performed. To establish whether ...., To measure X, a question asking .... was used. To see if the two methods gave the same measurement, the data was plotted and... To control for bias, measurements were carried out by another person. To rule out the possibility that X, the participants were .. To determine whether ..., the cells were incubated for .... To enable the subjects to see the computer screen clearly, the laptop was configured with .... To increase the reliability of measures, each X was tested twice with a 4-minute break between .... To compare the scores three weeks after initial screening, a global ANOVA F-test was used The vials were capped with .... to prevent .... The process was repeated several times in order to remove... In an attempt to make each interviewee feel as comfortable as possible, the interviewer .... 20|Page Describing the process: other phrases expressing purpose For the purpose of height measurement, subjects were asked to stand .... For the purpose of analysis, 2 segments were extracted from each .... For the estimation of protein concentration, 100 pL of protein sample was mixed with.... Describing the process: typical verbs in the passive form The data were normalised using .... Descriptive data were generated for all variables. The procedures of this study were approved by . Data for this study were retrospectively collected from .... Prompts were used as an aid to question two so that... The experiments were run using custom software written in.... Two sets of anonymised questionnaires were completed by .... The solution was washed three times with deionized water and .... A total of 256 samples were taken from 52 boreholes (Figure 11). Significance levels were set at the 1% level using the student t-test. Data management and analysis were performed using SPSS 16.0 (2010). Published studies were identified using a search strategy developed in.... The experiments were carried out over the course of the growing period from... Injection solutions were coded by a colleague to reduce experimenter bias. Drugs were administered by icv injection under brief CO2 narcosis; The subjects were asked to pay close attention to the characters whenever .... The pilot interviews were conducted informally by the trained interviewer Blood samples were obtained with consent, from 256 Caucasian male patients .... Independent tests were carried out on the x and y scores for the four years from.... This experiment was repeated under conditions in which the poor signal/noise ratio was improved. Article references were searched further for additional relevant publications. The mean score for the two trials was subjected to multivariate analysis of variance to determine .... Describing the process: sequence words and phrases Prior to commencing the study, ethical clearance was sought from.... Prior to undertaking the investigation, ethical clearance was obtained from .... In the end, the EGO was selected as the measurement tool for the current study. After ‘training’, the subjects were told that After collection, the samples were shipped back to X in.... After conformational analysis of X, it was necessary to... After the appliance was fitted, the patients attended X every four weeks. After obtaining written informed consent from the patients, a questionnaire regarding the .... Once the Xs were located and marked, a thin clear plastic ruler .... Once the positions had been decided upon, the Xs were removed from each Y and replaced by .... Once the exposures were completed, the X was removed from the Y and placed in...... On completion of X, the process of model specification and parameter estimation was carried out. On arrival at the clinic, patients were asked to.... Following this, the samples were recovered and stored overnight at .... Following correction for ...., X was reduced to These ratings were then made for the ten stimuli to which the subject had been exposed .... The analysis was checked when initially performed and then checked again at the end of .... The subjects were then shown a film individually and were asked to .... 21|Page As shown in Figure 1, As can be seen from the table (above), the X group reported significantly more Y than the It can be seen from the data in Table 1 that other two groups. From the graph above we can see that are shown The results obtained from the preliminary analysis of X can be compared in Table 1 The results of the correlational analysis are presented ape - + eee in Figure 1. The themes identified in these responses are set out are summarised Highlighting significant data in a table or chart It is apparent from this table that very few... This table is quite revealing in several ways. First, unlike the other tables ..... What is interesting in this data is that .... In Fig.10 there is a clear trend of decreasing .... As Table Ill shows, there is a significant difference (t = -2.15, p = 0.03) between the two groups. The differences between X and Y are highlighted in Table 4 From the chart, it can be seen that by far the greatest demand is for... From the data in Figure 9, it is apparent that the length of time left between .... From this data, we can see that Study 2 resulted in the lowest value of.... Data from this table can be compared with the data in Table 4.6 which shows .... Statements of positive result Strong evidence of X was found when.... This result is significant at the p = 0.05 level. There was a significant positive correlation between .... There was a significant difference between the two conditions .... On average, Xs were shown to have... The mean score for X was Interestingly, for those subjects with X, .... A positive correlation was found between X and Y. The results, as shown in Table 1, indicate that .... A two-way ANOVA revealed that .... Post hoc analysis revealed that during .... Further analysis showed that .... Further statistical tests revealed .... Statements of negative result There was no increase of X associated with ..... There were no significant differences between .. No significant differences were found between... No increase in X was detected. No difference greater than X was observed. No significant reduction in X was found compared with placebo. None of these differences were statistically significant. Overall, X did not affect males and females differently in these measures. 24|Page The Chi-square test did not show any significant differences between .... A clear benefit of X in the prevention of Y could not be identified in this analysis. Only trace amounts of X were detected in .... Highlighting significant, interesting or surprising results Interestingly, the X was observed to .... Interestingly, this correlation is related to .. The more surprising correlation is with the .... The most surprising aspect of the data is in the... The most striking result to emerge from the data is that .... The correlation between X and Y is interesting because .... Interestingly, there were also differences in the ratios of .... The single most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was .... Reporting a reaction When X cells were stimulated with Y, no significant difference in the number of Z was detected. However, stimulation of X cells with Y did not increase the.... Following the addition of X, a significant increase (P<0.05) in the Y was recorded. With successive increases in intensity of the X, the Y moved further to .... Reporting results from questionnaires and interviews The response rate was 60% at six months and 56% at 12 months. Of the study population, 90 subjects completed and returned the questionnaire. Thirty-two individuals returned the questionnaires. By the end of the survey period, data had been collected from 64 individuals, 23 of whom were .... This section of the questionnaire required respondents to give information on.... Respondents were asked to indicate whether .... Respondents were asked to suggest other reasons for... There were 53 responses to the question: ‘....?’ The total number of responses for this question was .... The overall response to this question was poor. In response to the question: “....?’, a range of responses was elicited. In response to Question 1, most of those surveyed indicated that .... The overall response to this question was very positive. When the participants were asked the majority commented that .... Other responses to this question included .... The majority of those who responded to this item felt that .... 70% of those who were interviewed indicated that ..... Almost two-thirds of the participants (64%) said that ..... Just over half of those who answered this question reported that .... Over half of those surveyed reported that .... Approximately half of those surveyed did not comment on...... Of the 62 participants who responded to this question, 30 reported an increase in. Of the 148 patients who completed the questionnaire, just over half indicated that .... A small number of those interviewed suggested that ..... Only a small number of respondents indicated that .... Some participants expressed the belief that ..... One individual stated that ‘....’ And another commented ‘ A minority of participants (17%) indicated that .... 25|Page One participant commented: Another interviewee alluded to the notion of.... Observations about qualitative data The themes of X and Y recurred throughout the dataset. Five broad themes emerged from the analysis. Two discrete reasons emerged from this. First .... Second .... A number of issues were identified .... This theme came up for example in discussions of... A recurrent theme in the interviews was a sense amongst interviewees that ... These views surfaced mainly in what respects .... There was a sense of X amongst interviewees .... A variety of perspectives were expressed .... A common view amongst interviewees was that .... Issues related to X were not particularly prominent in the interview data. In their accounts of the events surrounding .... As one interviewee said: .... As one interviewee put it: .... For example, one interviewee said: .... Talking about this issue an interviewee said: Another interviewee, when asked ..., said: The extract/comment below shows.... Some interviewees argued that .... while others .... Some felt that .... while others considered that .... Two divergent and often conflicting discourses emerged .... Whilst a minority mentioned that... all agreed that... Transition statements If we now turn to... A comparison of the two results reveals .... Turning now to the experimental evidence on.... Comparing the two results, it can be seen that .. The next section of the survey was concerned with .... In the final part of the survey, respondents were asked .... Summary and transition These results suggest that .... Overall, these results indicate that .... Together these results provide important insights into .... Taken together, these results suggest that there is an association between .... In summary, these results show that .... The results in this Chapter indicate that .... The next Chapter, therefore, moves on to discuss the .... 26|Page The observed increase in X could be attributed to .... Since this difference has not been found elsewhere it is probably not due to .... The observed correlation between X and Y might be explained in this way. The reason for this is not clear but it may have something to do with.... It may be that these students benefitted from .... There are two likely causes for the differences between The possible interference of X cannot be ruled out. Advising cautious interpretation These findings cannot be extrapolated to all patients. These data must be interpreted with caution because .... These results therefore need to be interpreted with caution. It is important to bear in mind the possible bias in these responses. However, with a small sample size, caution must be applied, as the findings might not be transferable to .... Although exclusion of X did not reduce the effect on X, these results should be interpreted with caution. Suggesting general hypotheses The value of X suggests that a weak link may exist between .... It is therefore likely that such connections exist between .... It can thus be suggested that .... It is possible to hypothesise that these conditions are less likely to occur in... It is possible/likely/probable therefore that .... Hence, it could conceivably be hypothesised that .... These findings suggest that .... It may be the case therefore that these variations .... In general, therefore, it seems that .... It is possible, therefore, that .... Therefore, X could be a major factor, if not the only one, causing .... It can therefore be assumed that the .... This finding, while preliminary, suggests that .... Noting implications This finding has important implications for developing .... An implication of this is the possibility that .... One of the issues that emerges from these findings is Some of the issues emerging from this finding relate specifically to .... This combination of findings provides some support for the conceptual premise that .... These findings may help us to understand .... These results provide further support for the hypothesis that... Commenting on findings However, these results were not very encouraging. These findings are rather disappointing. The test was successful as it was able to identify students who .... The present results are significant in at least major two respects. These findings will doubtless be much scrutinized, but there are some immediately dependable conclusions for .... The results of this study do not explain the occurrence of these adverse events. 29|Page Suggestions for future work Further work is required to establish this. This is an important issue for future research. Several questions remain unanswered at present. There is abundant room for further progress in determining ... Further research should be done to investigate the .... Research questions that could be asked include .... Future studies on the current topic are therefore recommended. A further study with more focus on X is therefore suggested. Further studies, which take these variables into account, will need to be undertaken. In future investigations, it might be possible to use a different X in which .... In further research, the use of this data as X could be a means of .... However, more research on this topic needs to be undertaken before the association between X and Y is more clearly understood. 30|Page Writing Conclusions Conclusions are shorter sections of academic texts which usually serve two functions. The first is to summarise and bring together the main areas covered in the writing, which might be called ‘looking back’; and the second is to give a final comment or judgement on this. The final comment may also include making suggestions for improvement and speculating on future directions. In dissertations and research papers, conclusions tend to be more complex and will also include sections on significance of the findings and recommendations for future work. Conclusions may be optional in research articles where consolidation of the study and general implications are covered in the Discussion section. However, they are usually expected in dissertations and essays. Restatement of aims This paper has argued that .... This study set out to determine .... This essay has discussed the reasons for .... The present study was designed to determine the effect of .... The main goal of the current study was to determine .... In this investigation, the aim was to assess .... The purpose of the current study was to determine .... This project was undertaken to design .... and evaluate Returning to the hypothesis/question posed at the beginning of this study, it is now possible to state that .... Summarising research findings This study has shown that .... The investigation of X has shown that .... These findings suggest that in general .... One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that .... It was also shown that .... This study has found that generally .... The relevance of X is clearly supported by the current findings. This study/research has shown tha The second major finding was that .... The results of this investigation show that .... The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that X, Y and Z emerged as reliable predictors of .... Multiple regression analysis revealed that the .... Suggesting implications The evidence from this study suggests that .... The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study .... The results of this study indicate that .... The results of this research support the idea that .. In general, therefore, it seems that .... Taken together, these results suggest that .... An implication of this is the possibility that .... The findings of this study suggest that .... 31|Page Implications or recommendations for practice or policy Other types of X could include: a), b). .... There is, therefore, a definite need for.... Moreover, more X should be made available to .... Another important practical implication is that .... Unless governments adopt X, Y will not be attained. These findings suggest several courses of action for... A reasonable approach to tackle this issue could be to .... There are a number of important changes which need to be made. Management to enhance bumble-bee populations might involve .... A key policy priority should therefore be to plan for the long-term care of .... This information can be used to develop targetted interventions aimed at . Taken together, these findings do not support strong recommendations to .... An implication of these findings is that both X and Y should be taken into account when .... The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice. 34|Page General functions of academic writing 35|Page Being Critical As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the sources that you use. This essentially means questioning what you read and not necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has been published. Being critical can also mean looking for reasons why we should not just accept something as being correct or true. This can require you to identify problems with a writer’s arguments or methods, or perhaps to refer to other people’s criticisms of these. Constructive criticism goes beyond this by suggesting ways in which a piece of research or writing could be improved. cease being against is not enough. We also need to develop habits of constructive thinking. Edward de Bono Introducing questions, problems and limitations: theory A major criticism of Smith’s work is that .... One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether .... A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that .... One of the limitations with this explanation is that it does not explain why... . One criticism of much of the literature on X is that .... The key problem with this explanation is that .... The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y. However, there is an inconsistency with this argument. Smith’s argument relies too heavily on qualitative analysis of .... It seems that Jones’ understanding of the X framework is questionable. Smith’s interpretation overlooks much of the historical research .... Many writers have challenged Jones’ claim on the grounds that .... X’s analysis does not take account of .... nor does he examine .... Introducing questions, problems and limitations: method/practice One major drawback of this approach is that .... The main limitation of biosynthetic incorporation, however, is .... However, this method of analysis has a number of limitations. However, approaches of this kind carry with them various well known limitations. Another problem with this approach is that it fails to take X into account. Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that .... Difficulties arise, however, when an attempt is made to implement the policy. All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that .... However, there are limits to how far the idea of/concept of X can be taken. However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that .... However, one of the problems with the instrument the researchers used to measure X was .... Nevertheless, the strategy has not escaped criticism from governments, agencies and academics. Smith’s study of X is considered to be the most important, but it does suffer from the fact that .... Although this is the most comprehensive account of X produced so far, it does suffer from a number of flaws. limitations weaknesses disadvantages drawbacks. However, all the previously mentioned methods suffer from some serious 36|Page Being Cautious One of the most noticeable stylistic aspects of academic communication is the tendency for writers to avoid expressing absolute certainty, where there may be a small degree of uncertainty, and to avoid making over-generalisations, where a small number of exceptions might exist. This means that there are many instances where the epistemological strength (strength of knowledge) of a statement or claim is mitigated (weakened) in some way. In the field of linguistics, devices for lessening the strength of a statement or claim are known as hedging devices. Analysis of research reports have shown that discussion sections tend to be particularly rich in hedging devices, particularly where writers are offering explanations for findings. Devices that distance the author from a proposition It is believed that .... It is thought that It is a widely held view that .... It has commonly been assumed that .... It has been reported that .... Smith (2001) holds the view that .... If Smith’s (2001) findings are accurate, .... According to recent reports, .... According to Smith (2002), .... Many scholars hold the view that.... Recent research has suggested that... There is some evidence to suggest that .. Being cautious when giving explanations or hypothesising are almost certainly could be These frequent storms may be might be It is almost certain that It is likely that It may be that the more extreme weather It could be that It is possible that A likely explanation A probable explanation is that these frequent storms A possible explanation due to climate change. is a result of climate change. are a result of climate change. 39|Page The Academic Phrasebank is a general resource for academic writers. It makes explicit the more common phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of academic writing. Academic Phrasebank A compendium of commonly used phrasal elements in academic English in PDF format 2014b edition Dr John Morley ee PDF Download version ©2014 The University of Manchester 1|Page About Academic Phrasebank Theoretical Influences The Academic Phrasebank largely draws on an approach to analysing academic texts originally pioneered by John Swales in the 1980s. Utilising a genre analysis approach to identify rhetorical patterns in the introductions to research articles, Swales defined a ‘move’ as a section of text that serves a specific communicative function (Swales, 1981,1990). This unit of rhetorical analysis is used as one of the main organising sub-categories of the Academic Phrasebank. Swales not only identified commonly-used moves in article introductions, but he was interested in showing the kind of language which was used to achieve the communicative purpose of each move. Much of this language was phraseological in nature. The resource also draws upon psycholinguistic insights into how language is learnt and produced. It is now accepted that much of the language we use is phraseological in nature; that it is acquired, stored and retrieved as pre-formulated constructions (Bolinger, 1976; Pawley and Syder, 1983). These insights began to be supported empirically as computer technology permitted the identification of recurrent phraseological patterns in very large corpora of spoken and written English using specialised software (e.g. Sinclair, 1991). Phrasebank recognises that there is an important phraseological dimension to academic language and attempts to make examples of this explicit. Sources of the phrases The vast majority of phrases in this resource have been taken from authentic academic sources. The original corpus from which the phrases were ‘harvested’ consisted of 100 postgraduate dissertations completed at the University of Manchester. However, phrases from academic articles drawn from a broad spectrum of disciples have also been, and continue to be, incorporated. In most cases, the phrases have been simplified and where necessary they have been ‘sifted’ from their particularised academic content. Where content words have been included for exemplificatory purposes, these are substitutions of the original words. In selecting a phrase for inclusion into the Academic Phrasebank, the following questions are asked: does it serve a useful communicative purpose in academic text? does it contain collocational and/or formulaic elements? are the content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives) generic in nature? does the combination ‘sound natural’ to a native speaker or writer of English? When is it acceptable to reuse phrases in academic writing? In a recent study (Davis and Morley, 2013), 45 academics from two British universities were surveyed to determine whether reusing phrases was a legitimate activity for academic writers, and if so, what kind of phrases could be reused. From the survey and later from in-depth interviews, the following characteristics for acceptability emerged. A reused phrase: e should not have a unique or original construction; e should not express a clear point of view of another writer; depending on the phrase, may be up to nine words in length; beyond this ‘acceptability’ declines; ® ~ may contain up to four generic content words (nouns, verbs or adjectives which are not bound to a specific disciplinary domain). 4|Page Some of the entries in the Academic Phrasebank, contain specific content words which have been included for illustrative purposes. These words should be substituted when the phrases are used. In the phrases below, for example, the content words in bold should be substituted: ¢ Xis a major public health problem, and the cause of..... ¢ Xis the leading cause of death in western-industrialised countries. The many thousands of disciplinary-specific phrases which can be found in academic communication comprise a separate category of phrases. These tend to be shorter than the generic phrases listed in Academic Phrasebank, and typically consist of noun phrases or combinations of these. Acceptability for reusing these is determined by the extent to which they are used and understood by members of a particular academic community. Further work Development of the website content is ongoing. In addition, research is currently being carried out on the ways in which experienced and less-experienced writers make use of the Academic Phrasebank. Another project is seeking to find out more about ways in which teachers of English for academic purposes make use of this resource. References © Bolinger, D. (1976) ‘Meaning and memory’. Forum Linguisticum, 1, pp. 1-14. ¢ Davis, M. and Morley, J. (2013) 'Use your own words: Exploring the boundaries of plagiarism’. In EAP within the higher education garden: Cross-pollination between disciplines, departments and research, John Wrigglesworth (Ed.). Proceedings of the BALEAP Conference, Portsmouth 2011. Reading: Garnet Education. © Hopkins, A. & Dudley-Evans, A. (1988). ‘A genre-based investigations of the discussions sections in articles and dissertation’. English for Specific Purposes, 7(2), 113-122. e Pawley, A. and Syder, F.H. (1983). ‘Two puzzles for linguistic theory: nativelike selection and nativelike fluency’. In: Richards, J.C. and Schmidt, R.W. (Eds.), Language and Communication, pp. 191-226. Longman: New York. e Sinclair, J. (1991) Corpus, concordance, collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ¢ Swales, J. (1981). Aspects of article introductions (Aston ESP Research Report No. 1). Birmingham: Language Studies Unit: University of Aston. ¢ Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 5|Page Major sections 6|Page Highlighting a controversy in the field of study To date there has been little agreement on what .... One major issue in early X research concerned .... The issue has grown in importance in light of recent .... One observer has already drawn attention to the paradox in.... Questions have been raised about the safety of prolonged use of .. Debate continues about the best strategies for the management of.... In many Xs, a debate is taking place between Ys and Zs concerning .... This concept has recently been challenged by X studies demonstrating The debate about X has gained fresh prominence with many arguing that .... More recently, literature has emerged that offers contradictory findings about One of the most significant current discussions in legal and moral philosophy is .... One major theoretical issue that has dominated the field for many years concerns .... The controversy about scientific evidence for X has raged unabated for over a century. The causes of X have been the subject of intense debate within the scientific community. The issue of X has been a controversial and much disputed subject within the field of .... In the literature on X, the relative importance of Y has been subject to considerable debate. Highlighting inadequacies of previous studies Researchers have not treated X in much detail. Previous studies of X have not dealt with .... Half of the studies evaluated failed to specify whether .... Most studies in the field of X have only focused on.... Most studies in X have only been carried out in a small number of areas. The generalisability of much published research on this issue is problematic. The experimental data are rather controversial, and there is no general agreement about Such expositions are unsatisfactory because they .... The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than Y. Research on the subject has been mostly restricted to limited comparisons of .... The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y. However, few writers have been able to draw on any systematic research into .... However, much of the research up to now has been descriptive in nature .... However, these results were based upon data from over 30 years ago and it is unclear if .... Although extensive research has been carried out on X, no single study exists which .. X’s analysis does not take account of .... nor does she examine .... Highlighting a knowledge gap in the field of study What is not yet clear is the impact of X on... No previous study has investigated X . There has been little quantitative analysis of .... The neurobiological basis of this X is poorly understood. Until recently, there has been no reliable evidence that .... In addition, no research has been found that surveyed .... Little is known about X and it is not clear what factors .... This indicates a need to understand the various perceptions of X that exist among .... So far this method has only been applied to .... So far, however, there has been little discussion about .... However, far too little attention has been paid to .... However, the evidence for this relationship is inconclusive .... However, much uncertainty still exists about the relation between .... 9|Page However, there have been no controlled studies which compare differences in .... In contrast, very little is known about X in non-mammalian vertebrates and in.... no single study exists which .... no studies have been found which .... Although no controlled studies have been reported. . some research has . . While been carried out on X. only two studies have attempted to investigate .... Whilst ” the mechanism by which .... has not been established. there have been few empirical investigations into there is very little scientific understanding of .... Apart from Smith (2014), there is a general lack of research in.... Despite this, very few studies have investigated the impact of X on... Several studies have produced estimates of X (Smith, 2002; Jones, 2003), but there is still insufficient data for... Indicating the focus, aim, argument of a short paper This paper contests the claim that .... This paper will review the research conducted on.... This paper will focus on/examine/give an account of .... This paper seeks to remedy these problems by analysing the literature of... This paper examines the significance of X in the rise of .... This essay critically examines/discusses/traces .... This account seeks to .... In this paper | argue that .... In the pages that follow, it will be argued that .... This paper attempts to show that... In this essay, | attempt to defend the view that .... The central thesis of this paper is that .... The aim of the paper is to provide a conceptual theoretical framework based on.... The purpose of this paper is to review recent research into the .... Stating the purpose of research The major objective of this study was to investigate ..... The aim of this study was to clarify several aspects of .... The aim of this study is to investigate the differences between X and Y. The aim of this research project has therefore been to try and establish what .... The main aim of this investigation is to assess the doses and risks associated with .... The aim of this study is to shine new light on these debates through an examination of.... The objectives of this research are to determine whether .... The main purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of .... This paper investigates the usefulness of... This thesis intends to determine the extent to which .... and whether .... This thesis will examine the way in which the .... This research examines the emerging role of X in the context of .... This case study seeks to examine the changing nature of .... This dissertation seeks to explain the development of.... This dissertation aims to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding .... This study systematically reviews the data for...., aiming to provide .... 10|Page Part of the aim of this project is to develop software that is compatible with . There are two primary aims of this study: 1. To investigate .... 2. To ascertain .... Drawing upon two stands of research into X, this study attempts to .... One purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which these factors were .... This study seeks to obtain data which will help to address these research gaps. This study therefore set out to assess the effect of X ...., and the effect of .... Research questions or hypotheses The central question in this dissertation asks how... This research seeks to address the following questions: In particular, this dissertation will examine six main research questions: The hypothesis that will be tested is that .... The key research question of this study was whether or not .... This study aimed to address the following research questions: Another question is whether .... Synopsis of the research design, method, source(s) of data Five works will be examined, all of which.... Data for this study were collected using .... This dissertation follows a case-study design, with in-depth analysis of .... This study was exploratory and interpretative in nature. The approach to empirical research adopted for this study was one of .... The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on.... By employing qualitative modes of enquiry, | attempt to illuminate the .... This work takes the form of a case-study of the... Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this investigation. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in the data analysis. Qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted to provide .... A holistic approach is utilised, integrating X, Y and Z material to establish .... The research data in this thesis is drawn from four main sources: .... The study was conducted in the form of a survey, with data being gathered via.... Indicating significance This project provided an important opportunity to advance the understanding of ..... This study provides an exciting opportunity to advance our knowledge of .... This is the first study to undertake a longitudinal analysis of .... The findings should make an important contribution to the field of ..... Therefore, this study makes a major contribution to research on X by demonstrating .... The study offers some important insights into .... This study aims to contribute to this growing area of research by exploring .... There are several important areas where this study makes an original contribution to .... Indicating limitations The thesis does not engage with .... Due to practical constraints, this paper cannot provide a comprehensive review of .... It is beyond the scope of this study to examine the .... The reader should bear in mind that the study is based on.... Another potential problem is that the scope of my thesis may be too broad. A full discussion of X lies beyond the scope of this study. 11|Page Recent evidence suggests that .... (Smith, 1996; Jones 1999; Johnson, 2001) Recently, in vitro studies have shown that X can... (Patel et a/., 1997; Jones et al., 1998). Several studies investigating X have been carried out on.... Several attempts have been made to .... (Smith, 1996; Jones 1999; ....). Several studies thus far have linked X with Y (Smith, 2002; Jones 2004; . Several studies have revealed that it is not just X that acts on..... (Smith, 1996; Jones .... Several biographies of Brown have been published. Smith (2013) presents ..... The geology of X has been addressed in several small-scale investigations and.... Data from several sources have identified the increased X and Y associated with obesity. Previous studies have reported .... (Smith, 1985; Jones, 1987; Johnson, 1992). Previous research has indicated that various X indicators have a positive impact on.... Previous research findings into X have been inconsistent and contradictory (Smith, 1996; .. Numerous studies have attempted to explain .... (for example, Smith , 1996; Kelly, 1998; ....) A number of authors have reported analyses of trends in X that demonstrated .... A number of studies have found that .... (Smith , 2003; Jones, 2004). A number of studies have examined X (e.g. Smith, 2003; Jones, 2005), but to date none has .... Xs have been identified as major contributing factors for the decline of many species (1). X has also been shown to reverse the anti-inflammatory effects of Y in murine-induced arthritis. Twenty cohort study analyses have examined the relationship between .... At least 152 case-control studies worldwide have examined the relationship betwee Other studies have considered the relationship .... The relationship between X and Y has been widely investigated (Smith, 1985; Jones, 1987, .... The causes of X have been widely investigated (Jones, 1987; Johnson, 1990; Smith, 1994). Factors thought to be influencing X have been explored in several studies. It has been suggested that levels of X are independent of the size of the Y (Smith et a/., 1995). It has conclusively been shown that X and Y increase Z (Smith et al., 1999; Jones, 2001 It has been demonstrated that a high intake of X results in damage to .... (Smith, 1998; Reference to current state of knowledge There is an unambiguous relationship between X and Y (Rao, 1998). X is one of the most intense reactions following CHD (Lane, 2003). X has been found to oppose the anti-inflammatory actions of Y on Z (Alourfi, 2004). A relationship exists between an individual’s working memory and their ability to .... (Jones, 2002). GM varieties of maize are able to cross-pollinate with non-GM varieties (Smith, 1998; Jones, 1999). Reference to single investigations in the past: researcher(s) as sentence subject found that as levels of literacy and education of the population rise .... Smith (1999) showed that reducing X to 190°C decreased .... (see Figure 2) . demonstrated that when the maximum temperature is exceeded .... investigated the differential impact of formal and non-formal education on .... Jones et al. (2001) analysed the data from 72 countries and concluded that .... reviewed the literature from the period and found little evidence for this ..... 14|Page interviewed 250 undergraduate students using semi-structured .... studied the effects of X on unprotected nerve cells. performed a similar series of experiments in the 1960s to show that .... carried out a number of investigations into the... conducted a series of trials in which he mixed X with different quantities of .... measured both components of the... labelled these subsets as .... examined the flow of international students .... identified parents of disabled children as .... used a survey to assess the various .... Wang et al. (2004) have recently developed a methodology for the selective introduction of .... Reference to single investigations or publications in the past: time frame prominent In 1975, Smith et al. published a paper in which they described .... In 1990, Patel et al. demonstrated that replacement of H2O with heavy water led to .... Thirty years later, Smith (1974) reported three cases of X which.... In the 1950s, Gunnar Myrdal pointed to some of the ways in which .... (Myrdal, 1957) In 1981, Smith and co-workers demonstrated that X induced in vitro resistance to .... In 1990, Al-Masry et al. reported a new and convenient synthetic procedure to obtain .... In 1984, Jones et al. made several amino acid esters of X and evaluated them as.... Reference to single investigations in the past: investigation prominent Preliminary work on X was undertaken by Abdul Karim (1992). The first systematic study of X was reported by Patel et al. in 1986. The study of the structural behaviour of X was first carried out by Rao et al. (1986)..... Analysis of the genes involved in X was first carried out by Smith et al (1983). One study by Smith (2014) examined the trend in.... A recent study by Smith and Jones (2012) involved .... A longitudinal study of X by Smith (2012) reports that .... A small scale study by Smith (2012) reaches different conclusions, finding no increase in .... Smith’s cross-country analysis (2012) showed that .... Smith’s comparative study (2012) found that... Detailed examination of X by Smith and Patel (1961) showed that .... Brown’s (1992) model of X assumes three main .... In an analysis of X, Smith et a/. (2012) found .... In an investigation into X, Smith et a/. (2012) found .... In another major study, Zhao (1974) found that just over half of the .... In a study which set out to determine X, Smith (2012) found that . In a randomised controlled study of X, Smith (2012) reported that In a large longitudinal study, Smith et a/. (2012) investigated the incidence of X in Y. In one well-known recent experiment, limits on X were found to be..... (Al-Masry, 2013) Reference to single investigations in the past: research topic as main focus To determine the effects of X, Zhao et al (2005) compared... X was originally isolated from Y in a soil sample from .... (Wang et a/., 1952). The electronic spectroscopy of X was first studied by Smith and Jones1 in 1970 X formed the central focus of a study by Smith (2002) in which the author found .... X was first demonstrated experimentally by Pavlov (Smith, 2002). In his seminal study .... 15|Page The acid-catalyzed condensation reaction between X and Y was first reported by Smith in 1872 To better understand the mechanisms of X and its effects, Al-Masry (2013) analysed the .... The way in which the X gene is regulated was studied extensively by Ho and colleagues (Ho et al. 1995 and 1998). Reference to what other writers do in their text: author as subject Smith (2013) identifies X, Y, and Z as the major causes of.... Perez (2013) draws on an extensive range of sources to assess .... Toh (2013) mentions the special situation of Singapore as an example of.... Al-Masry (2013) uses examples of these various techniques as evidence that .... Smith (2013) questions whether mainstream schools are the best environment for .... Jones (2013) draws our attention to distinctive categories of X often observed in... Brown (2013) considers whether countries work well on cross-border issues such as .... Smith (2013) discusses the challenges and strategies for facilitating and promoting .... Jones (2013) provides in-depth analysis of the work of Aristotle showing its relevance to .... Rao (2013) lists three reasons why the English language has become so dominant. These are: .... Smith (2013) traces the development of Japanese history and philosophy during the 19th century. Smith (2013) defines evidence based medicine as the conscious, explicit and judicious use of ..... Rao (2013) highlights the need to break the link between economic growth and transport growth... By drawing on the concept of X, Smith has been able to show that .... Drawing on an extensive range of sources, the authors set out the different ways in which .... In Chapter 2, Smith provides us with a number of important .... In the subsequent chapter, Smith examines the extent to which .... Some analysts (e.g. Carnoy, 2002) have attempted to draw fine distinctions between .... Other authors (see Harbison, 2003; Kaplan, 2004) question the usefulness of such an approach. In her major study, In her seminal article, In her classic critique of ...., In her case study of ..., Smith (2012) identifies five characteristics of .... In her review of...., In her analysis of ...., In her introduction to ....,’ Reference to another writer’s ideas or position (author as subject) According to Smith (2003), preventative medicine is far more cost effective, and therefore .... As noted by Smith (2003) X is far more cost effective, and therefore .... points out argues Smith maintains preventative medicine is far more cost effective, and therefore . that . (2013) claims better adapted to the developing world. concludes suggests Smith (2013) argues for an explanatory theory for each type of irrational belief. 16|Page Describing Methods In the Methods section of a dissertation or research article, writers give an account of how they carried out their research. The Methods section should be clear and detailed enough for another experienced person to repeat the research and reproduce the results. Where the methods chosen are new, unfamiliar or perhaps even controversial, or where the intended audience is from many disciplines, the Methods section will tend to be much more extensive. Typical stretches of text found in this section of a research article or dissertation along with examples of the kind of language used for these are listed below. Note that for most of the functional categories in this section, the verbs are written in the simple past tense. Describing previously used methods To date various methods have been developed and introduced to measure X: In most recent studies, X has been measured in four different ways. Traditionally, X has been assessed by measuring... Different authors have measured X in a variety of ways. Previous studies have based their criteria for selection on The use of qualitative case studies is a well-established approach in .... This test is widely available, and has been used in many investigational studies. Case studies have been long established in X to present detailed analysis of Recently, simpler and more rapid tests of X have been developed. Radiographic techniques are the main non-invasive method used to determine... A variety of methods are used to assess X. Each has its advantages and drawbacks. Data were gathered from multiple sources at various time points during .... Giving reasons why a particular method was adopted or rejected A case study approach was used to allowa.... Qualitative methods offer an effective way of .... A quantitative approach was employed since .... The design of the questionnaires was based on... The X method is one of the more practical ways of . The semi-structured approach was chosen because .... The X approach has a number of attractive features: .... The second advantage of using the multivariate method is For this study, the X was used to explore the subsurface .... Smith et al. (1994) identify several advantages of the case study, .... It was decided that the best method to adopt for this investigation was to The study uses qualitative analysis in order to gain insights into .... It was considered that quantitative measures would usefully supplement and extend the... Many of the distributions were not normal so non-parametric signed rank tests were run. One advantage of the X analysis is that it avoids the problem of.... The sensitivity of the X technique has been demonstrated in a report by Smith et al (2011). However, there are certain drawbacks associated with the use of.... The main disadvantage of the experimental method is that .... A major problem with the experimental method is that .... There are certain problems with the use of focus groups. One of these is that there is less .... Indicating a specific method X was prepared according to the procedure used by Patel et al. (1957). The synthesis of X was done according to the procedure of Smith (1973). X was synthesised using the same method that was detailed for Y, using .... 19|Page This compound was prepared by adapting the procedure used by Zhao et al. (1990). An alternative method for making scales homogenous is by using... Samples were analysed for X as previously reported by Smith et al. (2012) Describing the characteristics of the sample Eligibility criteria required individuals to have received .... A random sample of patients with .... was recruited from .... Forty-seven students studying X were recruited for this study. Just over half the sample (53%) was female, of whom 69% were.... Of the initial cohort of 123 students, 66 were female and 57 male. Only children aged between 10 and 15 years were included in the study. Eligible women who matched the selection criteria were identified by .... The students were divided into two groups based on their performance on.... All of the participants were aged between 18 and 19 at the beginning of the study... Two groups of subjects were interviewed, namely X and Y. The first group were.... The project used a convenience sample of 32 first year modern languages students. Participants were recruited from 15 clinics across ...., covering urban and rural areas .... The initial sample consisted of 200 students, 75 of whom belonged to minority groups. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 male offenders with a mean age of 38 years Publications were only included in the analysis if .... Articles were searched from January 1965 until April 2010. A systematic literature review was conducted of studies that .... All studies described as using some sort of X procedure were included in the analysis. Indicating reasons for sample characteristics Criteria for selecting the subjects were as follows: The area of study was chosen for its relatively small ... Five individuals were excluded from the study on the basis of... A small sample was chosen because of the expected difficulty of obtaining .... The subjects were selected on the basis of a degree of homogeneity of their .. A comparison group of 12 male subjects without any history of X was drawn from a pool of.... Describing the process: infinitive of purpose In order to identify the T10 and T11 spinous processes, the subjects were asked to... In order to understand how X regulates Y, a series of transfections was performed. To establish whether ...., To measure X, a question asking .... was used. To see if the two methods gave the same measurement, the data was plotted and... To control for bias, measurements were carried out by another person. To rule out the possibility that X, the participants were .. To determine whether ..., the cells were incubated for .... To enable the subjects to see the computer screen clearly, the laptop was configured with .... To increase the reliability of measures, each X was tested twice with a 4-minute break between .... To compare the scores three weeks after initial screening, a global ANOVA F-test was used The vials were capped with .... to prevent .... The process was repeated several times in order to remove... In an attempt to make each interviewee feel as comfortable as possible, the interviewer .... 20|Page Describing the process: other phrases expressing purpose For the purpose of height measurement, subjects were asked to stand .... For the purpose of analysis, 2 segments were extracted from each .... For the estimation of protein concentration, 100 pL of protein sample was mixed with.... Describing the process: typical verbs in the passive form The data were normalised using .... Descriptive data were generated for all variables. The procedures of this study were approved by . Data for this study were retrospectively collected from .... Prompts were used as an aid to question two so that... The experiments were run using custom software written in.... Two sets of anonymised questionnaires were completed by .... The solution was washed three times with deionized water and .... A total of 256 samples were taken from 52 boreholes (Figure 11). Significance levels were set at the 1% level using the student t-test. Data management and analysis were performed using SPSS 16.0 (2010). Published studies were identified using a search strategy developed in.... The experiments were carried out over the course of the growing period from... Injection solutions were coded by a colleague to reduce experimenter bias. Drugs were administered by icv injection under brief CO2 narcosis; The subjects were asked to pay close attention to the characters whenever .... The pilot interviews were conducted informally by the trained interviewer Blood samples were obtained with consent, from 256 Caucasian male patients .... Independent tests were carried out on the x and y scores for the four years from.... This experiment was repeated under conditions in which the poor signal/noise ratio was improved. Article references were searched further for additional relevant publications. The mean score for the two trials was subjected to multivariate analysis of variance to determine .... Describing the process: sequence words and phrases Prior to commencing the study, ethical clearance was sought from.... Prior to undertaking the investigation, ethical clearance was obtained from .... In the end, the EGO was selected as the measurement tool for the current study. After ‘training’, the subjects were told that After collection, the samples were shipped back to X in.... After conformational analysis of X, it was necessary to... After the appliance was fitted, the patients attended X every four weeks. After obtaining written informed consent from the patients, a questionnaire regarding the .... Once the Xs were located and marked, a thin clear plastic ruler .... Once the positions had been decided upon, the Xs were removed from each Y and replaced by .... Once the exposures were completed, the X was removed from the Y and placed in...... On completion of X, the process of model specification and parameter estimation was carried out. On arrival at the clinic, patients were asked to.... Following this, the samples were recovered and stored overnight at .... Following correction for ...., X was reduced to These ratings were then made for the ten stimuli to which the subject had been exposed .... The analysis was checked when initially performed and then checked again at the end of .... The subjects were then shown a film individually and were asked to .... 21|Page As shown in Figure 1, As can be seen from the table (above), the X group reported significantly more Y than the It can be seen from the data in Table 1 that other two groups. From the graph above we can see that are shown The results obtained from the preliminary analysis of X can be compared in Table 1 The results of the correlational analysis are presented ape - + eee in Figure 1. The themes identified in these responses are set out are summarised Highlighting significant data in a table or chart It is apparent from this table that very few... This table is quite revealing in several ways. First, unlike the other tables ..... What is interesting in this data is that .... In Fig.10 there is a clear trend of decreasing .... As Table Ill shows, there is a significant difference (t = -2.15, p = 0.03) between the two groups. The differences between X and Y are highlighted in Table 4 From the chart, it can be seen that by far the greatest demand is for... From the data in Figure 9, it is apparent that the length of time left between .... From this data, we can see that Study 2 resulted in the lowest value of.... Data from this table can be compared with the data in Table 4.6 which shows .... Statements of positive result Strong evidence of X was found when.... This result is significant at the p = 0.05 level. There was a significant positive correlation between .... There was a significant difference between the two conditions .... On average, Xs were shown to have... The mean score for X was Interestingly, for those subjects with X, .... A positive correlation was found between X and Y. The results, as shown in Table 1, indicate that .... A two-way ANOVA revealed that .... Post hoc analysis revealed that during .... Further analysis showed that .... Further statistical tests revealed .... Statements of negative result There was no increase of X associated with ..... There were no significant differences between .. No significant differences were found between... No increase in X was detected. No difference greater than X was observed. No significant reduction in X was found compared with placebo. None of these differences were statistically significant. Overall, X did not affect males and females differently in these measures. 24|Page The Chi-square test did not show any significant differences between .... A clear benefit of X in the prevention of Y could not be identified in this analysis. Only trace amounts of X were detected in .... Highlighting significant, interesting or surprising results Interestingly, the X was observed to .... Interestingly, this correlation is related to .. The more surprising correlation is with the .... The most surprising aspect of the data is in the... The most striking result to emerge from the data is that .... The correlation between X and Y is interesting because .... Interestingly, there were also differences in the ratios of .... The single most striking observation to emerge from the data comparison was .... Reporting a reaction When X cells were stimulated with Y, no significant difference in the number of Z was detected. However, stimulation of X cells with Y did not increase the.... Following the addition of X, a significant increase (P<0.05) in the Y was recorded. With successive increases in intensity of the X, the Y moved further to .... Reporting results from questionnaires and interviews The response rate was 60% at six months and 56% at 12 months. Of the study population, 90 subjects completed and returned the questionnaire. Thirty-two individuals returned the questionnaires. By the end of the survey period, data had been collected from 64 individuals, 23 of whom were .... This section of the questionnaire required respondents to give information on.... Respondents were asked to indicate whether .... Respondents were asked to suggest other reasons for... There were 53 responses to the question: ‘....?’ The total number of responses for this question was .... The overall response to this question was poor. In response to the question: “....?’, a range of responses was elicited. In response to Question 1, most of those surveyed indicated that .... The overall response to this question was very positive. When the participants were asked the majority commented that .... Other responses to this question included .... The majority of those who responded to this item felt that .... 70% of those who were interviewed indicated that ..... Almost two-thirds of the participants (64%) said that ..... Just over half of those who answered this question reported that .... Over half of those surveyed reported that .... Approximately half of those surveyed did not comment on...... Of the 62 participants who responded to this question, 30 reported an increase in. Of the 148 patients who completed the questionnaire, just over half indicated that .... A small number of those interviewed suggested that ..... Only a small number of respondents indicated that .... Some participants expressed the belief that ..... One individual stated that ‘....’ And another commented ‘ A minority of participants (17%) indicated that .... 25|Page One participant commented: Another interviewee alluded to the notion of.... Observations about qualitative data The themes of X and Y recurred throughout the dataset. Five broad themes emerged from the analysis. Two discrete reasons emerged from this. First .... Second .... A number of issues were identified .... This theme came up for example in discussions of... A recurrent theme in the interviews was a sense amongst interviewees that ... These views surfaced mainly in what respects .... There was a sense of X amongst interviewees .... A variety of perspectives were expressed .... A common view amongst interviewees was that .... Issues related to X were not particularly prominent in the interview data. In their accounts of the events surrounding .... As one interviewee said: .... As one interviewee put it: .... For example, one interviewee said: .... Talking about this issue an interviewee said: Another interviewee, when asked ..., said: The extract/comment below shows.... Some interviewees argued that .... while others .... Some felt that .... while others considered that .... Two divergent and often conflicting discourses emerged .... Whilst a minority mentioned that... all agreed that... Transition statements If we now turn to... A comparison of the two results reveals .... Turning now to the experimental evidence on.... Comparing the two results, it can be seen that .. The next section of the survey was concerned with .... In the final part of the survey, respondents were asked .... Summary and transition These results suggest that .... Overall, these results indicate that .... Together these results provide important insights into .... Taken together, these results suggest that there is an association between .... In summary, these results show that .... The results in this Chapter indicate that .... The next Chapter, therefore, moves on to discuss the .... 26|Page The observed increase in X could be attributed to .... Since this difference has not been found elsewhere it is probably not due to .... The observed correlation between X and Y might be explained in this way. The reason for this is not clear but it may have something to do with.... It may be that these students benefitted from .... There are two likely causes for the differences between The possible interference of X cannot be ruled out. Advising cautious interpretation These findings cannot be extrapolated to all patients. These data must be interpreted with caution because .... These results therefore need to be interpreted with caution. It is important to bear in mind the possible bias in these responses. However, with a small sample size, caution must be applied, as the findings might not be transferable to .... Although exclusion of X did not reduce the effect on X, these results should be interpreted with caution. Suggesting general hypotheses The value of X suggests that a weak link may exist between .... It is therefore likely that such connections exist between .... It can thus be suggested that .... It is possible to hypothesise that these conditions are less likely to occur in... It is possible/likely/probable therefore that .... Hence, it could conceivably be hypothesised that .... These findings suggest that .... It may be the case therefore that these variations .... In general, therefore, it seems that .... It is possible, therefore, that .... Therefore, X could be a major factor, if not the only one, causing .... It can therefore be assumed that the .... This finding, while preliminary, suggests that .... Noting implications This finding has important implications for developing .... An implication of this is the possibility that .... One of the issues that emerges from these findings is Some of the issues emerging from this finding relate specifically to .... This combination of findings provides some support for the conceptual premise that .... These findings may help us to understand .... These results provide further support for the hypothesis that... Commenting on findings However, these results were not very encouraging. These findings are rather disappointing. The test was successful as it was able to identify students who .... The present results are significant in at least major two respects. These findings will doubtless be much scrutinized, but there are some immediately dependable conclusions for .... The results of this study do not explain the occurrence of these adverse events. 29|Page Suggestions for future work Further work is required to establish this. This is an important issue for future research. Several questions remain unanswered at present. There is abundant room for further progress in determining ... Further research should be done to investigate the .... Research questions that could be asked include .... Future studies on the current topic are therefore recommended. A further study with more focus on X is therefore suggested. Further studies, which take these variables into account, will need to be undertaken. In future investigations, it might be possible to use a different X in which .... In further research, the use of this data as X could be a means of .... However, more research on this topic needs to be undertaken before the association between X and Y is more clearly understood. 30|Page Writing Conclusions Conclusions are shorter sections of academic texts which usually serve two functions. The first is to summarise and bring together the main areas covered in the writing, which might be called ‘looking back’; and the second is to give a final comment or judgement on this. The final comment may also include making suggestions for improvement and speculating on future directions. In dissertations and research papers, conclusions tend to be more complex and will also include sections on significance of the findings and recommendations for future work. Conclusions may be optional in research articles where consolidation of the study and general implications are covered in the Discussion section. However, they are usually expected in dissertations and essays. Restatement of aims This paper has argued that .... This study set out to determine .... This essay has discussed the reasons for .... The present study was designed to determine the effect of .... The main goal of the current study was to determine .... In this investigation, the aim was to assess .... The purpose of the current study was to determine .... This project was undertaken to design .... and evaluate Returning to the hypothesis/question posed at the beginning of this study, it is now possible to state that .... Summarising research findings This study has shown that .... The investigation of X has shown that .... These findings suggest that in general .... One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that .... It was also shown that .... This study has found that generally .... The relevance of X is clearly supported by the current findings. This study/research has shown tha The second major finding was that .... The results of this investigation show that .... The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that X, Y and Z emerged as reliable predictors of .... Multiple regression analysis revealed that the .... Suggesting implications The evidence from this study suggests that .... The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study .... The results of this study indicate that .... The results of this research support the idea that .. In general, therefore, it seems that .... Taken together, these results suggest that .... An implication of this is the possibility that .... The findings of this study suggest that .... 31|Page Implications or recommendations for practice or policy Other types of X could include: a), b). .... There is, therefore, a definite need for.... Moreover, more X should be made available to .... Another important practical implication is that .... Unless governments adopt X, Y will not be attained. These findings suggest several courses of action for... A reasonable approach to tackle this issue could be to .... There are a number of important changes which need to be made. Management to enhance bumble-bee populations might involve .... A key policy priority should therefore be to plan for the long-term care of .... This information can be used to develop targetted interventions aimed at . Taken together, these findings do not support strong recommendations to .... An implication of these findings is that both X and Y should be taken into account when .... The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice. 34|Page General functions of academic writing 35|Page Being Critical As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the sources that you use. This essentially means questioning what you read and not necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has been published. Being critical can also mean looking for reasons why we should not just accept something as being correct or true. This can require you to identify problems with a writer’s arguments or methods, or perhaps to refer to other people’s criticisms of these. Constructive criticism goes beyond this by suggesting ways in which a piece of research or writing could be improved. cease being against is not enough. We also need to develop habits of constructive thinking. Edward de Bono Introducing questions, problems and limitations: theory A major criticism of Smith’s work is that .... One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether .... A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that .... One of the limitations with this explanation is that it does not explain why... . One criticism of much of the literature on X is that .... The key problem with this explanation is that .... The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y. However, there is an inconsistency with this argument. Smith’s argument relies too heavily on qualitative analysis of .... It seems that Jones’ understanding of the X framework is questionable. Smith’s interpretation overlooks much of the historical research .... Many writers have challenged Jones’ claim on the grounds that .... X’s analysis does not take account of .... nor does he examine .... Introducing questions, problems and limitations: method/practice One major drawback of this approach is that .... The main limitation of biosynthetic incorporation, however, is .... However, this method of analysis has a number of limitations. However, approaches of this kind carry with them various well known limitations. Another problem with this approach is that it fails to take X into account. Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that .... Difficulties arise, however, when an attempt is made to implement the policy. All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that .... However, there are limits to how far the idea of/concept of X can be taken. However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that .... However, one of the problems with the instrument the researchers used to measure X was .... Nevertheless, the strategy has not escaped criticism from governments, agencies and academics. Smith’s study of X is considered to be the most important, but it does suffer from the fact that .... Although this is the most comprehensive account of X produced so far, it does suffer from a number of flaws. limitations weaknesses disadvantages drawbacks. However, all the previously mentioned methods suffer from some serious 36|Page Being Cautious One of the most noticeable stylistic aspects of academic communication is the tendency for writers to avoid expressing absolute certainty, where there may be a small degree of uncertainty, and to avoid making over-generalisations, where a small number of exceptions might exist. This means that there are many instances where the epistemological strength (strength of knowledge) of a statement or claim is mitigated (weakened) in some way. In the field of linguistics, devices for lessening the strength of a statement or claim are known as hedging devices. Analysis of research reports have shown that discussion sections tend to be particularly rich in hedging devices, particularly where writers are offering explanations for findings. Devices that distance the author from a proposition It is believed that .... It is thought that It is a widely held view that .... It has commonly been assumed that .... It has been reported that .... Smith (2001) holds the view that .... If Smith’s (2001) findings are accurate, .... According to recent reports, .... According to Smith (2002), .... Many scholars hold the view that.... Recent research has suggested that... There is some evidence to suggest that .. Being cautious when giving explanations or hypothesising are almost certainly could be These frequent storms may be might be It is almost certain that It is likely that It may be that the more extreme weather It could be that It is possible that A likely explanation A probable explanation is that these frequent storms A possible explanation due to climate change. is a result of climate change. are a result of climate change. 39|Page Being cautious when explaining results This inconsistency may be due to.... This discrepancy could be attributed to .... A possible explanation for this might be that... It seems possible that these results are due to.... This rather contradictory result may be due to... The observed increase in X could be attributed to .... The possible interference of X cannot be ruled out .... There are several possible explanations for this result. There are two likely causes for the differences between .... A possible explanation for these results may be the lack of adequate .... Since this difference has not been found elsewhere it is probably not due to .... Being cautious when discussing implications or recommendations One possible implication of this is that .... The findings of this study suggest that .... The evidence from this study suggests that Taken together, these results suggest that The data reported here appear to support the assumption that .... Initial observations suggest that there may be a link between... The findings from these studies suggest that X can have an effect on.... Strategies to enhance X might involve .... These results would seem to suggest that the There would therefore seem to be a definite need for .... A reasonable approach to tackle this issue could be to... Other types of response could include: a), b) Another possible area of future research would be to investigate why... Devices for avoiding over-generalisation almost all most many types of the majority of certain types of some types of Ozone is toxic to living organisms. nearly always frequently often occasionally Ozone levels exceed WHO levels in many cities. Ozone tends to attack cells and break down tissues. There is a tendency for ozone to attack cells. 40|Page Being cautious when writing about the future will almost certainly will probably is likely to could may might Severe weather become more common in the future. It is almost certain that There is a strong possibility that It is likely that the situation will improve in the long term. There is a possibility that There is a small chance that Advising cautious interpretation of findings (Refer to Discussing Findings) These data must be interpreted with caution because .... These results therefore need to be interpreted with caution. However, with a small sample size, caution must be applied, as the findings might not be .... These findings cannot be extrapolated to all patients. Although exclusion of X did not ...., these results should be interpreted with caution. It is important to bear in mind the possible bias in these responses. 41|Page Comparing and Contrasting By understanding similarities and differences between two things, we can increase our understanding and learn more about both. This usually involves a process of analysis, in which we compare the specific parts as well as the whole. Comparison may also be a preliminary stage of evaluation. For example, by comparing specific aspects of A and B, we can decide which is more useful or valuable. Many paragraphs whose function is to compare or contrast will begin with an introductory sentence expressed in general terms. Introductory Sentences: Differences X is different from Y in a number of respects. X differs from Y in a number of important ways. There are a number of important differences between X and Y. Women and men differ not only in physical attributes but also in the way in which they .... distinct significant Smith (2003) found notable differences between X and Y. observed considerable major only slight Jones (2013) found dramatic differences in the rate of decline of X between Y and Z. Areas where significant differences have been found include X and Y. The nervous systems of X are significantly different from those of Y in several key features. Introductory Sentences: Similarities is similar to that is comparable to that used by the left brain. is comparable in complexity to that The mode of processing used by the right brain There are a number of similarities between X and Y. The effects of X on human health are similar to those of Y. Both X and Y generally take place in a ‘safe environment’. Numerous studies have compared Xs in humans and animals and found that they are essentially identical. Comparison within one sentence Oral societies tend to be more whereas literate societies have a very definite concerned with the present while awareness of the past. Whereas oral societies tend to be more literate societies have a very definite While concerned with the present, awareness of the past. 44|Page In contrast to oral communities, it is very difficult to get away from calendar time in literate societies. Compared with people in oral cultures, people in literate cultures organise their lives around clocks and calendars. contrasts with that This interpretation differs from that of Smith and Jones (2004) who argue that... is different from that Comparison within one sentence (comparative forms) Women are faster/slower than men at certain precision manual tasks, such as ..... Women tend to perform better/worse than men on tests of perceptual speed. Further, men are more/less accurate in tests of target-directed motor skills. Women are more/less likely than men to suffer aphasia when the front part of the brain is damaged. Adolescents are less likely to be put to sleep by alcohol than adults. Women tend to have greater/less verbal fluency than men. In the trial, women made fewer errors than men. The corpus callosum, a part of the brain connecting the two hemispheres, may be more/less extensive in women. Indicating difference across two sentences By contrast, + tat many people in oral communities have It is very difficult to get away from In contrast, . . . ry ee 8 v . little idea of the calendar year of their calendar time in literate societies. On the other . birth. hand, Indicating similarity across two sentences Young children learning their Similarly, low level adult L2 learners need graded first language need simplified Likewise, input supplied in most cases by a input. In the same way, teacher. 45|Page Defining Terms In academic work students are often expected to give definitions of key words and phrases in order to demonstrate to their tutors that they understand these terms clearly. Academic writers generally, however, define terms so that their readers understand exactly what is meant when certain key terms are used. When important words are not clearly understood misinterpretation may result. In fact, many disagreements (academic, legal, diplomatic, personal) arise as a result of different interpretations of the same term. In academic writing, teachers and their students often have to explore these differing interpretations before moving on to study a topic. Introductory phrases: It is necessary here to clarify exactly what is meant by .... This shows a need to be explicit about exactly what is meant by the word X. X is a term frequently used in the literature, but to date there is no consensus about .... There is a degree of uncertainty around the terminology in .... Simple three-part definitions A university is an institution where knowledge is produced and passed on to others Social Economics the branch of [which is] concerned with the measurement causes and may be defined as economics consequences of social problems. which consists of three elements or components: (1) a Research may be a systematic question, problem, or hypothesis, (2) data, and (3) defined as process . : analysis and interpretation of data. of touch reading and writing for blind people in which Braille is asystem raised dots on paper represent the letters of the alphabet. General meanings or application of meanings The term X refers to .... The term X encompasses A), B), and C). X can be defined as .... It encompasses X can be loosely described as a correlation. The term X has come to be used to refer to .... The term X is generally understood to mean.... The term X has been applied to situations where students .... In the literature, the term tends to be used to refer to .. The broad use of the term X is sometimes equated with .... Whereas X refers to the operations of ...., Y refers to the .... The term disease refers to a biological event characterised by...... The term X is a relatively new name for a Y, commonly referred to.... In broad biological terms, X can be defined as any stimulus that is .... Defined as XYZ, obesity is now considered a worldwide epidemic and is associated with .... 46|Page Describing Quantities The language for writing about quantities can be a complex area for non-native speakers because there are many combinations of short grammar words, such as prepositions and pronouns, and these can easily be confused. Many of the phrases given below also contain approximators such as: nearly, approximately, over half, less than, just over. Describing ratios and proportions The proportion of live births outside marriage reached one in ten in 1945. The proportion of the population attending emergency departments was 65% higher in X than .... Singapore has the highest proportion of millionaire households. East Anglia had the lowest proportion of lone parents at only 14 per cent. The annual birth rate dropped from 44.4 to 38.6 per 1000 per annum. Describing fractions Over half of those surveyed indicated that... Of the 148 patients who completed the questionnaire, just over half indicated that .... Approximately half of those surveyed did not comment on.... Nearly half of the respondents (48%) agreed that .... Less than a third of those who responded (32%) indicated that .... The number of first marriages in the United Kingdom fell by nearly two-fifths. Describing percentages The response rate was 60% at six months and 56% at 12 months. Returned surveys from 34 radiologists yielded a 34% response rate. 70% of those who were interviewed indicated that .... Since 1981, England has experienced an 89% increase in crime. The mean income of the bottom 20 percent of U.S. families declined from $10,716 in 1970 to .... X found that of 2,500 abortions, 58% were in young women aged 15-24, of whom 62% were .... He also noted that /ess than 10% of the articles included in his study cited .... In 1960 just over 5% of live births in 1960 were outside marriage. Describing averages This figure can be seen as the average life expectancy at various ages. The proposed model suggests a steep decline in mean life expectancy .... Roman slaves probably had a lower than average life expectancy. The average of 12 observations in the X, Y and Z is 19.2 mgs/m.... The mean score for the two trials was subjected to multivariate analysis of variance to determine .... The mean income of the bottom 20 percent of U.S. families declined from $10,716 in 1970 to .... Describing ranges Estimates of X range from 200,000 to 700,000 and up to a million or more. The respondents had practised for an average of 15 years (range 6 to 35 years). The participants were aged 19 to 25 and were from both rural and urban backgrounds. They calculated ranges of journal use from 10.7%-36.4% for the humanities, 25%-57% for .... Rates of decline ranged from 2.71- 0.08 cm day (Table 11) with a mean of 0.97 cm per day. The evidence shows that life expectancy from birth lies in the range of twenty to thirty years. Between 575 and 590 metres depth the sea floor is extremely flat, with an average slope of.... The mean income of the bottom 20 percent of U.S. families declined from $10,716 to $9,833. 49|Page Explaining Causality A great deal of academic work involves understanding and suggesting solutions to problems. At postgraduate level, particularly in applied fields, students search out problems to study. In fact, one could say that problems are the raw material for a significant proportion of academic activity. However, solutions cannot be suggested unless the problem is fully analysed, and this involves a thorough understanding of the causes. Some of the language that you may find useful for explaining causes and effects is listed below. Verbs indicating causality may cause Lack of protein can lead to mental disability. can result in caused by Scurvy is a disease resulting from lack of vitamin C. stemming from Much of the instability in X stems from the economic effects of the war. Low levels of chlorine can give rise to high blood pressure. Nouns indicating causality The most likely causes of X are poor diet and lack of exercise. The causes of X have been the subject of intense debate within .... A consequence of vitamin A deficiency is blindness. X can have profound health consequences for older people. Physical activity is an important factor in maintaining fitness. Many other medications have an influence on cholesterol levels. Another reason why Xs have declined is that .... Prepositional phrases indicating causality owing to 200,000 people per year become deaf because of a lack of iodine. as a result of as a consequence of 50|Page Sentence connectors indicating causality Therefore, Consequently, Because of this, As a result (of this), If undernourished children do survive to become adults, they have decreased learning ability. when they grow up, it will probably be difficult for them to find work. Adverbial phrases indicating causality Malnutrition leads to illness and a reduced ability to work in adulthood, thus thereby perpetuating the poverty cycle. ae creating an area of low pressure. The warm air rises above the surface of the sea, 8 p Other examples X and Y are important driving factors of Z. As a consequence of X, it appears that Y alone is not the causative factor of... Extreme loneliness is a risk factor for X. X is almost as strong a risk factor for disability as Y. X is generally seen as a factor strongly related to Y. Due to X and Y, inflowing surface water becomes more dense as it.... The mixing of X and Y exerts a powerful effect upon Z through ..... The study found that loneliness has twice the impact on early death as obesity does. Loneliness can have profound health consequences for older people. Possible cause and effect relationships expressed tentatively This suggests a weak link may exist between X and Y. The human papilloma virus is linked to most cervical cancer. The use of X may be linked to behaviour problems in... There is some evidence that X may affect Y. The findings indicate that regular exercise could improve cognitive function in people at risk of .... It is not yet clear whether X is made worse by Y. X may have been an important factor in X may have contributed to the increase in.... X may have played a vital role in bringing about .... X may have been caused by an increase in .... In the literature, X has been associated with Y. X in many cases may be associated with certain bacterial infections. A high consumption of X could be associated with infertility. 51|Page Signalling Transition Previewing what is to follow in a paper or dissertation is like showing a map to a driver; it enables them to see where they are going. So it is useful to think of a preview section as a 'road map' for the reader. It must be accurate, but it must be easy to follow. Writers are also expected to indicate to the reader when they are moving from one topic to another, or from on section of text to another. These are known as transition statements and examples of these, together with some previewing statements, are given below. Previewing sections of text The purpose of this chapter is to review the literature on X. It begins by .... This introductory section provides a brief overview of .... It then goes on to.... This part of the thesis discusses the findings which emerged from the statistical analysis presented in the previous chapter. This chapter describes and discusses the methods used in this investigation. The first section .... The second part moves on to describe in greater detail the .... The final chapter of this dissertation is divided into two parts. The first .... This chapter is divided into four main sections, each of which presents the results relating to one of the research questions. The structure and biological functions of Xs will be discussed in the forthcoming sections. Introducing a new topic or aspect of a topic As regards X, .... With respect to X, With regard to X, Regarding X, .... As far as X is concerned, .... In terms of X, In the case of X.... Reintroducing a topic As was pointed out in the introduction to this paper, .... As was mentioned in the previous chapter, .... As explained earlier, .... As explained in the introduction, it is clear that .... As described on the previous page, .... As discussed above, .... Returning (briefly) to the (subject/issue) of X, .... Moving from one section to the next So far this paper/chapter has focussed on X. The following section will discuss .... Before proceeding to examine X, it will be necessary to Before employing these theories to examine X, it is necessary to .... Having defined what is meant by X, | will now move on to discuss .... Having discussed how to construct X, the final section of this paper addresses ways of .... This section has analysed the causes of X and has argued that .... The next part of this paper will This chapter has demonstrated that .... It is now necessary to explain the course of.... 54|Page Turning now to the experimental evidence on .... This (chapter) follows on from the previous (chapter), which (examined/laid out/outlined) X. Moving from one section to the next whilst indicating addition, contrast or opposition In addition, it is important to ask .... On the other hand, in spite of much new knowledge about the role of ...., However, this system also has a number of serious drawbacks. Despite this, little progress has been made in the .... Previewing a following section This raises questions about X which will be discussed in the next chapter. The next chapter describes synthesis and evaluation of .... In the section that follows, it will be argued that .... The following is a brief report ona... What follows is a description/outline/account of ... The problem of X is discussed in the following section. Transition statements for results and discussion Turning now to the experimental evidence on .... Comparing the two results, it can be seen that .... A comparison of the two results reveals .... As pointed out in the introduction to this paper, .... From the previous discussion, it can be seen that ..... It is also worth noting that X is significantly more frequent in .... The differences between X and Y are highlighted in Table 4. Summary and preview This section has reviewed the three key aspects of .... This chapter has described the methods used in this investigation and it has In this section, it has been explained that .... The chapter that follows moves on to consider the.... This chapter began by describing X and arguing that .... It went on to suggest that the .... The next chapter describes the procedures and methods used in this investigation These analytical procedures and the results obtained from them are described in the next chapter A summary of the main findings and of the principal issues and suggestions which have arisen in this discussion are provided in the next chapter, which ... In the next section, | will present some of the findings of my empirical research on the impact of .... 55|Page Writing about the Past Writing about the past in English is made difficult by the rather complex tense system. However, the phrases grouped below give an indication of the uses of the main tenses in academic writing. For a comprehensive explanation of the uses of the various tenses you will need to consult a good English grammar book. A good recommendation is Practical English Usage by Michael Swan, Oxford University Press. Time phrases associated with the use of the simple past tense: specific times or periods of time in the past, completed During the Nazi period, Between 1933 and 1945, From 1933 to 1945, In the 1930s and 1940s, restrictions were placed on German academics. For centuries, In the second half of the 19th century, church authorities placed restrictions on academics. At the end of the nineteenth century, Following World War |, Fleming actively searched for anti-bacterial agents. In 1999, Fleming was named one of the 100 Most Important People of the century. Time phrases associated with the use of the present perfect tense: past and present connected To date, little evidence has been found associating X with Y. Up to now, the research has tended to focus on X rather than on Y. Since 1965, these four economies have doubled their share of world production and trade. So far, three factors have been identified as being potentially important: X, Y, and Z. Until recently, there has been little interest in X. Recently, these questions have been addressed by researchers in many fields. In recent years, researchers have investigated a variety of approaches to X but .... More recently, literature has emerged that offers contradictory findings about .... The past decade has seen the rapid development of X in many .... Over the past few decades, the world has seen the stunning transformation of X, Y and Z. Over the past century there has been a dramatic increase in .... 56|Page A note on academic style The principal characteristics of written academic style are listed below. 1. Evidence-based Perhaps the most important distinguishing feature of written academic style is that it is evidence- based. Writers support their arguments and claims with evidence from the body of knowledge relevant to their discipline. In addition, any research that is undertaken, must make reference to previous work in the field. As a result, academic texts are rich in attributions to other writers and references to previous research, as seen in the examples below: © Previous studies have shown that... These sources suggest that from the fifth century onwards * According to the 1957 Annual Medical report, the death of the 960 inhabitants of..... © However, as has been shown elsewhere (e.g. Smith, 1992), the increase in..... For further examples, refer to the section on Referring to the Literature in this document. In addition, general propositions are usually supported with real examples. © This can be seen in the case of.... © Agood example of this can be found in.... 2. Words of classical origin Unlike everyday English, academic writing is characterised by a high frequency of words of classical origin (Greek and Latin). The main reason for this is that Latin was the lingua academica during the European renaissance; in other words, it was the international language of scholars. Even up until relatively recently, great works of science, such as Isaac Newton’s Philosophiz Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), were written in Latin. Even where academic texts were written in English, words of classical origin were used for concepts and phenomena for which there was no equivalent in English. Although the lingua academica of today is English, writers of academic English still tend to use words which are derived from Latin, and also, mainly through Latin, from Greek. everyday words academic words worry concern story account get rid of eradicate a lot of > considerable not enough insufficient trouble difficulty big significant way (of doing) method bring together synthesise thing object There are also some changes to grammatical words (though these are not of classical origin): 59|Page everyday words academic words not much research little research not many studies > few studies isn’t any evidence no evidence 3. Cautious Academic writers are careful about the claims they make: they take care not to appear certain where some doubt may exist, and they are careful not to over-generalise. An example of this kind of transformation can be seen below. The second sentence is in academic style: © Drinking alcohol causes breast cancer in women. > *¢ Some studies suggest that drinking alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer. For more examples of this kind of language, refer to the section on Being Cautious. 4. Impersonal In the interests of objectivity, academic writers tend to remove themselves from the writing. The focus is on ‘what’ happened, ‘how’ it was done and ‘what’ was found. The ‘who’ (the writer) is not normally given very much attention. This is one of the reasons why personal pronouns (‘I’ and ‘we’) tend not to be used. In addition, academic texts rarely address the reader directly and the pronoun normally used for this, ‘you’, is avoided. ¢ You could say that Churchill made some catastrophic decisions early in the War > ¢ It can be said that Churchill made some catastrophic decisions early in the War There are some exceptions: in certain disciplines, it may be appropriate for a writer to explain their personal interest in the research area. In some disciplines, the researcher may participate in the research as a participant-observer. In these cases, ‘I’ will be used. The example below, which illustrates the former situation, is taken from a dissertation in History. | became interested in X after reading | hope to convey some of my fascination for the subject, as well as expressing my admiration of the artistic achievements of those involved In research undertaken by teams, for example in medicine and science, it is common for the research to be reported using the personal pronoun ‘we’. 5. Nominalisation There is a tendency for academic writers to transform verbs (actions) into nouns. In the example below, the verb ‘abandoned’ becomes the abstract noun ‘abandonment’. ¢ Unwanted Roman children were generally abandoned in a public place. > ¢ ~The abandonment of unwanted Roman children generally occurred in a public place. As a result of this kind of transformation, academic writing is characterised by long noun phrase constructions, as in: ‘the abandonment of unwanted Roman children’. In certain cases, these nominalised forms can become long and complex: 60|Page ° the effect of reducing aggressiveness by producing an ACTH-mediated condition of decreased androgen levels Although this kind of construction is considered normal in scientific writing, unless the reader is familiar with the constructions, it does make reading difficult as there are so many pieces of information to process in the one sentence. There is an argument that too much nominalisation should be discouraged. 6. Rhetorical questions Questions to introduce significant new ideas are avoided, and are replaced with statements: e Is the welfare system good or not? > ¢ It is important to consider the effectiveness of the British welfare system. 7. Contracted forms avoided Contracted forms (e.g. it’s, don’t, isn’t, aren’t) should not be used in academic writing. The only exception would be if you re transcribing a recorded conversation or interview. 8. Precise and detailed Last of all, one of the most noticeable features of academic writing is that it is very precise and detailed. This relates to the setting out and development of the thinking and the ideas as well as to the language used in the writing. 61|Page A note on British and US spelling The most common difference which is noticed in academic writing concerns verbs which end in ise/yse Br. or ize/yze US: ¢ analyse Br. v analyze US. © industrialise Br.v industrialize US. This difference also affects the nouns derived from the verbs: °¢ organisation Br. v organization US. e globalisation Br. v globalization US. Another noticeable difference relates to words ending in re: ¢ centre Br.v center US. © metre Br.v meter US. Here are some other differences: British US aeroplane airplane analogue analog behaviour behavior catalogue catalog colour color connection connexion defence defense endeavour endeavour encyclopaedia encyclopedia fibre fiber foetus fetus instalment installment labour labor paediatric pediatric plough plow programme program rigour rigor sceptical skeptical skilful skillful travelled traveled If you are writing for a British university or a British journal, you should use the British spelling. 64|Page A note on punctuation As the purpose of punctuation is to make written English easier to read and to make the meaning clear and unambiguous, good, accurate punctuation is important in academic writing. The following notes highlight points of particular relevance to academic writing. 1. Fullstop . © To indicate the end of a sentence © To indicate an abbreviation such as etc., et al. (not always used) © To indicate an omission in a quoted text [... ] 2. Comma , ¢ To separate two main parts of a sentence joined by words such as and, or, but, ¢ To separate a dependent part of a sentence (beginning with words such as although, when, because) from the main part, particularly if the dependent part comes first in the sentence © To indicate additional information, however relevant it may be, in a sentence (parenthesis) ¢ To indicate a non-defining relative clause, which simply provides additional information, ina sentence © To separate items ina list such as clauses, phrases, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs 3. Colon : © To introduce an explanation: The reason the experiment failed was obvious: the equipment was faulty. © To introduce a list, particularly a grammatically complex list: see the example below under semi-colon ¢ = To introduce a direct quotation, particularly a long one: Jones (2003) states that:‘ ’. 4. Semi-colon ; To separate two sentences that are very closely connected in meaning (optional, in place of a full stop): Some students prefer to write essays; others prefer to give presentations. ¢ To separate clearly items in a grammatically complex list: For Aristotle, motion is of four kinds: (1) motion which ....; (2) motion which ....; (3) motion which ....; and (4) motion which.... 5. Quotation marks ‘ ’7/“ ” © = To indicate a direct quotation © = To highlight words or phrases used in a special or unusual way: Quotation marks are also called ‘inverted commas’. NB Single quotation marks now seem to be more commonly used than double. For quotations within quotations, use double quotation marks inside single (or single inside double). 6. Dash — © Generally avoid in formal academic writing. Replace by colon, semi-colon, or brackets, as appropriate. 65|Page Anote on article use Articles use in English is a very complex area. However, there are a few simple rules which will help you in many situations and these are explained below: 1. Singular countable nouns All singular countable nouns are always preceded by a small modifying word known in grammar as a determiner, and this is often an article (a/an, the). Countable words which are common in academic writing and which cause problems for non-native speakers of English, include: system, model, method, approach, group, problem, effect, level, investigation, sector, study, participant, condition, category Note that even if these words are preceded by uncountable nouns or adjectives a determiner is still needed: ° the greenhouse effect, the transport system, the control group ¢ = ahigh level, a systematic approach, a rigorous study, an exploratory investigation 2. Plural countable nouns If the writer is thinking about a specific group, then the definite article is normally used: The books in this collection were published in the 19th or early 20th century. Otherwise no article is used: e Learners tend to remember new facts when they are contextualised. 3. Uncountable nouns Uncountable nouns are not normally accompanied by an article: * Science has been defined as a systematic approach to answering questions. ¢ = Reliability is an important quality of any test. But if they are post-modified by of....., or which ... the definite article is normally used: ¢ = The science of global warming is a complex and controversial area. © = The reliability of this instrument is poor. © Chemistry is the science which addresses the composition and behaviour of matter. 66|Page The main part of the sentence can also be placed before the dependent part. Main part Ss Vv Oral societies tend to be more concerned with the present Dependent part Ss Vv whereas __ literate societies have a very definite awareness of the past. The dependent part of complex sentence is usually preceded by a word or phrase such as: although, even though, if, even if, when, because, as, since, whereas, while. 3. Compound sentences Some sentences may have two Subject > Verb structures and both of these convey meaning that can make sense by itself; in other words, there are two main parts. The two parts may be joined by words like and, or, but, so, or by using a semi-colon (;) . Ss Vv Supporters of the ‘Great Divide’ theory agree that something is lost as well as gained when people become literate, Ss Vv but they consider | it is worth losing some benefits in order to obtain many others. 4. Common problems relating to sentence structure Problems occur in writing when dependent parts of sentences are written as complete sentences with a full stop: ¢ Whereas literate societies have a very definite awareness of the past. X ¢ = Although a number of studies have been undertaken. X Problems also occur when two independent parts are written as one sentence without a joining word. ¢ Supporters of the ‘Great Divide’ theory agree that something is lost as well as gained when people become literate, they consider it is worth losing some benefits in order to obtain many others. X 69|Page A note on paragraph structure A pattern that can be identified in many well-written paragraphs is that of a controlling idea followed by supporting information. The controlling idea, sometimes referred to as the topic sentence, introduces a new idea, topic, argument or piece of information into the main text. This is then either explained further or supported by subsequent sentences. This structure can be represented schematically thus: Topic Sentence (new point, expressed in general terms) Supporting Information which may include a combination of: an explanation or reason reference to previous research examples quotations statistics specific aspects or details a development in time an effect or consequence It is important that the explanatory or supporting information in a paragraph should relate to the topic sentence. If new points or ideas are to be stated, then these should be treated in a separate paragraph. It is also important that the explanatory or supporting information should not repeat the general ideas expressed in the topic sentence. An example of the kind of paragraph structure suggested above is given below. Note the development from the general idea to the more detailed information. Also note the thematic linking, which is signalled by the words in bold, between the sentences. Each of these words and phrases links back to an idea introduced in the previous sentence. Here, the sentences have been separated. Many children become interested in competitive sport at early ages. Early involvement (prior to maturity) in competitive sport often exposes found individuals to types of stress that may affect their growth, producing a disruption of the normal growth pattern (Wang, 1978; Al Masry, 1998). Among cyclists the most potentially serious of these disorders is likely to be increased thoracic curvature. Cycling alters the anatomical position of the spine (to a flexed position) particularly the thoracic spine, and exposes the anterior portion of the vertebral column to higher compression (Smith, 1998; Jones, 2002). 70|Page Anote on the writing process So far this document has been about ‘what we write’. This final section comprises a set of notes which are concerned with ‘how’ we write. It is organised into a series of helpful tips. Although only two pages are devoted to these ideas, together they have the potential to make a significant deference to the quality and quantity of your written output. Tip No. 1. The importance of planning: Research has shown that experienced writers plan extensively. Initially, planning may involve simply generating ideas and exploring the relationships between them schematically, as in the diagram to the right. At a more advance stage of the planning process, a chapter outline of Z the thesis or dissertation will be necessary. This will become more ON oy detailed as you work on your study. You need to think of a writing Be 2 * plan as a road map. Without a map, you will probably lose your way or travel in circles. Tip No. 2. Getting started: Many writers suffer from ‘writers’ block’; they find it difficult to get started. One way of overcoming this is to give yourself a short period of time (say four minutes), and without stopping, write whatever comes into your mind about the topic. The important thing to do is to keep writing, or if you are using a keyboard, to keep typing. Don’t worry about spelling of grammar — just keep producing words. You will be surprised at how much text you will produce and how many ideas are generated in such a short time. Now you can begin to organise the ideas you have produced, ensuring that they are written in logically developed and grammatically correct sentences. Tip No. 3. Be regular: You should timetable yourself so that you have a regular daily writing slot. This may seem obvious, but it is fundamental to ensuring the production of written text. Timetable a writing period each day, and aim to produce some text every time. How much you produce will vary, and what you produce, even if it is just a few paragraphs, may only be in the initial draft stage. This is not so important. The important thing is that the writing becomes a part of your daily routine. Simply getting your body to sit in front of a computer at a certain time each day will produce results. Tip No. 4. Keep a notebook: When we are writing up a major piece of work, many ideas and insights come to us when we are not actually writing. Often, some of the most insightful ideas emerge when we are in a non-focussed cognitive state, such as when we are walking, running or swimming. Unless you can capture these ideas soon after they come to you, they may be lost. A small notebook and a pen is probably the best way to capture these thoughts before they disappear. The notebook itself can become a place where you develop the ideas and even start to formulate how the ideas will be developed in textual form. 71|Page