Here there is a slideshare for you to learn about writing. Enjoy!

1. College: I.S.F.D N°41
Subject: Language and written expresion IV
Teacher: Stella Maris Saubidet Oyhamburu
Student: Jacqueline Rodrigues de Abreu
Advice on Academic Writing

2. General Advice
Essay writing
 An essay should:
 have an argument
 answer a question (or a few)
 try to prove something
 be design to present an argument crearly and persuasevely.
 As a writer you should:
 analyse the Surface structure of your material
 formulate a question
 develop thinking by Reading
 jot a provisional thesis or hypothesis

3. Planning and organizing
 A paragraph is a sentence or a group of sentences that supports one central, unified idea.
 The body paragraph demonstrates and develops your topic sentence through an ordered, logical
progression of ideas.
 Techniques and types of paragraph:
Illustration Definition Analysis Qualification Process
Supports a general
statement by means
of examples, details or
relevant quotations.
Defines and
explains a term.
Develops a topic
by distinguishing
its component
parts and
dicussing each of
these parts
separately.
Acknoledges that
what you previously
asserted is not
absolutely true or
always applicable.
Involves a
straighforward step by
step description.

4. Reading and
researching
“Critical writing depends on critical Reading”
The judgements and interpretations you make of
the texts you read are the first steps towards
formulating your own approach.

5. Dealing with new words
 Examine the structure:
• Look for familiar words
• Look for prefixes and suffixes
 Look at the context:
• Guess at the word´s meaning from the
way it is used in the sentence.
 Last! Chech your dictionary!
 Previewing new vocabulary
 Resources for building vocabulary
 Spend time Reading
 Think about words and play
with them.
 Browse through dictionary´s
pages. You will start to see
patterns and notice
differences among related words.
 It´s easy to find Word games on the
web.

6. Reading to write
some advice
o Read the tittle
o Think about the subject matter
o Investigate some information about the autor.
o Think about the audience fot the text
o Where and when was it published? Think abot the significance of the
period in which it was written.
o Read the chapter´s headings.
o Think about the purpose or your professor. What kind of facts and
ideas are you expected to retain from this reading?

7. Quick Reading techniques
Skimming
 Read carefully the introductory
paragraph (try to predict)
 Read one or two sentences of each
paragraph and the concluding
sentences.
 In between keep your eyes moving.
 Read carefully the concluding
paragraph.
Scanning
 State the specific information you are
looking for.
 Try to anticipate how the answer will
appear and what clues you might use
to help you locate the answer.
 Use headings and any other aids that
will help you identify which sections
might contain the information you are
looking for.
 Selectively read and skip through
sections of the passage.

8. Specific types of writing
Annotated bibliography
 Like any bibliography , an annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of research
sources. In addition to bibliographic data, it provides a concise summary of each source.
Example Mclvor, S.D. (1995). Aboriginal women´s rights as “existing
rights”.Canadian Woman Studies/ Les Cahiers de la Femme 2/3, 34-38.
This article seeks to define the extend of the civil and political rights
returned to aboriginal women in the Constitution Act (1982), in its
amendment in 1983, and in amendments to the Indian Act (1985). This
legislation reserves prior laws that denied Indian Status to aboriginal
women who married non-aboriginal men. On the basis of the Supreme
Court of Canada´s interpretation of the Constitution Act in R.V.
Sparrow (1991), Mclvor argues that the Act recognizes fundamental
human rights and existing aboriginal rights, granting to aboriginal
women full participation in the aboriginal right to self-government.
Method and main
conclusions
Research
question

9. A litetature review
A literature review is a piece of discourse prose. It
organizes into sections that present themes or
identify trends, including relevant theory.
 A literature review has to:
 Be organized and relate directly to the thesis.
 Synthesize results into a summary.
 Identify áreas of controversy in the literature.
 Formulate questions that need further research.

10. Writing about history
Primary sources
 Documents that were created at the
time of the event or subject you have
chosen to study or by people who ere
observers of or participants in that
event or topic.
 Medium:
Newspapers/ films/ settlement/ house
records and manuscripts/ novels/ census
records/ autobiographies/ maps/ music/
oral stories/ objects/ buildings
Secondary sources
 Find out what other scholars have
written about the event or topic.
 Medium:
A book, an article, or a paper written by a
scholar.

11. Writing about
Literature
TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
• Avoid plot summary: As ageneral rule, mention only plot details that are relevant to your argument.
• Master the art of the analytical thesis: A thesis must be complex enough that it would not be immediately
obvious to a casual reader, but it must be simple enough that it can be stated in a relatively short amount of
space.
• Let the structure of your argument determine the structure of your paper.
• Opt for analysis instead of evaluative judgments: focus on analyzing the work, not celebrating it.
• Don’t confuse the author with the speaker: Poetry, like the novel or short story, is a creative genre in which
authors are free to inhabit the voice(s) of any character(s) they like.
• Pay attention to both content and technique: Content refers to plot and Technique refers to the various ways
in which the work creates meaning.
• Integrate quotations fully into your argument: be sure to contextualize the quotation by giving some
information about it and follow each quotation with a few sentences in which you unpack the passage and
relate it back to your argument.

12. Writing in the sciences
 Audience: readers of science-related writing can have very different levels
of knowledge.
 Jargon: language that is unrecognizable to most people. In the sciences
this technical language can be indispensable.
 Tense: The two most common tenses in science papers are present and
past. Future and present perfect rank a distant third and fourth.
 Sources: Science courses rely on the citation-sequence system of
referencing. The details may differ depending on your discipline, but
generally you list references on a separate page at the end of the paper in
numerical sequence according to the order in which sources are cited in
the paper, rather than in alphabetical order. In the body, you insert the
reference number in the appropriate place (within parentheses or as a
superscript), repeating a previous number if you have already cited the
same source earlier. The citation-sequence system minimizes clutter and
allows readers to find references quickly.

13. THESIS AND GRANT PROPOSALS
SOME ADVICE
Process
 Look closely at departmental
specifications (about timing,
scope, length, readers).
 Ask other graduate students in
your department about their
experiences; find a way to look
at past proposals.
 Try out your ideas as widely as
possible, especially with your
supervisor and committee
members (informal discussions,
drafts, preliminary meetings,
presentations at colloquia, etc.).
 Don’t procrastinate: delay just
isolates you from sources of
help.
Function
 Show why your research idea
is interesting within the field:
discuss what others have done
and not done.
 Show that you can carry it
out: sketch your methodology.
 Limit your promises: exclude
texts, topics, methods that you
won’t use (and say why) as
well as outlining those you will
use.
 Remember that your thesis
proposal is a document to be
filed, not a publication of
results.
Rhetoric
 Start with why your idea is
worth doing (contribution to
field), then fill in how
(technicalities about topic and
method).
 Give enough detail to
establish feasibility, but not so
much as to bore the reader.
 Show your ability to deal with
possible problems or changes
in focus.
 Show confidence

14. Style and Editing
 lack of agreement
 sentence fragments
 overly-long sentences
 overuse of passive voice
 faulty parallelism
 vague pronouns
 dangling modifiers
 squinting modifiers
 mixed or dead metaphors
 faulty word choice / faulty diction
 Wordiness
 comma splices
 misuse of comma, semicolon, colon
HIT PARADE OF ERRORS
IN GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, AND STYLE

15. WORDINESS: DANGER
SIGNALS and Ways to React
• Doubling of Words
mutual agreement (agreement)
• Intensifiers, Qualifiers
a considerable amount of/ to a certain
extent
• Formulaic Phrases
for the purpose of (to)
• Unnecessary "to be" and "being“
The program is considered to be effective.
The book is considered effective OR The
program is effective.
• Overuse of Relative Structures ("Who,"
"Which," "That")
The novel, which is entitled Ulysses, takes
place . . .
The novel Ulysses takes place . .
It was Confucius who said . . .
Confucius said . . .
• Passive Verbs
It is felt that an exercise program should be
attempted by this patient before any
surgery is performed.
The patient should attempt an exercise
program before surgery

16. Passive Voice
• The actor is unknown
• The actor is irrelevant
• You want to be vague about who is responsible
• You are talking about a general truth
• You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on
When to use it:
When to avoid it:
• Passive sentences can get you into trouble in academic writing because they can be vague about who is
responsible for the action
• Academic writing often focuses on differences between the ideas of different researchers, or between
your own ideas and those of the researchers you are discussing. Too many passive sentences can create
confusión
• Passive sentences often sound wordy and indirect. They can make the reader work unnecessarily hard.
And since they are usually longer than active sentences, passive sentences take up precious room in your
paper:

17. Some Tools and Rules to Improve
Your Spelling
Use a (good) dictionary:
Be consistent about using British or American spellings in your writing:The key is to
remain consistent in your choices throughout a single document
Always check certain “troublesome” suffixes in your dictionary: Some English suffixes
confound even the best spellers. Make it a habit always to check words when you are
editing or proofreading your work.
Create your own “difficult-to-spell” lists
Learn the standard pronunciations for frequently misspelled words
Watch out for homophones, near-homophones, and other easily confusable words
Use your computer spellchecker, but with caution
Become familiar with English spelling rules

18. English as a second language
Using Gerunds and Infinitives
Following a preposition
(gerund only)
 Gerunds can follow a preposition;
infinitives cannot.
 Can you touch your toes without
bending your knees?
 He was fined for driving over the
speed limit.
 She got the money by selling the car.
 A corkscrew is a tool for taking corks
out of bottles.
Following an indirect object
(infinitive only)
 Ask Beg
 Cause Challenge
 Convince Encourage
 Expect Forbid
 Force Hire
 Instruct Invite
 Need Order
 Persuade Remind
 Require Teach
 Tell Urge
 Want Warn

19. Verbs for Referring to Sources
 Pattern 1: reporting verb + that + subject + verb
Verbs:
acknowledge admit agree allege argue assert assume believe claim conclude consider decide
demonstrate deny determine discover doubt emphasize explain find hypothesize imply indicate infer
note object observe point out prove reveal show state suggest think
 Pattern 2: reporting verb + somebody/something + for + noun/gerund
Verbs:
applaud blame censure criticize disparage fault praise ridicule single out thank
 Pattern 3: reporting verb + somebody/something + as + noun/gerund/adjective
Verbs:
appraise assess characterize class classify define depict describe evaluate identify interpret portray
present refer view

20. Bibliography
Brown, E.H. (n.d.) Writing about history. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/
Knott, D. (n.d.) Critical Reading toward critical writing. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/
Lewsen, S. (n.d.) Writing about literatura. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/
Plotnick, J. (n.d.) Writing in the Sciences. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/
Procter, M. (n.d.) Thesis and grant proposals: some advice. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/
Silder, A. (1987) Some general Advice on academic essay-writing. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/
Taylor, D. (n.d.) The literature review: a few tips on conducting it. Web site: http://writing.utoronto.ca/