A course for international students September 13th, 2013

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Academic writing
An introduction for international students
Karen Marie Øvern – September 13, 2013

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On the agenda today
 Academic honesty vs dishonesty
 Writing your term paper/ essay
 What does it mean to have access to ”everything”?
 IMRAD-structure vs. Essay structure
 Guidelines
 Referencing
 EndNote
 Vancouver and Harvard systems for bibliographies

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Academic honesty
 Three principles:
 When you said you did the work yourself, you actually did it.
 When you rely on someone else’s work, you cite it.
 When you present research materials as data, documents etc, you
present them fairly and truthfully.
(Lipton 2004, p.3)

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Academic DIShonesty
 Common cases:
 Incorrect/non-exsistent citation
 Data corruption (wilful or as accident)
 Copying papers with or without permission
 Using copyrighted material without proper authorization
 Reasons:
 Competition and pressure
 Conviction
 Ambitions
 Difficult to detect

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Avoiding academic DIShonesty
 Follow the guidelines (for the school)
 Cite what you use
 Be open about your data and analysis
 Plan your papers well
 Remember the three principles..

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Having access to ”everything”
 From remembering to understanding
 Databases
 ACM Digital library
 ISI Web of science
 ScienceDirect
 SpringerLink
 Google Scholar
 Images
 Creative commons
 Colourbox

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Writing your paper/essay
 Articles and reports:
 IMRAD structure (Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion)
 Essays:
 Not the same requirement for structure, but..
 Group your arguments
 Find an interesting angle
 Build your argument, one point at the time
 Both:
 Correct referencing and bibliography
 The three principles of academic honesty..

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Referencing
 Direct quotation
 Indirect quotation
 Harvard style
 Author-date
 Ex. ”80 percent of students find academic writing difficult”
(Lastname 2013, p. 3).
 Vancouver style
 Numbered
 Ex. ”80 percent of students find academic writing difficult” (1).

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Examples in-text
 Vancouver:
 Connor says "due to the international aspect, the definition of
evidence-based knowledge has changed over time"(1), and this is
concurred by several others (2-5). Connor can therefore lean on the
public opinion when she claims that it is hard to come by one,
unified and good definition (1).
 Harvard:
 Connor says "due to the international aspect, the definition of
evidence-based knowledge has changed over time”(Connor 2007,
p. 7), and this is concurred by several others (Martin 2006; Smith
2009; Oppenhouse 2011). Connor can therefore lean on the public
opinion when she claims that it is hard to come by one, unified and
good definition (2007).

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Example reference list
 Vancouver:
 1. Connor E. Evidence-based librarianship: case studies and active
learning excercises. Oxford: Chandos publishing; 2007.
 Harvard:
 Connor, E. (2007) Evidence-based librarianship: case studies and
active learning excercises. Oxford: Chandos publishing

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Bibliography
 Lipton, C. (2004) Doing honest work in college. Chicago:
University of Chicago
 Suggested reading:
 Guntlett, D. (1998) Essay-writing: the essential guide. [online].
Study Skills Institute of Communication Studies. URL:
http://www.theory.org.uk/david/essaywriting.pdf (05.09.2013).