This document provides an overview of academic writing for international students. It discusses academic honesty versus dishonesty, including principles of citing work and avoiding plagiarism. It also covers writing structures for term papers, accessing research databases, referencing styles, and creating bibliographies and reference lists. The document aims to give guidance on best practices for conducting research and writing academic papers.

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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).