Balaji presentation

Subjective Assignment II
of
MOOC ON ACADEMIC WRITING
(UGC)
ACADEMIC WRITING
Submitted by
BALAJI .K
(Application No: 718b4f5eecf011e9b3b85be2f1c9495f )
IMS Noida

Get it ‘Write’ First Time – Assignment Writing Skills
This workshop will:
− Offer tips for successful and thorough planning and mapping of
your research and ideas for assignments
− Show you expectations about academic style at M level
− Give tips about structuring academic papers
− Teach you how to use and acknowledge sources when
demonstrating arguments and analysis in post-graduate work

Contents
• Planning and mapping
• Reading for writing
• Tensions in academic writing
• Structure of written work
• Introductions and conclusions
• Appropriate writing style and presentation
• Acknowledging sources and referencing conventions
• The editing, drafting, and proofreading process

1. Planning and mapping
and mappingPlanning is a process with writing one part. You transform…
• The demands of the topic
• The ideas of other writers
• Your own thoughts
…….into your original argument.
A plan is a stage in the planning process, a conscious
ordering.

1.Planning and mapping
Negatives Benefits
Don’t know where to start
Nothing to show my tutor to gain feedback about
Made loads of notes but don’t know what is relevant
I’m over my word count but still go so much to include
Showed my plan to my tutor who gave me great feedback on my
assignment
Planning helps me think clearly and know what I am trying to do, so I
write more confidently
My plan shows me how to start my assignment and where it goes.
A plan makes writing easier

1.Planning and mapping
Activity 1: The planning process

2.Reading for writing
Tips:
A. Read your tutor’s/marker’s literature
B. Read literature reviews in the subject areas of your research
C. Create min-literature reviews for each

3.Tensions in academic writing
Factors generally increasing accessibility Factors initially improving text, but
may impede accessibility if taken
too far
Factors generally worsening
accessibility
Structural considerations sufficient organizers,
well-developed
framework
Push for concise
phrasing
‘less is more’
becoming too dense
and formal with no
‘flavouring’
Professional authenticity using unnecessary
jargon, over-
complex
vocabulary and
grammar
construction
Logical and
developmental
pressures
chaining text for ease of
understanding using
paragraphs and
sentences
‘Say it once and say
it right’
develops into a lack
of ‘warm-up’ links
needed to grasp wider
pattern of argument
Reproducing the feel of
an original text
as above
Readability understandable
language and simple
grammatical forms
Maximizing
originality
can lead to using
unnecessary concepts
or terminology, or
writing over-dense
text; and writing in
‘equations’, ie x with
y leads to z
Cramming in substantive
content
too much detail
Managing readers’
expectations
‘need to know’

4.Structure of written work
Firstly, you argue from one
point of view for
approximately half of the
text and then ‘switch’ to
another viewpoint until
your conclusion
Your first paragraph makes one point of
an argument, then you ‘zig to the next
different (possibly opposing) point and
argument, then you ‘zag’ back to your
original argument with another point,
and so on to the conclusion
You come to a crescendo of
one point building on another
and another and so on until
your conclusion
The Switch The Zig-zag The Snowball
Macro-structure

Organising your notes

Find the key words
Examine the sociological evidence of stereotypes of social groups in the mass
media. What are the causes of stereotyping in the mass media and to what extent
do they influence social attitudes?
• Sociological
• Stereotype
• Social group
• Mass media
• Causes
• What extent
• Influence
• Social attitude

Activity 2: Create a map or plan
Examine the sociological evidence of stereotypes of social groups in the mass media. What are the causes
of stereotyping in the mass media and to what extent do they influence social attitudes?
Definition of a stereotype
What are the different kinds of stereotypes?
Race; Culture; Nation; Class ; Sexual orientation; Gender
Do they intersect?
Define what is meant by mass media and what it includes
Press; TV; Radio; Online
How are these stereotypes represented in mass media?
Situation comedies
Cartoons in newspapers
Choice of interviewees on news programmes
Always including the ages of people in newspaper articles
Any evidence of influencing social attitudes?

Micro-structure
1. Lead-in to introduce new
point and transition from
last point
2. Explanation and detail
necessary to make the point
3. The point in your line of
reasoning
4. The evidence which
supports your point and any
further critical analysis of
that evidence
5. The lead-out that states the
importance/relevance of
the point to the task and/or
links forward to the point
ahead.
Point 1

Intro Para 1 Para 2 Para 3 Para 4 Para 5 Conc
>>>>>DEVELOPA LINE OF REASONING>>>>>
Intro Para 1 Para 2 Para 3 Para 4 Para 5 Conc
>>>>>DEVELOP A LINE OF REASONING>>>>>
Lay paragraphs out in a logical order
Stay focused

‘Flow’: moving smoothly from one paragraph and point to another
Comparing or contrasting phrases:
• 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.
• X is different from Y in a number of respects.
• X differs from Y in a number of important ways.
• Women and men differ not only in physical attributes
but also in the way in which they …
Transition words or phrases:
• For instance, …
• For example, …
• …this can be illustrated by …
• …, namely, …
• …, such as …

5.Introductions and conclusions
A clear introduction…
 sets the scene
 provides the purpose of the work
 acts as a map of the content with a summary of the points
Generates confidence
Strategies:
A. ‘Tell them what you are going to tell them’
B. ‘Quote a quote’

5.Introductions and conclusions
The conclusion…
 reminder of how answered
 no requirement to come to definition position
 possible recommendation required
Strategies:
A. ‘Quote a quote’
B. Link conclusion to title/task
C. Definite sense that reached the end

6.Appropriate writing style
and presentation
Formality:
• 3rd person – no ‘you’ or ‘I’
• Sentence construction
• Word choice
• Brevity
Check your handbooks
Word choice – ‘looking into’
Investigating or exploring or researching
Activity 3: Word choice alternatives
A. Figure out discover or determine
B. Come up with developed or created
C. Showed up were revealed or appeared
Activity 4: Sentence construction changes
A. The government allocated little funding for the
programme
B. The results can be seen in Table 2
C. This problem has few viable solutions

7.Acknowledging sources and
referencing conventions
The numeric system:
Each source followed by a number (starting at 1) in brackets
If use same source repeatedly, use same number first allocated
Full reference list at end in numerical order appear in text
The Harvard system:
Each source followed by a citation, i.e. author/s’ or editor/s’ name and date of
publication in brackets
If two authors, cite both; if more than two, cite first name and the et al
Full reference list at end in author/editor alphabetical order
Reference ALL Sources

8.The editing, drafting and
proofreading process
Write draft or version
Edit or revise first version
Editing: altering substansive content
Another draft with more revisions and editing
Proofread

The public’s knowlege of health is pore and more goverment funding for healt education is needed.
Increase sums of money shuld be spent on courses to make people awear of personal health ishues.
People don’t always know what then can do too take care of their health, so further invesment is needed in
training on health issues.
After editing and revisions:
You have a choice as each sentence says the same thing:
A. The public’s knowlege of health is pore and more goverment funding for healt education is needed.
B. Increase sums of money shuld be spent on courses to make people awear of personal health ishues.
C. People don’t always know what then can do too take care of their health, so further invesment is
needed in training on health issues.
After proofreading:
A. The public’s knowledge of health is poor and more government funding for health education is
needed.
B. Increased sums of money should be spent on courses to make people aware of personal health issues.
C. People do not always know what they can do to take care of their health, so further investment is
needed in training on health issues.
and Activity 5: edit and proofreading

Tips for proofreading:
! Proofread with a fresh brain and eyes.
! Proofread backwards one sentence at a
! Look for one type of proofreading issue at a time
! Beware of spell-checkers
Which member of University staff can proofread your work?
Nobody

References
Beamont, Ela. (226) Writing Your Postgrad Dissertation. Salford: University of Salford.
[online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/onlineresources/writing-you-
postgraduate-dissertation [Accessed 26.3.2014]
Burnett, J. (2009) Doing Your Social Science Dissertation. London: Sage Publications
Ltd.
Cottrell, S. (2003) The Study Skill Handbook. 2nd Ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cottrell, S. (2014) Dissertations and Project Reports. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dunleavy, P. (2003 ) Authoring a PhD. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Foskett, N., and Foskett, R. (2006) Postgraduate Study in the UK. London: Sage
Publications Ltd.

References
Potter, C. (2013) Week One: Straight Back into the Fray. Dundee: ‘Calum Potter’
Wordpress. [online] Available from:
http://interaction.dundee.ac.uk/~cpotter/wordpress/?author=1 [Accessed 11.11.2013].
Swales, J.and Feak, C. (2009) Academic Writing for Graduate Students. 2nd ed.
Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.
University of Cumbria. Writing Your Dissertation. Southampton: University of
Southampton. [online] Available at:
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/assets/imported/transforms/peripheral-
block/UsefulDownloads_Download/3B3F5F7FE5494F0BA5A9E0836BD0043A/writing
_your_dissertation.pdf [Accessed 8.8.2014]
University of Leicester. Writing a Dissertation. Leicester: University of Leicester. [online]
Available at:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writing-resources/writing-dissertation
[Accessed 3.4.2014]

FEEDBACK ABOUT THE COURSE
■ It is an extremely beneficial and important course for academicians like us since we are required to
write research papers, articles and case studies for professional enhancement. Hence, it is important
to have good academic writing skills
■ The entire course content is well planned and designed which enables step by step learning.
Plagiarism and Journal and Author Metrics were the two modules I liked the most.
■ I am definitely going to take suggestions from the current ‘Academic Writing Course’ that I’m
attending. I sincerely hope to continuously strive to excel as a professional writer.
■ I thank the coordinators of this course to have spent their time and efforts to compile these modules
for the benefit of the entire professional community.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• I am thankful to UGC - MOOC Academic Writing course for inspiring me do this work.
• Also I thank DR. AJAY SEMALTY for teaching us clearly the importance of the course and
how to use the knowledge gained through this course.
• Lastly I thank my college management for including this course in our academics

Balaji presentation

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Balaji presentation

Recently uploaded

Balaji presentation

Editor's Notes