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Guide to Academic Writing

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EEEEEEP:
Writing Effectiveness and Verbosity
This post is for those who struggle with academic writing  or are trying to improve their writing from an B to an  A.

While academic essays and reports require the use of more deep vocabulary, many people fall under the trap of becoming too verbose.

What is verbosity?
Verbosity means the extent to which something is excessive in writing. This is usually present in the sentence word counts and vocabulary. 
** Too much verbosity results in a sentence that is hard to understand, hard to follow and not smooth to read. **
** Too little verbosity results in a sentence that sounds like something that was written in the fifth grade and is lacking in complexity**

A simple demonstration would be in business contracts.
"In the event of any failure or malfunctioning of any component of the  apparatus which renders the appliance inoperative and necessitates repair before the appliance will work normally, the Board will, at the request of the consumer within a reasonable period and during normal working hours and subject to the conditions and exceptions set out in paragraphs two and three below, repair or replace such components free of charge. "

EXAMPLE(( TLDR...... BASICALLY, if it breaks, we’ll fix it )) [/b]
A paragraph like this demonstrates some wisdom, complexity but is easy to understand.
"High-quality learning environments are a necessary precondition for the facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing learning process."
EXAMPLE(Although facilitation and enhancement can be replaced by “improvement”, it is a good sentence.)
A paragraph like this is barely digestible and loses its effectiveness.
"The candidate should know and understand…how to demonstrate understanding of, and facilitate at the tactical and operational level, continuous improvement and change management activities in the context of the organisation, its culture and individual and team activities."
EXAMPLEA better paragraph would be….
"The candidate should understand how management works in an organisation. This includes knowledge of different levels in an organisation, change management , culture and teams." (Simple sentence, uses keywords and digestible)
In conclusion
- Sentences should not exceed 40 words.
- When there are many ideas in a sentence, split it.
- Use keywords in moderation.
- BALANCE BALANCE BALANCE! (reiterates the previous three points)

Good luck in future writing =)

EEEEEEP:
Exercises

Plagiarism
**Note, many of these scenarios are common situations that people encounter, but don’t realise is unacceptable to do**.


Acceptable conducts FOR THE ABOVE
Click to review acceptable conduct
......

Paraphrasing
Try to change this one....

"Traditionally, in oral and written discourses, the masculine pronoun ‘he’ was used as a pronoun to refer to a person whose gender was unknown or irrelevant to the context. Recently, this usage has come under criticism for supporting gender-based stereotypes and is increasingly considered inappropriate."

s110820:

--- Quote from: EEEEEEP on July 28, 2016, 10:53:45 pm ---Hi there. I am EEEEEEP. I am in my 3rd of uni and currently study at UTS.

This thread will cover:

> Academic Honesty and Plagiarism

> Grammar and Language

> Writing Structure

> Academic Sources

> Writing Effectiveness and verbosity

> Exercises for plagiarism and paraphrasing

--- End quote ---

Hi EEEEEEP,

I love the purpose of this forum thread! I think that it would be extremely useful for students who are transitioning from secondary school to university. However, I was just wondering if the style/standards/expectations of academic writing would be similar across all universities/each state, or would the style/standards/expectations vary based on each university?

Thank you so much and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.

Joseph41:

--- Quote from: s110820 on June 04, 2020, 07:48:43 am ---Hi EEEEEEP,

I love the purpose of this forum thread! I think that it would be extremely useful for students who are transitioning from secondary school to university. However, I was just wondering if the style/standards/expectations of academic writing would be similar across all universities/each state, or would the style/standards/expectations vary based on each university?

Thank you so much and kind regards,

Darcy Dillon.

--- End quote ---

In my experience, standards and processes can differ from institution to institution - and even more specifically than that (school to school, unit to unit).

sewusuwur:
Although this topic seems to be forgotten, I want to bump it and express my emotions. I have been searching for various guides on academic writing, but 90% of those I found on the Internet turned out to be awful.I need to write a letter of recommendation to get a scholarship and it's my only chance to start studying in college. The research I carried out lets me share some results with you, perhaps, my sources of information will be helpful. https://owl.purdue.edu/ and https://www.dvc.edu/student-services/financial-aid/scholarships/scholarship-tips.html helped me to obtain the basics of academic writing and know the tips that'll help me to obtain scholarship. There's another resource I must share https://www.essayedge.com/blog/letter-of-recommendation-for-college-scholarship-learn-all-the-nuances/. I found it accidentally, but much of my success belongs to it.  Notify me if my recommendations are useful.

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