CONVENTIONS IN WRITING ACADEMIC PAPER

(PRESENTING AN INDEPENDENT)
- GROUP 6, BSA 1-1 -

ACADEMIC PAPER/WRITING DEFINITION

Academic writing

 a style of expression used to communicate ideas, information, and research

within academic and scholarly contexts.

 serves as a formal and structured means of sharing knowledge, contributing

to intellectual discourse, and advancing understanding within specific
disciplines.

 prevalent in universities, research institutions, and other educational settings.

 Designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts within

a community of scholarly experts and practitioners.

Genres in Academic Writing:

1. Report- a clearly structured form of writing that presents and analyzes

information derived from the results of an experiment, investigation, or some
other form of primary research.

2. Research Proposal – a document that summarizes a research project,

outlining its purpose, methods, and goals. It includes the research question,
a review of existing literature, proposed methods, and expected outcomes.

3. Essay –a short piece of writing, usually between 1,500 to 2,000 words, that
presents an idea or argument. It aims to convince the reader of an idea using
research and analysis.

4. Thesis –a document that summarizes the author's research on a specific

topic. It usually builds on existing research to contribute new knowledge or
theories on the topic. These are typically lengthy documents between 6,000
and 20,000 words.

5. Annotated Bibliography –a comprehensive list of sources on a topic that

includes brief descriptions or evaluations of each source.
The characteristics of academic writing which together distinguish it from
other forms of writing are that it is:

 Structured Organization

- Academic papers follow a clear structure with an introduction, body

paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each section has a specific purpose,
contributing to the overall coherence of the writing.

- The writing should be coherent, with logical progression throughout, and

cohesive, with the different parts of the writing clearly connected.

 Evidence-Based

Arguments in academic writing are supported by evidence from reputable

sources, such as peer-reviewed articles, books, and other scholarly
publications.

 Critical Thinking

Academic writing involves critical analysis and thoughtful engagement with

ideas. Writers are expected to question assumptions, consider alternative
perspectives, and present well-reasoned arguments.

 Objective Language

Academic writing tends to use objective language, avoiding emotional or

biased expressions. It focuses on presenting facts and analysis in a neutral
manner.

Ways to maintain neutrality:

1. Write in third POV

2. Use more passive structures than active voice
3. Use nouns and noun phrases more than verbs and adverbs

 Clarity and Precision

Academic writing aims for clear and precise communication. Ideas are
presented in a straightforward manner to ensure understanding.

 Formality
 Academic writing maintains a formal tone and avoids the use of colloquial
language, slang, or overly casual expressions.

RULES AND CONVENTIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING

I: Basic grammar rules for academic writing

Rule # 1: You must write in sentences.

Sentences have the following characteristics: they start with a capital letter;
end with a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark; and contain a verb
(doing word).

Rule # 2: Subjects and verbs in sentences must agree with each

other.

If the subject of a sentence is singular, then the verb form must be singular
as well:
Eg: The student passes the exam.

Problems can occur with case agreement in two circumstances:

1. A statement begins in the singular, but drifts into the plural.

Incorrect: An information manager needs to know whether they are doing

their job
properly.

Correct: Information managers need to know whether they are doing their
jobs
Properly.

2. Collective nouns cause confusion.

Incorrect: The government are passing new legislation.

Correct: The government is passing new legislation

Rule # 3: You must use appropriate punctuation.

3.1 Commas (,)
Commas are used to denote a weak pause in a sentence.

3.2 Dashes and hyphens (—,-)

Try to minimise the use of dashes in your formal work.

“Each member of staff - from the most junior to the Chief Executive - is
invited to
comment on the plans.”

Hyphens are used to connect prefixes to words (for example, CD-ROM drives)
or when forming compounds such as "second-in-command".

3.3 Exclamation marks (!)

3.4 Full stops (.)

Dr. Mrs. or Co.

3.5 Question marks (?)

3.6 Colons (:)

There are four instances in which you might use a colon:

1. A colon can introduce a list:

The job placement entails various duties: setting up a database, liaising with
customers, ordering supplies and taking minutes at meetings.

2. A colon can precede a long quotation:

The Computing Officer explains the reason for this decision: "Java can enable
searching on any kind of platform. Time and money has been wasted by
developing 35 different versions, each requiring different programmers. With
a joint effort we knew we'd have an amazing product."

3. A colon can be used before a clause which explains (often by way

of illustration) the previous statement:
The Business Information Systems degree course is highly regarded:
academic standards are high, the lecturers are pleasant and the students
enjoy the modules taught.

4. A colon can be used to indicate a sharp contrast:

She enjoys keeping up to date with friends on Facebook: her friend thinks it
is too time-consuming.

3.7 Semi-colons

There are four main uses:

1. A semi-colon is used when a second clause expands or explains

the first:
Neither system matched the requirements exactly; this had to be checked
with
the supplier.

2. A semi-colon is used to describe a sequence of actions or different

aspects of the same topic:
There was funding for the project; a member of staff was keen to implement
the system; the work could be achieved within the time scale set.

3. A semi-colon is used before clauses which begin with

"nevertheless", "therefore", "even so" and "for instance":
She left the house early; even so she missed the bus.

4. A semi-colon is used to mark off a series of phrases or clauses

which contain commas:
Those involved in information work hold memberships with organisations
such as: CILIP; UKeIG; ASIST; BCS: and the European chapter of SLA.

Rule # 4: You must use the right vocabulary.

affect/effect, quote/quotation, practise/practice, license/licence (the

first is the verb, the second is the noun);
dependent and dependant (the first is an adjective, the second is a noun);
alternate and alternative, principal and principle (these words have
different meanings);
 less and fewer (less means less in quantity: there is less water than before.
Fewer means smaller in number: there are fewer people than before)

Rule 5: You must use the apostrophe correctly (and with care)

5.1 Possessive case

"the work of the information manager"
or "the information manager's work."

5.2 Contraction
"we're" is a shortened version of "we are"

Examples of the use of apostrophes to denote missing letters:

1. They don't employ staff in Wales. [do not]
2. I can't come on Monday. [cannot]
3. It's likely that the company will grow by 10% in the next financial year. [It
is]

Examples of the use of possessive adjectives:

1. The information manager has been in her job for ten months. [The job
belongs to her].
2. The organisation prepared its information strategy in 2013. [The
information strategy
belongs to it].
3. Their market sector is in decline. [The market sector belongs to them].

II. Conventions in academic writing

In the context of academic writing, "conventions" refer to the accepted practices,

rules, and norms that govern the presentation of written work. These conventions
encompass a range of elements, including formatting, style, language use, citation
methods, and other aspects.

Purpose:
 ensures that your work is consistent, credible, and easy to understand for
your audiences, which may include professors, researchers, or other scholars.
 Conventions serve as a set of agreed-upon practices that contribute to the
clarity, consistency, and professionalism of written communication.

3 Conventions in Academic Writing

1.Style conventions
Style describes the manner in which an author writes.

1.1 Numbers and dates

Numbers below one hundred are usually written in full:

Ten students came to the lecture.

Numbers above one hundred may be presented by digits:

There are 400 databases available.

Reasons for this:

 Readability
 Clarity
 Practicality for Larger Numbers

Omitting the year or adding the day of the week.

Like this Thursday, October 3
Or this Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Use ordinal instead of cardinal numbers when writing the date out in full with
the day before the month.
Example: The conference is scheduled to take place on the 21st of April 2019.

References to centuries are spelt out, without capitals

Ex. During the twentieth century many communication technologies were
developed.

Decades may be referred to by name or number.

In the 1990s the term "Internet" became a media buzz word.

1.2 Capitals

proper nouns: Adamson University, Fionna Mariano

People’s names: Martin Luther King Jr. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Titles: The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men
Historical Names: Richard the Lionheart Ivan the Terrible
Places: New York City , Abbey Road, Cornelia Street
Country’s name, nationalities, culture: Korea, A classroom full of koreans,
Korean cuisine
trade names: Windows, Java
 names of civic holidays: Christmas Day, Independence Day

1.3 Print enhancements

 Should be used sparingly

 should follow the conventions of the referencing system that you are
using
Common examples of print enhancements are:
 Font Styles and Sizes
 Headinds and Subheadings
 Bold and Italics
 Lists and Bullet Points
 Margins and Indents
 Tables and Figures
 Page Numbers
 Paragraph Spacing
 Graphics and Images

1. 4 Abbreviations

Some examples are:

 Text and Internet Slangs
 U = You
 BTW = by the way
 FYI = for your information
 Coloquial Expressions
 Gonna = going to
 Wanna= Want to

1.5 Typing and spelling

Here are some things to do to maintain clear communication:

 Spell Check
 Proof Reading
 Homophones
 Grammar Check
 Avoid Contractions
 Peer View

2. Tone conventions
Tone is the overall attitude conveyed in a piece of writing. It is highly dependent on
word-choice and structure to match the intended purpose and audience of the text
 2.1 formal
When writing academic papers, we need to be formal to present that we are
being professional, in this way, we would be taken seriously and our writing
would be more credible and authoritative.

2.2 cliché-free
the word cliche is a French term which means ‘to produce or print
stereotypes.’ Cliches are those words or phrases that have lost its spark as
time goes by because of being overused making it unoriginal and
uninteresting.

2.3 Avoid "journalese"

Journalese, is a style of writing typically utilized by the people in the press,
or the journalists. In this field of writing they usually make use of words in an
exaggerated manner to emphasize the story.

2.4 Avoid jargon

These are the words which are occupation-specific language which means it
is used by people in a given profession to communicate with their same
profession

2.5 The impersonal writer

When preparing an academic paper, it is rare to have it done in a first person
point of view and often done by using the third person point of view.

3. Forming arguments.

3.1 Sensible use of paragraphs

A paragraph deals with just one topic or major point of an argument relevant
to the essay or report

The recommended organisation of a typical paragraph is:

1. opening topic sentence, i.e. main point given
2. explanation of topic sentence
3. supporting sentences that explain its significance
4. discussion of examples or evidence (citing authorities; drawing on
empirical
evidence, i.e. research carried out by others or, in the case of a dissertation,
you;
drawing on your own experience, for example from placement)
5. concluding sentence
It is possible to play around with the structure by:
1. writing the main point of each paragraph on to separate pieces of card
2. experimenting with ordering the cards so that eventually associated cards
end up next
to each other in a logical sequence
3. writing on a separate sheet of paper the order of topics
4. numbering the topics on the sheet of paper to show a hierarchy which
reflects the logic of the new order of paragraphs

A well-structured assignment typically has the following format:

Introduction: General statement, Statistics (Optional), Thesis statement

Body:

Keypoint/ Argument A
Reason/ Explanation
Example/ Evidences
Relevance

Keypoint/ Argument B
Reason/ Explanation
Example/ Evidences
Relevance

Keypoint/ Argument C
Reason/ Explanation
Example/ Evidences
Relevance

Conclusion: Summary of key points and call to action

3.2 Repetition and waffle

"As explained above" or (the dreadful) "aforementioned" is used only to
provide a link back to earlier arguments, rather than simply repeating them.

3.3 Answer and analyse

No matter how well presented your work is, to pass your assignments you
must answer the questions set. The work that you present should be relevant
to the discussion.
III. PRESENTING AN ACADEMIC PAPER INDEPENDENTLY

Thesis Statement
 is the central idea of a multiple paragraph composition.
 summarizes the topic and the arguments of the writer about the topic.
 It can be one or two sentences long.
TOPIC SENTENCE VS THESIS STATEMENT

Topic Sentence
 the sentence that contains the topic/subject of the paragraph.
 is usually the first or last sentence of a paragraph

Topic statement- the main idea of one paragraph only

Thesis statement- is the central idea of the whole paper

Explicit Thesis Statement

-straightforward

Implicit Thesis Statement

-not written in the text
-the reader will be the one who will formulate the thesis statement

PARTS OF A THESIS STATEMENT

 TOPIC- Subject of the text.

 POSITION- Your stand on the topic.
 REASON- Explanation and justification of your position.
 CONCESSION- An opposing viewpoint on the topic.

Models of thesis Writing

 Basic Thesis Statement: (Topic + Position)

 Thesis Statement with Concession: (Basic Thesis Statement +
Concession)
 Thesis Statement with Concession and Reason: (Thesis Statement with
concession + reason/s)

INTRODUCTION

 should not be longer than the body.

 should have a thesis statement.
 should give readers an overview.
STRUCTURE OF INTRODUCTION

 Hook
 Background info
 Thesis Statement

CONCLUSION
 Restate your Thesis.
 Answer the question “so what?”
 End with a kicker.

Citation and Academic Honesty

The concept of citation is simple: when you utilize other people's unique
ideas, you must give them credit for those ideas.

APA (American Psychological Association) in-text-citation

An in-text citation is a concise way to identify the source of certain

information.

Example: Some people have argued that Marx’s concept of alienation relates
to the notion of commodity production (Roberts and Stephenson 1973, p. 35).

2 ways to integrate the in-text citation:

1. Parenthetical citation - author name and publication year within

parenthesis and place it at the end of the sentences, just before the period.

2.Narrative Citation - some information is incorporated in the running text.

Examples: As Lavoie (1985, p. 6) argues, “Such knowledge is dispersed

among market participants.”

-Lavoie (1985, p. 6) argues that human knowledge is dispersed among

traders in the marketplace.

-Smith states that plagiarism is becoming increasingly widespread (2014, p.

170)
Multiple sources in one parenthesis- the in-text citations can be
combined in one parenthesis. Order the sources alphabetically, and separate
them with a semicolon. When citing multiple works from the same author, list
the years of publication separated by a comma.

Ex. Several studies have replicated these results (Brown, 2009; Porter, 2004;
Smith, 2015, 2017).

Avoiding ambiguity in APA in-text citations- When in-text citations are

ambiguous because they correspond to multiple reference entries, apply the
solutions outlined in the table below

Multiple works by the same author in the same year. - Add a lowercase
letter after the year.

Ex. (Cooper, 2018a) (Cooper, 2018b)

Different authors with the same last name. -Include the authors’
initials.

Ex. (H. Taylor, 2019) (B. J. Taylor, 2016)

Multiple works with 3+ authors that shorten to the same form (i.e.,
same first author(s) and date). - Include as many names as needed to
distinguish the citations.

Ex. (Cooper, Lee, et al., 2015) (Cooper, Ross, et al., 2015)

Citing indirect sources (“as cited in”)

If you want to refer to a source that you have found in another source, you
should always try to access the original or primary source.

However, if you cannot find the original source, you should cite it through the
secondary source that led you to it, using the phrase “as cited in”.

Ex. (Parker, 1978, as cited in Bloom et al., 2017)

If the publication date of the primary source is unknown, include only the
year of publication of the secondary source.
Ex. Porter (as cited in Johnson, 2017) states that…

The term “bibliography” is a catch-all for any list of sources cited at the end
of an academic work. Certain style guides use different terminology to refer
to bibliographies. For example, MLA format refers to a paper’s bibliography
as its Works Cited page. APA refers to it as the References page.

Convention refers to the rules or guidelines that govern the way certain
sections of a presentation should appear. The major aim of conventions is
to ensure that information is displayed in a consistent fashion.
References:

Rules and Conventions of Academic Writing Part I - Hazel Hall

https://drhazelhttps://drhazelhall.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2013_hall_rules-
conventions_ac_writing.pdfhall.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2013_hall_rules-
conventions_ac_writing.pdf

Bibliography

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/bibliography/

Academic Writing Styles - Organizing Your Social Science Research Paper

https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/academicwriting#:~:text=Characteristics%20of%20
academic%20writing%20include,investigation%2C%20and%20precise%20word%20choice.

Academic Writing Conventions - Rollins College

https://www.rollins.edu/library/twc/academic-writing-conventions.pdf

A guide to writing an academic paper

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/a-guide-to-writing-an-
academic-paper/2012/01/18/gIQAjGCTCQ_blog.html

Formats and Conventions

https://www.slideshare.net/MichelleAtilanoOgana/formats-conventions