WEEK 3: ACADEMIC WRITING BASICS 1

CONTRACTIONS  ABBREVIATIONS  PUNCTUATION  SLANG

NO CONTRACTIONS X INCORRECT CORRECT
Do not write don’t X A degree doesn’t guarantee a job. A degree does not guarantee a job.
X This isn’t a reliable source. This is not a reliable source.

NO ABBREVIATIONS except in notes, footnotes, references, bullet points, graphs and charts
of these 3: X INCORRECT CORRECT
eg exempli gratia X The loss of one sense, eg blindness, can The loss of one sense, for example, blindness, can
= for example heighten another, such as smell. heighten another, such as smell.
+ example(s)
ie id est X Monochromism, ie colour blindness, is far Monochromism, that is, colour blindness, is far
= that is more common in men than in women. more common in men than in women.
+ explanation
etc et cetera X The conference was a success despite bad The conference was a success despite bad
(‘and the rest’) weather, power cuts, a transport strike etc. weather, power cuts, a transport strike and other
+ example(s) obstacles.
X The conference was a success despite bad
weather, power cuts, a transport strike The conference was a success despite several
and so on. obstacles such as bad weather, power cuts and a
transport strike.
X The conference was a success despite bad
weather, power cuts, a transport strike The conference was a success despite several
and similar. obstacles including bad weather, power cuts and a
transport strike.

NO INFORMAL, In many cases you will have to use your own judgement about what is acceptable.
COLLOQUIAL
OR SLANG WORDS X INCORRECT CORRECT

Stuf Do not X Life is full of difficult stuf. Life is full of challenges.

confuse with X We had to do lots of stuf. We had to complete many tasks.
staf X The stuf did an excellent job. The staf did an excellent job.
Great Wonderful X X The design is really great. The design is both refined and modern.

Illustrious  Ghandi was a great man.

There is a great diference between the results.

large, huge 
Kid What does kid X Kids today are familiar with technology. Children today are familiar with technology.
mean?

NO INAPPROPRIATE
PUNCTUATION X INCORRECT CORRECT
:) Emoticons X I hope you will able to help me. :) I would be very grateful for your help.

! Exclamation X The investment was so risky! The investment was extremely risky.
marks
„” Low quotation X „Low quotation marks” are incorrect.  “High quotation marks” are correct.
marks
... Ellipsis X He was efficient, punctual, effective… He was efficient, punctual and efective.
(pl Ellipses)
LISTS  QUOTATIONS  NAMES  TITLES 2

LISTS

A. COMPLETE LIST Etc and ellipses are often incorrectly used at the end of a complete list.
delete the last comma.
insert and between the penultimate and last word or phrase in the list.
X INCORRECT X Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness .../etc
 CORRECT  Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed and selfishness.

B. INCOMPLETE LIST Etc and ellipsis usually signify an INCOMPLETE LIST.

Neither etc nor ... should be used in academic writing for this purpose.
Nor should a sentence end with and other/and similar/and so on/and so forth.

X INCORRECT
etc X Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness etc
... X Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness....
and so on/forth X Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness and so on/and so forth.
and other/similar X Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness and other/and similar.

 CORRECT Determine the category of the items in the list.

Rewrite the sentence placing the category either before or after the list as in the examples below.
Punctuation will vary according to the sense and context of the sentence.
Post- and + category Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness and other antisocial qualities.
List Society seems to reward ruthlessness, greed, selfishness and similar antisocial qualities.
Pre- category + such as Society seems to reward antisocial qualities such as ruthlessness, greed and selfishness.
List category, + including Society seems to reward antisocial qualities, including ruthlessness, greed and selfishness.
category, + for example, Society seems to reward antisocial qualities, for example, ruthlessness, greed and selfishness.

ELLIPSIS IN ABRIDGED QUOTATIONS Ellipses can be used when words are left out in a quotation.

Various ellipses ... (...) [...]

Full quotation “For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human
life.” (John F Kennedy, Inaugural Speech, 20 January 1961)
Partial quotation “For man holds [...] the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human
life.” (John F Kennedy, Inaugural Speech, 20 January 1961)

NAMES AND TITLES

NAMES OF: X INCORRECT  CORRECT

Organisations, companies, Capitalise important words The body shop The Body Shop
brands, political/physical No quote marks “The Body Shop”
entities

TITLES OF: X INCORRECT  CORRECT

Books, Films, Songs, Articles, Capitalise important words The merchant of Venice
Plays, Poems, Magazines, and Italicise The Merchant of Venice
Journals, Newspapers or ‘single quote marks’ ‘The Merchant of Venice’
or “double quote marks” “The Merchant of Venice”
NUMBERS 3

YEARS
 NO FULL STOP, unless it is at the end of the sentence.
 The word YEAR never goes after the date.
 NO APOSTROPHE when referring to a decade.

CORRECT Examples X X Examples

INCORRECT
1990 In 1990 he went to Moscow. 1990. year In 1990. year he went to Moscow.
the year 1990 In the year 1990 he went to Moscow. 1990. In 1990. he went to Moscow.
the year of 1990 In the year of 1990 he went to Moscow. 1990 year In 1990 year he went to Moscow.
1990s He lived in Moscow in the 1990s. 1990’s He lived in Moscow in the 1990’s.

NUMERALS (UK and USA)

 CORRECT X INCORRECT
10.5 decimal point 10,5
16.33 numerals (not words) 16,33
20,000 comma 20.000
20 000 space
1,000,000 comma 1.000.000
1 000 000 space

WORDS OR NUMERALS?  CORRECT

One to ten words He made two mistakes.

Eleven to twenty (11-20)
21-100
101 ˂
Large rounded numbers
Large unrounded numbers
The machine was nine years old.
words preferred She graduated when she was sixteen.
She graduated when she was 16.
words or numerals He died at the age of twenty-one.
He died at the age of 21.
numerals There were 102 varieties.
words There were a thousand varieties.
There were thirty million varieties.
There were 15 billion varieties.
numerals There were 123 varieties.
There were 54,321 varieties.

LARGE NUMBERS

PRECISE  CORRECT X INCORRECT

if a number or amount is mentioned: one/a hundred trees one/a hundred of trees
one/a thousand trees one/a thousand of trees
 NO ‘OF’ five thousand trees five thousands of trees
 NO Plural thirty million trees thirty millions of trees
a few thousand trees a few thousands of trees
several million trees several millions of trees
IMPRECISE  CORRECT
 with ‘OF’ hundreds of trees
 with Plural thousands of trees
millions of trees
HYPHENS  FRACTIONS  DATES 4

HYPHENS AND FRACTIONS

 CORRECT X INCORRECT
Hyphenation Numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine twenty one - ninety nine
-
Fractions three-quarters three quarters ¾
one-third one third ⅓
No numerals Write in A hundred and twenty-three varieties 123 varieties could be found on the island.
at beginning words, or could be found on the island
of sentence rewrite On the island 123 varieties could be
found.

DATES

BRITISH AMERICAN

Day-Month-Year Month-Day-Year
Format
Say “the fourteenth of March, 1999” “March (the) fourteenth, 1999”

Write 14 March 1999 or March 14, 1999

14 March, 1999
Short form 14/3/1999 03/14/99
14.3.99 3.14.99
14-03-99 3-14-1999

The above dates table is liberally adapted from:http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/time-date.htm

For more information see :http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node42.html
and http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-dates.aspx
Academic Writing Basics – Exercises 5

CONTRACTIONS
 CORRECT
The results show that there ________________
be any change in the immediate future.
Although____________ been several years since
the last major terrorist attack, ______________
still on high alert.
_____________ become increasingly hard to
justify expenditure on luxury goods.
An agreement _______________ be reached
without compromise.
Study the example below and complete the exercise.
A university degree no longer guarantees a job.
There ____________ increase in oil consumption
last year.
X INCORRECT
The results show that there won’t be any change
in the immediate future.
Although it’s been several years since the last
major terrorist attack, they’re still on high alert.
It’ll become increasingly hard to justify
expenditure on luxury goods.
An agreement can’t be reached without
compromise.
A university degree doesn’t guarantee a job any
longer.
There wasn’t any increase in oil consumption last
year.

Correct the sentences. There may be more than one mistake in a sentence.

5 thousands of citizens attended the rally.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

„Kentucky fried chicken” reported a 1,5% increase in profit last year.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Mary Johnson, MD, has taught hundreds of students throughout her career at the University of Chicago Medical School.
Dr Mary has also been investigating the causes of breast cancer since the 1990’s, and in 2010. year she made a
breakthrough discovery...
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

The secondary school syllabus usually includes at least one well known Shakespeare play e.g. „The Tempest”, „Much ado
about nothing”, „Hamlet” etc. __________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

He was born on the 25th of April 1960. in Oxford, but he and his family moved to Cambridge when he was 3 years old.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

The patients complained of recurrent pain, constant difficulty in breathing, excessive tiredness etc.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

3/5 of the students, i.e. twenty two students, voted ‘Yes’.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
VOCBULARY 6

Correct the following sentences.

The staff have to deal with a lot of stuff.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Kids are often considered to be the hope of the future.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The students' examination results were great.

______________________________________________________________________________

Underline the words that you think are acceptable in academic writing:
1. kind of
2. sort of
3. rather
4. almost
5. similar to
6. very
7. extremely
8. amazing
9. really
10. many
11. lots of
12. a lot of
13. a large amount of
14. loads of
15. fantastic
16. excellent
17. super
18. strange
19. weird
20. odd
21. incredible
22. cool