Academic Writing:

The Basics

During this course,

you will master
the following
Academic Genres:
Research report an oral presentation to the
audience
Research abstract a printed outline of your
report

We will also work with:

Literature reviews you will learn how to
generate a comprehensive collection of sources
relevant to your research
Argumentative essay you will learn to
investigate a topic; collect, generate, and
evaluate evidence; and establish a position on
the topic in a concise manner.
Contrast and comparative essay you will
learn to investigate differences and similarities
between certain aspects of your research
Academic Power Point presentation you will
learn how to organize the information of your
research and thus impress the audience

 Research is not:
A loose collection of information
A paper with patched together summaries and
paraphrases, even if theyre in your own words,
will not succeed.
You must have a strong objective of your
research. You must contribute something new.
Research is not only:
Reporting of others knowledge
You should always rely on the existing sources of
information.
However, your research must either develop the
knowledge of other scientists, or identify a gap in
their work.

 Research is:
Creation of knowledge (e.g., introduction of
new methods of treatment, diagnostics, etc.)
Defining problems and suggesting their
solutions
Contribution to a larger academic discussion
Collecting the existing information and
clarifying some point
Suggesting a new perspective on a problem

Goals of Academic Writing

Seek truth
Argue a point
Propose solutions
Deepen insights
Clarify a theory
Challenge conventional wisdom

You are the author

Paper should be predominantly your ideas and
opinions.
Show your critical thinking skills:
Generalization (forming a general idea)
Evaluation (finding merits and gaps)
Analysis (separating a complex topic into smaller
parts in order to gain a better understanding of
it)
Synthesis (combining two or more different
elements that together form something new)

General Advice
Begin Early
- Im too busy now, and Ill start later when I
have more time . . .

Select an Appropriate Topic

Contribution to the field (find your niche)
Consider the relevance
Consider the resources available

Consider the structure of your

research:
What to write?
How to write?
Where to submit?

IMRAD:
the structure of academic writing
adopted by American National
Standards Institute in 1979
Introduction: why ask this research question?
Methods: what did I do?
Results: what did I find?
and
Discussion: what might it mean?

The structure of your research (both

oral and printed) at the Students
Conference:
Introduction
The relevance of the problem
The scientific novelty of your work
The aim of the research
Material and methods
Research findings
Conclusions

Before you start writing:

Gather Resource Materials
Read Sources Critically
Read studies similar to what you want to
write:
Books and professional journals: articles, theses,
abstracts, literature reviews
PubMed and Medline are the key databases for
medicine and health research:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Take notes
Summarize and paraphrase passages
Remember to record the sources

 Failure to use quotation marks when quoting

directly from another source, whether it be a
paragraph, sentence or part thereof
Copying ideas from a book, magazine, or other
sources without giving credit to the author
All these incidents of academic misconduct can be
easily revealed by plagiarism detection software

How Can Students Avoid

Plagiarism?
To avoid plagiarism, you must identify the
source whenever you use:
another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings any
pieces of information that are not common
knowledge;
quotations of another person's actual spoken
or written words; or
paraphrase of another person's spoken or
written words.

Self-plagiarism
The use of one's own previous work in
another context without citing that it was
used previously.
Self-plagiarism can infringe upon a
publishers copyright.

The Writing Process

Outline
Helps you organize your ideas
Presents your material in a logical form
Shows the relationships among ideas in your
writing
Defines boundaries and groups
Prevents you from straying from the topic
When writing an outline, make sure that you:
Record author, title, page number and note
where you found the source
Clearly indicate when ideas in your notes are
your own

The First Draft

Write one idea per paragraph
Go for quantity, not quality
Write for revision, not delivery
Write freely
Develop a habit that encourages you to write on
a regular basis with or without inspiration

Write in Haste,
Revise at Leisure

Allow 50% of your time for planning,

research, and writing the first draft

Allow the other 50% for revising your

paper

Last Step: Editing

Put your writing away for a period of time and
then read it with fresh eyes. Schedule at least
one day between revisions, or three or four days
if possible
Read it aloud to yourself
Ask colleagues to read and give feedback.

Assignment for the next

meeting:
Surf Internet for academic papers on your topic
(use http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed or
other reliable databases). If you have relevant
books or articles in English at home, use them
as well.
Make a list of your sources (at least 5 items)
You can either send your list to my e-mail, or
show it to me during our next meeting.