Academic Style Module

Methods and Materials of Research

 Academic Research
• Joining an important and continuing
conversation, in pursuit of
knowledge/truth
• Within a particular learning community:
LST, an academic institution

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 Academic Research
• Involves 3 basic steps:
– Learning or taking from others
(data-gathering)
– Reflecting, analyzing, processing
(value-added)
– Reporting to, sharing with, giving to
community (giving credit where due)

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 Research Paper
• Traditional way of reporting to the
community
• Means of demonstrating (to prof.) one’s
grasp of topic and familiarity with the
significant conversation partners
• Means of demonstrating one’s ability to
do research, to pursue a question, to
engage the larger academic community
in this pursuit
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 Conventions of Form
• Research paper is presented in a form
that observes the tradition or language
or convention of the academic institution
• The seriousness of observing convention
varies according to the type of research
required:
– Course requirement, “major paper,” thesis
or dissertation, professional publication

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 Conventions of Form
• Consequence of violating and ignoring
convention can be serious
– Most evident in instances of plagiarism
(failure to give proper credit for other
people’s words or ideas)
– Can mean the loss of publication
opportunity, or of professional credibility, or
of good-standing and eligibility in an
academic institution
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 About this course
• Components of the course:
– Research Techniques for Theological
Libraries (Kroeger)
– Academic Style (Pojol; Aquino)
• Objectives (corresponding to component)
– To introduce students to the tools for data-
gathering available at the LST library
– To introduce students to the conventions of style
at LST and to available tools (software) for writing
and styling a research paper
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 About this course
• Rationale:
– Tools and conventions are particular to LST
– Familiarity with research-writing cannot be
presumed, given diverse backgrounds

• What the course will not provide:

aid towards organizing and presenting
ideas in English
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 About this course
• What’s in store for you in this module?
– Some tips for writing
– Conventions of form: general layout
requirements and layout of special pages
– Software tools, especially MS Word
– Conventions of form: footnote and
bibliographical entries
– Working with sources (avoiding plagiarism)

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 About this course
• What’s required of you in this module?
– Simply your full attention, participation, and
feedback
– Copy the computer files to be made
available (e.g. with your flash drive)

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 Tips for Writing a Research Paper
• Matters of Content and Form:
– Good references: Strunk and White, The
Elements of Style; and Turabian, 6th edition
– Be clear about your topic
• Identify the main question which your
thesis statement answers (be guided by a
question not just a title.)
• Define the scope of your investigation,
particularly, what you will not address
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 Matters of Content and Form
• Observe structure and maintain focus
– Construct a detailed outline for the paper
– Make sure all parts contribute to answering
the main question
• Be proportionate about allocating
number of pages
– E.g. an introduction of 3 or more pages for a
20-page paper is too long

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 Matters of Content and Form
• Adopt a circumspect but firm tone
– Acknowledge the validity of contrasting
positions
– Avoid sounding too tentative (“perhaps”,
etc.)
– Be direct/assertive but not adversarial
– Write in 3rd person, not 1st
– Favor active over passive voice
– No colloquial (or “informal”) expressions
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 Matters of Content and Form
• Aim to be succinct
– Avoid overloading a sentence with more
than one thought. Favor short sentences.
– Break down: sentences running over 4 lines,
paragraphs running over a half-page.
• Use sources wisely
– Consult quality references [beware Internet]
– Learn from Library Module
– Paraphrase. Cite your sources.
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 Matters of Content and Form
• Always observe the basic 3 C’s principle:
–Be consistent
–Be clear
–Be complete

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Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Know the form for subsequent, shortened
references (Ex. ND23, GS12, UR5,
“Rahner, TI 2, 9.”)
• In a series, use comma before “and”
– No: gold, frankincense and myrrh
– Yes: gold, frankincense, and myrrh

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Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Comma and period always before closing
quotation mark
– They call him “the man.”
– “The Fish,” “Poetry,” and “The Monkeys” are in
Marianne Moore’s Selected Poems.
– Every public official and every professional is called
on “to join in the effort to bring justice and hope
to all our people.”
– This raises the question, “What is our true image?”
– Do we accept the concept “natural aristocracy”?
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Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Comma omitted after a stronger mark of
punctuation (e.g. ? or !)
– No: Lisa Cahill, “Can Theology Have a Role in
‘Public’ Bioethical Discourse?,” in On Moral
Medicine…
– Yes: Lisa Cahill, “Can Theology Have a Role in
‘Public’ Bioethical Discourse?” in On Moral
Medicine…

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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• On publishers’ names:
– Omit The, Inc., Ltd.
– May use & (ampersand)
– May use common abbreviations Co., Bros.
– Do not omit Press for a university press
• Use brackets [ ] within parentheses ( )
• Use single quotation marks ‘ ’ within double
quotation marks “ ”
• Use an Em dash—not an En dash—for a break
in thought [notice: no space before or after it]
– Vs. hyphen - ; vs. En dash ‒ 19
 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Omit needless words. Be concise.
– No: the question as to whether
– Yes: whether (the question whether)
– No: there is no doubt but that
– Yes: no doubt (doubtless)
– No: used for fuel purposes
– Yes: used for fuel
– No: he is a man who
– Yes: he

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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Omit needless words. Be concise.
– No: in a hasty manner
– Yes: hastily
– No: this is a subject/paper that discusses
– Yes: this subject/paper discusses
– No: her story is a strange one
– Yes: her story is strange
– No: the reason why is that
– Yes: because

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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Omit needless words. Be concise.
– No: owing to the fact that
– Yes: since (because)
– No: in spite of the fact that
– Yes: though (although)
– No: call your attention to the fact that
– Yes: remind you (notify you)
– No: I was unaware of the fact that
– Yes: I was unaware that (I did not know)

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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Omit needless words. Be concise.
– No: the fact that he had not succeeded
– Yes: his failure
– No: the fact that I had arrived
– Yes: my arrival
• Modifiers must be near what they modify
– No: She only found two mistakes
– Yes: She found only two mistakes

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Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• (Some) misused expressions:
– each and every one: redundant
– in terms of: a piece of padding usually best omitted
– irregardless: should be regardless
– nice: a shaggy, all-purpose word, to be used
sparingly (useful when meaning “precise” or
“delicate”: “a nice distinction”)
– first: use only when you also idenfity second etc.
– The truth is… The fact is… : bad beginning of a
sentence; simply omit it and state your point.
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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Use gender-inclusive (-fair) language
– No: manpower
– Yes: labor, human resources, personnel
– No: to man (ex. “man the controls”)
– Yes: to operate
– No: mankind
– Yes: humanity
– No: The student submits his paper
– Yes: (plural) Students submit their paper

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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Use gender-inclusive (-fair) language
– No: Man’s insatiable drive for knowledge
– Yes: One’s insatiable drive for knowledge
– No: If he loses his life for my sake
– Yes: Anyone who loses life for my sake
– “For us, men, and for our salvation…”
• If the original quote has sexist language:
– Paraphrase
– Partially quote
– Or add [sic] after the sexist portion
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 Common Mistakes, Helpful Reminders
• Heed the spelling and grammar checker
• Use the thesaurus to avoid repetitive use
of certain words
– E.g. she states, he holds, they argue
– E.g. it means, it designates, it signifies

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