ACADEMIC WRITING

• Academic writing is any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or university and includes any writing assignment given in an academic setting.
• The focus of academic writing is on stating facts and issues, not on the opinion of the writer, unless otherwise followed by evidence or claim from another author that has the same stand or opinion as of the writer.
• Academic writing is clear, concise, focused, structured and backed up by evidence.
• The purpose of academic writing is to aid the reader’s understanding.
• Academic writing has a formal tone and style, but it is not complex and does not require the use of long sentences and complicated vocabulary.
• An academic paper is a formal type of paper and must be in the third person point of view.
• Avoid jargon and slang words in academic writing.
• Each subject discipline will have certain writing conventions, vocabulary and types of discourse that you will become familiar with over the course of your degree.
• A book review is a critical analysis of a fictitious story or non-fictional novel.
• A literature review provides a summary, classification, comparison and evaluation of the literature on a topic.
• A literature review is a critical analysis of published sources, or literature, on a particular topic.
• The literature review is generally in the format of a standard essay made up of three components: an introduction, a body and a conclusion.
• A literature review is not a list like an annotated bibliography in which a summary of each source is listed one by one.
• A book review should include a thesis statement, summaries of quotes, and a conclusion.
• A book review should include a rating, if desired.
• At undergraduate level literature reviews can be a separate stand alone assessment.
• Academic writing is planned and focused, structured, evidenced, formal in tone and style, and is used in documents such as Book Review or Article Critique, Literature Review, Research Report, Project Proposal, and Position Paper.
• A book review is different from a book report because its main purpose is not informational but analytical and persuasive.
• The book review format includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
• A research report is a systematic, articulate, and orderly presentation of research work in a written form.
• A research report is a medium to communicate research work with relevant people and is also a good source of preservation of research work for the future reference.
• Critically reading each source involves looking for arguments rather than facts.
• Evaluating the sources involves asking questions about the key terms and concepts, the relevance of the article to the specific topic, the major relationships, trends and patterns, the author's structure of arguments, the author's credibility, the differences and similarities between the sources, and any gaps in the literature that require further study.
• A literature review must have an introduction, a body and a conclusion.
• A research report involves relevant information on the research work carried out and may be in the form of hand-written, typed, or computerized.
• Bibliographical details to note include the publication title, date, authors' names, page numbers and publishers.
• The Library is the best place to search for sources.
• A research report template includes a title page, acknowledgments, table of contents, list of tables, list of figures, abstract, introduction, statement of the problem, significance of the problem, purpose, statement of hypothesis, assumptions, limitations, and conclusion.
• The number of sources required for a literature review depends on the topic and the student's level of study.
• Preparation of research reports is an art that requires knowledge, imagination, experience, and expertise and demands a considerable time and money.
• Organising the review around themes and ideas can be done using a table, matrix or concept map.
• In the introduction of a book review, describe the book cover and title, include any subtitles, mention the Author’s Name, and include a star-rating (optional).
• The body of a book review includes about 3 quotations from the author’s novel, summarized in your own words, with your own point-of-view of the quotation, and each point included in its own paragraph.
• The conclusion of a book review summarizes the quotations and explanations, finishes with a concluding sentence, and can include your final opinion of the book.
• To write a book review, create an essay outline which includes all of the main points you wish to summarize in your book analysis, reserve a body paragraph for each point, and follow the steps outlined above.
• Conclusions: Comments about the implication of the findings are presented.
• Analysis of Data: Describe the patterns observed in the data.
• Sampling Procedures: Explain how the data were limited to the amount which was gathered.
• Major Findings: The final results from the analysis are presented, the hypothesis stated, and the decision about the rejection or the failure to reject the hypothesis is given.
• Description of Procedures: This is a brief reiteration of important elements of the design of the study.