Academic Writing

1
Academic Writing

• What academic writers
• should and should not do

2
Academic Writing

• Plagiarism the act of stealing and using (the
  ideas or writings of another) as one's own
• Major academic dishonesty
• Grounds for expulsion from many colleges and
  universities
• See handout for tips on avoiding plagiarism
• Best bet, always cite!
• Especially information that is not common sense
  (i.e., 50 of 8th graders reported using
  inhalants in 2003. How do you know this?)
• Although straight quotes are acceptableas much
  as possible summarize thoughts in your own words
  and cite the author for the idea
• If you are not citing, you are plagiarizing

3
Academic Writing

• First things first,
• Understand the assignment
• What is being asked of you?
• Answer the question!
• The introduction paragraph should contain a
  thesis statement addressing what is going to be
  discussed throughout the paper
• There should be conclusion paragraphs for
  different sections and to end the paper
• Summarize the information you have discussedmake
  some interesting points about it

4
Academic Writing

• Primary vs. Secondary Sources
• When you are completing a research paper, or any
  academic paper, it is always better to use
  primary sources
• Primary sources books articles official data
• Secondary sources textbooks encyclopedias many
  internet sties with secondhand information
• If primary sources are unavailable, use
  peer-reviewed or official secondary sources
• While on-line sources are ok, if approved by the
  instructor, these sources should be official
  (i.e. Bureau of Justice Statistics Department of
  Justice on-line academic journal articles case
  law Texas Penal Code ONDCP etc.)
• There is so much junk on the Internet, it is
  best to stick to official sources of information
  for academic writing

5
Academic Writing

• Formatting
• American Psychological Association (APA)
  formatting is used in the social sciences
• APA will be expected in most of your classes,
  except for legal classes who have their own
  formatting style
• There is an APA manual or tips can be found
  on-line (see handouts)

6
Academic Writing

• Writing and Formatting Tips
• No first person (I)
• Always write in the third person
• Punctuation mark before the end quotation mark
• Crack babies,
• No contractions (wasnt dont)
• Avoid using the same words or phrases over and
  over
• Use the thesaurus!
• Write out numbers (10 and under)
• Stay consistent throughout the paper with the way
  you present numbers
• Tables, Graphs and other Data Presentations
• If not your own, you must cite where they came
  from
• Short paragraphs
• Paragraphs should be at least three full
  sentences
• If you are discussing a topic that does not have
  three full sentences worth of information, link
  it with another topic and combine the paragraphs

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Academic Writing

• References and Citations
• Try to steer clear of long direct quotes but if
  they are a must, use the proper formatting
• Single-spaced, indented and cited
• Citations within text should include the
  author(s) name(s) and date of publication
• There are different ways to cite within text (see
  handout)
• Jameson (2003) noted that 25 of 10th graders
  have used steroids during the year 2003.
• Fifty percent of Americans have at one time in
  their lives tried marijuana (Anderson, 2003).
• Period to end sentence follows the in-text
  citation
• If direct quote, have to include the page number
  as well
• If multiple authors, use the first author and
  then use et. al. so that you do not have a long
  string of authors within the text
• Twenty-five percent of marijuana users are female
  (Miller, et. al., 2001).
• If you are citing a list of multiple
  publications, put in order by date
• List all authors on reference page

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Academic Writing

• Reference Page
• Very important part of the paper!
• Follow APA formatting for different sources (see
  handout)
• Only include references that are cited in the
  paper itself
• If these sources were used for information, why
  are they not cited within the paper?
• Should not be paginated as part of the text
• For future papers, when writing an 8-10 page
  paper, use at least 8-10 good (reliable and
  primary if possible) sources

9
Academic Writing

• Proofread!!!
• Be sure to proofread, or even have a friend or
  family member proofread your paper for you,
  before turning in the final draft.
• Catch mistakes in grammar and spelling that Spell
  Check might not have caught