Academic Writing Public Health Writing Workshop Academic Writing

Academic Writing & Public Health Writing Workshop

Academic Writing Audience Purpose Organization Style Flow Presentation

Audience considerations – Expectations – Prior knowledge – Technical vocabulary, terminology Exercise: 1. Describe the MCH pyramid for your friend in the graduate school of business 2. Describe the MCH pyramid for a fellow student not concentrating in MCH, but in the MPH program

Purpose & Strategy – Are you instructing? – Are you displaying what you know? – Are you trying to convince someone? Exercise: Write a short sentence for me (your professor) explaining one key finding in the prenatal care literature.

Organization – Problem …Solution – Comparison: Contrast – Cause effect – Classification – Three principles of effective organization: • unity (deals with one idea) • coherence (moves smoothly and logically) • emphasis (important points and words are strategically placed) Exercise: Map out your upcoming writing assignment for this class. Explain your scheme to your neighbor.

Style – Casual v. formal – Phrasal or prepositional verbs v. single verb – Avoid contractions – Avoid “you” (sometimes!) – Avoid run-ons – Be efficient with your language!

Flow – Movement from one statement to the next – Connector words – Semicolons – Use of “it” and “this”

Presentation – To/too/two (homophones) – Pubic Health School – Its it’s it is – Line spacing – Font size

Active v. Passive Voice Active (direct) voice: The normal pattern of English sentences is subject—verb—object, which we call active voice. Passive (indirect) voice reverses the order (object—verb—subject). Passive voice is constructed by using a form of the verb be followed by a past participle (-ed). The phrase “by [the subject]” is included or implied. Use passive voice: 1. to de-emphasize the subject in favor of what has been done: 2. to discuss background that exists as part of the body of knowledge of the discipline, independent of the current author: As a general principle, use active voice in preference to passive.

Final Notes Always save your electronic files with your last name, class name, &/or assignment title. Don’t let your writing eat your good ideas. Edit some more. Edit again. Read out loud. Exercise: what’s your plan to improve your writing in public health school?