The UKs European university STUDENT LEARNING ADVISORY SERVICE

The UK’s European university STUDENT LEARNING ADVISORY SERVICE Kasia Senyszyn Student Learning Advisor Using Appropriate To do: - Call Mum - Laundry - Check out SLAS Academic Style

Welcome § What is academic style? § Thinking about your audience § Objective vs. subjective § Language § Formality, precision and accuracy § Top tips

What is ‘academic style’? • • • Considers audience conventions (knowledge, language and purpose) Objective (scientific) / subjective (persuasive) Use of language • • • SPAG Formal Precise and accurate Explicit Assertive

Understanding your audience Demonstrating understanding Specialist, professional audience: advanced knowledge of the subject and the tools, theories, vocabulary, origins, and relevance of the subject Educated, non-specialist, audience: higher education (formal or informal) - higher levels of linguistic and cognitive development Demonstrating expertise

Compare the examples Extract 1 Reader can’t respond to the writer, but questions present a shared interpretation conversational ‘Corporate philosophy’. What’s that? When I heard about this term, I had to laugh. Can a corporation have a philosophy? What does the term corporate philosophy stand for? First person pronoun; use of this and that; emotional reaction; prominent use of I draws attention to the response rather than the argument Extract 2 Corporate philosophy is a term that needs to be defined in terms of what is meant by philosophy in a corporate environment. However, it is important to clarify whether or not a corporation can actually have a philosophy. Writer’s voice integrated into traditional academic style

Two types of discourse Journals for Practitioners A personal and engaging style – the aim is readability Journals for Academics Use more traditional academic conventions to present objective and impersonal accounts Can lead students to develop a confused style that blends ‘academic’ and ‘professional’ speak

Objective vs. subjective The use of ‘I’ can imply a personal perspective rather than engagement with a wider academic debate Can draw attention away from the phenomenon under examination and interrupt the flow of information Some disciplines are moving away from the idea that the views of the writer and researcher should remain invisible Students need to develop a voice whereby they control the personal and the impersonal, the subjective and objective Need to focus on the goals of the: writing The best practice is by writing – but pay attention discipline as you read. Imitate the style best suited to your methodology purpose • • •

Objectivity Too emotive It is totally obvious that wealth needs to be distributed more fairly. It is clear from the above discussion that without greater redistribution of wealth, world economic growth will slow. The accumulation of capital by a small segment of the population correlates negatively with GDP growth. le ib s s e c c a in t u b , e iv t Objec

Language Avoid colloquial language no stuff or things or and so on Avoid Latin abbreviation e. g. i. e. etc. >> such as Avoid phrasal verbs come up with >> suggest Do not use contractions can’t >> cannot

Language Avoid clichés in this day and age, at the end of the day, the bottom line… Avoid sexist language Every student is responsible for his learning >> Students are responsible … (use plurals) No imperatives/ instructions You have to agree that … >> …appears to be the most logical conclusion Avoid questions (incl. rhetorical ones) Will the ever be peace in Gaza? >> Currently, peace in Gaza seems to be an unlikely prospect

Language Noun based 25% more cars have been produced in China since 1990 >> Car production in China has increased by 25% since 1990 Avoid numbers (amounts or years) at beginning of sentence (or at least spell them out) >>Twenty-five percent… Spell out abbreviations or acronyms at first use (unless they are widely understood, e. g. the BBC) Remember SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar)

Exercise: Replace with more appropriate verbs 1. Researchers have been looking into the problem for 15 years 2. This issue was brought up during the seminar 3. It is assumed that the management knows what is happening and will therefore step in if there is a problem 4. Schools cannot altogether get rid of the problem of truancy

Formality Too inf ormal It’s clear that the CEO of RBS’s rushed decision to buy ABN Amro wasn’t the smartest move. The combination of a domineering chief executive, an overly compliant management team and a false sense of urgency were crucial in RBS’s disastrous decision to acquire ABN Amro. The synthesis of solipsism with sycophancy within RBS’s climate of elusory exigency evinced an impolitic acquisition of ABN Amro. r e v e l c Too

Precision Too precise? Twenty three percent of people aged 16 -25, consume >140 ml of ethanol alcohol (C 2 H 6 O) per week. Many young people drink too much. e s i c e r p Im One in four 16 -25 year-olds consume more alcohol than the Government’s recommended weekly maximum. Precise enough ?

Explicitness l a v o Equiv There are quite a few reasons why micro-SMEs often fail during their first year of operating. There are three main reasons why micro-SMEs can fail during their first year of operating: lack of capital; external market factors; and poor business planning. Explicit Whilst micro-SMEs can fail for a number of reasons, during their first year of operation – lack of capital, external market factors, etc. – the most significant factor is inadequate and inaccurate business planning. e iv t a t n e m u g r a Explicit &

Assertiveness n i a t r e c Over This proves that the banking crisis of 2007 was caused by subprime mortgages. This seems to suggest that subprime mortgages might possibly be partly responsible for some aspects of the banking crisis of 2007. Over-cautious This (strongly) suggests that subprime mortgages were a (key) factor in precipitating the banking crisis of 2007.

Explanatory Based on the above discussion, it seems reasonable to claim that… n o i t a c i f i t s u J As Marx explained: ‘the bureaucrat has the world as a mere object of his action’ (Marx 1843). Evidencing As Marx explained: ‘the bureaucrat has the world as a mere object of his action’ (Marx 1843). In other words, that… g n i d n a t s r e d n U

Narrative thread (/flow) Having discussed the scale of the problem, a possible solution can now be presented n o i t i s n Tra Viewing this from the perspective of Smith’s (2012) model, what becomes clear is that… Attribution Whilst many studies have considered the relationship between profitability and environmental responsibility, few have do so from an ethnological perspective. Exposition

The Pareto Principle, was first suggested, by the management consultant and quality control pioneer Joseph Juran. Also known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle states that for many phenomena eighty percent of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes. As a rule-of-thumb principle, it’s useful in achieving efficiency and effectiveness in business organisations, for example, in occupational health and safety, by categorising and rectifying the 20% most-reported hazards, 80% of total hazardous incidents can be avoided. Similarly, in commerce, 20% of customer’s will typically be responsible for 80% of total sales. Furthermore, the Pareto principle is considered to be recursive. 64% of consequences – positive or negative – will arise from just 4% of causes. Focussing attention on the ‘vital few’, rather than the ‘trivial many’, can be an effective means for improving organisational performance.

Top tips • • • Consider your audience – what is the ‘appropriate’ style? What is the purpose of the writing? • Persuasive? • Scientific? Vocabulary/terminology, objectivity, formality Don’t go ‘too’ academic – keep it accessible Clear, concise, accurate, confident (but not arrogant) Find your voice Practice

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