Course OverviewSpecial Needs Assistance

Golden Rule
“Read, read, read”

Types of Word
• Noun (thing)
– Person, car, computer program..
• Verb (doing word)
– Read, write, walk, run, talk…
• Adjective (describes a noun)
– Fast, slow, big, small, difficult …
• Adverb (describes a verb)
– Quickly, slowly, intently
• Conjunction (joining word)
– provided that, and, but, because, so, yet
Elements of text
• Title
– Identifies work and provides a minimal description
of its contents.
• Sentence
– A set of words that is complete in itself conveying
a statement or question
• Paragraph
– One or more sentences in a self contained block of
text dealing with a particular point or idea
Elements of text
• Sections and Subsections
– Sections of text that break the document up to make
it easier for the reader
• References
– Acknowledges another persons intellectual work in
your text.
• Footnotes
• Appendices
– Supporting material that doesn’t fit into the article
proper (data, code etc)
Why write?
• Publish or die
– We need to support other research by sharing our
ideas
• Writing as part of the research process
– The process of writing can help us to organize and
prioritize our ideas toward doing better research
– If a piece of research is not worth writing about
and sharing then its probably not worth doing
Writing Philosophy
Writing is hard work, it takes time and
concentration. Good writers aren’t born that
way, rather they understand that writing is a
process. It can be broken down into stages that
make it more manageable.

Reasoned and Impartial Writing
• Application of Critical Thinking
– Thinking well and applying sound intellectual
standards to your thinking.
– Self-evaluation, thinking about your thinking and
being sure that you are not to jumping to
conclusions.
Critical Thinking
• Assessment of the relationship between
claims and the evidence
• Exercising judgement in order to interpret and
evaluate arguments and evidence
• Questioning assumptions
• Openness to new ideas balanced with
appropriate scepticism
A Critical Thinker
• Questions and evaluates information, for example:
• What is really important here?
• How does it relate to what I know already?
• What standpoint does the writer have?
• Are there any weaknesses in the argument that is
being put forward?
• What other opinions are there on this topic?
• Do I agree or disagree with the writer?
A Critical Thinker
• Does not just accept what they read
• Does not simply make assertions
– bases arguments on evidence and sound
reasoning
• Identifies flaws or weaknesses in an argument
• Recognises his or her own assumptions, prejudice
or point of view
• Develops a reasoned, logical argument
Structured Writing
• Introduction
– usually one paragraph explains what you are writing
about and how you plan to do it
• Body
– A series of paragraphs (80-90%) of the essay.
Gives details and evidence to answer the question
• Conclusion
– usually one paragraph, briefly summarises main ideas
and shows you have answered the question
• References
– list of sources used
Logical Writing
• Writing must have a flow and a logical order
– A good way to plan an assignment is to put down
your ideas in bullet points using one page
(separate from your essay draft). You can also
create a ‘mindmap’ for your ideas or list a series of
questions.
– Another method is to create a skeleton with
nested bullet points or notes
• It’s very important to plan out what you want
to say before you begin writing.
Paragraphs
• A paragraph introduces and develops one idea
• It includes
– Topic sentence(s) introducing the idea
– Supporting sentence(s)
– A conclusion sentence
• Paragraphs should be linked and flow logically
on from each other
Supported Writing
• It is important to draw on other sources in
your writing.
– Using sources strengthens your writing / gives
credibility to what you are saying
– Shows you’ve done research and have synthesized
the findings into your own words
– Shows your participating in the intellectual
conversation within your discipline
References
• You can incorporate material you read into your
own writing by:
– Quoting – use the exact words of the author(s). When
quoting you usually place the words in quotation
marks (“…”)
– Paraphrasing – putting the information in your own
words
– Summarising – express the main points of when it is
someone else’s opinion, theory or information.
• When you incorporate the work of others in your
writing you must always reference your sources.
Why reference others work
• To acknowledge another person’s intellectual
work
• To make it possible for your reader to locate
your sources independently
• To demonstrate your knowledge of your field
and make your writing more trustworthy
• To avoid being accused of ‘plagiarism’ (using
other people’s words/ideas as if they were your
own)- “intellectual kidnapping”
When references aren’t required
When you include information that is:
• general knowledge (e.g. that Barrack Obama
is the President of the U.S.A.)
• information that is common knowledge in
your field
• ideas that are definitely your own, and
findings or insights from your own research

Clarity and Conciseness
• Avoid
– Long words
– Long Sentences
– Passive voice
– Adverbs
• Use
– Examples
• Be focused
– Prepare a skeleton of your document and stick to it.
• Be honest
– About what you have done, your claims and the evidence
you have to back it up.
Long words
“Never use a long word where a short
one will do.”
“Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific
word, or a jargon word if you can think
of an everyday English equivalent.”
George Orwell, Politics and the English
Language, 1946
Long words
The idea of writing is to share your ideas and
findings. If the language you use is too difficult
then a lot of people (including a lot of non native
English speakers) will not be able to understand
your work.
Honesty
Be honest and transparent about what your claims,
evidence and conclusions. Don’t try to hide behind
the language.
‘The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When
there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared
aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words
and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.’
– George Orwell
Cut Words
Be concise. Don’t write more than you
have to and don’t make the reader
skim over useless text.
“If it is possible to cut a word out, always
cut it out”
George Orwell, Politics and the English
Language, 1946
Exercise
• Score out the words we don’t need
–You may often find that there
are a number of words
contained in your writing that
can be safely eliminated
without any kind of danger to
your meaning whatsoever.
Solution
• Score out the words we don’t need
–You may often find that there
are a number of words
contained in your writing that
can be safely eliminated
without any kind of danger to
your meaning whatsoever.
You may often find
that there are a
number of words
contained in your
writing that can be
safely eliminated
without any kind of
danger to your
meaning whatsoever.
You may find words
that can be eliminated
without danger to
your meaning.
Concise Content
• You can do the same thing with your content
by removing anything that doesn’t contribute
directly to the point you are making.
– “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.”
William Faulkner
– “The most important things to remember about
back story are that (a) everyone has a history and
(b) most of it isn’t very interesting.”
Stephen King
Long Sentences
A sentence should express only one idea or a
clearly connected set of ideas.
Not, for example,
“Home care has been expanding tremendously over
the past few years partly due to recent technological
advances that enable assessments and treatments
to be a part of the home setting which at one time
could only be performed within the hospital
environment.”
Exercise
Break up this sentence.
“Home care has been expanding tremendously
over the past few years partly due to recent
technological advances that enable assessments
and treatments to be a part of the home setting
which at one time could only be performed
within the hospital environment.”
Solution
“Home care has been expanding tremendously
over the past few years. This is partly due to
recent technological advances that enable
assessments and treatments to be a part of the
home setting. At one time this could only be
performed within the hospital environment.”
Passive vs active voice
• Active voice
– Active subject is first. This is direct, assertive, clear
• “Steve loves Amy”
• “I heard it through the grapevine”
• Passive voice
– Active subject is not first. This sounds weak and
convoluted.
• “Amy is loved by Steve.“
• “It was heard by me through the grapevine,”
– Only use the passive voice if you don’t know what the
active subject is.
• “Mistakes were made”
Exercise
Put this into the active voice
“The experiment was repeated with 100 users
who we selected according to experience with
technology”
Solution
Passive voice
“The experiment was repeated with 100 users
who we selected according to experience with
technology”
Active voice
“We repeated the experiment with 100 users
who we selected according to experience with
technology”
Adverbs
Adverbs, like quickly, slowly, angrily, softly etc.,
describe verbs. These can look clumsy and fail to
add information. Readers often skip over
adverbs when reading.
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs”
Stephen King
Example
With adverbs
“The users completed the test quickly.”
(vague)
Without adverbs
“The users all completed the test within five
minutes.”
(better, more impact and more detail)
Completeness
• Avoid generalization
• Avoid statements without warranting
– Convincing Argument =
Conclusion (containing claims) +
Adequate Warranting (based on sufficient
appropriate evidence)
• Try to answer all the questions a reader might
have at any stage of reading the document.
Focus
• Know the message you want to convey before you start
to write.
• Prepare an outline of your paper with the main points
you want to convey and stick to these.
– Prepare outlines of Sections, Subsections and individual
paragraphs too if this helps
• Don’t be distracted by,
– Irrelevant points in other papers
– Trying to perfect your writing style (leave this until a later
draft)
– Doubts about your methodology or claims (its already too
late to change this)
Focus
Don’t be distracted from the point you want to
convey by the process of writing..
“The defense of the English language … is not
concerned with fake simplicity..
What above all is needed is to let the meaning
choose the word, and not the other way around”
– George Orwell
General writing strategy
• Take the perspective of the reader
– Answer all the questions
– Clarity over content
– The text should flow in a logic order
– Form complete arguments with proper warranting
– Less is more (cut out what is not necessary)
• Write in your own words

Sentences
• Most ideas can be expressed in a simple
sentence with the following sentence
structure.
– <noun> <verb> <noun><verb> <noun><verb>
<noun>
– Cats chase mice.
– Information Visualisation improves our capacity to
see patterns in complex data.
Sentences
• Other ideas can be expressed using a slightly
more complex structure
– <noun> <verb><noun> <conjunction>
<noun><verb><noun>
– provided that, and, but, because, so, yet etc
– Google maps are more popular than Baidu Maps
because people prefer the more flexible interface.
• The title of your document is just a sentence
that summarizes the whole project
Paragraphs
We use words to build sentences, and sentences
to build paragraphs.
“Words create sentences; sentences create
paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and
begin to breathe.”
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Paragraphs
We use words to build sentences, and sentences
to build paragraphs.
“Words create sentences; sentences create
paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and
begin to breathe.”
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Paragraphs
• Topic sentence(s)
– Summarize the whole paragraph
– Normally the first sentence(s)
• Detail/ Justification sentence
– Two or three sentences to add information or
warranting
• Conclusion sentence
– What we want the reader to take from the paragraph
– Be sure that this is reasonable given the warranting
(i.e. any argument must be convincing)
Sections and subsections
• Topic paragraph(s)
– Summarize the whole (sub)section
– Normally the first paragraph(s)
• Detail/ Justification paragraph
– Two or three sentences to add information or
warranting
• Conclusion paragraph
– What we want the reader to take from the section
– Be sure that this is reasonable given the warranting
(i.e. any argument must be convincing)
Document
• Abstract
– Summarize the whole document
– The first section
• Detail/ Justification sections
– Sections to add information and warranting (Related
work, methodology, results, discussion etc)
• Conclusion section
– What we want the reader to take from the document
– Be sure that this is reasonable given the warranting
(i.e. any argument must be convincing)
Do you see a pattern?
Skeleton
• If we try to write sentence by sentence and
paragraph by paragraph, we can lose our flow
of thought.
• Sometimes it’s best to sketch out the whole
document with the main points before we
start writing.
• Often in the form of nested bullet points
Skeleton
First Draft
• Fills in the skeleton with writing.
– Turn notes into sentences
– Turn sentences into paragraphs
– Turn paragraphs into sections
Later Drafts
• Remove ambiguities
• Try and remove areas of confusion
• Refine the logical flow of the document
• Answer all the questions that still might be open
for the reader
• Cut unnecessary text
“To write is human, to edit is divine.”
Stephen King
• Proof reading
– with a native speaker
– with an expert
• Final read through without changing
Remember to hand it in
Final Draft
• Create a skeleton for your research project.
Exercise
Resources
• Critical Reading and Writing for
Postgraduates
– Mike Wallace and Alison Wray
– SAGE Study Skills
• The Elements of Style
– William Strunk Jr.
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
– Stephen King