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Generally, academic writing includes writing essays, reports, compositions etc. While writing academically, it is very much essential that the Ritter should clearly focus on the topic and should do proper research about it. Another significant aspect is the presentation style, which should be followed accordingly. Generally, there is a tendency in most students who are new to this process of academic writing to use the information in the same manner due to their lack of understanding about the process.
So, the writer should always develop an attitude of acknowledging the source from where he collects the information. Moreover, the Universities and the students should take a combined effort in promoting the favorable aspects of academic writing and in eliminating negative practices that destroy the essence of academic writing. This report will be looking on the features and good practices in writing academic materials and also the bad practices in academic writing along with some of the reasons that cause them. 3. MAIN BODY 3. Features of academic writing Some of the features of academic writing which are common are using materials that have source rather than making self opinions, comparing and contrasting the theories, stating the criteria that is used for evaluating the subject matter, complexities by admitting drawbacks of using the own argument and clearly stating the difficulties from arriving at a proper conclusion, following an argument by shows linkage between the points in a logical manner, decision making about the theory or model to be used, following a structure that includes related sentences in one paragraph, being discursive which shows that there is linkage and proper sequence between the paragraphs and being emotionally neutral in presenting the views.
The advantages of academic writing are developing the writing skill in a more creative way which also develops the whole creative potency and threatening the vocabulary and grammar of the writer is another greater benefit which the writer gains from reinforcing the various vocabularies and the aspect of grammar (Cottrell, 2003, p. 157). 3. 2 Good practices in academic writing: a. Use short and simple terms- It’s always good to use common terms and simple words that can be easily understandable. B. Be Impersonal- the writer should not use personal pronouns in the material. C. Ensure sequencing of words- It could be better if the subject of the verb comes first and then comes the object, the reader would feel more helpful. D. Order the sequences- the procedures should be described in the same order it happens. E.
Short paragraphs- can be used rather than the long ones because short ones always capture quick attention and would be more convincing. F. Vary the length of the sentences- short sentences look more attractive and are easier to understand but a mixture of short and long sentences can be used in order to capitalize the reader’s attention. G. Bullets or numbers- can be used when there are different points in a paragraph that are interlinked. H. Use sub-headings- they serve as label for different sections and hence the deader could select the material for reading accordingly. Sub-headings can be in statements or they can be in the method of questions. I. Lists- if spaces are used for listing out points in an ordered pattern. A.
Print the draft- Its better if you could print the draft copy, it would help in revising the whole material particularly to find out small mistakes in punctuation, referencing etc (Hartley, 2008, up. 183-185). Using References- this is an Inevitable part of the academic material which mentions the source of the thoughts and ideas gathered. It also helps the reader to refer to the original source to find Out its appropriateness. References include the name, title, year of publication, edition, location, page number, etc. Some of main reasons why references are to be included are: a. It’s a courtesy to the person who has created that information from his thoughts and findings. B. Making clear tattoo have not copied someone work. C. The reader might be more confident in the assertions provided as they get the source of the information.
Reference should be given: ; To show the source from where the specific theory or argument is taken. ; To support with more information like statistics, case studies, etc. For quotations that are quoted directly. ; For any paraphrased information (Cottrell, 2003, p. 135). Use Formal English- Academic writing is being done in English and therefore the writer should strictly keep away usage of colloquialisms”. For e. G. The new plans were “just the stuff’. Be Objective- in academic writing, words that are personal and subjective cannot be used because the reason is that the reader may have understanding about those words in a different way.
Be Cautious- the writers present their awareness about the subject in a way that’s not absolutely certain. Generally, writers use those words those show uncertainty. Be precise- academic writing is a completely well-structured objective presentation and therefore unnecessary words may reduce its clarity. Usage of continuous prose- ensures sentences are in full and linked together to construct a paragraph (Cottrell, 2003, up. 177-179). Proof Reading- refers to a technique that enables the writer to generate an academic material that is hundred percent free from errors. This ensures whether the writer has made equivalent material to the original one and is it done in the desired way.
It also helps in checking the accuracy Of the Truckee of the sentence, punctuation, spelling, numbers and capitalization in the material. Proof reading increases the credibility of the material (Smith and Sutton, 1994, up. 3-5). Paraphrasing- reframing the text in the sentence without changing its meaning. It should be done effectively to avoid plagiarism (Bailey, 2006, p. 29). 3. 3 Bad practices in academic writing: Plagiarism- refers to the act of claiming other person’s work as your own. It is considered as the most unacceptable dishonesty in writing academic. It’s done by the way of using other person’s judgment and ideas without even acknowledging it.
As this considered as a serious offence in Sensitivities, students are being penalized for indulging in such deeds and they also strongly believe there is no point in students gaining degrees by using this method while doing their academic works. Copying- means using the same material created by other person by essentially using the same words or indeed when the material sounds similar to each other. Even if small changes are made by changing the words or the sequence of paragraphs, this act is deemed to be copying. If any material is copied without attribution from any material created by other students or room any other source like Internet, it would charge high penalties on the student doing it and the consequences may end up even in exclusion from the university (Cameron, 2008, up. 1 85-186).
Collusion- means two or more people join together and work to produce some academic material where the act is forbidden. If students are given same work to do but individually and if any of them combine together to create the material, it would be the same and there arises collusion. Generally, this happens in cases where students are asked to work on some non-assessed material individually (Carroll, 2002, p. 3). Cheating- refers taking unfair advantage over others. It is usually used as shortcut to do some work without having much or no inputs by one’s self. The approach of cheating can be viewed from three different perspectives: learning, development and motivation.
In the learning perspective, it illustrates that students usually use this process when they do not have a clear understanding about the different learning methods or when they are not interested in researching about such strategies as it is a time consuming process. From the context Of development perspective, the process Of heating can be different quantities as well as in various qualities also and this would have an influence of the doer’s cognitive, social and ethical maturity level. Cheating from the motivational perspective cites various reasons like a student’s desire to earn high grades, to keep their image well polished in front of their colleagues, or if the student might not be having the required skill to do the work by his/her own and finally it might be due to the characteristics of the behavior that the student has developed.
Technology has great influence on cheating process and they may be linked to the individual differences. Examples of cheating are students using mobile phones, MPH players, etc. During their exams. Traditional methods like sharing answers are still common (Andersen and Morocco, 2007, up. 1-50). Some other common bad practices that should be avoided while academic writing are: Abbreviations- are commonly used while describing technical terms and moreover if there are many abbreviations; it shows a bad impression on the material. If the reader is not much familiar with the abbreviations used, there are huge chances of reader misinterpreting it or negatively marking them.
Negatives- when continuously used in the sentence confuse the reader and robbery it won’t be understood. It can be used for emphasizing something particularly or for correcting the misunderstanding. Overloading of the references in the text- if there are more references used particularly for one material, it becomes difficult for the reader to read them out. So, it could be better if the available recent references are used. Apologies- the writer should not include any apologizes to the concerned reader if he/she had felt difficulties in the research. The material should be designed in a way that the reader feels that the writer is confident in presenting the views.
Conjunctions- should not be used at the start of the sentences (Cottrell, 2003, p. 178) (Hartley, 2008, p. 184). 3. 4 Reasons that cause plagiarism are: a. When the students are not certain about understanding a thought, they copy the same thing rather than making it in their own words. B. When the students are in last moment Of doing assignments, they might not have enough time and therefore they may borrow assignments from their friends or any previously submitted assignments and submit them. C. Students may copy any material they feel excellent from any web or from some intelligent students with an intention to get good grades. . Laziness in doing assignments by self may provoke the students to use some others work. E.
Being popularized by self in a case where someone else has copied our assignment and they have submitted it before we submit it. The students must be very much cautious about this and should not provide others an opportunity for doing this (Cameron, 2008, up. 185-186). 4. Conclusion: After the in depth study of the proposed report about the study skills, the report explains about the good practice and bad practice in the academic writing. To justify the unfair practices in the academic writing the report has accessed the various theories as well as the academic source of information. In the opening part of this report, it is discussion about the unfair practices and good practices in academic writing.
The report found that in unfair practice there are some unfair ways of practicing academic writing, in unfair practices the report noticed the plagiarism, copying in the examination hall or in writing the academic task, as well as the several tactics of cheating by the students in the academic world. In the middle part of the report, we can find that how to avoid the unfair practices in academic writing, as well as to reactive fair academic writing methods. The report is flashed on the good practice of academic writing such as proper referencing, using formal language, being precise, using non emotional words, appropriate paraphrasing with main and in text referencing. Hence, the report is really worthy to academic students who are willing to write their academic work in a fair manner. 5.