Academic skills Flashcards
Effective writing
Importance of effective writing?
type of communication through which individuals translate their thoughts to other people through words [academic skills]
Importance:
- To explain complex ideas/concepts/situations
- Makes thinking visible via words
- Core academic skills that facilitates your lifelong learning
The 7 C’s of effective writing?
- Clear
- Complete
- Correct
- Concise
- Concrete
- Courteous
- Coherent
- Clear
- Complete
- Correct
- Clear – simplicity is key, convey purpose of document immediately + match vocab to audience, avoid unnecessary language
- Complete – include all requested information about topic + answer all questions for assignment
- Correct – free from errors + correct SPAG + accurate information + verify facts included by referencing from credible source
- Concise
- Concrete
- Courteous
- Coherent
- Concise – use the least words as possible, short + straight/direct to the point
- Concrete – use specific, precise language for readers to easily understand ur ideas + use facts, details, quotes, statistics
- Courteous – creating a reader-friendly, easy-to-rea document
- Coherent – logical flow of ideas (use linking words + phrases, clear headings + subjects, parallel lists)
What is a parallel list
- Parallel = the same structure
- all the list items start with the same type of word
- with terms such as “either/or” + “neither/nor”
The writing process
(7 steps)
- Prewriting - plan outline, purpose, audience, research
- Writing - word choices, sentence fluency, organisation, voice
- Responding - teacher / self evaluation
- Revision - prood reading, clarifying, re-organisation
- Editing - proof reading again conventions
- Publishing / sharing - submitting assignment
plagiarism
What is plagiarism?
- The act of presenting the work of another person / content from AI as one’s own without proper acknowledgement
- using other peoples’ works (ideas/words) + incorporating it as your own without full acknowledgement
Types of plagiarism
- Complete plagiarism
- Direct plagiarism
- Self plagiarism
- Patchwork / mosaic plagiarism
- Accidental plagiarism
Citation v reference?
- In-text citation is short + points to a reference at the end of your work (appears as a number in bracket in the text or in superscript
- A reference is long + points to the source that you have used
Paraphrasing
can use evidence reading in work via two ways
- Quotation
- Paraphrasing
- A quotation is an unchanged phrase, sentence or larger piece of text
- Paraphrasing is the process of reading a section of text + then re-writing it using your own words (still need to reference)
Steps for paraphrasing:
The 4 R’s
Read
Restate - begin to rewrite in own words
Recheck - check back against the original text - ensure you’ve accurately captured the original idea
Repair - include your citations. Important Otherwise will be considered plagiarism even of paraphrased.
Writing Lab reports
What is the structure of a lab report
- Title page
- Aim
- Introduction (must include hypothesis)
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- References
into - present tense - everything else past/passive
Aim + Introduction
Aims -
- the purpose of the experiment?
- “to investigate the effect of heat when using topical treatments…”
Introduction -
- a brief description of the theory behind the practical investigation/ experiment
- The context in which the experiment takes place + why
- What has been done in this area by other researchers? (Background information)
- What is the point of the present study?
(your hypothesis.. the exact thing you are trying to prove) - IV + DV stated
Methods + Results
Methods -
A) Materials & Apparatus
- What materials & equipment you used?
B) Procedure
- How you carried out the experiment?
- past tense
- Diagram of apparatus used labelled + title + caption
Results -
▪ What was found
▪ Data presenting
▪ Data processing/Analysis
▪ Graph(s)
▪ labelled + show any formulas used
Discussion + conclusion
Discussion -
- Critical evaluation of obtained results
- references from other primary sources to ‘back up’ or scientifically explain any findings.
6 steps of writing a discussion:
- Analyze data
- What do the results really mean?
- Is hypothesis accepted or rejected?
- Are results reliable? why? why not?
- What can u do to make the experiment better?
- What could u do to expand on this lab? what could u test
Conclusion -
- Summary of findings + include the significance
of the findings - strengths + weaknesses of experiment? Are there any factors that could be improved?
- Any recommended or future work?
