From grammar and punctuation, to proofreading and fixing mistakes, this is your one-stop guide to improving your academic writing to achieve better grades at university.
Including quotes from tutors and examples of good and bad practice, this book provides step-by-step guidance on
Basic conventions of academic writing Critical thinking Conciseness and clarity Proofreading and referencing Common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Student Succes s is a series of essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to boosting your employability and managing your wellbeing, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university.

lgrsnf/Academic Writing and Grammar for Students (Student Success) [3911794].pdf

zlib/Reference/Writing/Alex Osmond/Academic Writing and Grammar for Students_28880587.pdf

Sage Publications Ltd (Digital)

Sage Publications, Ltd. UK (Collection), London, 2024

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

3rd edition, London

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copryright
Contents
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Writing at university
What's in this book?
Basic conventions of academic writing
Basic grammatical concepts
Putting sentences together
Putting paragraphs together
Critical thinking
Referencing
Conciseness and clarity
Common mistakes and how to deal with them
Proofreading effectively
Notes on the text and the conventions I follow
Different subjects
Referencing
Further reading sections
Further reading
1. Basic Conventions of Academic Writing
Using abbreviations
Establishing objectivity
Referencing correctly
Avoiding slang/colloquial language
Avoiding emotive language
Avoiding the first person
Avoiding the second person
Avoiding contractions
Simplicity, clarity and conciseness
Further reading
2. Basic Grammatical Concepts
Types of words
Nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, proper nouns and plurals
Concrete nouns
Abstract nouns
Proper nouns
Plurals
Effective noun use
Verbs
Effective verb use
Pronouns
Non-binary pronoun use
Effective pronoun use
Articles
Modifiers (Describing words and phrases)
Adjectives
Effective adjective use
Adverbs
Effective adverb use
Conjunctions
Effective conjunction use
Prepositions
Effective preposition use
Summing up
Further reading
3. Putting Sentences Together
Subject–verb–object
Active and passive
Removing the subject of the sentence
Emphasising the object of the sentence
Varying your sentence structure
Tense
The most common tenses in academic writing
Avoiding continuous tenses where possible
Hedging
Punctuation
. The full stop
? The question mark
! The exclamation mark
, The comma
: The colon
; The semi-colon
( ) Parentheses/round brackets
[ ] Square brackets
- The hyphen/dash
' The apostrophe
Further reading
4. Putting Paragraphs Together
Signposting language
Topic sentences and staying on topic
What, why, when
Further reading
5. Critical Thinking
The ‘P’ word: plagiarism
What is critical thinking?
Critical as opposed to descriptive
Summing up
Further reading
Bringing up alternate perspectives and conclusions (and then debunking them)
The rule of three
Repetition
Ad hominem arguments
Hyperbole
Rhetorical questions
Straw man
Further reading
6. Referencing
The different referencing systems/styles
Harvard referencing/the author–date system
Vancouver or numeric referencing
Footnotes
Modern Language Association (MLA) and American Psychological Association (APA) referencing
OSCOLA
More complex referencing techniques
Ellipsis
Square brackets
Errors in the original
Emphasis added and emphasis in original
Adding words to a sentence
Summing up
Further reading
7. Conciseness and Clarity
Watch those word counts
Redundant phrases
Other redundant phrases
Avoiding expletive constructions
Using simple words instead of complex ones
Simple sentences
Does this belong here?
Meaningless modifiers: ‘very’/‘really’/‘extremely’/‘severely’ (and so on)
The future tense/unnecessary signposting
Avoiding repetition
The active and passive voices
Changing negatives to affirmatives
Removing excessive ‘nominalisation’
Using the word ‘this’
More examples
Example one
Example two
Example three
Example four
Example five
Further reading
8. Common Mistakes and How to Deal With Them
Mixed constructions
Dangling modifiers
Using ‘it has been said that ...’
Using ‘I think/I feel ...’
Avoiding the word ‘interesting’
Poor presentation of tables and graphs
Comma splicing
Using ‘of’ instead of ‘have’
There/they’re/their
To/too
The word ‘of’ and possessive replacements
‘Putting things off’
Further reading
9. Proofreading Effectively
Distance yourself from your work
Proofread more than once
Leave more time than you think you need
Read your work aloud
Read from your last sentence back
Use technology but don't rely on it
Be ruthless
Proofread for you ...
... and keep things in context
Do your own proofreading
Further reading
Index

2024-06-05