A Guide to Academic and Business Writing
Why do we care about writing style?
Writing clearly, correctly and unambiguously is important.
It is important to be able to present a strong case for your recommendations or in support of your argument.
It is important that the reader has the correct sense of your views, opinions and interpretations from your writing.
It is also important that you write well in order to get a good grade!
"If I had to highlight just one factor in my students papers and reports that has the single most significant impact on their grade I would always say clarity of expression and structure in their written work." Dr Simon Croom, SCMI Executive Director
"Poorly thought through ideas are always betrayed by poorly constructed papers or reports. I don't have time to work through fluffy words, poor sentences and bad layout. If a report is badly written I am unlikely to give it much time" VP Supply Chain, USA
"Too many students feel they need to express difficult ideas or detailled analysis through the use of technical language and complex sentences. This is simply not true"
"I know of no good writer (not even Nobel prize winning scientists with whom I have worked) who can simply write a well written document the first thing out of his or her brain " Dr Shelly Valdez, SCMI
As a humorous aside - here's a great example of the power of clear writing, punctuation and expression:
A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
(from 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The zero tolerance approach to punctuation' 2003 Profile Books, London, p9 by Lynne Truss)
So, as we can easily see here, it is easy to completely change the meaning of the same words through judicious use of punctuation. Whilst we do not expect you to immerse yourself intesively into 'rules' of English grammar and punctuation, you will find it useful over the course of your program to aim to develop and improve your skills in written expression.
Is academic writing different?
To many students returning to study after a long spell away from formal education, there is a fear that writing in an 'academic style' follows arcane or mysterious rules. Well, there is some truth in that! For example, many disciplines have a particular way in which their subject matter is approached and expressed. For example, the styles we would see adopted by students of law, philosophy, marketing, english literature or engineering would be significantly different from each other. It is helpful to see examples from other students of types of papers and one of the objectives on this site is that overtime we will offer up some examples of different styles of writing.
What is Plagiarism?
In short, plagiarism is cheating - it is when you use someone elses' work or input and pass it off as your own.
The attached paper is a great overview of the views and policy we adopt here at SCMI.
Some helpful sitesrelating to the issue are shown here:
Useful hints about writing for academic assessment
Writing of any form, but particularly for academic assessment, follows a process containing at least the following distinct phases:
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I. Introduction: Introduce topic with a general statement, preview the subtopics that will be covered, transition* to first subtopic.
II. Body:
Subtopic A – paragraph(s) with at least 2-3 supporting details for the subtopic
Transition
Subtopic B - paragraph(s) with at least 2-3 supporting details for the subtopic
Transition
Subtopic C - paragraph(s) with at least 2-3 supporting details for the subtopic
Transition
III. Conclusion: Summarize the topic, subtopics (using different words) and, when appropriate, call the reader to some action (e.g. for more information, see…”)
* Transitions tell the reader where you have been and where you are going in the paper. These can be quite simple e.g., “while XX is important, one must also keep in mind…”
Two very important elements of the writing process also include
- Revising: review your work for clarity and consistency of the 'message' - does it really convey what you want to say clearly and succinctly?
- Proofreading: Focus on the mechanics of your writing (spelling, grammar, format, etc.) to make sure there are no errors or glaring mistakes as these detract from the impact of your work.
"I often tell students to give any paper they are going to submit to a friend whose work they trust and have that friend read it and give feedback. Sometimes it is a question of having another set of eyes look at it. I also explain that professionals would never submit something for publication that hasn’t been looked at in this way. Sometimes it is a question of them editing their own work too." Dr Shelly Valdez, SCMI
"I am finding more often than not that students write a paper by putting down something on paper, doing a spell check and grammar check on the computer and then submitting it. They don’t read it over themselves even once. I also explain that EVERYTHING needs to be edited – I don’t even send out emails without first editing them!" Dr Shelly Valdez, SCMI
Useful Links
In this section of the site we provide you with access to some very useful and easy to follow guidance on how to maximize and enhance your writing skills.
There are some really good guidesand reference sites on the Web and below is just a small selection of the ones we find particularly useful.
Purdue University free writing lab help
University of Kansas writing guide - a particularly comprehensive site.
Guide to Grammar and Style - by Prof Jack Lynch at Rutgers
Reference guide to common issues with grammar - A useful quick look up for many of common questions you may have about correct English usage.
Dictionary.com - online dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopaedia.