The Writing Process

                The Writing Process

Taken from Academic Writing: A Guide to Tertiary Level Writing Edited by Dr Natilene Bowker. Massey University. 2007. pp.32.


Writing is a long and winding process. In managing this process, there are certain steps that you can take every time you begin an assignment. These steps will help to maximise your efforts and make meaning out of the chaos and disorder that often appears when first embarking on any assignment.

One of the most comprehensive and sophisticated assignment tasks you will find at university is essay  writing. What follows are some guidelines on how to go about essay writing. However, the steps outlined have general application for almost any other assignment that you will be given.

Think about topic
It is essential that you interpret the topic correctly. This can be achieved by brainstorming to generate ideas, and then formulating a point of view, even if it is a very rough one. Some people have found that reading around the assignment topic, by looking up some of the key words in their course materials and textbooks or glancing through relevant readings in their study guide, is helpful in familiarising themselves with the question.


Research topic
Start your research by reading your study guide, text book, and lecture notes (if lectures are available). Then look in the library, or access the online catalogue, to see if there are other useful materials, but only look at information relevant to the topic. However, to do well in an assignment, it is not always necessary to have references outside your course materials. For 100 level papers, 3-5 references may be enough to do well, as long as you explain the ideas thoroughly and relate them effectively to the essay topic. Sometimes, course co-ordinators may specify the minimum number of references expected in the assignment instructions. Also, remember that you will be marked on what you write, not what you read. So try to look at everything you read in terms of whether it is worthy of summarising on paper. Simply writing something down in your own words will help clarify your understanding of the topic.

Plan your essay
Now that you have made notes and summaries on the essay topic, you should be in a much better position to decide on the type of position or argument you are going to back up or argue in your essay. With your argument in mind, write down the main points that support it. Make sure they are in complete sentences, and arrange them in the order that best supports your stance. These sentences can function as an essay plan. Each sentence represents a paragraph in your essay.

Write your essay
Remember, writing often does not come easily. Be patient and start with getting your ideas down on paper. After the fi rst draft, you can work on refi ning them. If you havealready made summaries and notes, the process of writing your essay may be easier. However, if you are having diffi culty, try writing some headings that are relevant to the essay topic – perhaps they summarise each of the main points you want to make – or perhaps they are just words that have some relevance to the topic.

Under each heading start summarising information from one book or study guide reading. Suspend the need to connect your writing to other readings or parts of the essay. Just write. Trying to control the way your essay will look and its structure early on can waste time because, as you write more and read more, you end up developing groups of information that you can link together due to similar features they have in common.
However, doing this at the beginning is difficult as you cannot see the overall picture since you are just starting out and your knowledge of the essay topic has not had sufficient time to develop. Uncertainty at the beginning is perfectly acceptable and normal. Once you are more familiar with the issues, it becomes easier to work out the main themes or sections and even the order to place them. What is important though is writing down information in your own words, so that you have something to show at the end of your reading and analysis.

Revise your essay
Look over your essay to make sure that you have answered the essay question. Have you stuck to the topic? Have you left out anything vital? You may have to revise your essay several times before it effectively addresses the topic and question. Try to leave yourself at least 24 hours between finishing your first draft and revisions. This will allow you time to distance yourself from the topic and refl ect on it with a critical eye. It is also really useful if you can access someone independent who is not doing the course to have a read over your assignment to see if it makes sense. If they understand it, then your marker should understand it. Take note of anything this external person does not understand, because it may suggest that you need to clarify and explain details further. Providing such extra detail can only reinforce what you know and understand to the marker.

Edit your essay
You should check for errors (punctuation, spelling, grammar), bad sentence structure, jargon, slang etc.Is your presentation OK? Can it be improved? Is the referencing correct?

Principles of Revision

Principles of Revision

Written by Anthony C. Winkler and Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell in Writing the Research Paper, A Handbook. Boston: Wadsworth. 2008.pp. 123-138


1. Rereading your writing

2. Revising the paper from biggest to smallest elements Revising the opening paragraph

3. Revising the introduction

4. Check that your paragraphs follow the sequence of topics in the thesis

5. Revising the body paragraphs

6. Check paragraph transitions

7. Revising sentences for variety and style

8. Revise sentences to use the active voice

9. Revise to use an appropriate point of view

10. Revise sexist language

11. Revising words: Diction

12. Revise diction for accuracy and exactness
13. Revise the overuse of phrases for subjects instead of single nouns

14. Revise redundant expressions

15. Revise meaningless words and phrases

16. Revise snobbish diction

Hints for Developing a Theoretical Framework

Hints for Developing a Theoretical Framework
 

Written by Marilyn K. Simon and Jim Goes. Includes excerpts from Simon (2011), Dissertation and Scholarly Research: Recipes for Success. Seattle, WA: Dissertation Success LLC

1. Examine your title, thesis, topic, research problem, or research questions. In one sentence, what is the concern you are investigating?
Example: Minority students in urban high schools are not doing well on standardized tests in mathematics.

2. Brainstorm on what you consider to be the key variables in your research.
Example: Mathphobia, high stakes testing, high school students, unprepared teachers, racism, poor funding, teaching techniques, socio-economic conditions

3. Read and review related current literature on this topic. Conduct a key word search to locate articles related to your topic.

4. Identify germinal and key authors who have advanced this area of inquiry:
Example: Coleman, Freire, Kohn, Oakes, Thomas, Rothstein, Jacobsen, Tobias, Wigfield, Silver….

5. List the constructs and variables that might be relevant to your study. In a quantitative study list the possible DVs and IVs.
Example: Dependent variables: Mathematics Anxiety, Self-efficacy, Socio-economic class, ethnicity, race, teaching philosophies, teaching techniques Independent Variable: Performance on high stakes mathematics tests.

6. Consider how these variables directly relate to the theory. Does the theory or theories provide guidance for how these variables might behave? Explain the connection between the theory and the variables.

7. Revise your search and add the word “theory” to your key words to find the theories and theorist most in line with your thinking.
Example: Critical Race Theory, Constructivism, Social Cognitive Theory

8. Discuss the assumptions or propositions of each theory and point out its’ relevance to your research.
Example: Constructivism holds that learning always builds upon knowledge that a student already knows and can build prior knowledge and experience known as schema. Because all learning is filtered through pre-existing schemata, constructivists suggest that learning is more effective when a student is actively engaged in learning mathematics rather than attempting to receive knowledge passively. A wide variety of methods claim to be based on constructivist learning theory. Most of these methods rely on some form of guided discovery where the teacher limits direct instruction and attempts to lead the student through questions and activities to discover, discuss, appreciate, and verbalize the new knowledge.

Rules for Writers. NOT

Rules for Writers. NOT

Written by Anthony C. Winkler and Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell in Writing the Research Paper, A Handbook. Boston: Wadsworth. 2008. pp. 138
Here is a fun list of the sort of revisions writers most often make in their work. You can use it to guide your hand in revising your paper and to be amused while doing so.



1. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfl uous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Don’t use no double negatives.
16. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
17. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
19. The passive voice should never be used.
20. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
21. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
22. DO NOT use exclamation points and all caps to emphasize!!!
23. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
24. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.
25. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.
26. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
27. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
28. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
29. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
30. Who needs rhetorical questions?
31. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
32. Do not put statements in the negative form.
33. A writer must not shift your point of view.
34. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences of ten or more words, to their antecedents.
35. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
36. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
37. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
38. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
39. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
40. Always pick on the correct idiom.
41. The adverb always follows the verb.
42. Be careful to use the rite homonym.
43. Proofread carefully to see if you any words

The Nature of Assessment

                The Nature of Assessment

Written by International Reading Association, Inc. and the National Council of Teachers of English in Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing. Delaware: IRA.2010. pp 1-7.
 

For many years, a transmission view of knowledge, curriculum, and assessment dominated and appeared to satisfy our social, political, and economic needs. Knowledge was regarded as a static entity that was "out there" somewhere, so the key educational question was, How do you get it from out there into students' heads? The corollary assessment question was, What counts as evidence that the knowledge really is in their heads? In a transmission view, it made sense to develop educational standards that specified the content of instruction before developing assessment procedures and engagements.

In the 1920s, notions of the basic purposes of schooling began to shift from an emphasis on the transmission of knowledge to the more complex nurturing of independent and collaborative learning and of problem solving. This shift has gained increasing prominence in today's postindustrial society, with its  everexpanding, need for workers with strong communication skills and dispositions toward problem solving and collaborating. A curriculum committed to independent learning is built on the premise that inquiry, rather than mere transmission of knowledge, is the basis of teaching and learning. This shift from knowledge transmission to inquiry as a primary goal of schools has important implications for assessment. In a knowledge-transmission framework, tests of static knowledge can suffice as assessment instruments.

Students are the participants who are primarily accountable (either they have the knowledge or they don't), with teachers held accountable next. Policymakers, including school board members, trustees, or regents, are the primary recipients of assessment data. An inquiry framework changes the role of assessment and the roles of the participants. Within this framework, assessment is the exploration of how the educational environment and the participants in the educational community support the process of students as they learn to become independent and collaborative thinkers and problem solvers.

This exploration includes an examination of the environment for teaching and learning, the processes and products of learning, and the degree to which all participants-students,teachers, administrators, parents, and board members-meet their obligation to support inquiry. Such assessments examine not only learning over time but also the contexts of learning.Inquiry emphasizes different processes and types of knowledge than does knowledge transmission. For example, it values the ability to recognize problems and to generate multiple and diverse perspectives in trying to solve them.

An inquiry stance asserts that while knowledge and language are likely to change over time, the need for learners at all levels (students, teachers, parents, administrators, and policymakers) who can solve new problems, generate new knowledge,and invent new language practices will remain constant. An inquiry perspective promotes problem posing and problem solving as goals for all participants in the educational community. For example, inquiry values the question of how information from different sources can be used to solve a particular problem. It values explorations of how teachers can promote critical thinking for all students. And it raises the question why our society privileges the knowledge and cultural heritage of some groups over others within current school settings.

Inquiry the needs of a multicultural society in which it is essential to value and find strength in cultural diversity. It also honors the commitment to raising questions and generating multiple solutions. Various stakeholders and cultural groups provide different answers and new perspectives on problems. Respecting difference among learners enriches the curriculum and reduces the likelihood of problematic curricular narrowing.

The Mechanics of Writing Research Paper

The Mechanics of Writing Research Paper

                                         Written by Ari Julianto

 

Here is the outline of the mechanics of writing as MLA suggested in MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by The Modern Language Association of America, New York, 2009.




1. Spelling
1.1. Consistency
1.2. Word Division
1.3. Plurals
1.4. Foreign Words

2. Punctuation
2.1. The Purpose of Punctuation
2.2. Commas
2.3. Semicolons
2.4. Colons
2.5. Dashes and Parentheses
2.6. Hyphens
2.7. Apostrophes
2.8. Quotation Marks
2.9. Square Brackets
2.10. Slashes
2.11. Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation
Points
2.12. Spacing after Concluding Punctuation Marks

3. Italics
3.1. Words and Letters Referred to as Words and
Letters
3.2. Foreign Words in an English Text
3.3. Emphasis

4. Names ofPersons
4.1. First and Subsequent Uses of Names
4.2. Titles of Persons
4.3. Names of Authors and Fictional Characters

5. Numbers
5.1. Arabic Numerals
5.2. Use of Words or Numerals
5.3. Commas in Numbers
5.4. Percentages and Amounts of Money
5.5. Dates and Times of the Day
5.6. Inclusive Numbers
5.7. Roman Numerals

6. Titles of Works in the Research Paper
6.1. Capitalization and Punctuation
6.2. Italicized Titles
6.3. Titles in Quotation Marks
6.4. Titles and Quotations within Titles
6.5. Exceptions
6.6. Shortened Titles

7. Quotations
7.1. Use and Accuracy of Quotations
7.2. Prose
7.3. Poetry
7.4. Drama
7.5. Ellipsis
7.6. Other Alterations of Sources
7.7. Punctuation with Quotations
7.8. Translations of Quotations

8. Capitalization and Personal Names in Languages Other
Than English
8.1. French
8.2. German
8.3. Italian
8.4. Spanish
8.5. Latin