minor-parts-in-academic---writing

20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting1TitlesandAbstractsinScientificAcademicWriting20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting2TitlesElementsinatitleAtitleisaprecisedescriptionofthecontents.Itshouldincludespecificwordstoindicatethefollowing:thetopicthemain,generalsubjectyouarewritingaboutthefocusadetailednarrowingdownofthetopicintotheparticular,limitedareaofyourresearchoptionally,forascientificarticle,20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting3Titlesthepurposeofyourwriting.Thismeansincludingawordsuchasthefollowing,whichtellsthereaderwhatkindofargumentationtoexpect:Ananalysisof…Anassessmentof…Acomparisonof…Adescriptionof…Adiscussionof…Anevaluationof…Anexplanationof…Anoutlineof…20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting4Titles–Task1Somesampletitles:purposetopicfocusAnanalysisofcarpculturemanagementasatoolforMexicancrayfishconservation.Anoverviewofnutritionalneedsbefore,duringandafteranenduranceevent.Adiscussionofgeneticengineeringtechnologyanditseffectsontheenvironment.Anevaluationofsewagetreatmentasatoolinenvironmentalprotection.20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting5Titles–Task1Somesampletitles:purposetopicfocusAnanalysisofcarpculturemanagementasatoolforMexicancrayfishconservation.Anoverviewofnutritionalneedsbefore,duringandafteranenduranceevent.Adiscussionofgeneticengineeringtechnologyanditseffectsontheenvironment.Anevaluationofsewagetreatmentasatoolinenvironmentalprotection.20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting6TitlesPunctuationoftitles:capitalletters•Itisclearertotypeyourtitleinlowercaseratherthanincapitalletters.•Usecapitallettersforthefirstletterofallthemainwordsinthetitle,includingnouns,pronouns,verbs,adjectives,adverbs,longerprepositions,conjunctions•Donotusecapitallettersforshortstructuralwords(exceptwhentheyarethefirstwordofthetitle),suchasarticles(a,an,the),shortprepositions(of,in,to,at),co-ordinatingconjunctions(and,or,nor,but,for)20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting7AbstractsAbstractsarecalled‘summaries’bysomejournals,thoughstrictlyspeakingthetermsarenotexactlythesame.•Asummaryrestatesthemainfindingsandconclusionsofapaperandiswrittenforpeoplewhohavealreadyreadthewholething.•Anabstractisashortenedversionofthepaperwrittenforpeoplewhomayneverreadthefullversion.Sinceabstractsareoftenreprintedinabstractingjournalsseparatedfromtheoriginalpaper,theyneedtobeself-explanatory.Anabstractnormallyappearsatthetopofthepageinfrontoftheactualpaperitoutlines.Thepurposeistoinformreadersasconciselyaspossiblewhatisinthearticlesothattheycandecidewhethertoreaditindetail.20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting8AbstractsTypesofabstractsDescriptiveabstract:thisprovidesakindof‘contentslist’ofwhatwillbeinthepaper;whatthewriterwilldealwithorattempttoproveinthearticle,ratherthanasynopsisoftheactualresults.Sinceitcontainsgeneralstatements,itismoreappropriateforlongerpapers,suchasreviewarticles,andcanbewrittenbeforethepaperitselfisdrafted.Informativeabstract:thisdoesnotsimplydescribewhatwillbeinthepaper,butalsogivesasummaryofthemainfactualinformation,suchasyourmethodsandmaterials,resultsandconclusions.Thistypeofabstractismoresuitedtopapersorreportsaboutoriginalresearch.Itisusuallybettertowriteaninformativeabstractwhenthewritingofthecompletepaperisfinished.20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting9AbstractsTheinformativeabstractwillcontainaselectionoftheseelements,dependingonhowyouperceivethereader’sneeds•anexpansionorexplanationofthetitle•thepurposeoftheresearch•howtheresearchwasconducted•whatthemainfindingswere•whatthefindingsmean•whatrecommendationscanbemade,e.g.forfurtherresearch•whatthelimitationsoftheresearchwere20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting10AbstractsNormallyyouwouldNOTincludeinyourabstract•anyinformationthatisnotinthepaperitself•tablesanddiagrams•citationsfromotherpeople’swork20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting11AbstractsHowisanabstractstructured?Ratherthanfollowingthesequenceofsectionsinthepaperitself,itisoftenagoodideainanabstracttoputthemostsignificantideasfirst,whetheritbethemethod,theresults,yourrecommendations,orwhatever.Inthisway,readerswhoareshortoftimewillatleastknowyourmainpointeveniftheyonlyreadthefirstsentence.20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting12AbstractsDifferenceinstylebetweenadescriptiveandaninformativeabstract•Bothtypesofabstractmustcommunicateideaseffectively,preferablywithdirect,activestatementsinshort,simplesentences.•Therecanbeadifferenceintheuseofverbtenses:*usethepresenttensewhenyoumakegeneralstatementsoffact,orsaywhatyourpaperdoes(asinadescriptiveabstract)20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting13Abstracts*usethepasttensewhenyouexplainwhatyouactuallydidorfoundoutinyourpieceofresearch(asinaninformativeabstract)Thedescriptiveabstractwillmakemoreuseofgeneralisedvocabularyandphrases,whiletheinformativeabstractwillhavemoreprecise,specificlanguage,includingnumbers.20110510TitlesandAbstractsinAcademicWriting14AbstractsWhatare‘keywords’?Thesearethemostimportantwordsinyourpaperthatarespecificallyrelatedtoyourtopic.Youreditormaywantyoutoident