How to Write Like a Graduate Student

Recognizing the Difference Between Social and Academic

Language

• When using social, or informal, English in daily conversation, it is possible to communicate by using slang and without using English in a grammatically correct way.

• You can be understood without using:• articles

• prepositions

• sophisticated vocabulary

• pronoun reference

Recognizing the Difference Between Social and Academic

Language

• When comparing social and academic language, students should look for the following differences:

Use Precise Language

• Avoid using idiomatic language • At the eleventh hour, bend over backwards,

needle in a haystack

• Avoid using informal language • Nowadays, back in the day, lots of

• Avoid using vague language • A long time ago, in today’s society

If your language is imprecise, your ideas probably are, too.

Making Your Language and Ideas More Precise

Bad:

At the eleventh hour, the government decided to bail out the banks to keep the economy from nose-diving.

Better:

The government waited until the economic collapse was imminent before deciding to maintain economic stability by providing financial assistance to the insolvent banks.

Making Your Language and Ideas More Precise

Bad:Nowadays, fiction writers continue to experiment with form, but they less frequently do so solely for the sake of rebelling against established conventions.

Better:

Since the postmodern era, fiction writers have continued to experiment with form, but they less frequently do so solely for the sake of rebelling against established conventions.

Make Sure Your Thoughts Are on the Page

• Your reader cannot read your mind.

• When you present an idea, lay all the important components of the idea out on the page.

Bad:• The school implemented new policies to address the

problems.

Better:• The school implemented new policies, such as a later

start time, more nutritious lunches, and mindfulness training for all students, to address the problems of student fatigue and burnout.

Eliminate Wordiness

Interrogate every word in the sentence to make sure it is providing something important and unique. If words are imprecise or redundant, they should be deleted or replaced.

Wordy:

The teacher demonstrated some of the various ways and methods for cutting words from my essay that I had written for class. (22 words)

Concise:

The teacher demonstrated methods for cutting words from my essay. (10 words)

Eliminate Wordiness

Wordy: Our website has made available many of the things you can use for making a decision on the best dentist. (20 words)

Concise: Our website presents criteria for determining the best dentist. (9 words)

Eliminate Wordiness by Combining Sentences

Wordy: The supposed crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico aroused interest in extraterrestrial life. This crash is rumored to have occurred in 1947. (24 words)

Concise: The supposed 1947 crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico aroused interest in extraterrestrial life. (16 words)

Incorporating Other Scholars’ Ideas into Your Writing

• Good research writing involves using other scholars’ ideas, in the form of quotations or paraphrases, in your writing to:• Provide background information that lays the

foundation for your argument or findings• Support a point you are making with a

preexisting theory, finding, analysis, statistic, example, definition, or other type of evidence

• Set up a point that you would like to add to, qualify, or argue against

Primary Sources

•  Primary source: a document or physical object that was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.

your research findings, diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records, newspaper articles, poetry, drama, novels, music, art, photographs, furniture, clothing, buildings

Secondary Sources

• Secondary source: interprets and analyzes primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the topic of study. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them.

Scholarly journal articles, scholarly books, dissertations

Incorporating Other Scholars’ Ideas into Your Writing

• Remember that you are the expert in your writing. You should not let other scholars’ ideas take over your writing.

• Do not let other scholars speak for you. Use their words and ideas to support your own ideas.

Referring to Your Sources in Your Writing

• Refer to the scholars that you cite by their last names.

Smith (2001) argues…

• If it seems important to introduce a source’s credentials, you may include their full name and some brief information about them the first time you mention them. After that, refer to them by last name only.

Dr. Harvey Mizell, a Philadelphia-area obstetrician, has given a number of talks within his community about the risks associated with maternal obesity during pregnancy.

Quote Sandwich

Quote Sandwich

The increase in spending on animal healthcare is well documented by both national statistics and anecdotal evidence. In an interview, one veterinarian observes, “in the past ten years clients in my office have doubled their spending on surgeries. I believe that this is in small part due to changes in my clientele, but through speaking with clients and observing this change, I have also come to believe that the increase in surgeries points to a change in the way that Americans view their pets” (Smith, 2003, p. 171). While pet owners of the past were less likely to spend large amounts of money on sophisticated lifesaving surgeries, today’s pet owner is more likely than ever to view his or her pet as a member of the family. Many contemporary pet owners will spend any amount necessary, even if it means financial hardship for themselves, to extend a pet’s life by a few years or less.

Incorporating Direct Quotations into Your Writing

Embedded quote

While Raymond Branch had access to computers from a young age, Dora Lopez had to “reach much further afield for the material and communicative systems needed to support her learning” (Brandt, 1997, p. 6).

 Quote introduced in a signal phrase

Brandt (1997) argues, “literacy as a resource becomes available to ordinary people largely through the mediations of more powerful sponsors” (p. 6)

Useful Signal Phrases for Introducing Quotations

X acknowledges that _________.

X agrees that _________.

X argues that _________.

X believes that _________.

X denies/does not deny that _________.

X complains that _________.

X concedes that _________.

X demonstrates that _________.

X emphasizes _________.

X notes_________.

X observes that _________.

X questions whether _________.

X refutes the claim that _________.

X reminds us that _________.

X reports that _________.

X suggests that _________.

X urges us to _________.

X states________.

X writes________.

According to X___________.

Examples of Quotations Introduced with Signal Phrases

• Dwight Bolinger (2001) notes that “in a society where women and farmers are regarded as inferior, sex differences and occupational differences become class differences” (p. 99).

• Malcolm X writes (1965), “I was so fascinated that I went on- I copied the dictionary’s next page. And the same experience came when I studied that. With every succeeding page, I also learned of people and places and events from history” (p. 89).

• Elizabeth Wong comments (1999), “The language was a source of embarrassment. More times than not, I had tried to dissociate myself from the nagging, loud voice that followed me wherever I wandered in the nearby American supermarket outside Chinatown” (p. 291).

Punctuating Quotations

• Put quotation marks “ ” around the quote and use the author’s exact words

• After the quote, put the page number in parentheses, and the period after the parentheses.

• Insert ellipses (...) wherever you delete any words from the original quotation

• Use brackets ([ ]) to add words or substitute words in the original quotation.

Punctuating Titles of Sources You Mention in Your Writing

• Put the titles of shorter works like articles, essays, poems, chapters, and songs in quotation marks: • “Rereading Chicana Literature”• “Problem-Based Learning”• “Mother Tongue”

• Italicize the titles of longer works like books, movies, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and musical albums: • The Godfather• The Great Gatsby• The Dallas Morning News

Final Tips

• Read, read, and read some more.

• Pay attention to the moves that scholarly writers make.

• Notice what you like and dislike in scholarly writing.

• Keep a vocabulary list.