Welcome to AIIAS Academic Writing Center

Here are some general guidelines on finding and selecting higher quality work for your research:

1. Choose more recent sources (unless your study is for historical purposes),
2. Choose refereed sources over those which are personally produced,
3. Prefer primary studies to secondary ones,
4. Choose recent journals over books (especially textbooks) as they are newer and contain primary data,
5. Choose sources that cite others rather than those without any references or footnotes,
6. Prefer academic, exploratory writing over hard-sell sources trying to convince you or sell you something,
7. Look for data included in text that supports the conclusions drawn,
8. Consider the author’s credentials – choose a professor rather than a student,
9. Prefer academic sources over popular ones – choose a journal article over a Time or Newsweek article.

1. Active Verbs: Use the active rather than passive voice: e.g., Passive: A study was conducted by Johnson (2004). Active: Johnson (2004) conducted a study.
2. Maintaining Tense: Generally, one should maintain the tense unless there is a good reason to change it. Choose a tense and stick with it for at least an entire paragraph. Do not alternate between past and present unless there is a specific reason to do so. Exceptions to this rule are common, but they are exceptions. 
3. Reporting Results: Research results of a specific study (including yours) are reported in the past: e.g., “Jones determined that . . .” “Table 5 shows that most people liked oranges.” The discussion that interprets data presented, extending the results beyond the sample and identifying principles, however, is usually in the present tense: e.g., “Jones (1963) found that children do not like interacting with hostile parents.” 
4. Reporting Ideas: Ideas are often considered living, or timeless, and therefore are referred to in the present tense: e.g., “Collins suggests that . . .” For that reason present tense is often used when discussing ideas, or generally accepted facts in the literature review. This is not always the case, however. Sometimes the idea has been replaced by something else, or the researcher has at some point changed opinions. If you discuss an idea that is dated, there is a need to use past tense: e.g., “In 1885 Baker concluded that . . .” Present, present perfect, or past tense are all possible for discussing ideas, depending on situation, and the sense that the writer wishes to convey. 
5. Keeping the Historical Perspective: When you are writing, keep in mind your reader who will be reading your work in the future. For example, if you write “Today’s educators promote . . . ,” consider how your statement may be understood in the year 2050. It is better to clarify such a statement with “Educators in 2009 promote . . .”. Consider carefully the historical perspective of your subject, especially in the literature review. Comparisons, agreements, or disagreements should be thought out very carefully. For example, it would be misleading to say that Brown, who died in 1920, disagreed with Smith, who wrote in 1965. It would be permissible, however, for Smith, in 1965, to express an opinion that disagrees with what Brown wrote in 1915. Also, because of the disparity of the dates, Brown and Smith can hardly concur with one another. It would be possible for Smith to concur with Brown’s opinion, however.

Summarizing: cannot take place without calling to mind the facts and details in a reading report or discussion. It is stating in a few words the key concepts or main ideas of that discussion. When writing, it always involves the skill of paraphrasing, which is to rephrase the author’s original words without losing the author’s original idea. A good summary will recognize the original author, present the content in fewer words and maintain objectivity. Here, the writer displays the learning levels of remembering and comprehending.

Analyzing: is a process that results in better explanations or even creative interpretations. It involves separating the whole into parts to display its structure, to reveal the relationship of each part to the other parts, and the relationship of each part to the whole. Analysis provides a room for opinion and critique when interpreting the author’s content in their isolated parts. When writing an analysis, one takes the time and effort to expose the structure and the substance of each of the underlying material that give strength to the structure.

Synthesizing: is the skill of identifying and bringing together a variety of perspectives within a subject area with commonalities to form a new viable picture. It involves building a new structure and is the process of generating new knowledge. Here the skilled writer blends different ideas with common threads into a new single idea. Synthesizing happens when two or more studies that are related by the broad subject matter or their immediate context are connected for their extent of harmonies. Literature reviews are good examples of extensive synthesis of scholarly works put together to enable one to see the missing gap in research.

Evaluating: is done by taking a stand or employing the writer’s voice. It involves making value judgments based on internal and external criteria. The internal criteria are the writer’s own interest, or expertise, while the external criteria, judges by sources of information availability, relevance, research ability, novelty, importance or urgency, and other factors. Evaluating seeks to respond to the question: how valuable is the content based on the writer’s own understanding and based on a set of external criteria that has been pre-established for decision-making?

Comparing and contrasting quotes is necessary to make connections between the studies you are looking at.

After you have carefully gleaned out the information you require from each of the studies to produce a literature matrix, you need a tool to make connections between the studies. This is a way of comparing each study against each other, to reveal how they agree, disagree, or give new knowledge. For this purpose, you may use a comparison worksheet on Excel. This is done by labeling each of the study – A, B, C, … AA, AB, etc. and then using a worksheet to compare and contrast your major findings against each other. 

Organize your notes from research into a simple outline and here is an age-old format you simply cannot go wrong with:

Title:

A. Introduction:

      a. Main Idea.

            i. Make quick reference to Supporting Ideas 1, 2, and 3.

B. Body:

      a. Relate Main Idea and Supporting Idea 1.

            i. Refer to Supporting Evidence for Supporting Idea 1.

      b. Relate Main Idea and Supporting Idea 2.

            i. Refer to Supporting Evidence for Supporting Idea 2.

      c. Relate Main Idea and Supporting Idea 3.

            i. Refer to Supporting Evidence for Supporting Idea 3.

C. Conclusion:

      a. Reiterate the Main Idea.

            i. Remind Supporting Ideas that Strengthen the Case.

The title can be a working title as you create an outline. The introduction must carry the main idea of the source material. What was the purpose of the source material? Try to jot that down in just a phrase or a simple sentence into your outline. You then give opportunity to transition from introduction to the body of the text via mention of the supporting ideas that give strength to the main idea. These are not your own content but are entirely gleaned out of your source material. Again, jot these down in your outline using a simple phrase or sentence. Your body of the text is an elaboration of each of the supporting ideas you have mentioned with reference to a supporting evidence for each of the ideas that you have gathered from the original source material. Jot these down into your outline.

Once you have a workable outline you are ready to begin writing. This is when you coin together the broad ideas into a condensed format without giving the details.

Once you have got an outline, writing structurally can become more fluid and easier to do. Building on each of the points of the outline into a paragraph can be a goal that you then seek out. Now, even though I recommend a set pattern for writing paragraphs, it is only a method to guide your thoughts further into writing more collectedly, that is, this pattern is not dogmatic in any sense. Writers, many a times, break these rules, and yet, get away with it. However, if religiously followed, the recommended style of writing here can make reading your work more logical with well-planned transitions.

So, how does it work? Simply as follows:

First sentence is the topic sentence. It introduces what the paragraph will discuss at large. This is usually, one main idea. It is followed by evidence statement/s. Here, a single statement or a plethora of statements could be used to support the topic sentence. Evidence statements ought to be well cited with in-text references. Next, comes the evaluative voice of the writer. This is where a synthesis of the evidence presented is taken together or collectively and restated within the perspective of the author. Finally, the conclusion links back to the topic sentence but is also a transitioning tool.

The introduction must establish the mode of transition throughout the essay or paper. If I were to write an essay on the American bald eagles using the outline shown in Table 1, my introduction will conclude with what is coming up next, that is, over the body of the essay. Conclusion must link back to the first sentence also called topic sentence. I may say something like: “Nature preserves some ideals of Edenic family values through at least one species of fascinating birds, that lead a monogamous life and makes an investment of time and effort in building a comfortable home for its immediate family”. The body of the essay will then elaborate the two points I am trying to make, into two separate paragraphs.

Table 1.

And so, my introduction, following through with some of the writing principles introduced above, may look as basic as below:

The American bald eagle is an object lesson for today’s family. The birds bear a unique name due to their dark brown colored bodies which are differentiated from their white heads, which can in some light make them look bald (Eagles.org). These are beautiful creatures that come in sizable proportions, with wingspreads that may reach approximately seven feet and also gain up to 4 feet in height (LiveScience.com). According to NatGEO TV (July 31, 2019) broadcast, these remarkable birds are carnivorous and are largely fish eaters. These facts are impressive, but they are incomparable to the reality of their human-like properties. Nature preserves some ideals of Edenic family values through at least one species of fascinating birds, that lead a monogamous life and makes an investment of time and effort in building a comfortable home for its immediate family.

Paraphrasing is a must-have skill for writing research and other academic papers. Often, research and academic papers require you to build up your case on a topic, or provide background information, which is done by referring to researchers and experts who have already published in the field and on the given topic area. Here you are likely to be confronted with the dilemma, “Should I quote or paraphrase?”.

Ideally, you should not overly quote a resource unless it conveys everything you want to say in a few words. Quoting a resource is valid:

• if the quotation is from an authority on the subject area, or
• if the words are much clearer and expressive than you could yourself produce, or
• if the words are technical/ industry/ medical etc. terminologies.

When you do quote, remember to name the source, use quotation marks if it is under 40 words or indent the passage if it is over 40 words, and cite the resource using the appropriate in-text and end of paper reference list formats. However, in most cases, you are more likely to paraphrase than quote. Paraphrasing is the process of restating someone’s words in your own words without losing the original thought. So how do you do it?

First, let’s look at an incorrect method of paraphrasing. The following example results in plagiarism rather than an acceptable paraphrase:

Okay, so how is it done? Here are a few strategies that can simplify the paraphrasing process:

1. Always give credit to the original source.
2. Apply synonyms wherever needed but keep the keywords intact.
3. Rewrite in a different sentence structure.
4. Employ active voice or passive voice to sound different from the original.
5. Use phrases or alter the parts of speech to bring in the variation.

Notice below how the paraphrase for the above passage could have been written:

The magic with paraphrase is that while you are in fact referring to a published source, if you do it right, your finished product can fit into the domain of an original work. Paraphrasing can look quite taxing at first, but this is a skill that writers can improve over time. It needs practice and the more you do it, the better you get at it. So, keep writing, keep paraphrasing.

References:

MIT.edu. (N.D.). Avoiding plagiarism – paraphrasing. Academic Integrity at MIT: A Handbook for      Students. Retrieved from https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/academic-writing/avoiding- plagiarism-paraphrasing