Understanding Academic Writing Instructions

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Questions and Answers

What is the importance of reading the whole question twice before answering it?

Reading the question twice helps ensure accurate interpretation and prevents first impression errors.

Identify the meaning of the instruction word 'Evaluate' in essay writing.

'Evaluate' means to consider your opinion on an issue while showing arguments for and against it.

Explain the difference between 'Compare' and 'Contrast'.

'Compare' focuses on identifying similarities, while 'Contrast' identifies differences between issues.

What does the instruction word 'Describe' require you to do in an assignment?

'Describe' requires mentioning the main aspects or essential features of an issue. Signup and view all the answers

How does the term 'Criticise' guide your response in academic writing?

'Criticise' involves making judgments about issues based on specific criteria while indicating your reasoning. Signup and view all the answers

What are topic words and how do they aid in narrowing down a research topic?

Topic words are specific keywords that indicate what to write about, helping to find relevant information and focus the discussion. Signup and view all the answers

Explain the difference between an academic summary and an abstract.

An academic summary outlines the argument structure of a text, while an abstract summarizes the aim, method, results, and conclusions of a study. Signup and view all the answers

How can restricting words influence the scope of a research question?

Restricting words narrow the topic by specifying criteria such as geographical location or date, making the research question more focused. Signup and view all the answers

What is the importance of rewriting a research question in your own words?

Rewriting the question aids in clarifying understanding and ensuring the researcher knows what is being asked. Signup and view all the answers

Describe the purpose of an academic summary.

The main purpose of an academic summary is to provide a concise representation of a text, allowing readers to assess its relevance quickly. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary focus of a descriptive summary?

The primary focus of a descriptive summary is to express facts and convey the essential elements of the work being summarized without personal opinion. Signup and view all the answers

How does an evaluative summary differ from a descriptive summary?

An evaluative summary incorporates the writer's opinions and evaluations of the work, including its intended audience, purpose, and effectiveness, while a descriptive summary remains fact-based. Signup and view all the answers

When would a writer typically use a descriptive summary?

A writer would use a descriptive summary when they want to gain and express an understanding of what the author communicated in the original text. Signup and view all the answers

What are the three principal parts of a well-structured paragraph?

The three principal parts of a well-structured paragraph are the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and the concluding sentence. Signup and view all the answers

Why are paragraphs important in written texts?

Paragraphs are important because they help organize ideas, make it easier for readers to follow the text, and indicate where one topic ends and another begins. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main difference between 'bolt-on' and 'built-in' approaches to learning support?

'Bolt-on' approaches provide extra-curricular support, while 'built-in' approaches integrate learning directly into subject teaching. Signup and view all the answers

Why is it important to back up arguments with evidence in an essay?

Backing up arguments with evidence enhances credibility and supports the claims being made. Signup and view all the answers

Define unity and coherence in the context of paragraph writing.

Unity refers to all sentences relating to the main idea, while coherence relates to the logical organization of sentences. Signup and view all the answers

List two cohesive devices that can be used to show addition in writing.

Examples include 'furthermore' and 'in addition'. Signup and view all the answers

How can integrating key words from a question into an essay improve its quality?

Integration ensures that each paragraph is relevant to the question and enhances the overall argument structure. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Analysing and Answering Report Questions

Read the entire question twice to ensure accurate interpretation.
Avoid making errors due to first impressions, as this may impact meeting the marker's expectations.

Look for Instruction Words

Identify instruction words within university essay questions.
Understand the precise meaning of these instruction words to accurately interpret the question.

Instruction Words in This Assignment

The key instruction words are "Discuss" and "Describe".
Understanding these words' meanings is crucial before starting the assignment.

Analyzing Essay Questions

Analyse: Break down the issue, discuss parts, and show how they relate.
Assess: Consider the issue's value/importance, focusing on positive, negative, and disputable aspects.
Comment on: Analyze or assess the issue.
Compare: Look for similarities and differences between issues.
Contrast: Highlight the differences between issues.

Other Instruction Words

Criticise: Evaluate, judging the issue and criteria used.
Define: Clearly state the issue's meaning, differentiating it from similar issues.
Describe: Detail main aspects, retell features of a story or sequence of events.
Discuss: Analyze the key issue, consider interpretations, and offer reasons for and against, drawing a conclusion.
Evaluate: Express opinion on the issue, and present arguments for and against.
Examine: Deeply explore the issue and investigate implications.
Explain: Describe, analyze the issue, and provide reasons.
Illustrate: Use examples; diagrams, statistics, images, or visual representations.
Identify: Highlight key issue features.
Interpret: Clarify or explain, and make judgments on how issues relate.
Outline: Clearly present main features and organization to show interrelations.

Look for Topic Words

Find key words in the topic.
Use these keywords to locate information.
Example: "Discuss the differences between in-text citations and the reference list."

Restrictive Topic Words

Restrictive words help narrow a topic, making it more specific.
Geographical location and date are common examples of restrictive words.

Rewriting the Question

Analyze the question carefully.
Briefly rewrite the provided question in your own words.
Use your own wording, staying under 25 words, e.g "The question is asking me to..."

Formulating a Research Topic

Topic Formulation: Formulate a question for research based on course objectives, gaps in literature, unusual situations, or personal curiosity.
Example: "An investigation on the effect of prenatal care on the health of expecting mothers and their babies."

Academic Summaries

Academic summaries concisely represent academic texts (books, journal articles, research reports).
Summaries aim to enable a reader, in a short time, to determine if a paper, article, or book is worth reading.
An academic summary should show the structure of the text, i.e., the argument's skeleton.
Avoid copying words directly from the source. Aim for an original summary using your own words.
Aim for a summary that is easily understood by people unfamiliar with the original text.

Types of Academic Summaries

Descriptive: Focuses on facts, main points, and supporting details; writer's opinion is usually absent.
Evaluative: Often focused on opinion and the writer's view, offering an assessment of the work's strengths, weaknesses, use to the reader, etc.

Paragraphing

A paragraph is a group of related sentences.
They share a single main idea.
A paragraph has at least three sentences and no more than five.

Importance of Paragraphs

They organize ideas in letters and essays.
They help readers follow ideas easily.
They show where one topic transitions into the next.

Paragraph Structure

Generally, paragraphs have three parts: topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence.
The topic sentence sets out the paragraph's topic.
Supporting sentences expand on the topic sentence.
The concluding sentence summarizes the information presented.

Example Paragraph

Canada offers excellent healthcare, education, and well-managed cities, making it a desirable place to live.

Exercise: Paragraph Writing

Write a paragraph about a recent family vacation.
Write a paragraph about a favorite childhood toy.
Write a paragraph about a desired career.
Write a paragraph about a person important to Namibian history.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else's work without proper attribution.
Copying someone else's words and claiming them as your own is plagiarism.
Copying and pasting and hoping the lecturer won't notice is unacceptable.
Plagiarism breaches academic ethics and is considered academic fraud.

What is Plagiarism?

Misconduct in academic settings.
Serious offense.
Copying someone else's ideas or work.
Downloading assignments from the internet.
Helping or colluding with others to cheat.
Improper citing of sources, or the omission of them.
Fraudulent creation of sources.

Why is Plagiarism Bad?

Violates academic ethics and norms.
A form of theft and academic fraud.
The plagiarist cheats themselves, ultimately.
The plagiarist deceives fellow students.
Demonstrates incompetence in the field.
Consequence of academic failure, expulsion, disqualification, or suspension.

What Happens to Plagiarists?

Written plagiarism declaration required for assignments.
Detection by plagiarism checkers (e.g., Turnitin).
Academic action(s) are applied for detected plagiarism.
The result of plagiarism: graded with zero for the specific work in question.
Consequences may include disciplinary action and impact overall grades for the module and the degree program.

Reasons Students Plagiarize

Excessive workload pressures.
Pressure to succeed.
Misunderstanding the nature of plagiarism.
It is perceived to be an easy solution.

How to Avoid Plagiarism (Direct Quoting)

Cite the source of the quote.
Place quotation marks around copied text.
Mention the author's name near/in the quote.
Indicate omission of words with ellipses or added phrases in square brackets.
Provide precise page numbers from the source within the citation

How to Avoid Plagiarism (Indirect Quoting/Paraphrasing)

Cite the source.
Employ different phrasing and sentence structure than the original source.
Mention the author's name, either at the beginning, middle or end, of the content.
Ensure your words and sentence structures demonstrably differ from the original.

Types of Plagiarism

Direct Plagiarism: Copying text from another source without quotation marks or citation.
Hired Plagiarism: Buying an assignment and presenting it as your own.
Borrowed Plagiarism: Using another students' assignment, or parts of it, claiming its your work, to one or more different teachers.
Self-Plagiarism: Recycling previously submitted work for a new project without acknowledgment.
Mosaic Plagiarism: Combining ideas/phrases from several sources without citation, presenting the work as your own.
Collaboration Plagiarism: Completing a collaborative assignment by only one student.
Contributing Author Plagiarism: Not crediting those who helped to edit/contribute to the assignment.
Aggregated Plagiarism: Citing the work of too many sources while inadequately integrating original thought.
Outline Plagiarism: Presenting the outline of another author's work while not acknowledging it.
Bibliographic Plagiarism: Using, presenting, and claiming as your own bibliography from another source.
Secondary Source Plagiarism: Using secondary research sources without citing.
Accidental Plagiarism: Unintentionally using the phrasing of another author without proper citation.

Essay Writing

Essays generally consist of five or more paragraphs.
Typically, an essay focuses on one topic with multiple supporting points.

Essay Structure

Introduction: An attention-getter (to grab the reader's interest) and a thesis statement (clearly outlining the essay's arguments).
Body Paragraphs: Each paragraph supports the thesis statement with supporting evidence and a conclusion.
Conclusion: Summarizes the main points and restates the thesis, often ending with a broader reflection.

Qualitative Approach

Collect and analyze non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, audio).
Insights into opinions, experiences, for a deeper understanding of concepts.
Useful for humanities and social sciences.

Qualitative Research Methods

Observations: Recording of field notes (details based on what you've seen).
Interviews: Person-to-person questioning.
Focus Groups: Group discussions from which you record information.
Surveys: Distribution of questionnaires with open-ended questions.
Secondary Research: Reviewing existing data in books, articles, videos, etc.

Quantitative Approach

Gathering and analyzing numerical data (e.g., statistics) to gain insights.
Used in natural and social sciences.
Aims to find patterns, averages, make predictions, and test causal relationships.

Quantitative Research Methods

Descriptive research: Summary of study variables.
Correlational research: Examining relations between variables.
Experimental research: Exploring cause-and-effect relations between variables.

Mixed Methods

Combines quantitative & qualitative methods for complete picture.
Data collection and analysis may overlap or follow in a sequence fashion.
Data of both types can support each other to draw rich conclusions.

Mixed Method Research Designs

Convergent-parallel: Collect and analyze both data types simultaneously.
Embedded: One data type as the primary focus with the other data type providing supplementary context.
Explanatory-sequential: Collect and analyze quantitative data first and follow by collecting & analyzing qualitative data based on findings.
Exploratory-sequential: Collect and analyze qualitative data to gain insights which will guide quantitative data collection.

Literature Review

A thorough review of relevant published sources and previous studies.
Useful for identifying research gaps and establishing argument foundations.
Review articles, summarize strengths & weaknesses of prior research & related arguments, and highlight any controversy.
Compare/contrast your research to existing literature.

Reviewing Literature

Broadening knowledge & understanding of problems and relevant theories.
Information gathering in books, journals, and electronic sources.

Homework: Literature Review

Identify a literature review section within a journal article.
Thoroughly review, noting the length & number of sources, arguments, & gaps identified.

Presentation and Data Analysis

Data Narrative: A written summary providing detailed explanations, comparisons, and conclusions from data.
A well-crafted data narrative supports the understanding of trends, comparisons, and differences from your data.

Graphical Presentation

Visual representation of numerical data by graphs & diagrams.
Effective for displaying data relationships and concepts.
Suitable for numerous learning topics/domains.

Types of Graphical Representation

Line Graph: Depicts trends over a continuous period.
Bar Graph: Compares quantities for different categories (using bars).
Histogram: Shows frequency distribution of numerical data within specific intervals.
Line Plot: Visual representation of data frequency on a number line.
Box & Whisker Plot: Summary of data by quartiles, and range.

Referencing

Proper referencing avoids plagiarism by acknowledging the source of external information used to support your work.

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Description

This quiz explores crucial concepts in academic writing, focusing on the meanings of common instruction words such as 'Evaluate,' 'Compare,' and 'Describe.' It also highlights the importance of structuring responses, managing research topics, and the differences between summaries. Perfect for students looking to enhance their writing skills!