How To Write An Effective Academic Paper? Engr. Haroon Rashid PhDc, MSc, BEng, BSc MIEEE, MIET, CEng
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering A Faculty of Engineering and Build Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Outline Academic Writing Academic Paper The Writing Process Choose a topic Brainstorming Plan Outline Write Revise Edit Proofread Questions & Answers
What is An Academic Writing? An academic writing differs from other types of writing such as journalistic or creative writing. An academic argument appeals to logic and provides evidence in support of an intellectual position.
It is important to present your arguments in logical order and to arrive at conclusions. 3
What is An Academic Writing? – Cont. In academic writing, writers always interact with each others’ texts and so there will be frequent references to the ideas, thinking or research of other authors writing in the same field. You must give credit to those with whom you are interacting.
However, academic writing can take many forms such as to write an essay, a report, a review or a reflective article. 4
What is An Academic Paper? An academic paper contains original research results or reviews on existing results.
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The Writing Process… If you are a beginning writer, take it step by step… The following writing process has worked for millions of university students: Choose a topic Think (brainstorm) Research Discover your research niche Plan (outline) Write Revise Edit Proofread
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Choosing A Topic…
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Choosing A Topic… Breadth – You may need to start broad and let your research take you narrower. Originality – Choose a topic that will allow you to contribute to the field, rather than just regurgitate facts. Sources – On the other hand, also choose a topic that has scholarly grounding. 8
Narrowing Your Topic Use journalistic questions: who?, what?, when?, where?, why? Review recent literature (journals, papers, proceedings etc.)
Recall questions arose during discussion with fellows. Apply your paper to your career goals. Talk to your professor.
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Thinking (Brainstorming) When you have a topic; Start brainstorming. Write down all the possible answers to your questions. Write down all the information, opinions and questions you have about your topic. Brainstorming will help you to see what you think, what you already know, and what else you need to find out about your topic. Writing things down also ensures that you will not forget your great ideas later. 10
Research To make research more effective and less time-consuming, mainly you can focus on following three things: Plan your research before your start. Set up and follow a research schedule. Immediately record source information. 11
Discover your Research Niche Main idea of the paper ~ ONE idea. Your opinion or point of view ~ what you want to say about it? Purpose of the paper ~ it should be clear what the paper will do. An element of surprise ~ This means that the paper is interesting, engaging and perhaps not so expected. Clarity ~ It should be understandable after one reading and have no 12 mistakes.
The Writing Process…
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Benefits of an Outline Aids in the process of writing Helps you organize your ideas Presents your material in a logical form Shows the relationships among ideas in your writing Constructs an ordered overview of your writing Defines boundaries and groups Prevents you from “straying” from the topic 14
Creating an Outline Research: Perform initial research to learn about your chosen topic. Brainstorm: List all the ideas that you want to include in your paper. Organize: Group related ideas together. Order: Arrange material in subsections from general to specific or from abstract to concrete. Label: Create main and sub headings. 15
Outline ~ tips
1. Begin early! A strong, detailed outline is a crucial step of the writing process. 2. Refer to your outline often. A strong outline provides a consistent backbone during the writing process.
3. Be as specific as possible. This will be your guide throughout the entire writing process. 16
Outline ~ tips – Cont. 4. Avoid having too many subheadings. This may indicate that you can further narrow the topic of your paper. 5. Don’t be afraid to change your outline. Further research may provide additional information or counterpoints. 6. Allow yourself enough time to make changes. Attempting a complete overhaul of your paper the night before it’s due is both frustrating and often futile. 17
Writing First Draft Just write…! Do not worry about perfection yet. Do not worry about grammar. Keep going…! If you are missing information, mark the spot and then do more research later to fill in the gap. Be aware of plagiarism. Write down the source whenever you use anything from a source. Do not wait until the last minute! You will need time to revise, edit, and proofread. 18
Revising Know what to fix? Get feedback Refer to the paper requirements Read your paper for focus Read each body paragraph for support Re-read your paper as the audience Fix it…! Erase Add Re-organize Re-write 19 Revise it again
Editing Read your paper out loud slowly Use the spell check and grammar check Connection between ideas Wordiness Repetition Lack of variety Sentence structure Word choice Clarity 20 Non-English structure
Proofreading 1. Do not look at your paper for 24 hours. 2. Print your paper 3. Start with the last sentence of your paper and read your paper sentence by sentence ~ going backwards. 4. Think about the grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, meaning of every single word. 21
Proofreading – Cont. 5. Fix any mistakes that you found. 6. Print your paper and proofread it again! 7. If you are unsure about anything, use a dictionary or grammar book. If you are still unsure, mark the line and ask someone for help. 8. It is a long, slow, unpleasant experience at first. However, the more you proofread, the easier it gets, the better your English gets and the higher your chances to publish in high impact.
Thank you for your attention
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Questions & Answers
Engr. Haroon Rashid PhDc, MSc, BEng, BSc MIEEE, MIET, CEng
Email:
[email protected] Mobile: 00 60 17 632 3452
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Systems Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Build Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
