Master’s in Applied Social Work

Centre for Learning and Teaching

Academic Writing Orientation

CENTRE FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING SERVICES

http://tinyurl.com/6xy9hy Academic English podcast

http://owll.massey.ac.nz Online Writing and Learning Link

http://tinyurl.com/albanyworkshops2014 Workshops

Book on 09 441-8143 or slc-alb@massey.ac.nz

OR in person at the library (LEVEL 3)

ONE-TO-ONE OR SMALL GROUP CONSULTATIONS

ACADEMIC STYLE

Ordinary English

Ageism happens when someone is treated badly just because they’re young or old and it’s a lot more common than people think. What matters most isn’t whether or not someone’s treated differently but whether it’s unfair to treat them differently in the circumstances. You couldn’t call a bar ageist if they didn’t take on a 16 year-old for the job because they’re not allowed to have a teenager working for them. But it’s obvious that a bar that wouldn’t give a job to a 50 year old to serve drinks is being ageist if that person was good enough in every way except for the fact that he or she was older. This sort of thing is incredibly common, even in New Zealand.

Ageism may be defined as “unfair discrimination towards someone on account of their age” (Smith & Davidov, 2003, p. 104). The crucial aspect is not discrimination in itself, but its unfairness. It could not be claimed that a bar was being ageist for refusing to employ a 16 year-old, since they are legally prohibited from doing so. However, a bar which refused to employ a 50 year old to serve drinks could be considered ageist, if that person fulfilled the employment specifications in every other respect. Recent research has found evidence of such practices, where age is used as an unjustified barrier to employment or promotion, in over half of New Zealand employers (Brown, 2012).

Academic English

Ageism happens when ….

unfair discrimination

precise

Ageism may be defined as ….

when someone is treated badly

concise

you could hardly say that … It could not be claimed that …

Academic English is:

impersonal

Recent research has found … (Brown, 2012).

evidence-basedThis sort of thing is incredibly common, even in New Zealand.

Recent research has found evidence of such practices, where age is used as an unjustified barrier to employment or promotion, in over half of New Zealand employers (Brown, 2012).

Citations are a short way of indicating the source of your theories, models, concepts, examples or facts

In APA style, all you need to do is to put the author and date of publication of the book, article or website you used

The most common way to do this is to put these in brackets AFTER you’ve used the information

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES

As an alternative you can use ‘according to’ and include the author(s) in your sentence

Or make the author(s) the subject of your sentence, choosing an appropriate reporting verb, for example:

claim argue explain point out find / foundsuggest

According to Brown (2012), older employees provide three main benefits for organisations. The first of these is ….

Brown (2012) found that age is used as an unjustified barrier to employment or promotion in over half of New Zealand employers.

Brooks, R. M. (2010). Financial management: Core concepts. Boston, MA: PearsonBrown, P. (2012). Equal opportunities in New Zealand: Myth or reality? Australasian Journal of Human Resources, 41(3), 46-68.Davidson, C., & Tolich, M. (2001). Social science research in New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson Education.Khan, I., & Chen, T. (2010). Tackling ageism: A cross-institutional approach. In J. Johnson & T. Peterson (Eds.), An equal opportunities handbook (pp. 102-131). San Francisco, CA: Pilot Press.Atkinson, D. (2013, January 24). Too old to work: Too young to die? Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/1004532.htm Smith, P., & Davidoff, R. (2003). Equal opportunities: From policy to practice. Central Islip, NY: Progressive Press.Statistics New Zealand. (2008). Demographic Trends – 2001-2006. Retrieved from http://stats.govt.nz/demotrends-2012.pdf

Your citations need to match up with complete references to sources in a list at the end

References

Smith, P., & Davidoff, R. (2003). Equal opportunities: From policy topractice. Central Islip, NY: Progressive Press.

(year) title of book

city publisher

In academic writing, most references are to books and journal articles

surname, initial

Brown, P. (2012). Equal opportunities in New Zealand: Myth or reality? Australasian Journal of Human Resources, 41(3), 46-68.doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

(year) title of articlesurname, initial

volume / issue number

page numbers

name of journaldoi number

CHAPTER INEDITED BOOK

Biggins, G. (2009). Why I became a social worker. In P. Te Ara & T. Rogers (Eds.), Social work and social workers in New Zealand/Aotearoa (pp.102-120). Auckland, New Zealand: Insight Press.

Title of chapter – not in italics

Editors’ names – initial goes before and (Eds.), goes after!

Title of book – in italics

Page numbers of chapter – in brackets with pp. before

Author of chapter and year of publication

City & Publisher

CITY OF PUBLICATION

UK, NZ etc city, country

Harmondsworth, England: Penguin.

Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore Press.

USAcity, state initials

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Check title of book in library catalogue and/or Google if city of publication is not clear from the book itself

AustraliaEither state OR country

Milton, Qld: McGraw-Hill.

Milton, Australia: McGraw-Hill.

WEB PAGE REFERENCE

Statistics New Zealand. (2009). Mapping trends in the Auckland region. Retrieved from http://www.stats.govt.nz/Publications/PopulationStatistics/mapping-trends-in-the-auckland-region.aspx.

author’s name (or organisation that owns the web site)

Year (if it’s missing put (n.d.)

Retrieved from followed by full internet address

Title of page (in italics)

REFERENCING SOFTWARE

Endnote ($36 from library – and make sure you go to a tutorial)

http://tinyurl.com/endnoteguide

http://www.zotero.org/

Free Programmes to download (but you’ll need to learn how to use them, through online tutorials etc)

Use the references tab in the toolbar

Microsoft Word 2007 +

Click ‘insert citation’ + add new sourceTake care with names (Hamel, Gary) and type of source

http://www.mendeley.com

As Mundell (2002, p. 4) argued, “If it’s right for Europe to scrap its national currencies, why is it wrong for other countries to do the same thing?”

1) Only quote definitions:

Quotations

And, as in the above examples, copy as few words as possible and put these inside “ “ after your own introductory phrase.

2) ..... or really memorable phrases:

The concept of comparative advantage states that “everyone does best when each concentrates on the activity for which he or she is relatively most productive” (Frank & Bernanke, 2001, p. 23).

USING SOURCES

An example of finding and embedding a quotation into your text

Such is the realm of corporate governance, an area that deals with how a company conducts its business and implements controls to ensure proper procedures and ethical behaviour.

(from page 18 of a book entitled “Financial Management: Core concepts”, written by Raymond Brooks and published in 2010)

Corporate governance refers to “how a company conducts its business and implements controls to ensure proper procedures and ethical behaviour” (Brooks, 2010, p. 18).

original text

quotation

Brooks, R. M. (2010). Financial management: Core concepts. Boston, MA: PearsonBrown, P. (2012). Equal opportunities in New Zealand: Myth or reality? Australasian Journal of Human Resources, 41(3), 46-68.Davidson, C., & Tolich, M. (2001). Social science research in New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Pearson Education.Khan, I., & Chen, T. (2010). Tackling ageism: A cross-institutional approach. In J. Johnson & T. Peterson (Eds.), An equal opportunities handbook (pp. 102-131). San Francisco, CA: Pilot Press.Atkinson, D. (2013, January 24). Too old to work: Too young to die? Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/1004532.htm Smith, P., & Davidoff, R. (2003). Equal opportunities: From policy to practice. Central Islip, NY: Progressive Press.Statistics New Zealand. (2008). Demographic Trends – 2001-2006. Retrieved from http://stats.govt.nz/demotrends-2012.pdf

Your citations need to match up with complete references to sources in a list at the end

References

“A person who wishes to follow Confucian moral philosophy will have the goal of becoming a junzi. The term junzi literally means the ‘‘son of the ruler’’ and has been translated into English as a ‘‘person of virtue,’’ a gentleman, a ‘‘superior man’’ or a ‘‘princely man.’’ The term appears 107 times in the Analects (Wang, 2000). According to Anh (2008, p. 103) a junzi is a ‘‘noble person who attempts to actualize Confucian cardinal virtues in concrete human relationships at any cost.’’ The junzi is a person who is an involved agent with others, rather than someone who is a detached intellectual or ivory tower philosopher (Wang, 2000). Business leaders still nominate the ideal of being a junzi as the standard of personal integrity in China today”.

How could you summarise in ONE sentence the key ideas from this text (from an article by Chen & Lee, 2008) for a paragraph on Confucian ideas about leadership?

Summarising

90% of your use of sources will be in the form of summaries of ideas in your own words. To do this effectively, you need to:

a) highlight the relevant informationb) turn this into brief notesc) close the original textd) expand your notes into one or more linked sentences

“A person who wishes to follow Confucian moral philosophy will have the goal of becoming a junzi. The term junzi literally means the ‘‘son of the ruler’’ and has been translated into English as a ‘‘person of virtue,’’ a gentleman, a ‘‘superior man’’ or a ‘‘princely man.’’ The term appears 107 times in the Analects (Wang, 2000). According to Anh (2008, p. 103) a junzi is a ‘‘noble person who attempts to actualize Confucian cardinal virtues in concrete human relationships at any cost.’’ The junzi is a person who is an involved agent with others, rather than someone who is a detached intellectual or ivory tower philosopher (Wang, 2000). Business leaders still nominate the ideal of being a junzi as the standard of personal integrity in China today” (Chen and Lee, 2008).

Confucian goal is to become a junzi – a person of outstanding practical moral standardBusiness leaders in China see junzi as an ideal (Chen & Lee , 2008).

STEP 1: Highlight relevant information

STEP 2: Take the information out and put into brief notes

Research has shown that modern Chinese business leaders continue to aspire towards the Confucian ideal of the junzi, or someone recognised as having outstanding practical virtues and social skills (Chen & Lee , 2008).

STEP 3: Close the original book or screen – so all you have in front of you is your notes

STEP 4: Expand your notes into one or more linked sentences

Confucian goal is to become a junzi – a person of outstanding moral standards, which they use in social relationshipsBusiness leaders in China see junzi as an ideal (Chen & Lee , 2008).

If you follow these FOUR steps

• You won’t need to worry about plagiarism• You’ll write more critically• Your writing will flow much better• You’ll be more credible

EXAMPLE of a POORLY STRUCTURED PARAGRAPH

The political challenge of becoming a republic needs to be considered. Firstly, Australians voted by 55% to 45% against becoming a republic in the national referendum held on November 6th 1999, with only the State of Victoria giving a narrow majority in favour of the change (Campbell, 1999) and New Zealanders are more attached to the Monarchy than Australians (Singh, 2010). Secondly, like New Zealand, Canada etc, Australia continues to be governed according to the authority of the ‘Crown’ as the executive branch of Government, an authority inherited from the colonial power, Britain (Radley & Foreman, 2003). In New Zealand, the current Governor General is Sir Jerry Mataparae (New Zealand Government, n.d.). Thirdly, Brown (2003) points out that Republicanism has traditionally replaced ‘top-down’ authority with a concept of a generalised power of the people and that diversity and biculturalism are ignored. However, in New Zealand, the Treaty Principles uphold partnership, protection and participation (Massey University, 2009). Therefore, it is even harder for New Zealand to abolish the Monarchy than it was for Australia, where indigenous rights and biculturalism have been less prominent. According to the last Australian Premier, Julia Gillard, the issue was no longer even on the agenda (Behan, 2011).

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE PARAGRAPHS

UnityThe paragraph should focus on ONE claim about ONE topic

CoherenceEach sentence in the paragraph should build logically on the one before

DevelopmentThe paragraph’s claim must be supported with relevant evidence

EXAMPLE of a WELL-STRUCTURED PARAGRAPH

Another barrier to elimination of the Monarchy is the lack of an alternative concept of State power. This difficulty is said to explain why Australians, less attached to the Monarchy than New Zealanders (Singh, 2010), voted against change in the referendum a decade ago (Campbell, 1999). According to the last Australian Premier, the issue was no longer even on the agenda (Behan, 2011). In the meantime, like New Zealand, Canada etc, Australia continues to be governed according to the authority of the ‘Crown’ as the executive branch of Government; an authority inherited from the colonial power, Britain (Radley & Foreman, 2003). Republicanism has traditionally replaced this ‘top-down’ authority with a concept of power of the people. However, this ‘people-power’ concept has been criticised for suppressing diversity and bi-culturalism in favour of ‘One Nation’ (Brown, 2003) and would clearly be especially problematic for New Zealand, where the Treaty Principles uphold partnership, protection and participation (Massey University, 2009). If Australia, where indigenous rights and biculturalism have been less prominent, has struggled to develop an alternative to the power of the Crown, how much more difficult would such a process be in New Zealand, where national identity is a complex and central political issue?

UNITY

… is weak: it introduces the topic (vaguely) but makes no claim about it.

Topic sentence in the Original ‘Republic’ Paragraph

Topic sentence in the Improved ‘Republic’ Paragraph

Another barrier to the elimination of the Monarchy is the lack of an alternative concept of State power.

The political challenge of becoming a republic needs to be considered.

… is strong: it introduces the topic more precisely and makes a specific claim about it.

PROBLEMS OF VAGUE TOPIC SENTENCE

Because the original topic sentence was so vague, the paragraph includes too much irrelevant detail

Facts are only worth including if they make any difference to the claim made in the topic sentence

... the current Governor General is Sir Jerry Mataparae

Australians voted by 55% to 45% against becoming a republic in the national referendum held on November 6th 1999, with only the State of Victoria giving a narrow majority in favour of the change ...

TECHNIQUES FOR GREATER COHERENCE

Coherence can be achieved by creating language bridges from one sentence to another. This allows the claim to be supported and developed as the paragraph goes on. This can be done by:

Repetition and Variation of topic vocabulary: keeps the focus on the same topic

Back-reference devices: Using ‘this’ / ‘these’ / ‘such’ etc means that each sentence builds on the one before, helping your argument move forwardSentence adverbials: Words or phrases like ‘Moreover’ or ‘On the other hand’ highlight important steps in the argument – but should not be used too much or too loosely.

3. EVALUATION OF PARAGRAPH COHERENCE

Improved ‘Republic’ ParagraphAnother barrier to elimination of the Monarchy is the lack of an alternative concept of State power. This difficulty is said to explain why Australians, less attached to the Monarchy than New Zealanders (Singh, 2010), voted against change in a referendum a decade ago (Campbell, 1999).

The clear back-reference and the omission of irrelevant details makes it more coherent and easy to follow.

The political challenge of becoming a republic needs to be considered. Firstly, Australians voted by 55% to 45% against becoming a republic in the national referendum held on November 6th 1999, with only the State of Victoria giving a narrow majority in favour of the change (Campbell, 1999). On the other hand, Australians are less attached to the Monarchy than New Zealanders (Singh, 2010).

Original ‘Republic’ Paragraph

Each sentence seems to set off in a new direction, so it’s hard to follow the argument

PARAGRAPH COHERENCE

…. uses sentence adverbials – in a desperate attempt to cover up the lack of real coherence

Original ‘Republic’ Paragraph

Firstly, ........ On the other hand, ....... Secondly, ...... Thirdly, ..... However, ....... Therefore, ......

Improved ‘Republic’ Paragraph

…. uses just a couple of sentence adverbials strategically – to highlight important ‘moves’

... the issue is no longer even on the agenda (Behan, 2011). In the meantime, like New Zealand, Canada etc, Australia continues to be governed according to the authority of the ‘Crown’ .... Republicanism has traditionally replaced this ‘top-down’ authority with a concept of power of the people. However, this ‘people-power’ concept has been criticised ......