Justin's beloved VW Beetle |
A story I heard on the radio inspired me to write this short
piece on academic writing style. The story was of a middle aged,
professional man who had hired a white van to help his mother move.
Dressed in suitably casual clothes he parked up his hired white van on
the forecourt of a Jaguar dealership to pick up a brochure for a new
model. Whilst flicking through the brochure an attentive sales person
walked over to him and told him it was ok to look at the brochure, but
that he should not take it away with him. Bitter sweet revenge was
enacted on the dealership when a few weeks later the white van man
returned in his brand new £65,000 Jaguar to explain that the poor
customer service he had received had seen him buy his new car from
another dealership. (BBC Five Live, 7 Dec 2010)
Would you try to sell this man a Jaguar ? |
Clearly a marketing lesson in not judging a book by its cover and to
avoid using stereotypes in a customer service environment.
Three tips for effective academic writing:
(1) Whilst content is king, style is also very important. Referencing
accurately and using an appropriate academic writing style pays
dividends in assessments. Present your work pristine and polished, not a
rough diamond.
(2) Make yourself aware of what is expected before the pressure of
deadlines overwhelms you. Below are a number of writing style guides
that you will find useful. Print out some of the pages for future
reference.
(3) Read text books and academic journals to pick up the tone and feel
of academic writing, over time you will bring this style and its
vocabulary into your own way of writing. Emerald, Science Direct and
Business Source Complete (Ebsco) are online search engines to access a
wide range of material, click 'peer reviewed' and 'full text' options
where you can. I award top marks for work that includes content from
here.
Royal Literary Fund
http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipscheme/writing/essayguide.cfm
Edinburgh Napier University
http://www2.napier.ac.uk/gus/writing_presenting/academic.html
Birmingham City University
http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.20.htm
Harvard referencing guide from Sheffield University
http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowshipscheme/writing/essayguide.cfm