OPEN UNIVERSITY

of

GUIDE
TO
WRITING
ASSIGNMENTS

Open University of Mauritius

Reduit
Mansa Daby
Open University of Mauritius
© Open University of Mauritius, August 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without
prior written permission from the Open University of Mauritius. Commercial use and distribution of
this material is strictly prohibited.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Getting Started ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. ........... 3

1.1 Interpreting Assignments……………………………………………………………………….. ....3
1.2 Planning Your Research…………………………………………………………………………… ...4
2. Researching for Your Assignments .................................................................................... 5
2.1 The Research Process..…………………………………………………………………………… ....6
2.2 Where to Find Your Sources.. ..........................................................................7
2.3 Citing Your Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism…………………………………………… ...8
3. Structuring Your Assignment ...........................................................................................19
3.1 Creating Coherent Sections…………………………………………………………………… ....20
4. English Usage for Academic Writing ……………………………………………………………………… .........22
4.1 Punctuation for Disambiguation …………………………………………………………… .........23
4.2 Adopting the Appropriate Attitude ……………………………………………………… ...26
5. The Final Touch ..............................................................................................................27
5.1 Proofreading and Revising the First Draft…………………………………………… ............27
5.2 Presentation and Format…………………………………………………………………… .............27

2
1. Getting Started

You are required to produce and submit assignments in partial fulfilment of your course of
study. Assignment briefs which include the topic/question, as well as other specifications,
will be provided. Different kinds of assignments are favoured within particular modules and
courses, hence assignments may include essays, case studies, reports and oral presentations.
Starting off with your first assignments can be quite mind-boggling. This hand-out provides
you with some basic guidelines and essential information to help you through the exercise.

1.1 Interpreting Assignments

Approaching an assignment question requires you to think academically. To ensure relevance

of your work, you must first try to understand the title and identify the purpose of the
assignment. It is always a good idea to underline the keywords, so you can be clear about all
aspects of the question. Some commonly used terms within assignment questions are:

Analyse/ Examine: consider different views and explore the relationship between them

Assess/ Evaluate: present a conclusion over an issue by stressing both positives and
negatives

Comment: make critical observations

Compare: look into both similarities and differences

Define: Set forth or state precisely the meaning of

Describe: Give a detailed account of, without interpreting or explaining

Discuss: consider from different points of view, then provide personal opinions

Explain: clarify and interpret facts

Outline: provide main points and essential information, while omitting minor details

Review: re-examine or re-evaluate and comment briefly on major points

3
 However, the assignment question may also have less obvious implications. Matching the
task with specific unit/s of the relevant module can help you understand what exactly you
are being invited to explore. Taking these initial steps should help you develop a clear sense
of direction. Note that you will be penalized if the assignment lacks relevance to the question.
Alternatively, you may be provided with the topic and asked to formulate a proper title for
your research work.

1.2 Planning Your Research

Once you feel confident that you have understood the assignment question, you may be
tempted to plunge straight into researching and reading a wide range of sources. You should
however avoid this trap. Instead, you should first devote some time to think over the
assignment question and decide what reading will be most relevant to answering the question.
Research can be quite time-consuming, especially when you are not sure what exactly you are
looking for. Your research material should support the points that you wish to bring forth in
your work. A lack of planning prior to starting your research may, on the other hand, cause
you to digress from the assignment question.

Brainstorming, that is randomly generating ideas and jotting down everything that comes to
your mind, supports a smooth transition from known to unknown. In other words, once you
have set down on paper everything that you already know about the assignment topic and
that you wish to include in your work, you will then be able to organize your ideas coherently,
which will help you focus your forthcoming research on the question. The ideas generated
through the brainstorming exercise will certainly be far from sufficient for completing your
assignment; but you would have thus planned the basic structure of your research, so you can
start searching for relevant material.

4
2. Researching for Your Assignments

After you have rearranged you random ideas into an outline plan, you can use this same
outline to start gathering information. Research will obviously broaden your knowledge, so
you may wish to adapt your plan as you go along. You should, however, organize the gathered
information as per your plan so you need not devote extra time to sorting out the information
at a later stage. You can categorize the information according to how they might support
your different arguments. Colour-coding your notes may help you jot them down in a
selective and constructive manner.

You should bear in mind that your assignment must express your own views on the topic/
question. It should not be a mere patchwork of information gathered from different sources.
Your research material should merely support your personal views and arguments. You need
not agree with all the sources you come across. You are rather encouraged to examine the
evidence presented within the various sources. Your research should include both
observation and evaluation of the researched material.

Some areas of study requires researchers to explore both Primary sources and Secondary
sources. A primary source is a document which was written during the time under study.
Primary sources include:

• Creative works: poetry, drama, novels, etc.

• Original documents: diaries, speeches, historical records, autobiographies and other
personal narratives, legal documents, interviews, letters, manuscripts, etc.

A secondary source is a written piece which interprets and analyzes primary sources.
Secondary sources include critical analysis, commentary, textbook, research evidence,
article, etc.

5
2.1 The Research Process

The research process starts with finding relevant sources, skimming and scanning these
sources, and in-depth reading of important parts of these sources. You need not study all
the sources in detail. Rather, you should brush up your critical reading skills. One effective
technique for skimming a text is to read the introductory and conclusive paragraphs, as well
as the first and last sentences of each paragraph. Scanning is basically skimming a text with
a more tightly focused purpose of finding particular facts or arguments. With a little bit of
practice, you should be able to develop your own skimming and scanning techniques to suit
your reading style.

Selecting parts of the material and note-taking will come next. You will have to make choices
about the information that you wish to quote, paraphrase or summarize in your own words.
Paraphrasing means re-stating the information in your own words, whereas summarizing
allows you to express an extensive amount of information in a concise form. However, if you
use even a few of the author’s words while summarizing a larger amount of information,
these words must appear in quotation marks. Although a direct quotation proves that you
have read source, you must avoid replicating large chunks of information from any one
source. In fact, as part of the research process, you should also devote some time to
analysing and comparing the information gathered from different sources. Some of the
questions that you could ask yourself are:

• What does the author say?

• Why does the author say so?
• What is the author’s approach to investigating the issue?
• How convincing is the author’s argument?
• How weak is the author’s argument?
• What solution does the author provide?

6
2.2 Where to Find Your Sources

Most students would begin their research for their assignments by consulting the manuals
and hand-outs that are provided to them as essential learning tools for every module. A
reading list may also be included in the manuals and hand-outs.

The Open University Library also provides core facilities for academics and students who
need access to books and monographs and to digital resources. It caters for the needs of all
students across all courses offered at the Open University. Course materials and text books
are provided in the form of books, e-books, audio and video programmes. The physical
library has a seating capacity of around 60, where registered learners can consult books or
view audio-visual programmes.

In line with the philosophy of the Open University to facilitate the learning mode of the
students through technological tools, the Library has set up an e-library, hence students need
not travel to the physical library in order to consult the books. Registered learners can access
e-books, online journals, audio-visual programmes, past exam papers, dissertations and
projects from the internet at any time. They must contact the Academic Affairs Division for
their user name and password. A collection of some 86,000 titles of e-books is available. The
E-Library can be accessed from http://search.ebscohost.com

Registered learners can also access online journals from the following websites:

EBSCO: http://search.ebscohost.com

Emerald: www.emeraldinsight.com

When consulting books, you may first scan the preface, table of contents and index, then
proceed with in-depth reading of sections relevant to the assessment topic. Journal articles
7
 usually outline their line of argument within the abstract. Reading the abstract will therefore
indicate the relevance of the article to your research.

Research over the internet is being increasingly favoured by learners. Despite being a
tremendous resource, the internet must however be used carefully and critically. With the
exception of academic research databases that can be accessed through providers such as
those mentioned above, most freely accessible online material are unedited and unverified;
hence the accuracy and reliability of online information is doubtful. It is not at all
recommended that you rely exclusively on internet resources for your research.

Also bear in mind that you must write down the complete bibliographical information for
each source consulted, as all research material included in your assignment must be properly
referenced.

2.3 Citing Your Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism means to represent the words, thoughts, ideas, arguments or expressions of

another person as one's own. Such misappropriation of another author’s writings into your
own work is not acceptable at university level. It is in fact considered a serious offence and is
heavily penalized.

You must therefore cite all your sources in every academic work you produce. However, there
are some rules and conventions that you must abide by for citing your sources in an
appropriate manner.

Referencing means to acknowledge all the sources you have researched and deemed right to
appropriate within your assignment. This includes quotations, paraphrases as well as
summaries. Your work should include a mix of all three.

8
If you have carried out extensive research, you might get the feeling, while writing your
assignment, that you have included too many ideas that are not your own. This does not
however lessen the credit you get for your own thinking. Rather, it indicates the amount of
reading you have done, for which you will receive extra merit points. In fact, supporting your
own arguments with those of esteemed academic sources adds value to your work.

Referencing comprises two components:

• In-text referencing, i.e. acknowledging the parts that you cite from other sources within
the body of your work.

• A Reference List or Bibliography at the end of your work, i.e. a list of all the sources cited
in your text, as well as all other sources you consulted and found helpful during your
research.

There are different referencing conventions that are favoured across different fields of study
and educational institutions. Some of the most popular referencing formats are:

• The Harvard System

• The APA (American Psychological Association) format
• The MLA (Modern Language Association) format

At the Open University of Mauritius, the Harvard System is recommended. Table 2.3 provides
examples, both for compiling the Reference List or Bibliography and in-text referencing, of
the different kinds of sources that you could use.

9
 Harvard Citation Style Examples

Material In-Text Example Reference List/ Bibliography Example

Type
Books & eBooks

Book: Single (Holt 1997) or Holt Holt, DH 1997, Management principles and practices, Prentice-Hall,
Author (1997) wrote that... Sydney.
(McCarthy,
Book: 2 or 3 McCarthey, EJ, William, DP & Pascale, GQ 1997, Basic marketing,
William &
Authors Irwin, Sydney.
Pascale 1997)
Book: More
(Bond et al. Bond, WR, Smith, JT, Brown, KL & George, M 1996, Management of
Than 3
1996) small firms, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
Authors
Book: No (A history of Greece
A history of Greece 1994, Irwin, Sydney.
Author 1994)

Book: Jones, MD (ed.) 1998, Management in Australia, Academic Press,

(ed. Jones 1998) London.
Editor
Book: 2 or
(eds. Bullinger & Bullinger, HJ & Warnecke HJ (eds.) 1985, Toward the factory of the
More
Warnecke 1985) future, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Editors
Book: Colorado, JA 2006, Economic theory in the Mexican context: recent
(trans. Smith
Translator developments on the ground, trans. K Smith, Oxford University
2006)
& Author Press, Oxford.
(Australian
Book: Bureau of Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics 2001,
Organisation Agricultural and Aquaculture development in Australia: a review of key economic
as Author Resource issues, ABARE, Canberra.
Economics 2001)
Book: A number of
Chapter disturbing facts Milkman, R 1998, 'The new American workplace: high road or low
or Article intrude' (Milkman road?' in Workplaces of the future, eds. P Thompson & C Warhurst,
in Edited 1998, p. 25) Macmillan Press, London, pp. 22-34.
Book
Book:
Drafke, M 2009, The human side of organizations, 10th edn.,
edition other (Drafke, 2009)
Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
than first.
Books:
Different (Bond 1991a) Bond, G 1991a, Business ethics, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.
Works by (Bond 1991b) Bond, G 1991b, Corporate governance, Irwin, London.
Same
Author in
Same Year
10
 Aghion, P & Durlauf, S (eds.) 2005, Handbook of economic growth,
(Aghion &
E-book Elsevier, Amsterdam. Available from: Elsevier books. [4 November
Durlauf 2005)
2004].
E-book:
Chapter or 'Historical thinking is White, H 2002, 'The westernization of world history' in Western
actually a Western historical thinking: an intercultural debate, ed J Rusen, Berghahn
Article in
perspective' (White Books, New York pp.
an Edited
2002, p. 112) 111-119. Available from: ACLS Humanities E-Book. [14 May 2009].
Ebook
Journals
Journal Conley, TG & Galeson, DW 1998, 'Nativity and wealth in
(Conley & midnineteenth century cities', Journal of Economic History, vol. 58,
Article:
Galeson 1998) no. 2, pp. 468-493.
Print
Journal (Liveris 2011) Liveris, A 2011, 'Ethics as a strategy', Leadership Excellence, vol. 28,
Article: no. 2, pp.17-18. Available from: Proquest [23 June 2011].
Electronic
Database
Improve indigenous Improve indigenous housing now, government told, 2007. Available
Webpage: housing 2007. Use from:
No Author first few words of <http://www.architecture.com.au/i-cms?page=10220> [8 February
the page title 2009].
Webpage: Jones, MD n.d., Commentary on indigenous housing initiatives.
(Jones, n.d.)
No Date Available from: <http://www.architecture.com.au> [6 June 2009].
(Department of Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources 2006, Being
Web Industry, Prepared for an Influenza Pandemic: a Kit for Small Businesses,
Document Tourism and Government of Australia, Available from:
Resources 2006) <http://www.innovation.gov.au> [28 February 2009].
Australian Securities Exchange 2009, Market Information. Available
(Australian
from:
Website Securities
<http://www.asx.com.au/professionals/market_information/index.
Exchange 2009)
htm> [5 July 2009].

Newton, A. 2007, Newcastle toolkit. 16 January 2007. Angela

Blog (Newton 2007) Newton: Blog. Available from:
<https://elgg.leeds.ac.uk/libajn/weblog/> [23 February 2007].

Computer (OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org, computer software 2005. Available from:

Software 2005) <http://www.openoffice.org> [11 January 2005].
Web
Based
Image / The Lunar Interior, 2000. Available from:
(The Lunar
table / <http://www.planetscapes.com/solar/browse/moon/moonint.jpg>
Interior 2000)
figure [28 November 2000].

11
 Cases and Legislation

(R v Tang (2008)
Cases R v Tang (2008) 237 CLR.
237 CLR 1)
Acts of (Corporations
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Parliament Act 2001 (Cth) s3)

Delegated (Police Regulations

Police Regulations 2003 (Vic) reg 6.
Legislation 2003 (Vic) reg 6.
(Corporations
Bills Amendment Bill Corporations Amendment Bill (No 1) 2005 (Cth).
(No 1) 2005 (Cth)
Company Information

Aspect Huntley DatAnalysis 2009, National Australia Bank Limited

Company (Aspect Huntley
Company Report. Available from: Aspect Huntley DatAnalysis. [20
Report 2009)
May 2009].
Company Datamonitor 2009, Wesfarmers Limited Company Profile. Available
(Datamonitor 2009)
Profile from: Business Source Premier. [20 May 2009].

Financial Datastream, 2009, S&PASX200 daily index data 2000-2009. Available

(Datastream 2009)
Data from: Datastream. [20 May 2009].

Conference Papers & Proceedings

Riley, D 1992, 'Industrial relations in Australian education', in

Conference
Contemporary Australasian industrial relations: proceedings of the
Proceeding (Riley 1992)
sixth AIRAANZ conference, ed. D. Blackmur, AIRAANZ, Sydney, pp.
Paper: Print
124-140.
Fan, W, Gordon, MD & Pathak, R 2000, 'Personalization of search
Conference engine services for effective retrieval and knowledge management',
Proceeding (Fan, Gordon & Proceedings of the twenty-first international conference on
Paper: Pathak 2000) information systems, pp. 20-34.
Electronic Available from: ACM Portal: ACM Digital Library. [24 June 2004].

Conference

Proceeding (Brown & Caste Brown, S & Caste, V 2004, 'Integrated obstacle detection
Paper: 1990) framework'. Paper presented at the IEEE Intelligent Vehicles
Unpublished Symposium, IEEE, Detroit MI.

12
 Newspapers

Newspaper: Ionesco, J 2001, 'Federal election: new Chip in politics', The

(Ionesco 2001)
Print Advertiser 23 October, p. 10.

Newspaper: Meryment, E 2006, 'Distaff winemakers raise a glass of their own to

(Meryment
Electronic their own', The Australian, 7 October, p. 5. Available from: Factiva.
2006)
Database [2 February 2007].

Newspaper: Hilts, PJ 1999, 'In forecasting their emotions, most people flunk
From a (Hilts 1999) out', The New York Times 16 February. Available from
Website <http://www.nytimes.com> [19 February 2000].

(The Sydney
Newspaper:
Morning Herald 7 Not required.
No Author
January 2011, p. 12)

Multimedia

(Effective
Video performance Effective performance appraisals 1994, (video recording),
appraisals 1994) Melbourne, Educational Media Australia.

Crystal, L (executive producer) 1993, The MacNeil/Lehrer news hour

Television
(Crystal 1993) (television broadcast) 11 October 1993, New York and Washington
Programme
DC, Public Broadcasting Service.

Van Nuys, D (producer) 2007, 'The anatomy of a lobotomist [Show

Audio
(Van Nuys 2007) 84]', Shrink Rap Radio (podcast). Available from:
Podcast
<http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/> [11 April 2007].
Kloft, M (producer/director) 2006, The Nuremberg trials (motion
picture), in M.Samuels (executive producer), American experience
Video (podcast). Available from:
(Kloft 2006)
Podcast <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rss/podcast_pb.xml> [4 March
2006].
Music Track
Shocked, M 1992, 'Over the waterfall', on Arkansas Traveller (CD).
from an (Shocked 1992)
New York, Polygram Music.
Album
Norton, R 2006, 'How to train a cat to operate a light switch' (video
file). Available from:
Video Blog <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vja83KLQXZs> [4 November
(Norton 2006) 2006].
Post

13
 Standards & Patents

Cookson, AH 1985, Particle trap for compressed gas insulated

Patent (Cookson 1985)
transmission systems, US Patent 4554399.

Standard:
Standards Australia 2008, Personal floatation devices - General
Retrieved (Standards
requirements. AS 4758.1-2008. Available from: Standards Australia
From a Australia 2008)
Online. [1 December 2008].
Database
(Standards Standards Australia 1994, Information processing - text and office
Standard: Australia/New systems - office document architecture (ODA) and interchange
Published Zealand format: part 10: formal specifications, AS/NZS 3951.10:1994,
Standard 1994) Standards Australia, NSW.
CMO

Jennings, P 1997, 'The performance and competitive advantage of

small firms: a management perspective', International Small
CMO Article (Jennings 1997) Business Journal, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 63-75. Available from: The
University of Western Australia Library Course Materials Online. [1
September 2004].

Lecture Notes

Lecture Notes (Foster 2004) Foster, T 2004, Balance sheets, lecture notes distributed in
Financial Accounting 101 at The University of Western Australia,
Crawley on 2 November 2005.
Theses
Hos, JP 2005, Mechanochemically synthesized nanomaterials for
Thesis:
(Hos 2005) intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell membranes. Ph.D.
Unpublished
thesis, University of Western Australia.

Thesis: May, B 2007, A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust

(May 2007)
Published cloud. Bristol UK, Canopus Publishing.

Thesis: Baril, M 2006, A distributed conceptual model for stream salinity

Retrieved generation processes: a systematic data-based approach.
(Baril 2006) WU2006.0058. Available from:
From a
Database Australasian Digital Theses Program. [12 August 2008].

14
 Personal Communication

If the information you are referencing was obtained by a personal communication such as a
telephone call, an interview or an email that fact is usually documented in the text and are
Telephone not added to the reference list. If desired you can add the abbreviation pers. comm. to the
Call, reference.
Interview, • When interviewed on 6 June 2008, Mr. M Ward confirmed...
email, etc. • Mr. M Ward confirmed this by facsimile on 6 June 2008.
• It has been confirmed that he will be touring Australia in the middle of next year (Mr.
M Ward, 2008, pers. comm., 6 June).

Citing Information Someone else has Cited

Citing (O'Reilly, cited in In the reference list provide the details of the author who has done
Information Byrne 2008) the citing.
that
Someone
Else has
Cited

* Book titles, as well as online and multimedia sources are written in Italics. You may also opt for underlining instead of italicizing
the titles of such sources, but only of these two methods must be used throughout your work. Also pay attention to how
punctuation marks have been used, and how page numbers, editions, volumes and dates of publication for different types of
sources have been included.

Note: Your list of references need not be in tabular form. References should only appear as in the third column of the above list
and ordered alphabetically.

Table 2.3 Examples of Harvard System of Referencing

Here is a list of abbreviations used in the Harvard System of Referencing:

c., ca. Approximate dates; e.g. c. 1800

ch. Chapter

ed., eds. Editor/s

edn., edns. Edition/s

15
et al. And others; e.g. Jung et al. [used when several
persons have authored the work]

et seq. And on the following pages, chapters, etc.

l., ll. Line/s

n. d. No date

no., nos. Number/s

p., pp. Page/s

pers. comm. Personal communication

rev. Revised, reviser

[sic] Used to indicate that the quote is exact,

though it may not seem to be so; for instance,
if the quote contains grammatical mistakes or
incorrect spellings.

trans. Translator/s

vol., vols. Volume/s

Note that some rules also apply to in-text referencing. There are three types of quotations:
Direct, General and Secondary. The Harvard Convention of Citation is given below for each
type of in-text quotation.

16
 Harvard Convention of Citation

Direct

a) If your quotation is no more than two lines long, it can remain within single quotation marks
within your text.

E.g. A clause in the contract states that the shipper “reserves to itself complete freedom in
respect of the procedure to be followed in the handling and transportation of the goods”
(Evans J, 1976).

b) If the quote is longer than two lines, it should be indented and written in a block rather than
placed in quotation marks, and separated by a space above and below your text. Indented
quotations need not be in italics, bold or underlined, unless the original source contains
these styles.

E.g. In his earlier published work An Outline of Psycho-analysis, Freud states that:

"However much the analyst may become tempted to become a teacher, model and ideal for
other people and to create men in his own image, he should not forget that that is not his task
in the analytic relationship, and indeed he will be disloyal to his task if he allows himself to be
led on by his inclinations. If he does, he will only be repeating a mistake of the parents who
crushed their child's independence by their influence, and he will be replacing the patient's
earlier dependence by a new one." (Freud, 1940).

General

This style of in-text referencing is used for general references, paraphrases and summaries,
rather than direct quotations.

E.g. The debate on National Socialism was reinvigorated in the late 1980s by Victor Faria (Faria,
1987).

17
Secondary

If you refer to an author who is cited in a secondary source, both sources must be
referenced.

E.g. Neville (1990, cited in Wilson 1998, p.89) devised the standard criteria for food tasting
surveys.

Also, your quotations must be inserted within your text in a coherent manner. Here are a
few ways to introduce quotations:

- As discussed/ observed/ stated/ pointed out/ suggested by …

- According to…
- [Author X] argues/ states/ suggests/ points out that…
- As discussed in [X book]…
- Considering [Author X’s] point of view…

18
3. Structuring Your Assignment

Unlike essays which you are probably more used to writing, well-researched academic papers
sould contain many more sections and subsections, which you will have to number coherently
and present in a Table of Contents in the beginning of your work. It is also advisable to include
a Title Page, an Abstract and a Literature Review in the beginning of your assignment; as well
as the Reference List or Bibliography at the end, as discussed in the previous section. The
order in which these sections should be arranged is as follows:

1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. Content
4. Reference list

• Reference List or Bibliography: A Bibliography is usually more extensive than a Reference

List, and may contain sources which you have consulted but not referenced in the body of
your assignment. Opt for a Reference List if you do not have too many sources to cite.

19
3.1 Creating Coherent Sections

Other than the sections discussed above, your assignment should be structured in such a way
that it includes an Introduction, a Conclusion at the end, and different sections and
subsections, each of which may contain several paragraphs. These sections and subsections
must be organized in a logical and coherent manner, so that your ideas and arguments are
clearly articulated; hence the importance of research and planning before you start writing
your assignment. Since your research would have helped you draw a conclusion regarding the
assignment question even before you start writing, the points discussed within the body of
your work should logically and rationally lead towards that conclusion. The Conclusion may re-
state the main points discussed in your work, but must not be a mere summary. You should
also avoid introducing any new idea or argument in the Conclusion.

The Introduction may include such information as:

- definition of key terms

- chronological overview of topic under study (from past to present)

- hypothesis; i.e. an assumption made as a basis for further research

- problem statement; i.e. a concise description of the issues to be addressed

You should however avoid presenting any opinion or argument in the Introduction.

20
The titles and subtitles within each section of your assignment also serves the purpose of
distinctly expressing your various ideas and arguments, hence they should be punchy, precise
and concise. Also make sure that you limit yourself to a single umbrella idea per section, and a
single argument per paragraph. Your paragraphs must however be well-developed; i.e.
containing extensive evidence in the form of cited facts, figures, examples, comparisons,
illustrations, quotations, paraphrases and anecdotes. If you use visual illustrations such as
charts, graphs, tables and pictures, they should be labeled and briefly explained.

You should also plan in advance the ordering of your sections; i.e. the rationale behind your
sections and paragraphs being organized in a particular order. For instance, you may order the
sections of your work from cause to effect or from problem to solution, or following the
timesequence pattern of the topic under study. You may in fact devise any sequence for
presenting your arguments – such as every argument followed by its counter-argument – as
long as it has a rationale behind it.

Every section or subsection of the assignment may be developed in five phases: definition,
description, explanation, demonstration/ evidence and conclusion. These phases may
determine the various paragraphs that each section or subsection would comprise. As you
write, you need to work towards a smooth transition from one section or subsection to the
next. For this reason, each section should have a very brief introduction and conclusion of its
own; which can be achieved using a Topic Sentence and a Summing-up Sentence. A Topic
Sentence is the first sentence of a paragraph or section, which succinctly yet clearly states the
main idea or argument discussed within that section or paragraph. The Summing-up Sentence
is the last sentence of a section or paragraph, which in brief concludes the discussion within
that section or paragraph.

21
4. English Usage for Academic Writing

Assignments must be written in formal language; avoiding colloquialism, i.e. words, phrases
and expressions employed in conversational or informal contexts. Colloquialism includes such
words as gonna or wanna, phrases and expressions such as pouring cats and dogs, and
contractions such as let’s, don’t or can’t. Slang expressions such as SMS language and
‘chatspeak’ (for instance words like LOL or ROLF) as well as words pertaining to specific dialects
and jargons must not be used in academic writing.

Clichés and generalizations through the use of such words and expressions as nowadays, these
days, first and foremost, modern society or slowly but surely must also be avoided. On the
other hand, it is highly recommended that you use politically correct terms such as physically
challenged instead of handicapped, least developed country instead of Third World country, or
low income earner instead of poor.

Also make sure that all your referents are clear. For instance, when you write this theory, that
point, this idea, that argument, or simply it, this or that, you need to make sure that your
reader’s attention is drawn to what you want it to. You must also be certain that you have
used grammatically correct language, and that your sentence structures are comprehensible.
In fact, you should be consistent with the verb tenses you have decided to use.

The first time you use an acronym [abbreviation formed from the first components in a phrase
or word], the whole set of words must be written out and the short form placed in parentheses
immediately after; e.g. World Trade Organization (WTO). You may then go on to use just the
acronym. You may also find it useful to include a Glossary and a List of Acronyms at the end
of your assignment if you have included a wide range of technical terms and acronyms in your
work.

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4.1 Punctuation for Disambiguation

Punctuation disambiguates language and contributes significantly to achieving clarity of

expression. Here is a guideline for using the different punctuation marks.

First alphabet of a word at the

beginning of every sentence or after
a colon.

Capitalization First alphabet of names of people,

places, organizations, days of the week,
months, brands, academic subjects (e.g.
Mathematics).

Titles of people (e.g. Dr., Mrs., Prof.).

Titles of books, essays, articles, films,

historical events (e.g. The French
Revolution).

Acronyms

Full Stop (.) At the end of a sentence

After an abbreviation

To separate a list of words

To separate subordinate clauses of a
sentence from the main statement
Comma (,)
(e.g. It is little wonder that students,
especially first-years, find writing
assignments so traumatic.)
To mark off words and phrases
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 (conjunctions and transitional words
such as however, certainly, moreover,
without any doubt)
To separate nouns in apposition (e.g.
Pinky, our kitten, has disappeared.)

Semi-colon (;) To demonstrate a longer pause than

denoted by a comma
To separate a list of phrases, where using
commas may create confusion

To create a list of words

To introduce a subordinate clause that
further explains a main sentence (e.g. In
Colon (:)
short, this is what Pythagoras Theorem
infers: the square on the hypotenuse is
equal to the sum of the squares on the…)

Question Mark (?) At the end of interrogative sentences

For emphasis
Exclamation Mark (!)

Single Quotation Marks (‘…’) To mark off paraphrases

To mark off particular words and
expressions from the rest of a sentence

Double Quotation Marks (“…”)

To enclose direct speeches
To mark off quotations

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 To set off a clause from a main sentence
(e.g. It is reported that there have been
Dashes and Hyphens (- , _)
at least 10 road accidents
– perhaps more – since last night.)

To set apart or interject parts of a text

(e.g. He finally answered (after five long
Parentheses or brackets minutes of silence) that he did
not understand the question).

The use of commas and semi-colons often presents a dilemma. One easy way to know where
to use these punctuation marks is to read aloud a sentence. Comma should be used where
you would pause naturally to draw a breath. If a longer pause is required, semi-colon may be
used. However, what follows the semi-colon must stand as an independent clause, i.e. a
complete sentence on its own.

Furthermore, you should be familiar with the conventions regarding the use of punctuation
marks in referencing.

An Ellipsis […] is used to show that parts of a quotation has been omitted, whether in the
beginning, middle or end. E.g. “Bohr used […] the analogy of parallel stairways […]” (Smith 1987).

You may use Square Brackets to insert your own words into a quotation. E.g. As Chitson (1981
pp. 23 – 5) points out, “In a world [where everything changes], it would be odd if language
remained unchanged.” Square Brackets should also be used when inserting [sic] into a quotation
to draw attention to an error originally present in the quotation. E.g. Smith (1992 p. 27) suggests
that, “pathetic fallacy in a novel reflects [sic] the mood of the main protagonist.”

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4.2 Adopting the Appropriate Attitude

The writing style you adopt for your assignment will depend both on its context and its
content; i.e. the research topic/ question as well as the research aims and objectives. You may
opt for an Analytic Style of writing if your work focuses more on explaining certain concepts
rather than on debating a topic. The analytic style is marked by extensive evidence of various
forms, but a limited number of arguments. The Argumentative Style, on the other hand, may
contain several points of view or opinions that are debated, but are not always backed by
evidence. Whatever approach you choose, you should keep your language and writing style
simple, clear and precise; avoiding bombastic words and complex expressions. Your writing
should convey a sense of maturity, hence you should avoid exaggerations, emotive language,
and expressions that infer prejudice of any kind.

Academic research is most effectively presented in a detached and neutral tone. To create a
sense of objectivity, an abstraction of oneself and of any personal, biased opinion, you should
keep your writing style impersonal. Writing Impersonally infers that you present your
arguments objectively and rationally, while being impartial, unprejudiced and emotionally
uninvolved. Here are some tips for writing impersonally:

- Avoid using the ‘I’ pronoun.

- Use the Passive Voice instead.
- Or use the impersonal pronouns ‘it’ or ‘one’: e.g. It seems that, one could argue that.

- Avoid using an informal tone, such as using contractions (don’t, won’t, etc.). Keep your
language as formal as possible.
- For introducing personal comments and observations, used such expressions which
convey a sense of detachment as: interestingly, predictably, understandably, etc.
- Make Tentative Statements using modal verbs (such as could, may, might) and adverbs
of probability (such as perhaps, probably, possibly).
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5. The Final Touch

5.1 Proofreading and Revising the First Draft

Running computerized spelling and grammar checkers will save you a lot of time. However, you
should also read the whole document at least once before you submit, so that you may catch
the kinds of errors spell-checkers cannot find. These include fragmented sentences that you
may have created while deleting parts of what you wrote earlier, as well as wrong words used
in the like of homophones [words which sound similar but a written differently] – for instance
there and their, oral and aural, illicit and elicit, or its and it’s. Other than these common spelling
mistakes, subject verb agreements and mixed of verb sentences also often present challenges
to many writers. These are some of the issues you should bear in mind while revising your draft
assignment. However, you should also look into whether clarity of arguments, flow of ideas and
coherence in structure have been achieved, as well as try to spot repetitions and paradoxes.

5.2 Presentation and Format

Although it is not mandatory, you are advised to type and bind your assignments. Presentation
of your work reflects the amount of time and dedication you have put into preparing it. Try to
achieve consistency with regard to the fonts, margins, indents and line spacing. For the
typeface, you should opt for a simple font and a twelve-point font size. Fancy fonts must be
avoided. Line spacing should be either 1.5 or double-spaced. You may also wish to justify your
paragraphs. Ease of reading and reference are the goals, and for the same purpose you may
also consider such extra formats as page and line numbers, headers and footers, as well as
footnotes and end-notes. If you intend to bind your assignment, you should take this into
consideration when deciding on the sizes of margins.

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