Course of academic writing skills

5th September 2020
By Assist. Prof. Dr. Mohamed A. Alrshah
Dept. of Communication Technology & Networks
Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia
ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS COURSE
CONCEPTS AND TOOLS
Titanium Academy for Training and Development

AN OVERVIEW OF ACADEMIC WRITING

BASIC CONCEPTS
BEFORE WE START, WE MUST KNOW:
 Academic writing exists primarily for the purpose of knowledge sharing
 Any research “no matter how good it is” has no value unless it is shared with others
 The value of published research increases when others read, understand, and cite it
in their research
 Published research is most beneficial when it affects the environment or society

HOW CAN I BENEFIT FROM THIS COURSE?
This course will teach you how to start writing any type of academic materials, such as:
 Journal paper
 Conference paper
 Thesis (Bachelor, Master, or PhD)
 Technical or Clinical report
 Book or chapter in book
 Patent and copyright
 etc.

SCIENTIFIC WRITING GOALS
Why should we write?
 To meet graduation requirements.
 To share knowledge and participate in its development.
 To build a good CV (Resume).
 Ensuring intellectual property for scientific contributions in academia and industry.
 To encourage others to share knowledge that might otherwise remain secret.
 To encourage others to continue your search.

WHAT IS EFFECTIVE WRITING?
Effective writing is writing that has a logical flow of a group of ideas directly related to the research title,
where:
 Academic or scholarly manuscript should be easy to follow
 It must maintain a smooth flow of ideas and logic
 Its components should be coherent and related to each other
 Text should be very well written using appropriate links between sentences and paragraphs
 It should contain a valuable contribution from the researcher himself
 It should be an integrated source of information on a specific topic in a specific research point
 You must use language effectively to keep the reader focused and “on track”
 Effective writing can be achieved or improved through the use of some techniques

HOW DO WE START ACADEMIC WRITING?

DOMINO CHAIN REACTION
THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IN ACTION

IMPORTANT CRITERIA FOR WRITING ACADEMIC MANUSCRIPTS
In order to write a high quality scientific manuscript, you must consider the following
points:
 The Formatting and Structure (word count, no of figures, no of tables,
referencing)
 The Quality of Language (must follow the traditions and customs)
 The Significance
 The Originality and Novelty (No Plagiarism)
 The Clarity and The Coherence
 The Completeness and Comprehension
 The Quality of Idea Presentation
 The Depth of the Discussion
 The Possible Implications
 The Future Directions

WRITING TRADITIONS
No matter what language do you use, always follow the common traditions of writing
 No.1 rule: use a unified writing style
 Always, use academic words ֎ See UEFAP here ֎ See the RMIT UWL here
 Always, use proper transition phrases to link you sentences and paragraphs
֎ See the Michigan State university here ֎ See SmartWords here ֎ See Yoast here
 Use the proper tense according to the situation:
 Due to COVID-19, people use to stay home…
 Every day, many people die due to COVID-19…
 As known, the Second World War (WW2) was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945…
 During WWII, Hitler consumed a lot of drugs since he was suffering from mental problems…
 In this research, three main experiments have been conducted…
 Use a space after each punctuation, not before it!
 Use full forms of writing, ex. use "cannot" instead of "can't" and "does not" instead of "doesn't"
 See when and how you must use commas here
 Use , ..., | ;...; | - ...- | -- ... -- | (...) for intervention sentences

BUILD PARAGRAPHS USING THE TEEL STRUCTURE
Well structured paragraphs are important
If the information is well organized, it is easier to read and understand
The TEEL strategy is very helpful for knowing what should be included in a
paragraph.
Topic sentence (contains the main idea is usually first in the paragraph)
Explanation
Evidence and example (use references)
Link (refer back or sum up main idea) - optional

BUILD PARAGRAPHS USING THE TEEL STRUCTURE…
Sample paragraph
One factor within the team that seems to be more important than the leader is
the notion of team cohesiveness. Team cohesiveness enables a diverse group of
individuals to work towards a common goal. Although there must be some
minimum amount of cohesiveness if the team is going to continue to function as
a team, Allen (2009, p.48) states that highly cohesive teams 'are more motivated
and effective in attaining goals when they have set these for themselves', and
thus, achieve higher levels of member satisfaction. Further, Taylor (2010) found
that team dynamics, particularly in teams with high team morale, were more
important in terms of team effectiveness and productivity than the team
leader. In this way the productivity of any group of employees is influenced by
their ability to effectively work together so that their specialized skills and
capabilities are maximized.
Topic sentence
Explanation
Evidence
Example
Link or sum up

CHOOSING THE PROPER TOOLS
Before you start writing, use TEMPLATES whenever available
 Use a proper editing tool
֎ Microsoft Word ֎ LaTex
 Use an appropriate reference management tool
֎ EndNote ֎ Mendeley ֎ Zotero ֎ Qiqqa ֎ BibTex
 Use high-quality drawing and design tools (use EPS or EMF files whenever possible)
 For diagrams: ֎ Microsoft Visio ֎ Liber Draw ֎ etc.
 For result graphs: ֎ Excel ֎ SPSS ֎ Matlab ֎ GnuPlot ֎ etc.
 With excel, use XL Toolbox NG for better quality
 Similarity check to ensure there is no plagiarism
֎ Turnitin ֎ iThenticate
 Use appropriate editing, correction and proofreading tools (find official professional service)
 See https://www.elsevier.com/authors/author-services

GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH PAPER
IMRAD Model
I  Introduction
M  Methodology
R  Results
A  and
D  Discussion

STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES
 Title Make these components as easy as you can.
 Abstract They must be informative, attractive, and effective.
 Keywords Must be helpful for indexing and searching.
----------------------------
 Introduction Paper space is not boundless and reader's time is limited.
 Related works The work must be clear (nothing is hidden), correct, complete,
 Proposed work(s) precise, concise, straightforward and reproducible.
 Results and discussion Must use simple language.
----------------------------
 Conclusion  Must be brief and comprehensive (avoid repeating sentences).
 Acknowledgement  Funding information and thanks for people who helped in this work.
 References  Must be related, accessible, proper and sufficient.
 Supplementary material  If any (optional).

STRUCTURE OF THESIS
 Title
 Abstract
 Table of Contents
 List of Tables
 List of Figures
 List of Abbreviations
 Chap 1. Introduction
 Chap 2. Literature Review
 Chap 3. Methodology
 Chap 4. Results and discussion
 Chap 5. Conclusion
 References
 Appendices
 Title
 Abstract
 Table of Contents
 List of Tables
 List of Figures
 List of Abbreviations
 Chap 1. Introduction
 Chap 2. Literature Review
 Chap 3. Methodology
 Chap 4. First Contribution
 Chap 5. Second Contribution
 Chap 6. Third Contribution
 Chap 7. Conclusion
 References
 Appendices
ONE-MAJOR CONTRIBUTION STAND ALONE CHAPTERS
See
example

HOW TO WRITE THE INTRODUCTION SECTION?
 State question(s) or problem(s), aim(s), objectives, hypotheses, and contributions clearly.
 Explain the background and context:
 Make it simple and clear.
 Directly, drive the reader to the problem, motivation and significance of the work.
 Don't make it an extensive essay.
 Define aim(s) and objectives of the paper:
 Be specific.
 The wider study is probably not that relevant (Hardly acceptable).
 Avoid referencing to any PhD and MSc theses.
 The research should stand (or fall) on its own merits under peer review.
 Explain structure of the paper
 Example: The upcoming section presents the literature review and Section 3 exhibits the
methodology.

HOW TO WRITE THE LITERATURE REVIEW SECTION?
Review (don’t just list!) relevant literature and derive meaningful and appropriate research
questions and/or problems. It is not a list nor a narrative, but a critique.
Develop your arguments, bringing in relevant citations as examples of who supports or
conflicts with that argument.
Write in sentences and paragraphs, where:
Each paragraph discusses a single theme or central idea.
Each sentence makes sense on its own.
Reference the key authors, stick to examples from the best journals.
Focus on the new literature.
All references must be accessible.

HOW TO WRITE THE METHODOLOGY/ANALYSIS SECTION?
Discuss your methodology and pay attention to the validity and reliability of methods and
data.
Then, examine the following questions:
Can the reader follow your complete method from start to end?
Is there a questionnaire? Have you put it in appendix?
Is there missing steps? Can you refer the reader to another source if not in the present
paper?
Are all formulae and values accurately reported?
Nothing frustrates reviewers and readers like being unable to follow the logic due to paper
incompleteness.

HOW TO WRITE THE DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS SECTION?
Tie discussion back to themes from literature review so the paper has consistency.
Link conclusions to objectives (complete the circle).
Identify any limitations, make recommendations for future research.
Discuss any implications or impacts for theory/practice.
The limitations, future work, and implications will tell others how far you know about your
work.
Show your analysis by giving as much details as possible so readers can follow every stage.
Discuss findings with reference to the aim(s), objectives and questions/problems.
Conclude your findings and identify the limitations and opportunities for further study.

FROM THE EVALUATOR PERSPECTIVE
Mostly, evaluators will check your manuscript based on the following criteria:
 Is it presented in an obvious fashion and written in standard English?
 Is the methodology correct?
 Does the manuscript technically sound good?
 Does the data support the conclusions?
 Has the statistical analysis been performed properly and rigorously?
 Have the authors made all data underlying the findings fully available?
 Is the work repeatable/reproducible?
 Are the metrics proper and sufficient?
 Are the references up-to-date and sufficient?

DEALING WITH EVALUATORS' COMMENTS
 Respect the opinions of evaluators, even if they are wrong you answer politely.
 You should fulfil what have been requested by the evaluators, otherwise, you reply by a polite
reasonable explanation.
 Even if they asked you silly questions, you should find why they have done that!
 Some comments implicitly tell you that your writing is NOT CLEAR.
 Don’t mix up the comments (leave it based on the evaluator).
 Even if two evaluators gave you the same comment, you must answer them separately.
 Highlight your corrections in the manuscript.
 Attach a report including a table of corrections with four columns (comment #, comment, your
response, position in manuscript).
 Don’t modify the comments.
 Don’t add any unrequested material, that may lead to another review round.

THE WRITING PROCESS

WRITING LIFE CYCLE
Strategic Reading Brainstorming Free Writing
Drafting Question AskingMaintaining
The Outlines
Clustering & Mindmapping
Make Your Outlines
RevisingFinal Draft
While Writing Before WritingAfter Writing

BEFORE WRITING (1. STRATEGIC READING)
Discuss with your supervisor and colleagues
 Pre-read your texts and build on your prior knowledge
Before you begin reading, ask yourself what you already know about the topic at
hand.
Are there any review questions at the end?
Predict what you think the selection will say, when you finish reading, decide
whether your prediction was true.
If so, what helped you to predict accurately?
If not, what information were you missing?
Strategically annotate your references (you may use Mendeley)
Highlight the important information

BEFORE WRITING (2. BRAINSTORMING)
USE THIS TOOL WWW.MINDMEISTER.COM
It refers to quickly writing down or taking inventory of all your thoughts as fast as they
come to you.
Your ideas are like a storm swirling around in your brain, and it's your job to get them
out of your head.
Writing is very helpful in brainstorming to keep track of all your thoughts and ideas.
However, your writing does not have to be formal.
It often looks more like a list, rather than a coherent piece of writing (which is totally
fine at this stage!).
You will not feel pressured to connect, defend, fully articulate, or censor your ideas.
If you allow yourself to simply pour out all the thoughts that are in your head and
following them wherever they lead, you might come up with a really interesting topic,
theme, motif, etc. to focus your paper on.

BEFORE WRITING (2. BRAINSTORMING)…
How to Brainstorming: Use “Air Pollution” as a practice
Write down words for all the issues you would like to cover in the paper.
Stop after a few minutes.
Discard the words on which you don’t want to focus.
For the words left, jot down more specific words for issues that branch out.
Stop after a few minutes.
Discard some words; branch out with more specific words.
Continue this step unless you have reached the desired level of specificity.
Practice

BEFORE WRITING (3. FREE WRITING)
 Freewriting is very similar to brainstorming in which it gets all your thoughts out onto paper.
 However, where brainstorming often looks more like a list of ideas, freewriting usually takes
the shape of more formal sentences.
 Even so, you must not think about grammar, punctuation, and the like.
 Like brainstorming, you should follow the flow of your ideas, and you shouldn't pressure
yourself to fully extract out everything.
 There's plenty of time for that later! And once again, I want to stress that you SHOULD NOT
censor your ideas.
 You may be quick to discard an idea, but if you give it a chance, it may take you somewhere
totally unexpected and extremely productive in terms of writing a successful paper.
Practice

BEFORE WRITING (3.4. CLUSTERING & MINDMAPPING)
Working backward from the word branch, you will find issues that branch out into
more specific issues.
Organize issues into categories.
If there are too many categories or too many ideas, you may wish to discard some.
Establish a relationship between the categories of the same specificity level.
Make an outline. Decide on a thesis statement which note only goes into the
categories in some detail but also establishes the relationship between them.
Write a topic sentence for each paragraph. This sentence should be specific enough
that it will still make sense even if taken out of the context of the paper. Write down
the support you may use to support each body paragraph.
Practice

BEFORE WRITING (3.5. QUESTIONS ASKING)
This is one of the best and most useful approaches to get yourself started on writing a
paper, especially if you really have no idea where to start.
Write down all the questions that seem relevant to your material.
These should definitely be proper questions, possibly ones you have yourself.
Forcing yourself to find answers for those questions, you'll get out a lot of ideas, issues,
thoughts that could potentially get you started on paper writing.
Most of the great essay topics come out of a question.
By focusing on a question that is not easily answered, you'll have a framework for your
argument.
Practice

BEFORE WRITING (MAINTAIN OUTLINES)
Making the outline will help you to gain an immediate mental mindmap of the paper.
Is the outline “symmetric”?
Does it have a great deal of support on one point but very little support for another point?
Does the outline flow with a logical progression?
Is the outline specific enough that you could basically write the entire desired paper from
it without addressing any new points?
Keep the outline handy while writing the paper
New ideas will be born and the outlines will help in finding the best place for them
The outline should serve as the guide for writing the paper.
Practice

WHILE WRITING
Relate all relevant points back to your thesis to establish perspective in the “big picture.”
 Don’t just say that something is true.
 Prove that it is true.
 Then, show why the fact that it is true is important.
 Ask yourself “how do I know this?” and “so what?”
Be explicit! Be as detailed as possible.
 It is better to be too pedantic and obvious than too vague. Remember that even for points which
seem “obvious” to you, there must be reasons which led you to them—if the points are
significant in the paper, discuss what reasons there are and how they led you to believe in the
point.
Use key words such as “for example,” “in contrast,” “especially,” “in particular,” “therefore,”
“in conclusion,” etc. These words create a sense of organization!
Link ideas together with key words and establish their relationships clearly and
explicitly.
Practice

AFTER WRITING
 Make an outline from looking at the paper itself and check whether this outline agree with the original outline?
 If not, would you like to edit the paper so that it conforms to the original outline?
 Or, would you like to work on organizing the new outline and conforming the paper to it?
 Write down one or two summary words for each paragraph. Look at the words. Do they flow with a logical
progression?
 Looking at the first few sentences for each paragraph, do you gain an immediate idea of what the paragraph is
meant to express?
 Does each paragraph address the topic sentence in detail?
 Are the transitions smooth between paragraphs?
 Do the points all relate back to the thesis statement?
 Read the paper out loud to yourself in a monotone voice. Do you sound like you’re rambling on?
 Read the paper out to another person. Then, ask them what main points they remember from the paper. Are
these the main points you had in mind?
 Remember—there are certainly many ways to organize a paper on any topic There is no one right way to
organize, only more appropriate organizations for different papers and more logical organizations for different
writers. Finding an organization that makes sense to YOU is the best way to ensure an organized paper. The
more sense it makes to you, the more capable you will be at manipulating the organization.
 The important thing is to prove your understanding of the topic, its issues, and their complex relationships
through your ability to organize the paper.
Practice

10 QUICK TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING
1. Start with your main idea
 As a general rule, mention the main idea of a paragraph in the first sentence (the topic of the paragraph).
 Don't make your readers guess.
2. Vary the length of your sentences.
 In general, use short sentences to emphasize ideas.
 Use longer sentences to explain and define or clarify ideas.
 Place keywords and ideas at the beginning or end of a sentence.
3. Don't bury the main point in the middle of a long sentence.
 Emphasize the main keywords.
4. Use different sentence structures and types.
5. Use active voice to avoid confusing readers.
6. Abbreviate and summarize.
 When reviewing your work, remove unnecessary words.
7. Read aloud when reviewing.
8. Edit and proofread effectively.
 It's easy to miss mistakes when just looking at your business.
 So review common mistakes as you read your final draft.
9. Use a dictionary if you doubt the meaning of any word
10. Break any rule if you have a logical reason

SELECTED REFERENCES
http://www.editage.com
http://www.aje.com
http://libguides.mit.edu/citing, Citing sources: Overview
http://www.massey.ac.nz/, From research to publishing in high impact journals
https://www.trident.edu/, Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper
https://www.berkeley.edu/ Student Learning Center
https://owl.purdue.edu/ Purdue Online Writing Lab
https://msu.edu/ Michigan State university
https://www.rmit.edu.au/ Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Learning Hub

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