Effective Writing at the Graduate Level: Overview

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Effective Writing at the Graduate Level Overview

• Student Development Services
• Writing Support Centre
• UCC 210
• www.sds.uwo.ca/writing

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Effective Writing

• Know your audience
• General/specific audience
• Always determine appropriateness
• The final product is the most important part

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Layers of Effective Writing
Layer 1 Appearance Grammar, Formatting,
Etc. Layer 2 Writing Style Sentence Flow Layer
3 Organization Connecting the Ideas Layer 4
Content The Ideas
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Reader vs. Writer

• While appearance, then style may be the first
  things noticed by a reader, this should not be
  your first concern when writing
• Start with a clear idea of the content and how
  you will organize it

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4 Content

• The foundation of effective communication
• Need a clear understanding to be able to
  communicate effectively

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3 Organization

• Present your ideas in a logical (not
  chronological) order
• Essential at the micro (paragraph) and macro
  (paper) levels

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3 Paragraph Organization

• All about Topic Sentences and Support
• Each paragraph should cover one Topic that is
  Supported by clear evidence
• Follow a logical order (A-B, B-C, C-D)
• Use transitions to connect sentences and
  paragraphs

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Paragraph Example

• 1. Determining tissue-diet discrimination may
  suggest the isotope composition of an animals
  diet, but there is considerable intra- and
  inter-species variation. 2. The 13C and 15Nbone
  collagen-diet values of red-backed voles fed
  diets with different amounts of protein varied by
  as much as 3 and 2.5 respectively, while hair
  varied by as much as 3.5 and 3 respectively
  (Sare et al., 2005). 3. Moreover, analysis of
  the gut contents of several small mammal species
  showed considerable inter-species variation in
  15N absorption and 13C values that differed from
  ungulates by approximately 3 (Hwang et al.,
  2007). 4. Blood, liver, muscle and hair tissues
  are most commonly used in ecological studies to
  infer diet, and the tissue-diet discrimination
  values of these must be measured in a controlled
  setting before making conclusions about natural
  diet.

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3 Paper Organization

• See the Research Paper Organization and Essay
  Organization presentations for detailed advice
  on organizing larger written works

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2 Writing Style

• Discipline specific
• Most areas encourage a clear and concise writing
  style
• See Academic Writing Style Presentation for
  more detailed advice

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Clarity

• If it can be misinterpreted, then it is wrong
• Word choice is key
• Many clarity issues are caused by inappropriate
  words

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Conciseness

• Shortening the text without impacting clarity
• Not the same as brevity
• Usually improves clarity
• If a word or phrase can be removed or shortened
  without losing meaning, do it

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1 Spelling, Grammar

• There are rules, learn them
• Sloppy writing indicates sloppy thinking
• Spellcheck helps, but it can be a crutch

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1 Formatting

• Know the required format
• Different for almost every science journal, grant
  and scholarship and class