Help for students new to academic writing

Academic style Academic writing is simple plain English in a formal style with the following elements: Academic writing is simple plain English in a formal style with the following elements: Active sentences: “The cat sat on the mat” not “The mat was sat upon by the cat.” Active sentences: “The cat sat on the mat” not “The mat was sat upon by the cat.” Full sentences: “The cat sat on the mat” not “Which was nice. Only to find it got up.” Full sentences: “The cat sat on the mat” not “Which was nice. Only to find it got up.” Impersonal style: “It could be argued” not “I would argue” or “You will see” or “We have seen.” Impersonal style: “It could be argued” not “I would argue” or “You will see” or “We have seen.”

Academic style Be measured and specific: use words like “significant” rather than “massive”. Be measured and specific: use words like “significant” rather than “massive”. Write with confidence: put “This assignment will show” not “This assignment will hopefully show.” Write with confidence: put “This assignment will show” not “This assignment will hopefully show.” Write in short and varied sentences and long paragraphs. Write in short and varied sentences and long paragraphs.

Academic style Things to avoid: Things to avoid: Short forms: avoid things like “eg”, “etc” and “isn’t” – write “is not” instead. Short forms: avoid things like “eg”, “etc” and “isn’t” – write “is not” instead. Exclamation marks (!) and question marks (?). Rewrite your sentences to avoid these forms. Exclamation marks (!) and question marks (?). Rewrite your sentences to avoid these forms. Personal confessional writing: avoid things like “My idea is that… I believe…” Personal confessional writing: avoid things like “My idea is that… I believe…” Personal words: “I… you… we… our… us… your.” Personal words: “I… you… we… our… us… your.” Subheadings, lists, slang, chatty, journalistic or informal speech. Subheadings, lists, slang, chatty, journalistic or informal speech.

Academic style Practice by re-writing this in academic style: Practice by re-writing this in academic style: We can see that Madonna was sometimes contrasted to another singer of the 1980s, Cyndi Lauper! Whose work was often considered more thoughtful and authentic. By challenging censorship and maturing in her music, more recently, Madonna has asserted her artistic value: eg. critics mumbled that her 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor was an attempt to secure a massively humungous audience after more personal message stuff like Ray of Light (1998), etc. You can see that Madge remains a significant female performer to us, doesn’t she?

Academic style Practice by re-writing this in academic style: Practice by re-writing this in academic style: I think that one of the most important black music groups in Japan may have been the blackface doowop group The Chanels… Is blackface racism or respect?? If you look at what they did, The Chanels used blackface to (a) stand out and (b) pay respect to black music. Blackface makes whiteness obvious as a sign! The boundary between different races was what The Chanels played with. They retained traces of their previous identity, etc. Also, as working class singers, they used doowop to separate themselves from middle class dudes who liked rock and hip-hop. They didn’t ever top the charts, but hopefully I have shown that they were central to the development of the Japanese music scene.

Academic citation Citation means letting the reader know where they can find the source from which you drew your information. It includes: Citation means letting the reader know where they can find the source from which you drew your information. It includes: References in the main text of your work. References in the main text of your work. Entries in a bibliography and maybe a filmography or web sources section at the end of your work. Entries in a bibliography and maybe a filmography or web sources section at the end of your work.

Academic citation We use the APA (Harvard) citation system. In the main body of your study that means citing sources in a particular way. Assuming you are citing page 18 from a book by Bill Smith for 2007: We use the APA (Harvard) citation system. In the main body of your study that means citing sources in a particular way. Assuming you are citing page 18 from a book by Bill Smith for 2007: Smith (2007: 18) claims that everyday culture has received little academic attention. Everyday culture is rarely discussed (see Smith 2007:18). “Academics rarely examine everyday culture” (Smith 2007: 18). Smith (2007) claims that “Academics rarely discuss everyday culture” (18). In his 2007 book Media Culture, Bill Smith claims that everyday culture has mostly been ignored by academics (see Smith 2007: 18). … All of these examples are correct.

Academic citation If you want to quote something directly and it is over 40 words long, give it a separate paragraph, indent it and single-space it, without speechmarks: If you want to quote something directly and it is over 40 words long, give it a separate paragraph, indent it and single-space it, without speechmarks: This quotation, for example, is almost words long if the reader wishes to count it from start to finish. Other quotations to be kept separate may be longer than this one. Always do a word count to check. Smaller quotations can be kept in their paragraphs. (Williams 2008: 223)

Academic citation To cite references in a bibliography, do it like this: To cite references in a bibliography, do it like this: Surname, First name initial. (Year in brackets) Book title underlined. Place of publication: Publisher. So for example: Smith, B. (2007) Media Culture. London: Routledge.

Academic citation Have a go at citing this book: Judith Bell’s book Doing Your Research Project, which was published by the Open University Press in 2008 in Maidenhead. Have a go at citing this book: Judith Bell’s book Doing Your Research Project, which was published by the Open University Press in 2008 in Maidenhead. Have a go a citing this book: published in 2003 by Sage Publishers in New York, called American Cultural Studies and written by John Stone. Have a go a citing this book: published in 2003 by Sage Publishers in New York, called American Cultural Studies and written by John Stone.

Academic referencing To cite a book chapter, where Fred Jones is the editor of the book and Bill Smith has written the chapter: To cite a book chapter, where Fred Jones is the editor of the book and Bill Smith has written the chapter: Smith, B. (2007) ‘Chapter Title,’ in Jones, F. ed. Book Title Underlined. Place: Publisher.

Academic citation At the end of your piece of course work, you need to put a bibliography, so give it that title and make sure that each book or article referenced there is in alphabetical order of the author’s surname: At the end of your piece of course work, you need to put a bibliography, so give it that title and make sure that each book or article referenced there is in alphabetical order of the author’s surname:Bibliography Benson, M. (1999) ‘End of an Era,’ in Hitchens, C. ed Moments in Film History. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, pp Jones, F. (2009) Film Theory. New York: Sage. Morrison, P. (2001) ‘The Vietnam Film,’ in Smith, B. ed Global Film Genres. London: Routledge, pp Williams, S. (2003) ‘War Movies and Gender,’ Screen Film Journal 2, 7,

Academic citation Put a separate end section for web sources. Include the page author, year and page name (if possible), URL address and the date that you looked at the page: Put a separate end section for web sources. Include the page author, year and page name (if possible), URL address and the date that you looked at the page: Web sources Fox, T. (2009) ‘Theories of the Radio Audience,’ available online: (retrieved 5/10/09). Jones, F. (2008) ‘Teatime radio in the 1980s,’ available online at (retrieved 3/10/09). Thomas, R. (2001) ‘Rock and Roll Fever,’ available online at (retrieved 1/10/09).

Academic citation Have a go at citing David Gauntlett’s 1998 page Ten Things Wrong with the Media Effects Model, which can be found here: Have a go at citing David Gauntlett’s 1998 page Ten Things Wrong with the Media Effects Model, which can be found here:

Academic citation Please ask the library staff to give a booklet on APA referencing to help you further with this. Please ask the library staff to give a booklet on APA referencing to help you further with this.