Academic Writing – What You Need to Know at Binus.

There are many different ways we can use these types of words to make sentences. In Binus University International we make academic sentences.This means that the language and structure are often more formal than when we speak.Do you think the example sentence used above is academic? There are some clues in the words that are used. ‘Boss’ and ‘woohoo’ are both examples of informal language. In academic language we would use ‘manager’ instead of ‘boss’, and we would not use interjections such as ‘woohoo’. Interjections usually sound excited or emotional, and academic writing should be calm and unemotional (even if you have discovered a new cure for cancer – highly unlikely in a business university –  your results should speak for themselves).

So how would you write this sentence in a more academic way?(See the bottom of this post for the answer*).

Read the following short essay to find out more about the kind of writing that we expect at university:

Many people believe that formal academic essays should be full of long, complex sentences, and they are scared to try to write like this. Your lecturers would prefer that your sentences are accurate, and if this means writing shorter sentences, that is fine because everyone likes clarity. Drop words that do not add anything to the sentence, or try to divide sentences so that each carries a separate idea.

Try to avoid talking about yourself in academic writing, as the important thing is the content, or the research you conducted. Sometimes it is impossible not to mention yourself, so instead of saying ‘I’ call yourself ‘the author’ or ‘the researcher’. Often we use the ‘passive voice’ to avoid talking about the person – or people – who conducted the research. This means putting the action at the start of the sentence instead of the subject, as is usual. This is normally quite easy for Indonesians as the passive voice is considered more polite in conversation. You might say “the research was conducted in Senayan, Jakarta over a six-month period in 2016”. This means that you do not have to mention the people who conducted the research. What you discovered from the research or experiment is more important than the researcher.

This essay should help you understand what is expected of an academic writer. It helps to read some academic work before starting to write. You should try to sound like the papers you read.All the good academic essay writers improve bypracticing. You also need to correctly reference your sources. This means taking notes as you read. We need to credit our sources. If not, we are stealing. This is called plagiarism. Plagiarism is immoral.

Did you notice anything unusual about the text above (apart from the fact it was in bold)? Think about the sentence structure. Each sentence is different from the previous sentence. Can you work out how?

SPOILER ALERT:

Each sentence is one word shorter than the sentence before it. We start off with a twenty-four-word sentence, followed by a twenty-three-word sentence. Each sentence gets shorter and shorter, and easier and easier to be understood. But by the end it sounds a little bit too short and sharp,like a bad-tempered child. Have a look through the essay again. Which sentence length did you feel most comfortable with? SUPER SPOILER: You are not expected to write essays with one word fewer each time. This is just to demonstrate that is possible.

It is good to vary the length of your sentences to make sure your reader does not get bored. Seven words, followed by seven words, followed by seven words is a great way to hypnotize someone, but not great for telling them new, important information. Change it up. Try shorter sentences to help your reader. Of course, if you can make sentences that are complex and accurate, your lecturer will be happy. The most important thing, though, is the delivery of your message. Can we understand you? Accuracy is more important than length.

Learning how to correctly cite and reference are really important in your essays. Here at Binus University International, we mostly use the APA (American Psychological Association) system of referencing. This means that we include the source author and year of publication in our writing. If you were citing this essay, you would include the author’s family name and year. So you might say:

According to Moloney (2016) “…seven words, followed by seven words is a great way to hypnotize someone, but not great for telling them new, important information”.

Then in the References section of your essay, or report (usually at the end) you would include where to find that information. This would look like:

Moloney, M. J. (2016) Academic Writing – What You Need to Know at Binus. Retrieved from: http://international.binus.ac.id/els/academic-english-essay-writing/

We use referencing because all of our papers should add something extra to what we know as a species. You should be aware of the work that was done before you, and cite it, to show that you understand how a theory, or experiment has developed over time. This helps the reader of your essay to understand the context of your work. As an undergraduate student, you are not expected to be an expert in anything (yet), but you ARE expected to know what the experts think and say when you write an essay on a topic. This helps you become an expert over time.

References help the reader to understand not just how many sources you read and cited from, but also the QUALITY of the sources. Lecturers will tell you not to use Wikipedia as a source as it can be changed by anyone, and is contributed to by non-experts. Here is a breakdown of what your Academic English lecturer is thinking when they look at your references (and they DO look):

Reference:	What your lecturer is thinking:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump	I told you NOT to use Wikipedia! Why do you never listen to me? Do you expect an objective description of Donald Trump on a crowd-sourced website while an election is going on? This is a really bad source. 🙁
http://www.brainyquote.com/search_results?q=donald%20trump	So you just googled ‘Donald Trump quote’? This is not how you do research! Brainyquotes is a site for people who want to sound clever, but aren’t actually doing proper research. Lazy…
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/noam-chomsky-we-owe-rise-trump-fear-and-breakdown-society	Ok… This student has chosen a good source. Noam Chomsky is a strong voice on politics, but is extremely liberal and likely to be subjective when it comes to Donald Trump. Did the student read enough to know this? Hmmmm.
http://time.com/4287932/donald-trump-ted-cruz-delegates/	Ok. Time. A respected news magazine. Not bad, student, not bad…
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2015/dec/08/donald-trump-calls-for-complete-ban-on-muslims-entering-the-us-video	A trusted source. But did they quote from the video, or from the article accompanying the video? Hmmmm.

This is one of the things we think about when we are giving you a score. Did you read trusted sources, or just copy/paste the first thing you saw when you googled? Don’t forget that books and journals also make you seem more academic. Cite from these and your lecturer will be pleased.

Another important thing to consider is how original, or interesting your essay will be to other people. Your idea should be reflected in an interesting title. The title of this essay is clear (‘Academic Writing – What You Need to Know at Binus’) and tells the reader what they should expect. But it is not terribly exciting or interesting. Consider the following essay title:

‘A Study of the Usage Patterns of a Phone-Based Dating Application in Jakarta, Indonesia’.

It tells us what we need to know, but does not ‘hook’ the reader. We don’t feel excited to read it. The essay may tell us interesting information, but the title doesn’t reveal anything new. Now consider the following title:

‘Too Tired to Tinder? – Jakarta’s Online Dating Scene in 2016’

This title gives a clue what the research may have found – that Jakarta citizens are too tired and stressed to use Tinder as much as other places. It also asks a question that the study will answer. This pulls in the reader, and your lecturer too. It is worth thinking about how many boring essay titles your lecturer receives every semester. Can you make yours interesting to the lecturer?

One last tip is to consider how your essay fits into what the academic world needs to know now. It is a good idea to find out what are the hot topics. Science and technology provide us with a constant source of interesting study areas, as these disciplines are dynamic. Business successes and failures also provide interesting material for further study.

These are just a few tips and tricks to make sure you are on the right road with Academic English. If you have any problems, just call into Room 400 at JWC.

* Answer to the ‘informal to formal sentence’ question:

The manager said that he might pay overtime to the staff, due to the company receiving more orders than usual.