And What Can I Do Now with My Research Skills?

Recently, I have found out (unexpectedly) that my research skills have completely changed my behavior. How could that happen? Well, I’m not sure but I do know that I benefit from this proficiency every day (and not only when I’m working).

• I Always Look What Is at the Bottom of the Sea

When I learn a new term or hear some new information, I instantly google it and never stop on the simple definition. I want to know more: how and when did it appear? Who contributed to it? What are the results of its existence? And I hardly can stop there. The best benefit of the research skills is that you always want to know more and deepen your knowledge on every new subject you come across. And you know what it does with your mind besides widening horizons …

• “Anything You Say May Be Used Against You in the Court of Law”

When there is a discussion, I never claim anything if I’m not 100% sure that it’s true. It often happens that my friends have hot debates over some matters but I prefer to avoid taking somebody’s side unless I know exactly who is right. That is the habit that you acquire while researching and writing academic papers. There is a strong benefit to that: I never turn out to be wrong :)

• I Can Find Any Info That I Need

When my husband needs to find out when that lecture he attends is or my kids don’t know how to make a cover for a DIY notebook, here comes the researcher that lives in me. Well, it may seem that everybody can find that information and that is true. But it concerns those who know how to form correct questions to type in the search bar and this is exactly what research teaches people to do.  

I think that the research skills have greatly helped me to become a better person because, now, I feel that I can find out anything I need or want. And that is a marvelous feeling!

How to Avoid Accidental Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a pressing issue today because of the abundance of information available to public on the Internet. And while lots of people deliberately attribute writings and sayings of others to themselves, sometimes it happens when they unconsciously produce texts with accidental plagiarism. There can be 3 cases when people unintentionally steal someone’s thoughts:

1. They think that these are their personal conclusions (sometimes people forget that they have read some facts in external sources);
2. They really come up with original conclusions but have no idea that someone has written about this before;
3. They simply forget to credit the author.

I think it’s a familiar situation for you. You do a research, suddenly the thought pops up in your brain and you think that it is so natural to draw such a conclusion (maybe because you have read about it before) or you gather information on some topic and put it in one place but then can’t really figure out which is yours and which is just copied from the external source.

So, how to avoid such situations? It is an extremely important issue as accidental plagiarism is still plagiarism. There are several steps that can prevent you from submitting work that is not 100% original and I will talk about them just now.

1. Check the most obvious deductions

When you’ve pulled a conclusion and it seems to be a very easy one because it’s logical, better check it up because the chances are that you’ve read about it before.

2. Don’t jump to your “genius” conclusion

I know that there are times when you think that you’ve discovered America but America was discovered years ago, so be careful.

3. Label everything you find for your topic

When you find the necessary information, ALWAYS highlight it and credit it to the real author, especially if it’s a draft. If you use MS Word, it’s very easy. With simple notebook just use highlighters.

4. Credit even paraphrased

If you think that someone’s words become yours when paraphrased, that is not true. Even if you change the words with synonyms or reverse the word order, you still need to credit.

That’s practically it. Very simple but crucial steps to follow in order not to be accused of plagiarism. I do that all the time and it helps me greatly. Hope that it will do the same for you.

Books for Business Academic Writing

Business academic writing has a specific set of types of writing like projects, reports, business plans, etc.  but that’s not all that makes it stand out from the usual academic writing. The style of business papers can be less formal than the one in academic papers and the text can be written from any point of view (while academic writing mostly prefers the third person). Writing business projects or reports, an assignee can add his/her personal opinion. Academic writing, on the contrary, relies mostly on facts. In addition, the length of sentences in business writing tends to be shorter than in academic papers. These are the main differences but, obviously, not all. That’s why you shouldn’t neglect these specifics if you are a freelance academic writer. You must dig up all the details of business writing and to accomplish it successfully I advise you to go through these books that’ll be of great help in mastering your business writing!

•      Academic Writing for International Students of Business by Stephen Bailey

A perfect guide for your development in this direction! It deals with academic writing in the context of business studying specifics and tackles all the aspects of the writing process including the important elements, necessary vocabulary and models. You can buy it on Amazon or partly check it out on Google Books. 

• Writing Guidelines for Business Students by Lisa Emerson
  

A full-scale textbook on business writing that deals with essays, reports, research proposals, note-taking or briefings. You can find there tips on how to organize the paper structure and referencing which is really important and seems to be the most difficult part.  Get this book and start to upgrade your business writing!

• HBR Guide to Better Business Writing (HBR Guide Series) by Bryan A. Garner

This is a book written by a writing expert in business communication. It is not targeted at business academic writing or the types of papers business students usually write at universities. However, it contains interesting advice on general concept of business writing and will help you understand the mood and atmosphere in this field.

If you think that you don’t need these books, don't judge me if I tell you that you are wrong. Even if you know a thing or two about business plans or reports, it never hurts to enrich your knowledge. I hope these great manuals will definitely help you to improve your writing and you’ll ace in it!

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Think Critically

Everybody says that critical thinking is an essential part of academic writing. But not all of you know what critical thinking is and how it helps to make your papers become better. So, let’s dig deeper here to eventually get to the point. Critical thinking is the ability to thoroughly analyze the information, evaluate it and draw conclusions. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it truly isn’t that difficult to doubt theories and hypotheses, check the facts and form the judgements from the given material. It’s not that you discover new lands. However, your conclusions must be sound and consistent and not like “If the global banks climb down, then African grey bird species will migrate to the North”.

Now, let’s see what critical thinking does to your academic writing and how it instantly upgrade your papers.

Advantages of critical thinking:

•         Distinct Difference between Opinions, Hypotheses and Facts

You will not only be able to distinguish between solid truth and unconfirmed theories. Your papers will be full of proficient information and the reader will know that he/she doesn’t have to doubt your writing.

•         Deeply Analyzed Material

Due to this fact your paper will consist of statements and arguments that will not need further revision and discussion.

•          Various Approaches

Critical thinking presupposes examining an issue from different angles. That’s why when you write a paper on a certain topic you check if there are different approaches to analyzing it. This way you’ll have the full picture.

•          Your Own Opinion on the Issue

When you try to draw conclusions from the given facts you form you own attitude towards the issue. Consequently, your world outlook widens and you can use these arguments/conclusions in other papers.

•          Skill to Prove the Point

While supporting some evidence with arguments you learn how to prove the point. It means that when you state the point, people will listen to you and consider your opinion and that is a very useful skill.

As you can see, critical thinking provides great upgrades to your academic papers. So, next time you need a consistent and proficient writing, don’t hesitate to use critical thinking while researching and analyzing information.

Too Long … Wait! Too Short (the Fate of Academic Writing Sentences)

Every time you start writing your academic paper, the first things you think about are a structure, proper language style and grammar. Then, you consider different arguments, refer to authoritative sources and bla bla bla. But you never stop on the sentence length in your writing because you take it for granted. When the thought is covered, only after that you put the full point. The same thing was with me until I realized that sometimes I lose the thread of my point myself, not to mention the reader.

So, let’s face it. Sentence length is a common problem for academic writers. Why? Because too short sentences make you look incompetent and too long – presumptuous. That’s why I’ve decided to develop a formula for a standard academic sentence.

Let’s have a look at the sentence:

‘The methods of qualitative and quantitative research possess different focus points as the former aims at a detailed and more explanatory description of the research topic while the latter concentrates its tools on counting and categorizing features or gathering essential figures to prove the point in research but they are both widely applied in studies due to their complementarity.’

It’s clear that the sentence is about methods of research but the main point is not really detectable. It is said that 20-25 words is an average length of a sentence for academic writing. So, let’s try to divide and shorten it.

‘Qualitative and quantitative research methods differ due to their focus points. Hence, the former aims at a detailed and more explanatory description of the topic while the latter concentrates on counting and categorizing features and  gathering essential figures. However, taking into account their complementarity, together, both methods make an integral part of any consistent research.’

As you can see, I’ve divided it into three sentences, each carrying one separate point, cut some words from too long clauses and added where it was necessary. And it became much easier to distinguish the main idea and message of this extract.

So, my formula for the average sentence is:

1 clause   +   1 clause = standard academic sentence

(7-10 words)       (7-10 words)

Or

1 clause   +   1 clause   +   1 clause = standard academic sentence

(5-7 words)         (5-7 words)        (5-7 words)

That’s the formula I use BUT you should bear in mind that it’s not perfect and shouldn’t be used all the time because your writing must be balanced with long and short sentences to appear natural. Moreover, different kinds of academic writing may have different requirements. For example, sentences in natural science texts turn out to be shorter than the ones from social science and humanities.

And the last thing that must be kept in mind is sticking to the point. Believe me, I know the urge to use more and more words to describe some approach or explain the difference. But be careful with that; don’t try to squeeze in unnecessary details that won’t do more than trash your sentences. The shorter, the better.

All in all, things that you must take into account while writing academic papers are sentence length (the formula), sphere of academic writing and sticking to the point. That’s basically it.

Hope it helps you in your writing endeavours!

Take Totes or Take Notes

Academic writing really differs from other kinds of writing and you know that if you are a freelance academic writer. Imagine that academic writing is your new roommate who shares some space with you. Before you start to get along, it takes you a great load of time to get used to each other, to learn the habits and choose the best strategy for effective communication. And it’s all the same with academic writing. Through tries and fails you gain the knowledge of techniques that suit you most and make you productive.

As always I’m eager to share my experience and tell you about one of the greatest strategies that I constantly use in academic writing: note-taking. Let’s take an essay as an example given that it’s the most common academic assignment and examine this technique in practice.

When you are to write an essay, say, on cruelty to animals, the first thing you do is research. While surfing different web pages you spot the most discussed points of this issue and note them:

-          - Cruelty to animals/animal abuse/animal neglect is …;

-          - Laws regarding animal cruelty;

-          - Approaches to the issue;

-          - State of affairs in different countries;

-          - Cecil the Lion.

So, I’ve chosen the most highlighted moments in this sphere and I’ve already got the structural plan for an essay. I start, as always, with introduction where I define the notion and its importance. Then, in the body of the essay I have 3 paragraphs with different directions of the same issue where I expand and, depending on the type of writing, give arguments or your opinion. The last step is the conclusion where I summarize all the above mentioned information and, as you’ve noticed, I’ve noted Cecil the Lion – the most discussed issue in the animal abuse news feed. It can be given as the finalizing example and intensify the impression from my essay with important facts and consistent information.

Now, let’s review what has happened here. While researching the topic I was taking notes because when I try to remember something I want to write about, it lives in my head for about 5 minutes. So, it’s better to write down. Well, apart from helping me to memorize the points that must be included in the essay, notes have also organized the structure of the future paper. Two birds with one shot.

Now you understand the true value of this technique?