Mentoring Café: How Would You like to Improve Your Academic Writing?
The Misoynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network is committed to assisting African descended women in religious leadership (academic, parish and activist). As we have identified the Academy or "Higher Education" as a powerful force for managing this goal for Black women, we are committed to assisting you in strengthening yourself through your: grant capture, publishing and teaching. We believe that this focus will also position us to mentor Black women in religious leadership - particularly those who are obtaining degrees in Bible Colleges and Seminaries, or who are considering a move to expand their vocational call to include the Academy.
We have listed beneficial resources for academic writing. These are courtesy of Dr. Renée Landell (@Nay_Landell). Doing academic writing is not natural for many of us - it is something you must be taught. The required training should be available at your university. If you are not connected to a university, or if you are but lack access to these resources, we thought it would be beneficial to provide a list of links and aides for your writing journey.
Below, please see her advice and the tools that she suggests. We suspect this will be helpful to a lot of you! Many, many thanks to Dr. Landell!
The Misogynoir to Mishpat Research Network © 2023
Being critical
Academic Phrasebank | Being critical - Academic Phrasebank (manchester.ac.uk)
As an academic writer, you are expected to be critical of the sources that you use. This essentially means questioning what you read and not necessarily agreeing with it just because the information has been published. Being critical can also mean looking for reasons why we should not just accept something as being correct or true. This can require you to identify problems with a writer’s arguments or methods, or perhaps to refer to other people’s criticisms of these. Constructive criticism goes beyond this by suggesting ways in which a piece of research or writing could be improved.
… being against is not enough. We also need to develop habits of constructive thinking.
Edward de Bono
Highlighting inadequacies of previous studies
Previous studies of X have not dealt with …
Researchers have not treated X in much detail.
Such expositions are unsatisfactory because they …
Most studies in the field of X have only focused on …
Such approaches, however, have failed to address …
Previous published studies are limited to local surveys.
Half of the studies evaluated failed to specify whether …
The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than Y.
Previously published studies on the effect of X are not consistent.
Smith’s analysis does not take account of …, nor does she examine …
The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y.
Most studies of X have only been carried out in a small number of areas.
However, much of the research up to now has been descriptive in nature …
The generalisability of much published research on this issue is problematic.
Research on the subject has been mostly restricted to limited comparisons of …
However, few writers have been able to draw on any systematic research into …
Short-term studies such as these do not necessarily show subtle changes over time …
Although extensive research has been carried out on X, no single study exists which …
However, these results were based upon data from over 30 years ago and it is unclear if …
The experimental data are rather controversial, and there is no general agreement about …
Identifying a weakness in a single study or paper
Offering constructive suggestions
The study would have been more interesting if it had included …
These studies would have been more useful if they had focused on …
The study would have been more relevant if the researchers had asked …
The questionnaire would have been more useful if it had asked participants about …
The research would have been more relevant if a wider range of X had been explored
Introducing problems and limitations: theory or argument
The main weakness with this theory is that …
The key problem with this explanation is that …
However, this theory does not fully explain why …
One criticism of much of the literature on X is that …
However, there is an inconsistency with this argument.
A serious weakness with this argument, however, is that …
One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether …
Smith’s argument relies too heavily on qualitative analysis of …
Smith’s interpretation overlooks much of the historical research …
Many writers have challenged Smith’s claim on the grounds that …
Smith’s analysis does not take account of X, nor does he examine …
It seems that Jones’ understanding of the X framework is questionable.
The existing accounts fail to resolve the contradiction between X and Y.
One of the limitations with this explanation is that it does not explain why…
Introducing problems and limitations: method or practice
One major drawback of this approach is that …
Selection bias is another potential concern because …
Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that …
The main limitation of biosynthetic incorporation, however, is …
Non-government agencies are also very critical of the new policies.
All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that …
Critics of laboratory-based experiments contend that such studies …
Another problem with this approach is that it fails to take X into account.
Difficulties arise, however, when an attempt is made to implement the policy.
Critics have also argued that not only do surveys provide an inaccurate measure of X, but the …
Nevertheless, the strategy has not escaped criticism from governments, agencies and academics.
Using evaluative adjectives to comment on research
Introducing general criticism
Critics question the ability of poststructuralist theory to provide …
Non-government agencies are also very critical of the new policies.
Smith’s meta-analysis has been subjected to considerable criticism.
The most important of these criticisms is that Smith failed to note that …
The X theory has been vigorously challenged in recent years by a number of writers.
These claims have been strongly contested in recent years by a number of writers.
More recent arguments against X have been summarized by Smith and Jones (1982):
Critics have also argued that not only do surveys provide an inaccurate measure of X, but the …
Many analysts now argue that the strategy of X has not been successful. Jones (2003), for example, argues that …
Introducing the critical stance of particular writers
Jones (2003) has also questioned why …
However, Jones (2003) points out that …
The author challenges the widely held view that …
Smith (1999) takes issue with the contention that …
The idea that … was first challenged by Smith (1992).
Smith is critical of the tendency to compartmentalize X.
However, Smith (1967) questioned this hypothesis and …
Smith (1980) broke with tradition by raising the question of …
Jones (2003) has challenged some of Smith’s conclusions, arguing that …
Another major criticism of Smith’s study, made by Jones (2003), is that …
Jones (2003) is critical of the conclusions that Smith draws from his findings.
An alternative interpretation of the origins of X can be found in Smith (1976).
Jones (2003) is probably the best known critic of the X theory. He argues that …
In her discussion of X, Smith further criticizes the ways in which some authors …
Smith’s decision to reject the classical explanation of X merits some discussion …
The latter point has been devastatingly critiqued by Jones (2003), who argues that …
In a recent article in Academic Journal, Smith (2014) questions the extent to which …
A recently published article by Smith et al. (2011) casts doubt on Jones’ assumption that …
Other authors (see Harbison, 2003; Kaplan, 2004) question the usefulness of such an approach.
Renée Landell (@Nay_Landell) tweeted at 11:23 AM on Sun, Mar 26, 2023:
Signposting is ESSENTIAL for flow and structure. I like this tool from Staffordshire
University. Great for all levels of writing: https://t.co/UerDY0PM5q
(
https://twitter.com/Nay_Landell/status/1639936173735903232?t=WuiidHeBDmcukxEORrMGtQ&s=03
)
All assignments are written in formal language. You need to ensure that you demonstrate
your knowledge and understanding alongside your ability to answer the question/solve the problem.
Below are some ideas to help you to develop your structure and flow.
Linking / transition words and phrases join ideas, sentences and paragraphstogether. They should be used within sentences and to move from oneidea to another (between sentences).
These words and phrases indicate the direction, order and flow of ideas.
Significantly, they strengthen the quality and structure of your work.
Redundant Words - less is more. Particularly when trying to reduce the word count, it is important to look for phrases which can be replaced with a single word.
Linking/Transition Words
Transitions link one main idea to another separated by a semi-colon or full-stop.
When the transition word is
at the beginning of the sentence, it should be followed by a comma:
Among other functions, they can signal cause and effect or sequencing (see examples in the table below).
Linking words: conjunctions
Linking words within a sentence are referred to as coordinating conjunctions.
Do not worry about the term: think about the function.
Conciseness / redundant words
Microsoft Word now has an additional feature within the Editor - it is called conciseness or wordiness.
If you cannot see the Editor menu a quick tip is to hold down the function (fn key at the bottom
left of the keyboard) + F7 (top line of keys).
From the Refinements section - select Conciseness - if there are any suggestions
a number will appear in the box alongside this option
A dotted line will appear under any groups of groups
Either select the identified text by clicking with your right mouse button OR click
on the down next to the Conciseness menu.
MS Word will display any alternative words which you can either select and they
will be replaced in your text or reject if you want to keep the original phrases.
Examples: try to replace phrases with a single words which mean the same.
Factsheets
Need to know more...
Illustrates the main features of academic writing so that you are aware of what it is and what it involves
Academic work involves thinking, not just accepting what you read or are told.
Important words appear in your assignments and examinations. The aim of this factsheet
is to help you to fully understand what they mean.
