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Writing in Animal Sciences PRESENTED BY THE WRITERS WORKSHOP UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN AUGUST 20, 2015 Overview Writers Workshop resources Writing as a process Writing Tips Thesis & Journal articles Common Issues
PRESENTED BY THE WRITERS WORKSHOP UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN AUGUST 20, 2015
Writers Workshop resources Writing as a process Writing Tips
The Writers Workshop is a free service available to all students at any stage of the writing process. We are also available for to visit your class to offer general information or help with a particular writing task.
Website: http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/ Email: wow@illinois.edu Phone: 271-333-8796 Maximum of 2 appointments/week, 10/semester
Ongoing and recursive process of generating ideas,
reading more things, revising again, drafting, etc. Give yourself enough TIME for this process: set and stick to deadlines.
Revising, Editing, and Proofreading
Revising means re + vision = looking at it again. We are always in the process of revision. Editing at paragraph and sentence level: clarity and concision. Proofreading: Pane of glass metaphor. If there are scratches and smudges on the surface, your reader will be distracted and won’t be able to see all of the smart content underneath. Formatting: Refer to assignment/prompt/journal guidelines
LONG PROJECTS: JOURNAL ARTICLES AND THESIS/DISSERTATION
Set aside time on your calendar (ideally at least 1 hour every day) and stick to it – as though it is an important meeting Have clear, specific, manageable daily goals: “Tomorrow I am going to write three paragraphs of the results section dealing with XYZ finding.”
Joining a conversation among people interested in your area/field Sources tell you how that conversation has gone so far and what the controversies are Literature reviews are not book reports! Position your work in relationship to what others have done
Paragraphs: Built around one main idea Transitions: Let your reader know that you are moving from one point to another
addition, however, although, therefore, moreover
*adapted from A. Pincus, Ph.D., 2014
WHEN YOUR SUBJECT AND VERB ARE SEPARATED BY A LOT OF OTHER WORDS
Original:
The possibility that some termini have a base composition different from that of DNA simply because they are the nearest neighbors of termini specifically recognized by the enzymes can be checked by comparing the experimental results with those expected from the nearest neighbor data.
Revision:
If we compare the experimental results with those expected from the nearest neighbor data, we can check the possibility that some termini have a base composition different from that of DNA simply because they are the nearest neighbors of termini specifically recognized by the enzymes.
NOMINALIZATIONS = VERB-LIKE WORDS, VERBS TURNED INTO NOUNS (*ING, *TION)
Original:
The assumption that all RNAs are poly-adenylated is an oversimplification of the transcription process.
Revision:
The model oversimplifies the transcription process because it assumes that all RNAs are polyadenylated. Nominalizations force writers to rely on “to be” as a primary verb (which is weak) and create wordiness
OFTEN PREFERRED (DEPENDING ON DISCIPLINE) BUT NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY
scientific nor more objective than active voice
passive voice simply out of habit. Do choose passive voice when it improves cohesion by putting familiar ideas first.
disciplines—encourage authors to use active voice for the sake of clarity, concision, and cohesion
“But using active voice means using first person pronouns, and first person pronouns aren’t allowed in my field!”
Avoiding first person does not mean you can only use passive voice.
Compare: The substrate surface was mapped
using an Atomic Force Microscope.
With: We mapped the substrate surface using
an AFM.
Or: The AFM mapped the substrate surface.
Five ways to improve clarity, concision, and cohesion
Find and eliminate empty and/or excess modifiers (really/very, unique, important, etc.) or overly complicated language
Count the number of verbs/verb-like words in a sentence: 1-3 is ideal, more than that indicates the sentence is either too long, too wordy, too complex, or all of the above.
modify
last
FELLOWSHIP AND GRANT APPLICATIONS
Read the fellowship description closely Follow instructions exactly – page/word count, formatting, sections to include, specific information about what you will DO with this money Know who your readers will be: Experts in your field? Generalists? Interdisciplinary? Government, industry, scholarly, etc.
Graduate College Fellowship Office: http://www.grad.illinois.edu/fellowship s/about
Writer’s Workshop:
a consultant Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL):
writing