The Quick Fix Guide to Academic Writing: How to Avoid Big Mistakes and Small Errors / Edition 1

by Phillip C. Shon

Overview

Whether you’re writing a paper, essay, assignment, or dissertation, this short and punchy book helps you improve your writing skills through minimal effort.

Providing you with a quick set of writing rules to follow, this tried and tested guide uses a unique and easy to follow grid-based system. Packed with advice on understanding (big and little) common errors made in academic writing, it helps you identify patterns in your own writing and demonstrates how to reshape or re-evaluate them - and raise your writing game in any academic context.

How-to tutorials include:

• Synthesizing and critiquing literature – and using your coding sheet to develop critical arguments
• Shaping abstracts, introductions, discussions, and conclusions – to improve the logic and structure of your writing
• Applying lessons-learned to future projects, whatever format of academic writing.

Save time and improve your grades, with this essential quick fix guide!

The Student Success series are essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to planning your dream career, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526405883
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/02/2018
Series:	Student Success
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.53(h) x (d)

About the Author

Phillip C. Shon received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois (Chicago); he also holds an M.A. in linguistics and a B.A. in philosophy from Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago). He is currently a Professor of Criminology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology where he teaches courses in homicide and criminological theory.

He is the author of How to Read Journal Articles in the Social Sciences (2^nd ed.). London: Sage, 2015; Language and Demeanor in Police-Citizen Encounters. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2008; Respect, Defense, and Self-Identity: Profiling Parricide in Nineteenth-Century America, 1852-1899. New York: Peter Lang, 2014. He is a co-editor (with Dragan Milovanovic) of Serial Killers: Understanding Lust Murders. (eds). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2006.

Phil grew up in Chicago. He no longer hides the shame of being a Cubs fan, and has completely forgotten Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series. He is patiently awaiting the Chicago Bears to come up with a sequel to the “Super Bowl Shuffle” before they return once more to the Promised Land.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Understanding the “Big” and “Little” Errors in Your Paper
“Big” Errors
“Little” Errors
Chapter 2: What Am I Supposed to Do In My Paper?
The Lone Wolf Claim
Formulating a Research Question
Types of Writing Assignments
Chapter 3: How to Synthesize the Literature
Organizing your own RCOS
Interpreting RCOS: A Student Example
The Infiniteness of Synthesis
Chapter 4: How to Develop a Critique of Previous Literature
Critiquing Ice Cream, Hamburger, and a Movie
Three Questions that Lead to an Appropriate Critique of Previous Literature
A Haven for CPLs and GAPs
Chapter 5: How to Produce a Claim
Differentiating between ROF and ROA
The Citationality of the ROF and ROA
Building an Argument and Creating Main Sections
The Scope of Claims in Non-empirical Papers
Chapter 6: How to Write an Abstract, Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion
How to Write an Abstract
How to Write an Introduction
How to Write a Discussion
How to Write a Conclusion
A Note on Data and Methods
Chapter 7: Conclusion: A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Model of Social Science Writing

Editorial Reviews

This is an easy to read book with a valuable insight into the structure and content of academic writing...I certainly found it valuable in developing my ability to write particular sections of social science papers. And, as a marker, the ‘big’ and ‘small’ errors code sheets enabled me to provide a more detailed feedback to students.

Caroline Ford

This book incorporates a unique framework through which students in social science programmes can make sense of the academic expectations surrounding reading and writing in their courses. Explained in a clear and logical manner, this framework is strongly linked to the learning needs of the student—the more I read, the more I want to try it.

Mark Gillespie

At last! A text that supplies the student with specific tools for the specific requirements for reading and writing in the social sciences.

Joseph Finnerty

This is an excellent book that provides clear advice not only on how to read, but also how to write academically and will be useful to undergraduate and masters students alike. The codes and the way that information is presented is reader friendly – the book can be used as a reference book or read cover to cover. I suspect for many people it will be both.

Pete Allison

This book provides a readable guide to structuring academic writing with the benefit of annotated reading. It is written with humour and a "pulling no punches" style.

Joanna Nichols