In Your Opinion What Is Required for a Piece of Academic Research And Writing to Be Outstanding Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

4 elements of a good writing style style refers to the way we express ourselves in writing. While there is no one standard style that every writer must follow, there are two key elements in an effective writing style. One is readability, meaning the use of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in such a way as to communicate facts and ideas clearly. The other is elegance, meaning the use of appropriate and interesting words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs to produce graceful, unobtrusive prose that will keep a reader's attention and interest. It moves the reader along easily from word to word, sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and one section of the paper to the next.

suggestions for making your writing understandable and interesting

    write in coherent paragraphs. The first sentence is often a topic sentence, meaning that it states the unifying theme that binds the sentences together. Often, one should use connector words or phrases to make this logical development clear to the reader. If you have a paragraph that is more than about a half page in length, try to break it into at least two paragraphs. Begin most sentences with the subject, rather than with a dependent clause, an adverb, or a prepositional phrase. Such devices may provide useful variety if used sparingly, but they often slow the natural flow of ideas.

    Bad: john smith, realizing that he had perhaps only one last opportunity to bring order to a community torn by strife and lack of bureaucratic efficiency, decided to assume absolute control over the jamestown settlers. Better: john smith decided to assume absolute control over the jamestown settlers, realizing that this might be his last opportunity to bring order to a community torn by strife and lack of bureaucratic efficiency. Several of the following suggestions will contribute to developing a tight prose style. These include generally, in general, basically, it went as follows, really, it has been proven time and time again that. Bad: it is a safe assumption to state the idea that the attitudes of our forefathers have affected the entire course of history.

    The same information, recast in the active voice: john wilkes booth shot president lincoln. The passive voice is usually in the form shown in the first example: the word was, followed by the past tense of the verb, followed by a preposition. Overuse of the passive voice is one of the most common style errors in college student papers. The passive voice is weak things are happening to people rather than people doing things. One cannot always avoid the passive voice, especially if the subject is not known, or if it would sound strange or be wordy to specify a subject. If a portion of your paper seems stiff and difficult to follow, count the number of dependent clauses. Bad: the civil rights movement of the post world war ii era among black activists in the south and sympathetic liberals in other parts of the nation and among some leaders in both major political parties was part of a progressive tradition aimed at elements of society with legitimate complaints against the prejudices of the majority of persons in twentieth century america.

    Better: the post world war ii civil rights movement attracted black activists in the south and sympathetic liberals throughout the nation and had the support of some leaders in both major political parties. It was part of a progressive tradition which sought to meet the legitimate complaints of persons suffering racial discrimination at the hands of many twentieth century americans. The following excerpt from an actual history term paper illustrates the problem: it seemed the years of prosperity were to come to an end for castroville. In the 1880s, castroville rejected a proposition from a railroad company due to the cost and it was subsequently built five miles south of castroville. This killed the freighting business of castroville almost at once, and in 1892 the county seat was also moved to hondo.

    Many of the people of castroville moved to the new county seat, while others moved to san antonio. Better: the situation changed in the 1880s, after castroville rejected a proposition from a railroad company to construct a line through the town. A particular case of the same problem: avoid repeating pronouns referring to the same person throughout a paragraph she, her, hers, she, she, her, etc.

    Solution: in some of the instances, use of the person's name, title, or other words and phrases which identify the person. Your theoretical target reader is not your professor but a fellow college student who is not an expert on your subject or on history in general. Therefore, when you introduce a person in your prose, briefly identify him or her.

    Also, if you introduce a term that is not familiar to the typical college student, briefly explain it in the text.

elegance in writing style

this is difficult to define and describe. Perhaps it is useful to suggest that elegant writing style is neither colloquial and slangy nor too much given to fancy, polysyllabic words, either.

    wherever possible, use short words generally of anglo saxon origin rather than longer ones often derived from latin. In 1940 british prime minister winston churchill wrote to united states president franklin roosevelt, requesting war mat riel to stave off defeat at the hands of nazi germany. He did not say, deliver to us the implements, and we will complete the assignment. While the quotation is not taken from historical writing, it suggests that short words often move the reader along more effectively than long ones. Example: alexander didn't end his conquests once he had liberated the greek colonies of ionia from persian rule. Jackson was fixing to change to about to leave for his plantation in tennessee but reconsidered when he heard what calhoun had said. In most instances, avoid using personal pronouns referring to you, the author of the paper.

    Examples: it seems to me that senator mccarthy should have realized that he had gone too far in his witch hunt for suspected communists. Napoleon's greatest mistake, as i see it, was his invasion of russia in 1812.

the following is a collection of students' recent comments on learning style and the value of the two courses i often teach: opre504: business statistics. These courses are being offered both in fully online and in face to face settings. I am sure you will benefit from students experience and their precious advice for your success upon taking these courses.

fully online courses

the following is a collection of students' recent comments on learning style and the value of the online courses i often teach: opre504: business statistics.

I am sure you will benefit from their experience and their precious advice for your success. As you can see, the most frequently mentioned recommendation is to keep up with the work and complete all assignment by a good planning during the week.

    knowing my particular learning style, i was a bit apprehensive when the only workable section of business statistics for my schedule was offered on line. The combination of an on line class and the challenging nature of the material to be covered contributed to my nervousness. Do not get me wrong, there is a lot of work involved, but with the detailed lecture notes, assigned readings, homework problems, e labs and computational tools, and most importantly dr.
it was exciting to be able to apply certain concepts learned in the course to an actual work assignment i was doing at the time.