academic writing and preparing for comps: best practices · fanboys: when you connect 2 independent...

Academic Writing and Preparing for Comps:Best Practices

Presented by Dr. Robert A. Coté, WSIP Director

Writing Skills Improvement Program (WSIP)College of Humanities

Spring 2019

Overview

© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of ArizonaWriting Skills Improvement Program 2

1. English Quirkiness2. Avoiding Writing Pitfalls3. General Writing Tasks4. Comprehensive Exam Prep

English is Crazy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXa8cO9mXFk

What were his last few statements?


• A dreadful language, man alive

• I learned to talk it when I was five.

• But to write it?

• The more I try,

• I still haven’t learned it at twenty-five.

Keeping Your Audience Happy: Things to Avoid


• Incorrect Word Choice

• Ambiguity

• Disorganization

• Wordiness

Writing Pitfall 1: Word Choice

© 2017 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the Universityof Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program

Source

Sometimes using a thesaurus can have unexpected consequences

video

Use Google word check to determine a word’s ‘popularity’

Coeval vs. hermeneutic(negative slope, lose it; positive slope, use it!)

6© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of ArizonaWriting Skills Improvement Program

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1tOqZUNebs

https://www.google.com/search?q=Coeval&rlz=1C1CHXU_enUS710US710&oq=Coeval&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.471j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=Coeval&rlz=1C1CHXU_enUS710US710&oq=Coeval&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.471j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=hermeneutic

Writing Pitfall 2: Repetition


Source

In MSWord, use Find (ie. however)

1. Count words2. Use Thesaurus to find synonyms

3. Make a list4. Alternate words, then recycle the list:

• However,• Nevertheless, Nonetheless• On the other hand,• In contrast, • Despite this, In spite of this• However,


http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/

Writing Pitfall 3: (Dis)Organization


Your readers should never have to guess what you are trying to say!

• Six Common Organizational Structures• Chronological

• Problem-Solution

• General to Particular (Poverty)

• Level of Importance

• Cause & Effect

• Compare & Contrast

FANBOYS


CoordinatingConjunction

Meaning

FOR REASON

AND MORE INFORMATION

NOR NEGATION

BUT OPPOSITE

OR CHOICE or OPTION

YET UNEXPECTED OPPOSITE

SO REASON

© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University ofArizona Writing Skills Improvement Program

FANBOYS: When you connect 2 independent sentences (2 subjects and 2 verbs) with a coordinating conjunction to make 1 compound sentence, you need a comma.

For: Maria speaks Spanish, for she was born in Colombia. (REASON)And: I live in Tucson, and I work at the university. (MORE INFO)Nor: Jon doesn’t speak Chinese, nor does he speak Arabic. (NEGATION)But: Jon doesn’t speak Chinese, but Sue does. (OPPOSITE)Or: Sue can take you to the airport, or you can call Uber. (CHOICE or OPTION)Yet: Mike studied hard for the exam, yet he did not pass it. (UNEXPECTED OPPOSITE) So: I have explained the rules to you, so now you should understand them. (REASON)


© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University ofArizona Writing Skills Improvement Program

Mary saw a box of puppies walking out of the supermarket for sale.

According to this sentence, what was walking out of the supermarket?

• A box of puppies!

According to this sentence, what was for sale?

• The supermarket!


Disorganization: Misplaced Phrases

Mary saw a box of puppies walking out of the supermarket for sale.

1. Walking out of the supermarket, Mary saw a box of puppies for sale.

2. While walking out of the supermarket, Mary saw a box of puppies for sale.

3. Mary, walking out of the supermarket, saw a box of puppies for sale.

4. Mary, while walking out of the supermarket, saw a box of puppies for sale.

5. Mary, who was walking out of the supermarket, saw a box of puppies for sale.


Task 4: Rearrange the Misplaced Phrases

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Punctuation Pyramid A: Punctuation Names

. ? !

, ; : - '() -- ...

1. period or full stop2. question mark3. exclamation point/mark

1. comma, 2. semi-colon,3. colon, 4. hyphen,5. apostrophe

1. parenthesis,2. dashes,3. ellipsis

© 2019 Arizona Board of RegentsUniversity of Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program

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Punctuation Pyramid B: Punctuation Purposes

. ? !

, ; : - '() -- ...

Level 1: Sentence Stoppers

Level 2: Relationship Markers

Level 3: Pause Markers

© 2019 Arizona Board of RegentsUniversity of Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program

Writing Pitfall 4: Overstating viaWord Choice

Wordy Directthe reason for; due to the fact that; in light of the fact that

Because; since; why

despite the fact that; regardless of the fact that; notwithstanding the fact that

Although; even though

in the event that if it should transpire/happen that; under circumstances in which

If

on the occasion of; in a situation in which; under circumstances in which

When

18© 2016 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University

of Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University ofArizona Writing Skills Improvement Program

Comprehensive ExamsFour common names:

• Comprehensive Exams (comps)• Preliminary Exams (prelims)• General Exams (generals)• Major Field Exams

One purpose:• Test your general knowledge on topic(s) &/or field(s)

© 2016 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the Universityof Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program 22

© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program

17

• Committee usually 4 members who ask 4 Questions (Major and Minor)

• Multi-page Essay Responses• Limits and Balances

• 20, 10, 10 ,10

• Take-home (1 week) or On-site (8 hours)

• NO outside help!


Written Component


18

Oral Component• Committee (same or smaller as written or with some substitutes)

• Closed Meeting (2-3 hours)

• Professional Conversation

• Often addresses weaker areas of written exam

• Expect written exam responses to be part of the conversation



Tips & Strategies 1

• Abstracts & References• Make a document of article abstracts with their references at

the top of each abstract

• Practice Writing Annotated Bibliographies (8 sentences each)• 5 summary sentences (who, what, where, when, and how?)• 2 analysis sentences (why, so what?)• 1 relevant quote


© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona, Writing Skills Improvement Program 25

What is an annotated bibliography?

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

Source: Michael Engle, Cornell



http://guides.library.cornell.edu/annotatedbibliography

Annotated Bibliography Sample

Curry, M.J. (1996). Teaching managerial communication to ESL and native-speaker undergraduates. Business Communication Quarterly, 59 (1), 27-35.

This article presented classroom methods and strategies based on learner-centered approaches that develop college students’ analytic and communication skills. The participants were native and non-native English speaking undergraduates in a required course at the University of Boston’s College of Management. Several topics were discussed, including journal writing, timed free writing, and speaking. These tasks were accomplished by having the students work together in groups of four or five to force them to depend on one another to successfully complete given tasks as opposed to always relying on the teacher. The goal of this methodology was to empower the students with the abilities necessary to become analytical thinkers, decision makers, and communicators. This was done by allowing the students to experience peer teaching-learning. The overall point was that the students themselves must learn to be the source of their own analysis and learning through peer communication. (~140)



Tips & Strategies 2

• Do Practice Questions and Responses• Write untimed, then timed• Write in similar surroundings to exam• Review with peers, tutors

• You can work with others on the research aspects and related topics, but NOT the actual exam questions themselves.


Narrowing Your Scope

29

Topic = Essential

Related Questions

Big Picture

Using your topic or research question, decide what you MUST cover, and then add what you might want to cover if there is space for it.


Best Writing Practices

• Internalize, don’t memorize!

• Use the clearest words possible• Use Google to check a word’s “popularity”• Use a thesaurus to do a synonym count

• Use FANBOYS correctly

• too long!© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona Writing Skills Improvement Program 30

Best Writing Practices

• Always tell a story:• who, what, where, when, why, and how

• Watch your punctuation

• Limit sentences to no more than 30 words. Read a sentence out loud, and if you run out of breath, it is definitely too long! definitely too long!

© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona Writing Skills Improvement Program 31

Physically Re-arranging a Paper

• too long!

© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona Writing Skills Improvement Program 31

Any Questions?

Thank You! Robert


© 2019 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of ArizonaWriting Skills Improvement Program

academic writing and preparing for comps: best practices · fanboys: when you connect 2 independent...

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