Concise Cont’d
• Avoid empty words, phrases and sentences. An empty use of words simply means that the word, phrase or sentence adds no meaning to what you are trying to write. Every word, with a few exceptions, in your sentences should be directly connected to the subject, verb or objects. If it is not, then it probably is an empty word or phrase.
On Clarity
• Clarity refers to using words and phrases to clearly state your meaning. There are a number of issues that go to clarity that will be discussed when we talk about sentences. What I want to deal with here is issues relating to poor word choice that can make your meaning difficult to understand.
Continued
• This course will start with some basic principles of effective writing in English. These are being concise, clear and concrete. • This will be followed by the structure of an effective essay—introduction, thesis, body (this includes understanding how to handle evidence) and conclusions. • Inherent in discussing the nature of essays is the writing process and revision. • We will read and discuss both good and flawed essays and you will write a few.
the right word in the right form
• Make sure the words you are using mean what you think they mean. • A dictionary is your friend; if you are not sure of a word, look it up (or ask me) • Example One: After boarding the train, I walked down the isle to my seat. This makes no sense. Isle is the wrong word. Aisle would be the correct word.
Wordiness Cont’d
• Another example of a wordy construction is a[the] something by the[of]. Examples of this include a person by the name of Bob, the area of Tongshan, the element of aluminum. It is more concise and clearer if you just write Bob, Tongshan or aluminum. • Wordy Concise • At all times Always • At the present time Now • At this point in time Now • For the purpose of For • Due to the fact that Because • The reason for this is Because • Has not occurred Yet • From that time until now Since
More on Empty Words
• Some other common empty phrases that add no meaning to your sentences: • All things considered • As far as I am concerned • For all intents and purposes • In a manner of speaking • Last but not least • More or less • The two most common empty sentences are “This is a controversial topic.” and “Everyone has a right to their own opinion.”
Why being concise is important
• A lack of concision can make your writing dull, you seem pompous and your meaning can be lost. Consider the following sentence: • “All things considered, in my opinion I think that due to the fact that we are currently in a recession, an economic downturn, at this point in history it is increasing likely that unskilled workers who have little or no job training in a given field of employment are finding it difficult, arduous and onerous to find gainful employment at livable wages sufficient to support themselves let alone a family during the present moment is our economic history due to the fact that the economy is experiencing negative growth.”
Welcome
Post Graduate Academic Writing Paul Bailey
Definitions and Course Overview
• Academic writing, with a few exceptions, is essay writing based on research. • An essay is an attempt to prove a thesis with evidence. • Evidence, there will be more on what is good and bad evidence later, is verifiable facts, examples and the like. • Academic writing is judged by the quality of your evidence and how effectively your interpretation of the evidence relates to your thesis.

Wordiness
• Avoid being wordy. Wordiness means you are using too many words to convey your meaning. The general guideline here is that if you can use one word or many words to convey your meaning, always use the one word. • One of the most common is the use of the phrase the fact that as in due to the fact that. Due to the fact that can be replaced with because. Other constructions using the fact that it is easier to just drop the phrase altogether.
On Being Concise
• Concise means conveying your meaning in as few words as possible. • Avoid wasting time on preliminaries or transitions. Preliminaries, or introductory comments, when you are moving from one topic to another in the body of your paper, are generally unnecessary. Also, keep your transitions short and to the point. Transition words should really appear at the beginning or the end of a paragraph; they should rarely appear in the middle of a paragraph.