The agony of the apostrophe?

The apostrophe (') seems to be the most mis-used element of English punctuation. Students of English should be careful of copying some of the examples they may read (see above)!

In academic writing there are two uses of the apostrophe, but the first is rare:

1) Contractions e.g. he's for 'he is', they've for 'they have'.
However, it is usually better to avoid using contractions and write  the phrase in full.

2) Possessives. The apostrophe is used to show the link between the owner and the owned:
     
      a nation's progress means 'the progress of a nation'
     
     NB the plural form: the nations' progress

In the case of irregular plural nouns the apostrophe is before the 's':

      the women's results

With dates and some abbreviations, there is no need to use an apostrophe. Write:

    the 1960s were a legendary decade
    GPs have complained of poor facilities

Laptop alert!

Most students keep their notes and essay drafts on a laptop computer. Especially for international students they are easy to carry from country to country, and can be conveniently taken to lectures or classes.

But every semester some students discover a serious drawback to storing their work on a laptop. This happens when either:

a) The computer becomes infected with a virus, or otherwise malfunctions, so that files cannot be accessed, or

b) The computer is stolen or damaged.

In some cases this has happened just before the deadline for handing in an essay, so that the student has lost weeks of work and faces failing the course.

Don't take the risk - back up your files onto a memory stick or other storage device every day, and keep it in a secure place. That way you can't lose more than a day's work.

Pre-sessional or in-sessional?

During the summer many international students are arriving at colleges and universities in advance of the new academic year, which starts in late September. As well as finding accommodation and making new friends, some of them choose to study on pre-sessional courses of academic English, in which writing skills are an important element. But other students decide to wait until their academic courses have started in the autumn, when they will be able to attend in-sessional classes in a particular skill. Which is the better option?

One big advantage of in-sessional classes is that they are normally free, while pre-sessional courses can be quite expensive, depending on their length. But it is worth remembering that after your course has started you may be too busy to study English properly, while over the summer you can give it your full attention.

Moreover, pre-sessional courses are usually assessed, which should increase your motivation to do well. In-sessional classes are often more casual, on a drop-in basis, so you may find it harder to motivate yourself to work hard.

Overall, then, pre-sessional is the more expensive option, but if you have the money and the free time you should find it more rewarding, and you will be better prepared for the start of the semester. There is research which shows that students who reach an IELTS score of at least 6.5 before starting are able to complete a Masters course more quickly and effectively.

Understanding essay titles

The first step of writing an essay is to make sure you understand the title. Teachers often complain that students fail to do this, and so they lose marks by writing about something else. Especially in exams, when time is short, you must focus closely on exactly what you are asked to discuss.

Titles generally contain one or more key words which tell the writer what to do:

Outline the events leading up to the outbreak of war in 1914 and discuss the main causes of the war.

Here the key words are 'outline' and 'discuss'. The first means to give a clear but simple account of a situation, while the second means to evaluate a complex topic by looking at various points of view and trying to establish which is the most credible.

Other key words include:

Analyse                To divide a subject into sections and discuss each one critically

Describe               To give a detailed account of something

Illustrate                To give examples

Suggest                 Make a proposal and support it

Note that if there are two or more key words in the title they may help you decide how much space to give each part. For example, on the above title (the outbreak of war) you might decide to split the essay 50/ 50 between the events and the causes. But in another case:

Define what is meant by renewable energy and illustrate some current applications

you might decide to divide the essay 30/ 70 to focus more on the examples.

For more ideas about Understanding Titles see Academic Writing Chapter 1.4  p. 37

Different types of student writing

What is an essay, a project or a thesis? Students who are newcomers to English-medium colleges and universities may be confused by the names given to different kinds of writing. The following are the main types of writing used for assessment purposes:

Essay  
The most common type of writing in most subjects, in both exams and coursework. Normally the title is given by the teacher, though students may have a choice of several titles. The length can be from 1,000 to 5,000 words.

Project  
This is a type of coursework where the student chooses the topic, and therefore the title. Projects may be written individually, but also completed as group work. In this latter case the mark is also given to the whole group.

Report  
These are generally written to describe a piece of research the student has carried out, such as a laboratory experiment or a survey conducted. For most subjects there is a standard format that students should follow.

Thesis/ Dissertation
These names are often used synonymously, but in the UK a dissertation is used to assess a Masters course, while a thesis is written for a PhD. The former is generally 15-20,000 words, and the later can be 70 - 100,000. Most universities offer special advice about writing theses/ dissertations, since they are more demanding than other types of writing.

Paper
This is a general term for almost any academic article, essay, dissertation or presentation.

Darwin claims or Darwin claimed?

When writers cite sources for their information the standard format is:

            Malevic (2003) claims/ states/ argues that …

using the present tense for the verbs of reference.

However, in some situations it can be more suitable to use the past tense:

             Bernstein (1978) maintained/ believed that …

 The past tense usually suggests that either:

a) The information or idea is outdated (and is contrasted with a more recent view) or
b) The author has died

However, there is no hard or fast distinction between the two tenses, and in some borderline cases either may be used.

The first time a source is cited give both first and family names:
         
         Harry Moore (1954) suggested that …

but in subsequent citations only use their family name.

 Note also that it is not normal practice to give titles eg

          Bernstein (1978) maintained that

not: Professor/ Dr Bernstein …

 For further information about Verbs in Citations see:

Academic Writing Chapter 3.14 page 236