Most academic writing follows specific rules that you'll be expected to use when writing at the Open Polytechnic.

In this video for the NUST MISiS Academic Writing Center, English Language Fellow John Kotnarowski provides an introduction to the concept of hedging in academic writing. Defining hedging strategies as tools that allow the writer/researcher to be what John Skelton calls “confidently uncertain”, the video defines the concept of hedging, explains its importance in academic research writing and offers an overview of three common hedging strategies complete with examples.

The first pilot to my Essay Tips series! I share my method for reading and understanding a journal article or paper quickly and efficiently including how to take good, concise notes and remember useful citations.

If your method differs from mine or you think you can give me some pointers then let me know in the comments!

This is the first in a series of videos I'm hoping to produce while undertaking my PhD at the University of Exeter on tips for students at university or college whether undergraduate, postgraduate or otherwise.

Note: The programme to the left (which I highlight in) is Mendeley. Apologies for forgetting to state this in the video!!

If you've enjoyed this video then please do check out the rest of my channel. I generally put out new videos every Tuesday and Friday discussing theatre and playwriting from the perspective of an aspirant and (some might say) emerging playwright, theatre maker and academic.

My tagging system was borrowed from this article on The Thesis Whisperer: https://thesiswhisperer.com/2015/10/28/how-evernote-can-help-you-with-your-literature-review/

Further Reading

The Academic Skills Handbook by Diana Hopkins and Tom Reid
US: https://amzn.to/2NBDAnf
UK: https://amzn.to/2NBJIfb

The Study Skills Handbook by Stella Cottrell
US: https://amzn.to/2NDeIvh
UK: https://amzn.to/2OTyneu

[The above are affiliate links. I receive a small kickback from anything you buy which, in turn, helps to support the channel.]

Steven Pinker
Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

This video provides answers to common questions about using voice in academic writing, such as 'what are the main types of voice?' And 'what type of voice should I be using?'

Visit the Academic Skills website for resources and tips on incorporating voice in your academic writing.
https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/explore-our-resources

The samples used in this video are from: https://gum.co/sotpP
Paragraph writing in English is easy. You need to know how to write a good topic sentence. It must be followed by some supporting ideas and a few details. Of course, a good paragraph also has a nice conclusion.
#paragraphwriting #writing #writingskill

Do you sometimes struggle to begin writing an essay when taking an exam? Good news! There is an important writing skill that will help you improve your essay introductions. This technique is called "paraphrasing", and it means rewriting something using different words. In this lesson, I will teach you how to paraphrase successfully and how to change essay questions into your own words. These skills are very useful for university and high school students, as well as any students writing English proficiency exams like the TOEFL or IELTS.
TAKE THE QUIZ: http://www.engvid.com/how-to-write-a-good-essay-paraphrasing-the-question/
WATCH NEXT: Essay Writing – 6 ways to compare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8WSzwBD7GQ

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, there. My name is Emma, and in today's video I'm going to teach you something very important for if you're taking any type of test that has a writing component. So, if you are taking the IELTS, the TOEFL, the CELPIP, even just a university test, it can be any type of test, but if you're asked to write something like an essay or a paragraph, this video is for you. Okay? So I'm going to teach you a very important skill that will help improve your marks when it comes to writing on tests. So, let's get started.

So, I have here an essay question. This question is actually... I've seen it on the IELTS. You know, you have similar types of questions on the TOEFL, sometimes in university. The question is this: "Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country. Do you agree or disagree?" Or maybe: "To what extent do you agree or disagree?" So, this is an example of a question you might be asked.

Now, a problem a lot of students have is in their answer to this question. They see this, and they think: "Okay, education is the most important factor in the development of a country, yes, I agree." So then they... Or: "I disagree", and they start writing. And what do they write? Usually the very first thing students will write is this: "I agree that education is the single most important factor in the development of a country because..." So, what is the problem with this? Is there any problem to start off your essay with something like this, or to start off your answer? There's a big problem. So I want you to take a moment and think: "What could be the problem with starting your essay off with this sentence?" Okay, well, if you noticed, you have here the word: "education, education, is, is, the single most important, most important factor". If you notice, these are the same. They're the exact same, except for: "I agree that" and "because". The student, here, has used the exact same wording that is in the question. So, if you do this on the IELTS-and many students do this, same with on the TOEFL-you actually will lose marks, and same with in university, because you're not showing your abilities; you're just copying what somebody else has said or what the essay question is.

So, in this video, I'm going to show you first off... First off, I'm going to tell you: Don't do this, don't copy. And I'm going to teach you ways in order to improve yourself and your answer by changing this wording. How can you change your introduction so it's different than what the question is? Okay? So, let's look at how to make these changes.

Okay, so what we are going to do in order to change the question into a proper answer that doesn't just copy the question, is we are going to paraphrase. So, the word here is: "paraphrase". This might be a new word for you. What does it mean to paraphrase something? Well, when we paraphrase, it means we take a sentence that, you know... We take somebody else's sentence and we change it into our own words. Okay? So, we change the words of a sentence, we also change maybe the sentence structure, but we keep all the same meaning. Okay? So, the meaning from the sentence you copy, it stays the same, same meaning, but different words and different sentence structure. Okay? So it's in your words, but this other person's meaning.

So, we are going to paraphrase this example of a question into our own words. So, first we're going to look at how to do that using vocabulary and synonyms. So, we have here the same question: "Education is the single most important factor in the development of a country." How can we put this into new words or our own words that keep the same meaning? Well, we can use synonyms. So, this might be a new word for you, too. A "synonym". "Synonyms" are words that have the same meaning, but are different words.

In this video for the NUST MISiS Academic Writing Center, English Language Fellow John Kotnarowski provides a brief introduction to the concept of cohesion in academic writing. Defining cohesion as “the grammatical and lexical links within a text”, the video outlines the importance of cohesion in academic writing and offers examples of several useful cohesive devices.

The paragraph is the most important unit of a well-written essay. The paragraph has a specific structure and standards that make it effective and enjoyable to read. In this writing lesson we will look at how to construct good paragraphs and improve writing with better flow and clarity. After the lesson, take the quiz: https://www.engvid.com/writing-skills-paragraph/

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, welcome again to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is about the paragraph. It's a writing lesson, and I want to show people what a paragraph is and how to construct one, what to do, what not to do so you can write very clear, very tight paragraphs. This is especially important for IELTS, TOEFL, SAT students but everybody has to follow the exact same rules. Now before I even begin, I must say that I'm talking mostly about academic writing or even business writing. Creative writing like novels or short stories, anything fiction, you can do anything you want. Only always remember: somebody has to read what you wrote so it has to be clear. But academic essays, for example, certain rules you have to follow; you have to be very careful about them. So let's begin.

In terms of like the actual way a paragraph looks: you have to indent or skip a line. So let me just make sure you understand what an indent is. This is an indent, the first line a little bit pushed in or you can make sure you skip a line between paragraphs. But don't do both. If you skip a line, don't indent. Okay? That's the main thing.

Now, that's in terms of the way it looks. In terms of content -- and this, I can't stress this enough -- very, very, very important: one central idea in one paragraph. Okay? I've seen many people, I've seen many essays where you start a paragraph talking about one thing, and then you go off on a tangent and talk about something completely unrelated. So for example: if you start a paragraph and you're talking about apples, continue to talk about apples. If you go to oranges, that's maybe okay because you're still talking about fruit. But if you start with apples, go to oranges, go to bananas, and then end up with monkeys in space there's a bit of a problem; the reader has no idea what you're talking about. One paragraph, one central idea.

Now, make sure that you tell the reader what this central idea is. This is your thesis statement. Okay? It's a very general sentence. All it does is introduce the topic of the paragraph, nothing else. All the details comes after. So speaking of details, we'll talk about details in detail, but all other ideas, all the other sentences, all your sentences with the details must directly relate back to the main idea. So let's say here is your thesis statement; very general, every sentence after must relate back to that thesis statement. Okay? You can't go off to another idea. Everything must support this, must talk about the same topic. Very important. Okay?

How long should your paragraph be? Technically, a paragraph could be one sentence, but in an academic essay that rarely happens. But it could be any length you want, as long as you're still on that one topic, as long as you still have things to write and things to say about that topic, say it. If you have four sentences, fine; if you have 10 sentences, also okay. Again, for IELTS, TOEFL, SAT students: four, five sentences should be your limit. You can't be too long because you don't have time and you're going to start making mistakes.

So now, the details. Very important to have lots of details. Why is this topic important to your overall idea of your essay? Not only tell me what is the topic, what is the thesis statement of the paragraph, make sure you explain to me why this is important to the general idea of the essay. Give me your reasons. Now, why is it important? And then reasons, why you think what you're saying supports this idea. Examples, always use examples because giving me the reasons is okay; examples make me see exactly what you're trying to say. Very easy for me to understand what you're trying to say.

Now, in terms of flow, in terms of the way the reader can approach the paragraph, you have to have bridges. What is, what do bridges mean? Basically, when you have one idea in this sentence, you must connect it to the next sentence, you must connect it to the next sentence. Every sentence must have a link to the next sentence. This creates flow, makes it much easier to read and understand, and it keeps you on the one topic.

Now, key terms. If you're talking about something specific and you have to use a key term, use it as many times as you need to. Otherwise, avoid repetition. Try not to use the same word more than once in one paragraph. Okay? For example: if you're using the word "moreover" in the paragraph, don't use it, don't use "moreover" again -- use "in addition to", use "furthermore", "another", etc. Try to avoid using one word more than once, especially in the same paragraph.

The abstract is one of the most important if not THE most important part of your entire research paper. It needs to accomplish two main objectives: it must give a concise summary of the content of your research paper; and it should seduce the reader into reading or purchasing your full paper.

This video gives step-by-step instructions on how to develop and construct your abstract, as well providing as some dos and don’ts when it comes to composing your abstract. It also features a “sample abstract” that you can use as a guide when composing your own work.

And when you are finished writing your research paper abstract, by sure to get English editing and proofreading from a qualified professional editing service like Wordvice (https://wordvice.com/research-academic-editing-services/)

This video includes:
✔ An explanation of why the abstract is important to your paper
✔ A detailed summary of how to approach and plan to write the abstract
✔ Step-by-step instructions on how to include all relevant parts of the abstract (motivation and purpose, problem, methods, results, and conclusion)
✔ An abstract sample that demonstrates how to apply these rules
✔ General tips on what to include and what to avoid when writing your abstract

Who should watch this video:
★Research writers writing a paper for a journal or conference
★Students interested in learning how to compose a proper abstract

For more useful writing tips, check out these posts on our “Resources” page:

“How to Write the Best Journal Submissions Cover Letter"
https://wordvice.com/journal-submissi...

“100+ Strong Verbs That Will Make Your Research Writing Amazing”
https://wordvice.com/recommended-verbs-for-research-writing/

“How to Write an Abstract”
https://wordvice.com/tips-writing-successful-research-paper-abstract/

“Which Tense Should I Use in My Abstract: Past or Present”
https://wordvice.com/which-tense-should-be-used-in-abstracts-past-or-present/

Wordvice Journal Submissions Page
https://wordvice.com/category/journal...

Join Wordvice on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wordvice/

Tweet @ us on Twitter: @WordviceEditing

Wordvice offers services in other languages and countries:

ENGLISH SITE: https://www.wordvice.com
KOREA: https://www.essayreview.co.kr
JAPAN: https://www.wordvice.jp
TAIWAN: https://www.wordvice.com.tw CHINA: https://www.wordvice.cn
TAIWAN: https://www.wordvice.com.tw
TURKEY: https://www.wordvice.com.tr

This video looks at APA referencing - in-text citations and making a Reference List. You might want to take a look at the other videos in this series on effective academic writing.

Visit our website for more helpful resources: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/academicskills
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FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/AcademicSkillsUnimelb/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/AcadSkillsMelb

Wordvice Senior Editor Kevin J. Heintz gives an interactive lecture on how to write a manuscript abstract that will impress journal editors and help get your paper published in your target journal.

Overview of Content
1. What is an Abstract?
2. Abstract types
3. Parts of an Abstract
• Background and Motivation
• Problem Statement
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
4. Drafting an Abstract
5. A Word About Keywords
6. What to do After Writing Your First Draft
7. Common Mistakes
8. Tips on Making Your Abstract Stand Out
9. Viewer Q&A

*If you would like to receive a PDF of these presentation materials, please sign up for our webinar retroactively (simply providing your name and organization/school) and we will send you an email with the content. Click this link to join: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe705ZwjORZXTiMSa4hDxo_Te18NIxOQrTpBJ7BwzFKGclsJQ/viewform

**If there are any academic writing topics you would like to see discussed in an upcoming webinar, please write your suggestions in the comments section!

And please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for future content!
Wordvice/EssayReview is an international editing firm headquartered in South Korea and the United Kingdom. We have hundreds of qualified editors and serve the needs of thousands of academic clients each year. Visit us at www.wordvice.com to check out our full range of editing and proofreading services.

For additional resources and information on research writing and journal publications, visit our Resources page, which is available in several languages:

ENGLISH: https://www.wordvice.com
KOREA: https://www.essayreview.co.kr
JAPAN: https://www.wordvice.jp
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CHINA: https://www.wordvice.cn
TURKEY: https://www.wordvice.com.tr

An overview of the basic components in good academic essay writing.

Introduction to academic writing.

This video lecture is part of the material in a MOOC (massive open online course) on academic writing offered by Lund University. You can find the course "Writing in English at University" at www.coursera.org/lunduniversity
The course is offered for free and anybody can register.

The psychologist and word-usage expert has produced a new style guide with cognitive sensibilities called "The Sense of Style". For more multimedia content from The Economist visit our website: http://econ.st/1uESjz9

This video lecture is part of the material in a MOOC (massive open online course) on academic writing offered by Lund University. You can find the course "Writing in English at University" at www.coursera.org/lunduniversity
The course is offered for free and anybody can register.

Click on captions to see subtitles in English.

This video is found in the following subjects: ELC1012, ELC1013, ELC1007 and ELC1008. Watch Jeff and find out about using academic style at university.

* Google Scholar is not a source, but it is a very useful search engine for academic journals, which you can use as a source in your essays. Find Google Scholar here: http://scholar.google.com/

For more help with academic style look here: http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eap/academicstyle.aspx

For help with hedging look here: http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eap/hedging.aspx

For help with tentativity, look here: http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eap/book/tentativity.aspx

Look at the R & W videos for lots more about academicstyle: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBC72AD6E17CE72DA&feature=view_all

Thanks to Jeff for appearing in the video.

ELC Code: P135.2

Watch this course live for free on YouTube every Tuesday and Thursday at 22 30 GMT (22 30 GMT = https://goo.gl/b6lTKm).

Become a Premium Subscriber: http://www.smrt.me/smrt/live
Premium Subscribers receive:
- Two 1-hour lessons per week with a Canadian or American teacher
- Video-marked homework & assignments
- Quizzes & exams
- Official Smrt English Certification
- Weekly group video chats

This class covers the format of an academic APA essay including formatting and stylizing title pages, essay content, reference pages, and more. Also discussed is an overview of setting your default font and style settings in Google Docs.

Join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/leofgroup

If you would like to support the stream, you can donate here: https://goo.gl/eUCz92

Learn English with Josh at the Spokane College of English Language! http://www.usa-english.com