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hello I'm Karen desi today I'm going to
talk to you about how to write clearly
both to improve your employability and
to please your examiner's and make your
own marks better academic writing is
something that all of us have to learn
it has a unique style which can make it
difficult both to read and write
academic writing contains many highly
specific terms which are unfamiliar to
people outside the discipline this makes
reading dense and complex academic
writing must be precise making clear
exactly what is being referred to
therefore it often extends on an idea
with extra words and phrases sentences
and parts of sentences easily become
very long sentences may have many parts
ideas are extended with joining words
such as and as well as that which of in
and sometimes with long lists when we
extend ideas with extra words and
phrases we encounter problems with how
to logically order the parts of the
sentence what is the most important
information where should it go how do we
arrange the other parts of the sentence
around it these challenges mean that
even when our grammar and spelling are
correct it can be harder to communicate
your ideas clearly have you ever had
comments like this on your essays this
sentence is awkward your ideas of
frequently good but your writing is
unclear your expression needs work vague
academic writing is complex so your job
is to simplify it for your reader
wherever possible
there are rules and patterns that make
writing more readable then your ideas
can be clearly seen and understood as
through a clean windowpane as the famous
English writer George Orwell once noted
so what makes a good sentence and a good
paragraph good sentences start with a
topic or theme finish with new
information about that theme in this
example from genetics it's easy to
understand what the theme of this
sentence is because it's placed at the
start of the sentence this is true even
if you know nothing about genetics and
don't know what a crass gene is good
sentences start with simple information
and finish with complex information this
sentence starts with the word academics
which is easy to understand because it
is familiar it finishes with the new
complex term presidential ization which
is now easier to understand because
we've already explained what it is good
sentences emphasize important
information by placing it at the end of
the sentence in a full clause that is a
sentence part that has a verb in it
background information is placed at the
start in phrases which have no active
verb signalling to your reader that
they're not the main point of the
sentence
this fragment of a paragraph
demonstrates flow that is the first
sentence finishes with a new idea
attaining status in a social group this
idea now begins the next sentence and
extra new information is added to it
this flow does not need to be in the
very next sentence but sentences should
always move from familiar to unfamiliar
to develop ideas through the paragraph
that was just a little taste of what you
can learn if you want to know more
complete the module in the academic
skills hub learn writing strategies such
as how to make your writing more reader
friendly through topic sentences how
placing the information in different
parts of the sentence changes the focus
what the impact position is how to
create flow in paragraphs how to use
vocabulary effectively and many more
strategies to improve the clarity of
your academic writing in the hub we can
inform you not only how to write good
sentences and paragraphs but also what
to avoid such as the conga line of
witches the trump card the Living Dead
and the random dash for freedom habits
you may not know you have to learn more
about writing clearly go to the LMS and
enroll in the academic skills community
and for more tips and resources search
for academic skills uni Melba
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