1. Stepping Yourself Up fro Success: Alleviating Barriers That May Impede Your Progress

2. Factors that Impede your Progress
Lack of Time
Lack of Space and Organization
Lack of control with data collection and analyses
Emotional and Psychological obstacles
“Shoulds” Students Tell Themselves
A Poor Working Relationship with your Advisor

3. Characteristics of FORMAL WRITING

4. “The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is not the mere presentation of information and thought but rather its actual communication. It does not matter how pleased an author might be to have converted all the right data into sentences and paragraphs; it matters only whether a large majority of the reading audience accurately perceives what the author had in mind.” --George Gopen and Judith Swan The Science of Scientific Writing

5. Planning: Before You Begin
Identify your audience and their expectations
Know your purpose and material
Organize your thoughts and materials
Budget adequate time to write, review, revise and edit

6. Writing in English There are two main styles of writing Formal
Informal
What is the difference between the two styles of writing?
Which one is good for academic research writing?

7. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Example 1: This is to inform you that your book has been rejected by our publishing company as it was not up to the required standard. In case you would like us to reconsider it, we would suggest that you go over it and make some necessary changes.
Example 2: You know that book I wrote? Well, the publishing company rejected it. They thought it was awful. But hey, I did the best I could, and I think it was great. I’m not gonna redo it the way they said I should.
The difference between the two is obvious.
The first one is formal, and the second is informal.

8. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
what is it that makes them formal and informal?
It is the style of writing, or the way we use words to say what we want to say. Different situations call for different ways of putting words together. The way we write in academic and scientific settings differs greatly from the way we write to a friend or close one. The tone, vocabulary, and syntax, all change as the occasion changes. This difference in the styles of writing is the difference between formality and informality, or the difference between formal and informal writing.

9. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Formal English is used mainly in
- academic writing, and
- business communications
Whereas informal English is
-casual, and
-appropriate when communicating with friends and family.

10. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Informal: May use colloquial words/expressions/slang (kids, guy, awesome, a lot, etc.).
Example: The D-flip flop was hooked up to the board.
Example: “Y’all" come with us.
Formal: Avoid using colloquial words/expressions (substitute with children, man/boy, wonderful, many, etc.)
Example: The D-flip flop was connected to the board for testing.
Example: All of you come with us.
Informal: May use contractions (can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, etc.).
Formal: Avoid contractions (write out full words – cannot, will not, should not, etc.).

11. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Informal: May use first, second, or third person.
Formal: Write in third person (except in business letters where first person may be used).
First person is “I,” or “we”; second person is “you,” and third person is “he,” “she,” “one,” or “they.” Academic writing, unless stated otherwise by your professor, should always be in the third person.

12. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Informal: May use clichés/buzzwords (loads of, conspicuous by absence, etc.)
Formal: Avoid clichés/buzzwords (use many, was absent, etc.)
Informal: He took to it like a duck to water.
Formal: He accomplished the task with little effort.
Informal: The chances are few and far between.
Formal: The chances are very rare.
Informal: His grandfather was as blind as a bat.
Formal: His grandfather had a severe vision problem.
Informal: It was as easy as could be.
Formal: It was extremely easy.
Informal: She was only interested in the “bottom line.”
Formal: She was only interested in the profits.

13. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Informal: May address readers using second person pronouns (you, your, etc.)
Formal: Avoid addressing readers using second person pronouns (use one, one’s, the reader, the reader’s, etc.)
Informal: May use abbreviated words (photo, TV, etc.)
Formal: Avoid using abbreviated words (use full versions – like photograph, television, etc.)
Informal: May use imperative voice (e.g. Remember….)
Formal: Avoid imperative voice (use Please refer to.….)

14. Formal Writing Active: “He gave the paper to me.”
Choose Active over Passive Voice While active voice is preferred in most cases, it is completely acceptable to use passive voice in technical writing. Active voice usually uses fewer words, and emphasizes the doer of the action, thus making the writing clearer and livelier for the audience. Passive voice puts the receiver of the action first, and then either puts the doer of the action after the verb, or does not name the doer at all. Passive voice should only be used if the doer of the action is unimportant, or unknown. To say it another way, with active voice, the subject of the sentence acts, but in passive voice, the subject is acted upon.
Active: “He gave the paper to me.”
Passive: “The paper was given to me by him.”
Active: A DJ-12 valve controls the flow.
Passive: Control of the flow is provided by a DJ-12 valve.
Active: Figure 3 shows an ASM chart.
Passive: An ASM chart is shown in Figure 3.

15. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
Distant Language
Personal pronouns are usually avoided.
Personal Language
Personal Pronouns are common.
Personal feelings and views are expressed.

16. Characteristics of Formal Writing
Formal Writing is ACCURATE:
Precise evidence is presented.
Facts are distinguished from opinions and feelings.
Sources are carefully used and acknowledged.
Sentences are clear and constructed carefully.
Punctuation marks are accurately used.
Structure and vocabulary are formal;
Full forms are used (What have, cannot...)
More formal, abstract words with Latin or Greek origins are often preferred.
Formal writing is TENTATIVE;
There are few definite statements.
Quick conclusions are avoided.

17. Yet informal writing is...
OFTEN IMPRECISE;
-A personal viewpoint is expressed.
-Statements are not necessarily accurate.
-Facts and opinions are not necessarily distinct.
-Sources are used rarely and carelessly.
-Sentences are shorter, and not so carefully constructed.
-Dramatic punctuation marks (?, !, ...) are common.
Structure and vocabulary are informal;
-Short forms and contractions (I’ve, he’s, can’t...) are often used.
-Shorter, less formal language is preferred (e.g. phrasal verbs, compound words, idioms, slang and colloquial language).
Informal writing is ASSERTIVE
There are often definite statements and generalizations.
Conclusions may be drawn from insufficient evidence.

18. Formal Writing vs. Informal Writing
DISTANT LANGUAGE
PERSONAL LANGUAGE
ACCURATE
OFTEN IMPRECISE
FORMAL STRUCTURE and VOCABULARY
INFORMAL STRUCTURE and VOCABULARY
TENTATIVE
ASSERTIVE

19. What is academic writing?
In brief, academic writing is 'structured research' written by 'scholars' for other scholars (with all university writers being 'scholars' in this context).
Academic writing is;
*factual,
*objective,
and most importantly,
*FORMAL.
Using Appropriate Writing Style
Technical writing tends to be rather “dry.” This is because, compared to other types of writing, the purpose of technical writing is to inform rather than to entertain. Engineers and scientists are called upon to record and document information in an objective manner, and in doing so, the style of writing reflects this objective approach.

20. Formal Writing
Academic Voice: Most academic papers should be written in academic voice. Academic voice tends to suppress the natural voice of the author in an effort to focus the reader o the material instead of the author’s persona. Therefore, you write academic papers in third person. If you write it in first person (I, We, etc.) the reader tends to focus on the author. IF you write in second person (you), the reader tends to focus on her/himself. You want the reader to focus on the material about which you are writing; therefore your paper must be written in third person (him, her, they, etc.).

21. Formal Writing
Avoid weak language (may be, possibly, might); act like you know what you are talking about (even if you do not)
Avoid contractions (can’t, won’t, etc.)
Avoid slang
When writing about literature use present tense
State your opinion as fact.
Avoid rhetorical questions
Never start a paper with, “This paper is going to be about…”

22. Formal Writing
Expressing Information Clearly While you may be able to say the same thing in a variety of ways, being clear and direct are the most important characteristics of technical writing. Expressing information clearly is crucial; you NEVER want to make your reader work harder than necessary to understand the message/idea/information you are conveying. Sentences must have a single meaning with no room for ambiguity. Technical writing should be direct, not suspenseful. Technical writing is not the place for poetic language.

23. Formal Writing
Using Efficient Wording (avoid needless words) Economy is the name of the game when it comes to technical writing. Technical documents should be clear and concise, never wordy and flowery. Always choose words and phrases that are simple and straightforward.
verbiage
Efficient
a large number of
many
in the majority of instances
usually
the reason why is that
because
alternate choices
alternatives
completely eliminate
eliminate
connected together
connected
an analysis of the data will be made
data will be analyzed
made a selection
selected

24. Formal Writing: Needless Words
(already) existing
never (before)
at(the) present (time)
none(at all)
(basic) fundamentals
now(at this time)
period(of time)
(continue to) remain
currently(being)
(separate) entities
(currently) underway
(empty) space
had done(previously)
(still) persists
mix(together)

25. Preparing a Draft
However, you should always keep in mind that no one else’s words are as important as yours!!!
As a writer, you use summaries, quotes, or paraphrases from others only to strenghten your own points.

26. What is concrete support?
Preparing a Draft
CONCRETE SUPPORT
What is concrete support?
It is information from outside sources, such as
Books,
Articles
and Websites
that you insert into your essay to add weight to your arguments and make them more convincing.

27. Preparing a Draft Guidelines for Choosing a Piece of Concrete Support
Carefully consider the source; use well known newspapers and magazines – you can also use online versions of the well known ones.
In general, do not use information that is older than five years.
Choose a passage that directly supports your point.
Do not take a passage out of context.