Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The new sixth edition of this popular book has been written to help international students succeed in writing essays and reports for their English-language academic courses. Thoroughly revised and updated in a streamlined format making it even easier for students and teachers to use, Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students is designed to let readers find the support they need easily, both in the classroom and for self-study.

The book consists of three parts, comprising a total of 28 units: The Writing Process and Writing Skills; Elements of Writing; and Writing Models. The first part explains and practises every stage of essay writing, from choosing the best sources, reading and note-making, through to referencing and proofreading. These stages are supported by relevant explanations of critical writing skills, so that, for instance, finding synonyms is linked with paraphrasing and summarising. The second part explains critical issues such as using numbers and punctuation, and is organised alphabetically, while the third part provides models for common components of student writing such as case studies and reports. All units are fully cross-referenced and can be taught in conjunction with each other or used for self-study or reference. A progress check at the end of each part allows students to self-assess their learning, and a complete set of answers to the practice exercises is included.

Additional features of the book include:

All international students wanting to maximise their academic potential will find this practical and easy-to-use book an invaluable guide to writing in English for their degree courses.

To access the support material for this title, please visit: www.routledgelearning.com/academicwriting.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (xvi)
• Introduction for Students (xvii)
• Introduction for Tutors and Lecturers (xx)
• British English vs American English in Writing -A Short Guide (xxiii)
• Using Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools at University (xxvi)
• Understanding Abbreviations (xxvii)
• Academic Writing Quiz (xxx)
• The Writing Process (xxxii)
• Part 1 The Writing Process and Writing Skills (1)
• 1.1 Writing Basics (3)
• Why do we write? (3)
• How is academic writing different from other writing genres? (4)
• Common types of academic writing (5)
• The format of academic texts (5)
• Academic journals (7)
• Common text features (8)
• Writing clear sentences (9)
• Writing in paragraphs (10)
• Practice A (11)
• Writing Skills: Generalisations (12)
• Using generalisations (12)
• Structure (13)
• Practice B (13)
• Practice C (13)
• Building on generalisations (14)
• Practice D (14)
• 1.2 Understanding Essay Titles and the Planning Process (16)
• Analysing essay titles (16)
• Practice A (17)
• The planning process (18)
• Evaluation criteria (18)
• Brainstorming (20)
• Essay length (21)
• Outlines (22)
• Practice B (23)
• Writing Skills: Prefixes and Suffixes (24)
• How prefixes and suffixes work (24)
• Prefixes (25)
• Practice C (26)
• Suffixes (26)
• Practice D (27)
• Practice E (28)
• 1.3 Reading: Finding Suitable Sources (29)
• Reading strategies (29)
• Types of text (31)
• Assessing texts (32)
• Using reading lists and library catalogues (34)
• Assessing key features of an academic text (36)
• Using library websites to search journals and bibliographic databases (37)
• Reading abstracts (38)
• Varying search terms (39)
• Writing Skills: Showing Cause and Effect (40)
• Causes and effects (40)
• The language of cause and effect (40)
• Practice A (41)
• Practice B (43)
• Practice C (43)
• Practice D (44)
• 1.4 Reading: Developing Critical Approaches (45)
• Critical thinking (45)
• Fact and opinion (46)
• Assessing internet sources critically (47)
• Domain name suffixes (48)
• Practice A (49)
• Writing Skills: Argument and Discussion Essays (51)
• Discussion vocabulary (51)
• Organisation (51)
• Practice B (53)
• The language of discussion (53)
• Argument and counter-argument (54)
• Practice C (54)
• Providing evidence (55)
• 1.5 Finding Key Points and Note-making (57)
• Why make notes? (57)
• Finding key points (58)
• Finding relevant points (58)
• Practice A (60)
• Effective note-making (61)
• Practice B (62)
• Writing Skills: Problem-Solution Essays (63)
• Vocabulary (63)
• Paragraph structure (64)
• Alternative structure (65)
• Practice C (65)
• Practice D (66)
• Practice E (66)
• Practice F (67)
• 1.6 Summarising and Paraphrasing (68)
• What makes a good summary? (68)
• Stages of summarising (69)
• Practice A (69)
• Practice B (71)
• Paraphrasing (72)
• Practice C (73)
• Techniques for paraphrasing (74)
• Practice D (74)
• Practice E (76)
• Writing Skills: Finding Synonyms (77)
• How synonyms work (77)
• Practice F (78)
• Common synonyms in academic writing (78)
• Practice G (79)
• 1.7 References and Quotations (80)
• Citations and references (80)
• Why give references? (81)
• Referencing systems (82)
• Using quotations (82)
• Practice A (84)
• Abbreviations in citations (85)
• Secondary references (86)
• Internet references (86)
• Organising the list of references (87)
• Writing Skills: Using Verbs of Reference (89)
• Reference verbs (89)
• Practice B (90)
• 1.8 Avoiding Plagiarism (91)
• What is plagiarism? (91)
• Basic plagiarism (92)
• Degrees of plagiarism (93)
• Avoiding plagiarism by summarising and paraphrasing (94)
• Avoiding plagiarism by developing good study habits (96)
• Practice (96)
• Writing Skills: Approaches to Vocabulary (97)
• Vocabulary issues (97)
• Dealing with new vocabulary (98)
• Confusing pairs (98)
• Words and phrases from other languages (100)
• 1.9 Contrasting Sources (101)
• Referring to sources (101)
• Practice A (102)
• Contrasting sources (103)
• Balancing different sources (106)
• Practice B (107)
• Writing Skills: Using Conjunctions (109)
• How conjunctions work (109)
• Types of conjunctions (109)
• Common conjunctions (111)
• Practice C (111)
• Confusing conjunctions (112)
• Conjunctions of opposition (112)
• 1.10 Organising Paragraphs (113)
• Paragraph structure (113)
• Practice A (114)
• Practice B (115)
• Practice C (116)
• Introducing paragraphs and linking them together (117)
• Practice D (118)
• Practice E (118)
• Writing Skills: Providing Cohesion (118)
• Reference words (118)
• Practice F (119)
• Preventing confusion (120)
• Practice G (120)
• Practice H (120)
• 1.11 Introductions and Conclusions (122)
• Introduction components (122)
• Introduction structure (123)
• Opening sentences (125)
• Conclusions (126)
• Conclusion structure (127)
• Practice A (127)
• Writing Skills: Giving Definitions (128)
• Simple definitions (128)
• Category words (128)
• Complex definitions (129)
• Practice B (130)
• 1.12 Editing and Proofreading (131)
• Editing (131)
• Practice A (132)
• Practice B (133)
• Proofreading (133)
• Practice C (134)
• Practice D (134)
• Practice E (135)
• Summary (136)
• Writing Skills: Academic Style (136)
• Developing an academic style (136)
• Guidelines (137)
• Practice F (139)
• Avoiding repetition and redundancy (139)
• Varying sentence length (140)
• The use of caution (141)
• Practice G (142)
• Progress Check 1 (143)
• Part 2 Elements of Writing (147)
• 2.1 Comparisons (149)
• Comparison structures (149)
• Practice A (150)
• Using superlatives (e.g. the largest/the smallest) (151)
• Forms of comparison (152)
• Practice B (152)
• Practice C (153)
• Practice D (153)
• 2.2 Definite Articles (155)
• Using articles (155)
• Using definite articles (156)
• Practice A (157)
• Practice B (158)
• 2.3 Examples (159)
• Providing examples (159)
• Phrases to introduce examples (160)
• Practice A (161)
• Practice B (162)
• Restatement (162)
• 2.4 Nouns and Adjectives (164)
• Introduction (164)
• Nouns (164)
• Using nouns and adjectives (167)
• Practice A (168)
• Academic adjectives (168)
• Practice B (169)
• Practice C (169)
• 2.5 Numbers (171)
• The language of numbers (171)
• Percentages (172)
• Further numerical phrases (172)
• Practice A (174)
• Practice B (175)
• 2.6 Passives (176)
• Active and passive (176)
• Structure (177)
• Use of the passive (177)
• Adverbs with passives (178)
• Practice (179)
• 2.7 Prepositions (180)
• Using prepositions (180)
• Practice A (181)
• Prepositions and nouns (181)
• Prepositions in phrases (182)
• Prepositions of place and time (182)
• Practice B (182)
• Verbs and prepositions (183)
• Practice C (184)
• 2.8 Punctuation (185)
• Capital letters (185)
• Apostrophes (') (186)
• Full stops (.) [US: period] (186)
• Commas (,) (187)
• Semi-colons (;) (187)
• Colons (:) (188)
• Quotation marks/inverted commas (""/") (188)
• Others (189)
• Practice A (189)
• Practice B (190)
• 2.9 Singular or Plural? (191)
• Five difficult areas (191)
• Group phrases (192)
• Uncountable nouns (193)
• Practice A (194)
• Practice B (194)
• 2.10 Time Markers (195)
• How time markers are used (195)
• Practice A (196)
• Tenses (196)
• Practice B (196)
• Practice C (197)
• 2.11 Verbs and Adverbs (198)
• Understanding main verbs (198)
• Common academic verbs (199)
• Using adverbs (201)
• Practice (202)
• 2.12 Visual information (203)
• Types of visuals (203)
• The language of change (206)
• Describing visuals (207)
• Labelling visuals (208)
• Practice A (208)
• Practice B (209)
• Progress Check 2 (210)
• Part 3 Writing Models (213)
• 3.1 Literature Reviews (215)
• The purpose of a literature review (215)
• Examples of literature reviews (216)
• Writing a literature review (217)
• Model literature review (218)
• 3.2 Case Studies (220)
• Using case studies (220)
• Model case study (221)
• 3.3 Longer Papers (223)
• Introduction (223)
• Planning your work (223)
• Formatting the paper (225)
• 3.4 Reports (227)
• Essays and reports (227)
• Writing reports (227)
• Scientific reports (229)
• Practice (230)
• Answers (235)
• Part 1 The Writing Process and Writing Skills (236)
• Part 2 Elements of Writing (264)
• Part 3 Writing Models (278)
• Glossary (280)
• References (284)
• Index (285)

Author notes provided by Syndetics