Thursday, July 28, 2011

How to Use the Abbreviations i.e. and e.g.

i.e. and e.g. come from abbreviated Latin terms.

i.e. comes from the Latin id est, which means ‘that is’ or ‘in other words’.

e.g. comes from the Latin exempli gratia, which means ‘for example’.

Here are some examples of how to use e.g. correctly:

‘John had a large collection of classic cars, e.g., a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Phaeton and an MG, which he kept in a large warehouse.’

‘Joan had errors in her essay, e.g., no commas.’

Please note that when submitting essays or theses to universities in Australia, it is preferred that you only use e.g. within parentheses, such as in the following examples:

‘Many people thought that John had a large collection of classic cars, (e.g., a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Phaeton and an MG), which he kept in a large warehouse.’

‘Joan had errors in her essay (e.g., no commas).’

Otherwise, it is preferable for you to use ‘for example’ rather than ‘e.g.’
Here are some examples of how to use i.e. correctly:

‘Many people thought that John had a problem with collecting classic cars, i.e. he had too many of them.’

‘Joan didn’t spend enough time writing her essay to ensure there were few errors, i.e. she needs to spend longer on her essays if she wishes to improve her grades.’

i.e. and e.g. are now considered a common part of the English language so you should not need to italicise them, but remember that they are abbreviations so there is always a period after each letter.

Misuse of these two abbreviations is extremely high and many people confuse the two, so if you are not sure, you can always just write the words ‘for example’ or ‘in other words’.

Written by:
Wendy Lee
Finance Manager
Elite Editing

Monday, July 18, 2011

How to Write Distinction Essays Every Time: Step 6. Professional Academic Editing

This article is the final article of the series ‘How to Write Distinction Essays Every Time: The Six Steps to Academic Essay Writing’. These articles have all been published on this blog. You can also access them through the Elite Editing website at http://www.eliteediting.com.au

Once you have completed writing your essay, it is vital that you have it professionally edited by an academic editor. You have just spent a significant amount of time doing the best possible job on your essay or assignment, doing your research and writing up your results. After all this effort, it is critical that your work is presented in the best possible way. Using a professional academic editor will ensure that your work is polished, well written, and presented correctly. If English is your second language, having your essay or assignment professionally edited is even more important. You do not want mistakes in your writing to confuse your markers or distract them from the important arguments you are making. This could lead to you receiving a grade lower than the grade you really deserve.

When selecting an academic editor, it is important to consider qualifications, experience and quality of service, as well as price. Always research the editing company you plan to submit your work to thoroughly to ensure that they are a reputable business and that their past clients have been happy with their service. An academic editor should hold a PhD (doctorate) as a minimum qualification, and should possess over ten years of experience editing essays, assignments, theses and dissertations.

The professional academic editors at Elite Editing meet all these requirements and more. All of our academic editors hold a PhD (as well as up to four other degrees) and possess a minimum of ten years of experience as academic editors. We have edited literally thousands of essays, assignments, theses and dissertations for students and helped them to improve their grades significantly.

You can read the individual biographies of our academic editors on our website at http://www.eliteediting.com.au/our-editors.php

You can read testimonies from a selection of our very satisfied clients at http://www.eliteediting.com.au/why-choose-us.php

Some examples of our editing appear on our website. However, if you would like to see further examples, or see an example relevant to the field you are studying, please contact us and we can arrange this.

At Elite Editing, we are proud to be more experienced, more qualified, faster and cheaper than the other top professional academic editing websites. Try us today!

Please note that some universities require students to obtain the permission of their tutor, lecturer or supervisor prior to having their work professionally edited. We recommend that students follow the policies of their universities. Elite Editing adheres to all university guidelines and policies. Our editing compiles with the Australian Standards of Editing Practice and the Guidelines for Editing Research Theses, adopted by most Australian universities.

This was the final article in this series. If you missed any of the articles, please contact Elite Editing through our website. Stay tuned for more articles from Dr Lines about academic essay, assignment, thesis and dissertation writing.

This article (and the remainder in the series) has been written by Dr Lisa Lines, the Director and Head Editor of Elite Editing. If you require further assistance with essay writing or with the professional editing of your completed essay, please contact her through the Elite Editing website at www.eliteediting.com.au/contact.php

For more information on our professional essay, assignment, thesis and dissertation editing service, please visit www.eliteediting.com.au/essay-editing.php

To submit your essay assignment, thesis or dissertation for professional editing now, please visit www.eliteediting.com.au/submit.php

Monday, July 11, 2011

How to Write Distinction Essays Every Time: Step 5. Write the First Draft of the Essay

This article is part of the series ‘How to Write Distinction Essays Every Time: The Six Steps to Academic Essay Writing’. One article in this series will be published on the Elite Editing blog each day this week. You can also access them through the Elite Editing website at http://www.eliteediting.com.au

Writing the first draft has never been so easy!

Now that you have completed your research in an organised way and have written a final draft of your essay plan, writing the first draft of your essay will be easier than it ever has been. All of the following decisions about your essay have already been made:

1. What your answer to the essay question is
2. What main points you will discuss in order to back up your argument
3. The order in which to discuss your main points
4. How long to spend discussing each main point
5. What information each paragraph will contain (i.e. what information you will use to discuss each of your main points)
6. What references you will use to back up your argument

Thus, there is no reason for you to feel lost or stare at your computer screen not knowing what to write. If you do get stuck for any reason, the best thing to do is to just keep writing. You can always improve something once you have written something down. If you have not written anything, not much can be done until you do.

When you write your first draft following your essay plan and including all the information you have organised in your research document, pay attention to the following things:

1. Make sure you choose the best examples from your research to use
2. Make sure you use topic sentences to link each new topic back to the question and ensure your essay flows well
3. Ensure that you write in a formal academic style
4. Ensure that you format your essay correctly, according to the guidelines for your particular course (for example, line spacing, font, page margins etc)
5. Make sure you include your in-text references as you are writing; do not leave these until the end. Since you will be using information from your research document that provides you with the in-text reference to use, this should not be a problem

Academic Writing: Some general guidelines

Have you ever been told that your writing style is not academic, or that it is too informal?

Have you ever felt unclear on how to write an academic essay?

Are you not sure what rules to follow, what you can do and what you should not do?

This article contains some general rules and guidelines for academic writing. You will develop your own writing style or ‘voice’ over time, and the more academic sources you read, the clearer it will become to you what academic writing is and how your essays should sound. However, it is important to learn certain academic conventions as soon as you can and this guide will help you to do that. If in doubt about any of these guidelines, always check with your tutor or lecturer as different disciplines and courses sometimes have different approaches or expectations.

Formality

Academic writing needs to be formal and impersonal. This means that your writing should be clear, concise and professional. It needs to follow certain rules (such as those outlined below) in order to ensure that it meets academic standards.

Supported by evidence

The most significant difference between academic and non-academic writing is that academic writing puts forward arguments and ideas that are supported by evidence, most often in the form of citing other research or studies. Learning how to reference correctly is an important part of ensuring that your arguments and ideas are always supported by evidence. You must remember that you cannot make a claim or assertion in an academic essay without supporting it.

The use of the first person

Although there are exceptions, (for example, if you are discussing a field trip that you personally took in order to conduct research, or interviews that you carried out), normally academic writing does not make use of the first person. This means you would not use ‘I’ in your essays. The first reason for this is that academic writing must be formal and impersonal.

Consider the difference between these two sentences:
1. ‘In this essay, I will discuss the reasons why Critical Thinking is important to the role of Registered Nurses, including its role in improving the accuracy of diagnoses.’
2. ‘Critical Thinking is important to the role of Registered Nurses as it improves the accuracy of diagnoses.’

Not only is the second sentence more formal because it does not make use of the personal ‘I’, but it is also more direct and thus sounds clearer, more concise, and more academic. Instead of stating that a point will be made, as in the first sentence, the second sentence simply makes the point directly.

The second reason why the use of the first person is discouraged is because it is often redundant (unnecessary). Consider the difference between these two sentences:

1. I believe that Critical Thinking is relevant to the role of Registered Nurses.
2. Critical Thinking is relevant to the role of Registered Nurses.

It is unnecessary to state ‘I believe’. The reader knows that the statement is what the author believes, because the author is writing it in their essay. Further, which sentence sounds more convincing? The second sentence sounds more convincing because it is direct and straight to the point.

Grammar, spelling and punctuation

Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation are very important in academic writing. In order to writing formally and to a high academic standard, your writing must be accurate. Writing an essay that contains correct grammar, spelling and punctuation can make a significant difference to your final grade. Accurate writing affects not only your marks for presentation. If your grammar and sentence structure is so unclear that your tutor or lecturer cannot understand the point you are trying to make, for example, you could lose marks overall. Handing in an essay that is well written, accurate and highly polished can improve your grades.

It is important to remember that you cannot rely on the spell- and grammar-check on Microsoft Word. There are many reasons for this, for example, the spell-check will not detect your mistake if you type ‘four’ instead of ‘for’. In addition, the grammar-check will often provide suggestions that are incorrect. This is because Microsoft Word is a computer programme and it cannot understand what you are trying to say. While it can be a useful tool, you must remember that it cannot substitute for checking your own work carefully.

There are a significant number of rules to follow when writing academic essays, assignments, theses or dissertations. In order to ensure that you have followed all those rules correctly, and in order to ensure that your writing is polished, clear and concise, and free of grammatical and other errors, it is recommended you hire a professional, academic editor. This is the final step of academic essay writing, and it will be discussed in the next article.

The next article in this series is ‘How to Write Distinction Essays Every Time: Step 6. Professional Editing’.

This article (and the remainder in the series) has been written by Dr Lisa Lines, the Director and Head Editor of Elite Editing. If you require further assistance with essay writing or with the professional editing of your completed essay, please contact her through the Elite Editing website at www.eliteediting.com.au/contact.php

For more information on our professional essay, assignment, thesis and dissertation editing service, please visit www.eliteediting.com.au/essay-editing.php

To submit your essay assignment, thesis or dissertation for professional editing now, please visit www.eliteediting.com.au/submit.php