WRITING

TECHNIQUES
 Writing techniques
 Writing about the work of other authors
 Writing about your own thoughts

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 Writing about the work of other authors

o Summarising
o Critiquing
o Voice
Summarising
 A vital skill in research and all academic
endeavours is the ability to summarise
- that is, to reduce information to its
essence without losing accuracy, by
subsuming elaboration and detail into
broad main points.
 It is useful for
o note-taking (from written and spoken
delivery),
o for critical reference to previous
research or theoretical frameworks as in a
review of literature,
o for writing abstracts
o for summarising your own findings.
o for brief proposals or progress reports,
 Summarising in an academic context
nearly always means reducing someone
else’s text or idea to a brief account,
without losing the intention or the
structure of the original.

 Let’s try part of a step-by-step technique

and you should find that your notes and
other summaries are more useful to you in
the end, with less time wasted and greater
accuracy and internal logic.
The short summary
 Read the journal article (part of) called
‘Interactive whole class teaching in
the National Literacy and Numeracy
Strategies’ and carry out the task on the
task sheet entitled The Short Summary.

 Your answers should look something like

this:
Critiquing
 The word 'critique' is related to other
words, such as critical, and critic, which
are to do with having and stating an
opinion about someone else's claim,
statement or performance.

 You critique (verb) the literature when you

write about ideas in your field that are not
your own, both to show you know the
field, and as a context for your own
research or ideas.
 Usually, your critique (noun) follows
your summary of the original. The
reader can then appreciate your views
about the validity of other writers' ideas.
This summary/critique partnership gives
you the basic building blocks for a
literature review.
 Like some forms of summarising,
critiquing is a form of indirect reporting
- that is, you observe something and you
relate or explain it to someone else as if
they are hearing about it for the first time
through you.
 In the case of critiquing, your readers
are given the added dimension of your
interpretation and opinion, so they do
not get a 'neutral' report as they would
with a summary.

 Depending on the 'voice' you use

(paraphrasing, reporting or quoting),
and the degree of 'author orientation', you
can imply a great deal about your own
position by selecting from a wide range of
verbs to write about other authors.
Voice
 When you report on your own findings,
you are likely to present them something
like this:
o 'Table 2 shows that sixteen of the twenty
respondents preferred the Communicative
method.'
You could also say:
o 'The Communicative method was preferred by
80% of the respondents (see Table 2).'
Or:
o 'From the results shown in Table 2, it appears
that the majority of respondents were in
favour of the Communicative method.'
 In this case, your source of information is
Table 2. Had you found the same results
in Smith (1988, p 17), you would naturally
substitute the name, date, and page
number for Table 2. In each case, this is
your voice introducing a fact that can be
verified somewhere else.

 Note that the tense used here is past for

the fact itself ('preferred'; 'were in favour
of'), and present for your part (or the
source's part) in the reporting ('Table 2
shows that'; ' it appears that').
 This is because the reported fact
occurred specifically in the past,
whereas both you and your sources are
presenting it 'now' - that is, at the time
that the reader is reading your document.

 You use the two time frames to indicate

the difference between what actually
happened and how it is being presented
right now.
Paraphrasing, reporting, quoting
 Every time you repeat someone else's
idea, you are providing a kind of
summary - that is, your version is a very
small part of a larger body of writing. You
can choose to summarise in different ways
for different purposes.

 There are three basic ways in which you

can combine an idea and its source with
your own voice:
o direct quote
o paraphrase
o report

 Each of these can be varied in many

ways, but the distinction between them is
important; the quality, depth and
subtlety of your presentation may
depend on the use you choose to
make of each method.
 Start with an idea expressed in one or
more sentences as originally stated by the
source. For example, Jones who wrote
these words in 1997:
 ‘Teachers work with a multitude of
problem situations, many of which can be
characterised by complexity, uniqueness
and ambiguity.'
(Jones, M (2009). ‘Understanding
students’ actions: the challenges'. Part 1.
Kemuna Journal of Education, 43:167.)
 Below are some examples of how this
idea may be expressed by direct quote,
paraphrase and report, combining your
voice with that of Jones in ways which
are endlessly variable for your purposes.

 Direct quote: what were Jones' exact

words?
 You can choose a single sentence or
phrase from the original text which, in
itself, sums up the main point being
made by the author.
 If you quote directly in this way, you must
surround the exact original wording with
single inverted commas, or choose to
indent longer passages in smaller font,
with no inverted commas. In each case,
include in your reference the page number
from which the extract is derived.
Examples:
Jones (1996: 167) wrote, 'teachers work
with a multitude of problem situations,
many of which can be characterised by
complexity, uniqueness and ambiguity'.
 As Jones observed in 1996, 'Teachers
work with a multitude of problem
situations, many of which can be
characterised by complexity, uniqueness
and ambiguity' (page 167).

 'Teachers work with a multitude of

problem situations' points out Jones
(1996: 167), returning to the issue of
social background. Many of these, he adds
'can be characterised by complexity,
uniqueness and ambiguity'.
Paraphrase: what was Jones' idea?

 This process basically means repeating

or rewriting a statement in your own
words from an 'inside' stance.
 You can restate the content in reduced
form without mentioning the author by
name, but writing as if you were using
the author's 'voice'. This gives
prominence to the information itself,
while the author is (must be) added
simply as a reference, either by
name/date or by number.
 Many complex, unique, even ambiguous
problem situations are familiar to teachers
(Jones 1997).

 That many of the problem situations

encountered by teachers can be imbued
with complexity, uniqueness and
ambiguity, is a phenomenon pointed out
by Jones (1997).
 Report: what did Jones do?
 You can report the content by describing
indirectly what the author wrote, as if
you were an observer reporting the
author's action or intention.
 Use your own 'voice' as if speaking about
this author to someone else and restate
the main points from an 'outside' stance.
This gives greater prominence to the
presence and authority of the original
writer. It also allows you to imply your
own level of acceptance of the author's
point.
 Although Jones (1997) claimed that many
of the problem situations faced by
teachers can be characterised by
complexity, uniqueness and ambiguity, he
did not pursue this line of argument.

 Jones (1997) characterises the multitude

of problem situations faced by teachers,
describing them as complex, unique and
ambiguous.
 Referring to the complexity, uniqueness
and ambiguity of problem situations that
arise in teaching, Jones (1997) provides a
professional context for the significance of
social background.

 Jones' claim (1997) that the

characteristics of problem situations for
teachers demand sensitivity to social
background, is supported by several
recent research studies (refs).
 Use each of these methods to suit your
own purposes, especially in a review of
literature, where you should be displaying
control over the way in which ideas and
counter ideas are understood in relation to
each other.

(Go to task sheet on identifying three types)

Emphasis
 You can develop your own argument in the
choice of language used to report on
findings or viewpoints of various authors.
 Verbs used to report an author's idea
may:
o indicate if the writer agrees/
disagrees with the author:
'Johnson (1996) claims that ... '
o indicate if the author agrees/
disagrees with other authors in the
field:
'Brown (1985) agrees that ... '
 indicate strong opinion/no opinion
held by the author:
Strong opinion:
'Cook (1979) asserts that ... '
No opinion:
'Adams (1993) reports that ... '

(Go to task sheet)