Writing Skills - Formal Academic Writing

Hi, the subject of this week's blog is writing. When I say writing, I mean writing in an academic style. Today, I'd like to focus on relationships in writing. By this, of course, I mean logical relationships between words. When we read newspapers or popular novels, it is easy to forget academic writing is more formal and controlled because all those short one sentence paragraphs beginning with and, but and or encourage us to believe that this is the best way to write. Don't be fooled! Academic writing is about showing logical relationships within fully referenced and analysed concepts and ideas, and you need the right words to explore these relationships to their fullest.

Academic writing, in essence, has its roots in the formal writing of earlier centuries; longer sentences and the use of semi-colons and colons was necessary. This is, of course, another future discussion blog. However, I tell students not to begin their sentences with coordinating conjunctions such as and, but and or because, at the beginning of sentences, they don't coordinate with anything, that is, they serve no grammatical purpose. In creative writing, which is not under discussion here, these coordinating conjunctions are often used in dialogue or to create special effects with a short sentence. There, they are wholely appropriate. In academic papers, they are problematic and often lead to shoddy arguments. To make good pointed arguments, you need to use words that make you consider the relationships between the points in your essays.

The word and is not an all purpose word, joining any and all arguments together. For this purpose, we have many other words to illustrate relationships between the concepts in your sentences. These words include: when, to indicate a relationship of time; because, to indicate a cause and effect relationship; where, to indicate a location; since to indicate a relationship of time as well (not a causal relationship); and further, to show addition. A number of these words, which I call transitional words, are listed below. This list is meant to help you and enrich your writing. Note: I have drawn from Diana Hacker's book A Canadian Writer's Reference, 2nd ed. as well as Martin Hewings's Advanced Grammar in Use, 2nd ed. by Cambridge Press for examples and information in this post. I highly recommend both books for any student.

A List of Words You Can Use to Make Effective Arguments and Clear Relationships
To illustrate an additional point:
and, also, besides, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, next, too, first, second, third (Notice: It is incorrect to write firstly and secondly.
To give examples, facts or quotations:
for example, for instance, to illustrate, in fact, specifically
To compare:
also, in the same manner, similarly, likewise
To contrast:
but, however, on the other hand, in contrast, nevertheless, still, even though, on the contrary, yet, although
To summarize or conclude your arguments:
in other words, in short, in summary, in conclusion, to sum up, that is, therefore
To show a time relationship:
after, since, as, before, next, during, then, later, finally, meanwhile, when, while, immediately
To show place or direction:
above, below, beyond, farther on, nearby, opposite, close, to the left
To indicate a logical relationship:
if, so, therefore, consequently, thus, as a result, for this reason, because (Note again: the word "since is properly used to indicate a relationship of time. i.e. - Jack has been home since midnight.)