Writing and Grammar - Although & However & But

Although, however, but and and

"Although"describes a situation which is opposition. Two subordinate clauses are used to indicate two things that oppose each other. It is usually in the middle of the sentence but it can be at the beginning.

Example:
Although the sun was very hot, she didn't get a sunburn.

He failed his exam although he studied for weeks.

However
"However contrasts what is in the rest of the sentence. Like therefore, moreover, and as a matter of fact, however is a "transitional expression" that "bridges between sentences or parts of sentences." (Hacker, Diana. A Canadian Writer's Reference. 199.)

"Hitler attempted to conquer the Soviet Union; however, he was defeated. (The Book of Common Errors in English; 451.)

But and and
"But" and "and" are coordinating conjunctions that appear in the middle of sentences. Coordination is used to give equal emphasis to both parts of the sentence. "And" exist to clauses and nouns to a sentence. But is used to show opposition in ideas. Technically, neither "and" nor "but" should be placed at the beginning of sentences.

Example:
The civilization of Greece gave birth to democracy but they practiced slavery. (see: The Book of Common Errors. 132.)

Among the animals found in Northern Ontario are the moose, the bear, the racoon, the fox and the bobcat.

Plagiarism and Poor Scholarship

Plagiarism has been described as "the unacknowledged use of another person's work in the form of original ideas, strategies, and research" (Success Secrets of University Students; 185). In our programme, we use the terms poor scholarship and plagiarism. When the comments on a student's work mention that there is "plagiarism", we do not allow the student to redo the work. Hopefully, however, the student comes to understand what plagiarism is in spite of their problem.  It is better if a student discovers early in the programme that they have this problem rather than when they are trying to complete their dissertation.  Failure, of this kind at the dissertation level, is disasterous.

A paper that demonstrates "poor scholarship" can have a grade as low as 35%. We allow such a student to redo their work. One of the most important aspects of poor scholarship that a student must understand is that, the paper they have handed in has large pieces of "unacknowledged" work. This may mean, for example, that a student has reworded a passage from someone else's work that is relevant to their subject.  They have not acknowledged this work that they have borrowed from someone else.  This is "plagiarism" because the thoughts do not belong to them.

One of the problems I commonly see are three or four quotations in one passage. This leads to serious problems for students. When a quotation is included in a student's work, the student is supposed to explain the relevance of the quotation their work. The purpose of a quotation is to back up/show evidence for arguments that are being put forward in the student's paper. If a paragraph has three or four quotations, the students does not have the time and space to (a) make a clear argument about the subject (b) find a quotation that gives evidence to back up the argument (c) gives the student time to explain how the evidence puts the argument forward.

KB

Words to consider

Sometimes, the simplest of words are the most important. Today, we will consider the word "think". I would like to suggest that, in terms of our work, that two meanings of think are the most important. First, let's consider think as to "direct one's toward something or to use one's mind to actively form connected ideas." (Oxford Dictionary of English: 1833)

Thinking, especially critical thinking, is a process of putting together ideas. For example, critical thinking means that idea are supported by the correct data. Thinking also means taking the time to think over assignments and exams. Students often fail to realize that they should take time to think things over carefully and understand the direction that their thoughts should take.

Happy New Year

First, I want to wish everyone a Happy and successful New Year. I also want to welcome anyone to this blog who hasn't been here for very long. The purpose of the blog is to assist students in the MBA programme at U of Leicester to succeed in their studies. I do this, broadly, by providing students with information of writing skills, study skills and organizational skills. Most of the subjects I discuss relate in some way to these skills.

For example, this year I plan to have short blog on expanding your word vocabulary. Vocabulary skills are really a part of writing skills. At the end of last year, I discussed mindful meditation as part of stress reduction and mind power. Stress reduction and mindfulness is a part of all components of education. When students are relaxed, they do better in all facets of their work.

Sometimes, we discuss topics such as "plagiarism" which may not be an issue for a particular student but which does affect many students throughout the programme. My point-of-view on this difficult topic is that plagiarism is a problem in education because students need to understand how to think critically and how to use good reference sources. They turn to the poor resources on the internet because they are lost. Once they learn how to use good source materials, this will stop.

My goal is to see every student improve in the New Year.

KB

Evaluation

At the end of the year, it is a good practice to stop and evaluate our performance before we head into the New Year. Evaluation allows us to be able to know where we want to go in the future and to learn from past mistakes. Evaluation, the highest step in critical thinking, thus allows us to have vision of the future and knowledge of the past. Having these qualities, provides us with inner clarity.

Students often think like this "But I don't want to make any mistakes, I want my performance to be perfect." Thus, they undervalue the function of evaluation. In reality, without errors there can be real understanding of any subject. After all, what does it value a student to retake a subject they already understand? Real learning comes with the difficult realization that knowledge must be acquired.

Then when we look back, we can evaluate our performance before moving forward to the future. This makes real learning possible.

KB

Stress Reduction - A new approach

This fall, I have spent a good deal of time meditating and trying to stay in the moment. This is not new for me; I was introduced to mindfulness meditation by my psychologist in Winnipeg. I had made a stab at it, and found it very difficult. My mind wandered all over the place and although I'd read the book "Wherever you are, there you are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn; it didn't make it easier for me to meditate.

Below I have a place where you can buy Kabat-Zinn's meditations if you are interested:

http://www.nightingale.com/prod_detail.aspx?product=Mindfulness_Meditation&promo=intgooga430&ORG=intgooga430&gclid=COHToKLx1KwCFUKo4AodMVk-rw

These are the meditations I use now and I find them helpful. Okay, what is changed? Why did I try it again? Well, I wanted to restore balance to my life & I heard that through these simple exercises I could do that very thing. I read Jack Kornfield who said: "Training with the breath is a bit like training a small puppy" (Meditation for Beginners, 21). So, I'm finding that I'm staying in the here and now more and feeling less distracted.

That's me for today.

KB

English vs. American vs. Canadian spelling

I was raised and educated in Canada. When it came to spelling and grammar, sometimes we did it the English way and sometimes we did it the American way. In fact, the word "spell" is a perfect example of this conundrum. My Oxford Dictionary assures me that "spelt" is the past tense of "spell" as does my copy of "Advanced Grammar in Use". To further complicate the matter, my Canadian grammar books do not list "spell" as an irregular verb. Thus, I should spell the past tense of spell, spelled.

Readers of this blog should be aware that at the University of Leicester, we use English spelling throughout our work. Thus, you should be aware of these differences:

Can-American/English
tire/tyre
traveled/travelled
colour/color/colour
aluminum/aluminium
cancelled/canceled/cancelled
judgment/judgement
civilization civilisation/civilization
mold/mould
licorice/liquorice
dreamed dreamt
cheque/check cheque
connection/connexion
favorite/favourite

jewelry/jewellery
archeology/archaelogy
program/programme
fetus/foetus
realize/realise

These, of course, are not the only examples. Use your Oxford/English Dictionary for more examples.

KB