1 Academic writing and referencing School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Prepared by Marie Huchzermeyer, updated January 2019 _____________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: 1. Introductory notes and academic writing principles p.2 2. How to go about preparing an academic essay or assignment p.4 3. Essay/assignment structure p.6 4. Academic writing style p.11 5. Citing in the text p.17 6. Constructing an accurate reference list p.20 7. Common editing mistakes which are easy to avoid p.24 8. Checklist for use before submission p.26 9. Recommended reading p.27 This academic writing and referencing booklet is compiled from the experience of close on two decades of essay marking and research supervision in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits University. It acknowledges a range in the quality of our students’ schooling and prior coaching and guidance on academic writing. The purpose of the booklet is to place every student on the same footing, giving all the advantage of upfront guidance in relation to accepted conventions as well as rules. As lecturer‐student increased dramatically, staff no longer have the time to coach students individually on their writing skills. As such, the School takes this booklet as read, and expects its conventions to be applied consistently. Students are advised to read the booklet cover to cover, but also to return to it frequently as they work on essays and their research report, so a to apply it in action.
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Academic writing and referencing School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Prepared by Marie Huchzermeyer, updated January 2019 _____________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS: 1. Introductory notes and academic writing principles p.2 2. How to go about preparing an academic essay or assignment p.4 3. Essay/assignment structure p.6 4. Academic writing style p.11 5. Citing in the text p.17 6. Constructing an accurate reference list p.20 7. Common editing mistakes which are easy to avoid p.24 8. Checklist for use before submission p.26 9. Recommended reading p.27 This academic writing and referencing booklet is compiled from the experience of close on two decades of essay marking and research supervision in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits University. It acknowledges a range in the quality of our students’ schooling and prior coaching and guidance on academic writing. The purpose of the booklet is to place every student on the same footing, giving all the advantage of upfront guidance in relation to accepted conventions as well as rules. As lecturer‐student increased dramatically, staff no longer have the time to coach students individually on their writing skills. As such, the School takes this booklet as read, and expects its conventions to be applied consistently. Students are advised to read the booklet cover to cover, but also to return to it frequently as they work on essays and their research report, so a to apply it in action.
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1. Introductory notes and academic writing principles
‐ Before you get started Get into a habit of backing up after every few hours of work. Use notes to remind yourself to do this. Also, every new day that you work on your essay, give the file a new name, e.g. by changing the date in the file name, or the version number. This means that should your current file become corrupted, you can still recover the previous day’s work. If you constantly only work on one file, and this becomes corrupted and can’t be recovered, you have to start all over again. Ways to back‐up:
‐ Use dropbox as your ‘working folder’ (if you’re working on your own pc). ‐ Simply e‐mail the file as attachment to yourself or to a trusted family member. ‐ Carry a memory stick with you and keep a back‐up of every version of the draft (don’t
delete earlier back‐ups). But REMEMBER: don’t keep the memory stick in the same bag as your laptop. Avoid losing both your current work and your back‐up.
While you might want to discuss your assignment or essay task with others in your class and share readings, take care not to let others read your drafts, as it can be very difficult to establish guilt in cases of duplicate submissions (i.e. copying). The rules declare both the sharing and the copying of work as an offense.
‐ What to aim for, and how to go about achieving it The overall target for academic writing in this programme is to achieve a quality that academic journal reviewers or referees in this field would accept. Therefore, your primary guide should be academically published material – excellent examples are the journal articles and academic book chapters recommended in your courses. While you will be reading your course literature in the first instance to answer content or conceptual/theoretical questions, take time to step back and ask the following of published academic writing:
- How does the author introduce his/her argument? - How is the introduction constructed? - How is the paper or chapter structured? - How are headings and sub‐headings used to structure and support the argument? - How is the conclusion constructed? - How does the author manage to make the argument flow? Look at single paragraphs in
detail – how are these structured, how does the logic flow from one sentence to the next? What words are used to create this flow? How are words like ‘however’, ‘yet’, ‘therefore’, ‘while’, ‘whereas’, ‘nevertheless’ used to ensure a logical flow.
- Building on others’ work
Academic writing is never in isolation of other people’s work, previous work, recent and current studies. This work has to be acknowledged, reviewed, discussed, accurately represented and referred to. Academic writing uses different systems through which this is done. Our School, representing the disciplines taught in this School, has adopted the Harvard Referencing System. However, there are variations in the Harvard System. The rule is that whichever of the Harvard referencing versions you adopt, use it 100% consistently. To make the choice easier for you, this booklet sets out a version, which we recommend you adopt.
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- Acknowledging others’ work, and the consequence of not doing this The most important ethical and legal rule in academic writing is that if you do not refer to existing work on your topic, although you have used it to build your argument or more directly your sentences, then you are committing plagiarism. In law, this is considered a crime, as it involves falsely presenting others’ intellectual contribution as your won. Whether done inadvertently by omission or consciously in the hope it would not be detected, this is a legal offence. Therefore, sloppiness in academic writing can get the writer into deep trouble, as does any deliberate attempt to pass off others’ thinking, ideas, formulation or phrasing as your own. Whenever detected, plagiarism results in a legal process, with potentially grave consequences for the offender’s studies and career. Every year, the university has to suspend students due to this offense. Note that it is as serious an offence in the workplace, it is not restricted to academic studies.
- Use of the Faculty Style Guide for Theses and Dissertations For postgraduate research, the Faculty produces a Style Guide for Theses and Dissertations (Graduate School of Engineering and the Built Environment). This is made available through Research Methods courses, and can also be purchased as hard copy from the Faculty Office, Chamber of Mines Building. Please note that it is written more widely for the Engineering and Built Environment disciplines and not specifically for the architecture/urban/planning/housing disciplines. Following the various referencing techniques included in the Style Guide for Theses and Dissertations can result in confusion. Therefore, we recommend you instead adopt the version of the Harvard referencing system spelt out in this detailed booklet. However, all other conventions in the Style Guide for Theses and Dissertations (formatting of front page, declaration, content page, list of figures, list of tables, list of acronyms, abstract, acknowledgements, optional dedication, and the sequencing thereof) must be followed closely in your dissertation, research report or thesis before submission.
- Embrace feedback, corrections, edits and be sure to build on it No one’s academic writing is perfect. Even experienced and much published academics will find that they’re too close to their own writing to notice certain shortcomings. Other’s feedback is an essential component in the academic writing process – for publishing academics this comes at the peer review stage, as well as final copy editing. Comments and corrections from a thorough reviewer and good copy editor are always welcome. During your studies, your lectures and supervisors play much of this role. Embrace the feedback you receive. Make sure to go back to your previous essays that have been marked or commented upon, and check the feedback/corrections the lecturer/examiner wrote down for you. Be sure not to repeat the same mistakes and instead to improve from one essay to the next. Lecturers are unlikely to continue helping you with detailed commenting and corrections while marking, if they don’t see you improving from one assignment to the next. ______________________________________________________________________________
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2. How to go about preparing an academic essay or assignment
- Understanding the brief Familiarise yourself with the assignment brief. It helps typing it out on at the top of your first essay page. Then try to break it into sections that will help you structure your essay, and think of descriptive section headings you could use. Avoid headings that are just one or two words long (this only works for the introduction, conclusion and references). Also avoid headings that are longer than one line. Note the maximum word (or page) length stipulated for your essay/assignment. Roughly plan how you’ll spread this length across the different sections of the essay. Compile a list of questions or issues that the essay brief requires you to write about. Add sub‐question or sub‐issues. If there are any words in the brief that you don’t understand, you can look these up in a dictionary or on Google. But don’t search around the www for answers to your essay brief. That will set you off on the wrong footing. It will not help you compile an academic essay. I.e. keep away from the internet.
- Unpacking the core reading in relation to your brief: reading and starting to write Get hold of the academic literature that is recommended for the essay. If there is no recommended list, identify key words and use them on the data‐bases provided on the University library website. Download the academic literature you need through the University library’s e‐journal portal. Use electronic or sticky tags to annotate the readings one by one as you read through them. Find a way to flag the lines or paragraphs or pages that deal with the questions or issues. Begin with a thorough reading (and annotating) of at least three key papers. If there are words you don’t understand, look them up in a dictionary or online. But do not search the www for the questions / issues you have to respond to in the essay/assignments. Put all your efforts into thoroughly understanding the academic readings in front of you. For the readings that are more peripheral to your topic, first read the introduction and conclusion, page through them, looking at the sub‐headings, and see if there are sections you need to home in on. In many cases you will find that you still need to read the full paper to understand the section you’ve identified as critical to your essay/assignment, but this reading need not be as detailed as for your key readings. Go to the first issue that your essay structure suggests you should tackle. Page through the literature you’ve just read and put in front of you those sections that deal with this issue. Read them again, in their context. Compare how the issue is dealt with in the different sources in front of you. What connections can you make between them? What argument do they suggest? Try writing this down. As you do so, keep a note of what you’re drawing from which reading, so you can add in accurate references. If there is a very compellingly worded sentence or less (i.e. a part of a sentence or a phrase) that warrants being quoted directly, type this accurately, including all punctuations, and place it in inverted commas. Immediately add the page number in the original you were copying from. Re‐read the few sentences you’ve written. Is there a logic flow between them? Can they be re‐arranged to flow better? Now move to the next issue … And the next issue….
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- Expanding with additional reading, and ironing over your writing
Continue reading additional academic papers. Now that you’ve already begun grappling with the issues your essay has to deal with, you have a better sense of what you’re looking for in the remaining readings. As you expand your essay, keep going back to what you’ve already written. Keep improving or ironing over it. You might need to shorten sentences; you might need to split sentences into two and expand; you might need to move sentences, you might find that an entire paragraph is now superfluous, or that you repeat the point elsewhere – delete where needed. You might now see connections that were not evident to you at the start, and which you can now add in. As you work on expanding the essay from one section to the next, keep going back to the assignment brief to make sure you’re still on track.
- Developing a conclusion and introduction Once you’ve written the various substantive sections of your essay/assignment, re‐read them to identify what the most important arguments are. Underline or flag these. Take your first stab at writing a conclusion by drawing these most important arguments together. Ensure a logical flow between them. Avoid summarising or describing the main text of the essay. In drawing together the main points across the essay, do any new connections occur to you? Can you use them for an overall conclusion? You can round off the conclusion by thinking through the implication(s) of this conclusion (whether theoretically, in practical terms or in terms of further research needed). Don’t start a new discussion or bring in additional points, evidence, authors, references in the conclusion (i.e. don’t go off on a tangent). If you had a clear brief for your essay, then use the conclusion consciously to recap and respond to this brief, i.e. demonstrate (not descriptively but with key points) how your essay met the brief. If there was not detailed brief, you will have articulated a purpose in the introduction (of an essay or a chapter). The conclusion then returns to that purpose in a similar way. In a short essay of around 2 000 words, aim for a conclusion of no less than 10 lines. Also make sure the conclusion is not too long (three good paragraphs at most). For a chapter of several pages, the conclusion should not be more than a page. Half a page is fine. Less is often more, and its important for a conclusion to be succinctly written and not to ramble on. The conclusion is often written in an iterative process, while also refining the introduction. I.e. while finalising the conclusion, return to the introduction. Find a suitable opening statement with which to draw the reader in. Properly represent the essay brief (in your own words where possible) and briefly describe how you’ve structured the argument in the essay. Avoid repeating what the reader will get from scanning through your headings and sub‐headings..
- Rounding off your essay for submission Take time to polish up your essay (see checklist at the end of this booklet). Print your draft and now read it again. It also helps printing/saving as a PDF and then reading it. Because this looks different from the text in the word processing programme you’ve been using, errors are more
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likely to jump out at you. Best is if you have time to let the draft lie for a day or more so that you have distance from it. Then your eyes can re‐read it as if it were someone else’s writing. A recommendation to everyone is to read your full draft out aloud, paying particular attention to whether it makes proper sense. You will stumble over those errors that your lecturer/examiner will stumble over and annotate. Correct these and re‐read, until it flows completely. Academic essay/assignment writing takes time. Plan your time carefully to make sure you are not forced to submit a half‐baked piece. Always aim at submitting your very best. Make 100% sure not to repeat mistakes you made in previous essays, which your lecturers pointed out to you. While you want to make sure your lecturer gets a sense that you’re building on the feedback you receive, you also want to ensure maximum learning through the course of your studies. Find techniques that work for you to ensure you internalise (i.e. adopt) the writing feedback you receive and that you graduate with substantially enhanced writing skills. ______________________________________________________________________________
3. Essay/assignment structure General rules
- Unless specifically stated in your assignment brief, your academic writing needs an introduction and a conclusion.
- Always separate your paragraphs by a blank line. - If its an essay, or essay‐length assignment, use sub‐headings to structure your argument
and to guide the reader.
- How to organise your text First and foremost, your target should be to write something that is interesting to the reader – nothing is worse than having to read something boring, and of course it is not likely to be published. To make your writing interesting, try to link what you’ve said before with what you’re still going to be saying in the remaining parts of the paper (this should not be through repetition, but by building an argument from one section to the next). Your conclusion is also important – many readers will turn to the conclusion first, before deciding whether its worth reading the full paper.
- The introduction Your introduction is very important – it is a road map for the reader, ensuring the reader knows where the essay is leading. The introduction has to draw in the reader in an interesting way. If you can’t capture your reader in the introduction, it might only be specialised interest in your particular data or findings that will make a few people read on. For any academic essay, it is important that you demonstrate in the introduction that you understand the topic or brief.
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This is a widely used approach to writing an introduction: - Begin with an interesting statement or observation that relates to your topic. Then
explain how this relates to your topic or brief, and how it relates to the argument in your paper. This could be done in one paragraph and (as mentioned above) should demonstrate your understanding of the brief. For a short essay, the introduction can end at that point.
- For a longer essay or assignment, you can devote an additional paragraph to your approach/method – refer to the type of literature you sought, or whatever other methodological issues might be relevant. You may also mention limitations of the study or essay.
- If space allows, it is always useful to devote a further paragraph to a description of how the argument in the essay unfolds. This goes a step further than merely describing how the essay is structured (at all times, avoid repeating the section sub‐titles in such a description as this is very boring and in fact unnecessary as anyone can page through the essay to read those). Describing how the argument unfolds means surfacing the argument or putting it upfront. This is a far more interesting to read. It would include a sentence or two summarising your conclusion. I.e. rather than writing ‘The last section concludes the essay’, write ‘The essay concludes that ……’
- Structuring the body of the text
The body of your text should be structured in a logical way, in order to build the overall argument of your essay/paper. Try to make explicit links from one section to the next. ‘Having discussed the …., the essay now turns to….’ or ‘…the following section takes this analysis further by examining…..’ or ‘…therefore, the following section unpacks the…..’ However, avoid repetition of the same phrase at the end of each section – remember to write in an interesting way. All repetition is boring (whether words, phrases, sentences or sentences structure), except when skilfully applied in poetry. Note that academic writing is different from professional report‐writing. In academic writing, always avoid excessive use of headings, sub‐headings and sub‐sub‐headings as this fragments your writing hampers the flow of the argument or the ‘narrative’. Don’t provide a sub‐heading for just one short paragraph of text. Use the narrative instead to set that point apart or to emphasise it. The body of the text always requires sub‐headings. It is useful to number these, e.g. for an average length essay:
1. Introduction 2. Housing Policy in Argentina
(please note that there should always be a short introductory text (several meaningful sentences) under the main heading (2. in this case) before the first sub‐heading (2.1 in this case))
2.1 Policy on inner‐city tenements 2.2 Policy on informal settlements 2.3 Policy on new housing construction
3. Implementation of the housing policy in Buenos Aires 3.1 Rate of housing implementation
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3.2 Problems with implementation Lack of technical and managerial capacity Lack of finance Scarcity of land
4. Conclusion 5. References
Try to use meaningful sub‐headings that relate to your topic, rather than generic headings such as (literature review; analysis; findings). Make sure thought that you have an ‘Introduction’ and a ‘Conclusion’ (these remain generic). A glance over the sub‐headings (whether in a content page or as they stand out in the text) should give the reader an understanding of how the argument of the essay or chapter is built. Sub‐headings can be used to already make an argument. However, the following rule is important: the heading or sub‐heading is not part of the narrative. Therefore the introductory paragraph that follows the heading/sub‐heading must read without the sub‐heading. But it must never repeat the sub‐heading word for word.
- What to avoid in your essay/report structure More than 6 sub‐headings of the same level (2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6). The reason is that when one sees a list of 12 sub‐headings, it is evident that the author has not applied enough analysis to identify repetition, links between sections, overlaps between them, or a hierarchy (some would be sub‐headings of others) or hasn’t tried to group them together. A long list of subheadings is usually an arbitrary collection (a shopping list), and becomes meaningless to the reader. The reader’s response is that the author has not applied his or her mind sufficiently. Use the design of the sub‐headings consciously to order your data or information and structure your argument. Only one sub‐heading (2.1, 2.1.1, 2.2). The reason for using subheadings is that the text deals with more than one issue and for clarity its best to separate these out. It makes little sense to just separate out a single section, e.g. 2.1.1, before moving on to 2.2. This single item, 2.1.1 could better be dealt with simply under 2.1. More than three levels (2, 2.2, 2,2.1, 2.2.1.3, 2.2.1.3.5 etc). Instead, only use 2, 2.1 and use a, b, c for the next level (or use un‐numbered headings in italics. This is a convention in most journals in our field. By using sub‐sub‐sub‐sub headings one often goes into irrelevant detail, dissecting the argument into irrelevant fractions, or is dealing with points that can just as well be dealt with in text form. Wherever possible, use the text to further structure your data or argument – use ‘firstly, …., secondly, … lastly…’; Or ‘on the one hand… and on the other hand….’. Or use ‘whereas/while…., ……’ to structure the text into opposites or contrasts. Unbalanced structure/body. While sections need not always be the same length, avoid having one section (e.g. 2.1) that is 2 pages long, and another section of the same level (e.g. 2.2) with only 5 lines.
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Using a sub‐heading that consists of two points, followed by each of these points as a sub‐sub‐heading. E.g.: 5. Policy monitoring and evaluation 5.1 Monitoring 5.2 Evaluation Starting a paragraph by repeating the sub‐heading. Avoid formulating a sub‐heading and then falling into the trap of repeating the exact same wording at the start of your paragraph. It makes the reading boring.
- Why you should avoid bullet points Avoid bullet points, or use these very sparingly. Bullet points read like a shopping list, with no ranking. They don’t lend themselves to the kind of continuous analysis that essay writing requires of you: they don’t allow you to make connections between points, to group similar points together, to identify which points are more important than others or which ones flow from others and which ones are subsidiary to others. They are boring to read. If there are three or four points you’d like to make which are similar, e.g. if there are three or four aspects to something, you can deal with this in your narrative (storyline) by introducing the point and that there are four aspects to it, and then write: Firstly, …… Secondly, ….. Thirdly, …… Lastly, …… When you do use bullet points or lists, ensure that the wording of each point is grammatically consistent (if the first word of the first bullet point ends ‘ing’, then this needs to apply also to the other bullet points in that list). Note that this should also apply to numbered sub‐titles.
- The conclusion Your conclusion should be more than a summary, though that is also useful (but should be left out at all costs if you are close to or over the word limit). The conclusion needs to pull together all the relevant points made in the different parts of the essay. A skilfully crafted conclusion gives the reader a sense that the essay goes full circle, that it returns to an important point made right at the outset. The conclusion also needs to add value by making a conclusion that goes beyond what you’ve already written. This may be in the form of a recommendation (in a longer research report, ‘Recommendations’ may be a separate sub‐heading). In many instances, conclusions also contain a paragraph (or at least a few sentences) on further research needed – as a direct conclusion of your study.
- The title Depending on the brief, you will either be given an essay/research report title, or asked to formulate a relevant title. As a rule, titles should not be longer than 14 words, and should not consist of more than 2 sections. They should be as concise as possible, i.e. contain no unnecessary words.
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Rather than: An enquiry into the inclusionary and exclusionary processes at work in cities using the example of the City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Perhaps just write: Inclusive Cities: The case of Johannesburg
Avoid more than two parts to your title:
Inclusive cities: the question of access to land: the case of Johannesburg Rather write:
The role of access to land in making cities inclusive: the case of Johannesburg A title need not contain a colon ( : ). But it does help you focus the study. Note that all key words that are central to your paper/essay/research report should be contained in the title. Note that there is never a full stop at the end of the title or any sub‐heading.
- Structuring your paragraphs A paragraph is an argument. Its first sentence introduces the theme, the following sentences expand, and the last sentence rounds off the paragraph and gives a lead into the next. For this reason, it is not good practice to start with a quote, particularly to start with a whole sentence that is a quote. It does not allow you to introduce the paragraph. In particular avoid starting a new section in your essay with a quote. Instead think carefully about how to best introduce that section (in advanced writing, a carefully selected, indented quote might preface a section). Always avoid paragraphs with only one sentence, as this cannot be used to build an argument to sufficient depth. Only very experienced writers get away with using one sentence paragraphs to make very powerful and abrupt statement. Aim at paragraphs of 10 to 15 lines. This allows you to develop a thought or argument to sufficient depth. Avoid a series of short paragraphs or 3‐5 lines each. This fragments the writing and is not suitable to developing an academic argument. Over and above strict adherence to referencing techniques (see below), always be clear within a paragraph to differentiate between a review of someone else’s ideas, and your own position. At the end of the day, the reader does not only want to know what others have written, or what their positions on this topic are, but what you, the author, are deducing from this. Always avoid stringing together two or more full sentences with commas between them. This is where a full stop is needed, so that each sentence stands on its own. At best, when the content of two full sentence is closely related, a semi‐colon ( ; ) can be used to separate them. Avoid over‐use of semi‐colons. Avoid using them where a comma or full stop can in fact be used. Avoid use of footnotes. These are for advanced writing of complex texts, for instance PhD theses. Even there, they have to be used sparingly, and are for clarification of points that would cloud the narrative if added into the main text. If you are tempted to use a footnote, first check if there is not a way that you can build this explanation or clarification into your paragraph, i.e. into the main body of your essay.
- Clarity and accessibility as an aim in academic writing While many of us start off assuming academic writing must be complicated, long winded and must impress by the use of ‘clever’ and complicated words, the contrary is actually the case. Good academic writing is direct, accessible and extremely clear. As a first rule, avoid sentences that go over more than three lines. I.e. aim for short sentences. Avoid using words whose meaning you had to look up, or whose meaning you suspect others might have to look up. Make your points as clear as possible. Avoid using shorthand, for instance a forward slash or / . It is very annoying when the reader is given the choice of two words, rather than being told which one applies, as there are always subtle differences. E.g. ‘Households living on the periphery of towns/cities are at danger of …..’ More appropriate: ‘households living on the periphery of towns and cities are …’ Also avoid excessive use of an M‐dash to insert a thought into a sentence. E.g. ‘Informal settlements – widely believed to be the result of apartheid era land policies – proliferate in most South African cities’. In cases like this, a comma can be used instead. In other cases it is more appropriate to create a separate sentence. Similarly, avoid over‐use of brackets. This can be very annoying to the reader, can sound overly clever (especially if words are inserted in brackets as if to suggest alternative ways of saying things – the response by the reader often is: come on, make up your mind!). Where whole sentences are put in brackets, these can often more appropriately be built into the main text. This is not to say that brackets may not be used at all, but they must be used very consciously and sparingly. In certain cases it can improve clarity.
- Being in control of one’s narrative This refers to the sense that the author gives the reader that the essay is well thought through, that all obvious points and connections were made, relevant aspects highlighted and relevant conclusions made. This means there are no accidental contradictions that are not pointed out by the author, there are no repetitions of the same point, there are no important points that get lost in a poor narrative, and that the essay follows the structure set out in the introduction and does not rear off on a tangent. Also the essay must not refer to a source from a decade ago to make a point about the presence. If the best source at hand is a decade old, one can write ‘Already a decade ago, over half the population……’. If it is relevant to repeat a point, it is often appropriate to say ‘as mentioned above’. This signals to the reader that the author is aware he/she is repeating a point. But this should not be used too often. You need to ask: is it necessary that I repeat this point? Throughout, aim to write in a way that the reader need not say ‘Oh dear, did the author not notice…..?’
- Giving nuance to your writing Beyond being in control of your writing, you want to aim towards providing nuance. This is achieved by making relevant connections clear, by making relevant distinctions, by separating out points as appropriate, by pointing to contradictions, in some cases even if they are subtle. While all writing has to be pedantic to a point (particularly in the area of accurate referencing),
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there is a fine balance between nuance and being too pedantic. The balance lies in making the appropriate judgement as to what is relevant to point out and what can be left unmentioned.
- Correctly judging prior knowledge that your reader has Another important balance has to do with the knowledge you assume your reader already has. You don’t want to bore the reader with the very basics, the common knowledge. But at the same time, you must not assume your reader knows what you’re writing about. Avoid writing a sentence that ends with ‘…and so forth’ or ‘…., etc.’ as this assumes that the reader knows the other items that would have been listed here. Reformulate such sentences to be more precise. It always improves your writing if you can provide concrete examples.
- Correct use of abbreviations and avoidance of jargon At first mention of an abbreviation, always give the full name followed by the abbreviation in brackets. From then on, consistently use the abbreviation. Avoid inventing abbreviations that are not commonly used. Avoid using too many abbreviations, even if these are commonly used – it makes the writing very inaccessible. Abbreviations form part of what is referred to as ‘jargon’. This is wording that is particular to a narrow or specialised sector, and therefore narrows the readership. Contrary to what many people assume, good academic writing avoids jargon and is as accessible as possible.
- Appropriate terminology and phrases Your reading in your particular field will inform you on the appropriate writing style and terminology used. Whenever you are reading, try to consciously internalise and adopt terms and phrases commonly used (without indulging in alienating jargon). Avoid terminology that is too much like one would speak (i.e. that is ‘colloquial’). This makes the writing sound too casual, careless and not serious enough. One example is ‘it is great that….’ Avoid emotive language. These are terms like ‘great’, ‘extreme’, ‘massive’, ‘tremendous’, ‘minute’, ‘entirely’, ‘completely’, ‘unfortunate’. Delete them, and your text will still read well, and will be taken more seriously. It is the argument that needs to convince, not such over‐emphasising words.
- Appropriate ways of emphasising points Avoid putting parts of your writing in italics (or bold or underlined) to make them stand out. This is only used in quite advanced writing and used very sparingly. The same applies to the use of exclamation marks, and to the use of rhetorical questions. In academic writing the emphasis needs to be made through the phrasing of the writing:
- It must be emphasised that … - It is important to note that… - An important point is that… - A significant….
- Taking ownership of one’s writing
You are encouraged to take ownership of your writing, and not to distance yourself from it. Therefore, we prefer you to use ‘I’, e.g. ‘In this paper, I discuss….’; ‘I argue…’; ‘My argument is …’. Again, contrary to what is often assumed, in our field over the past two decades this is considered better academic style than to use the impersonal (and often passive) mode ‘the
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author argues’ or ‘the researcher is of the view that…..’ or ‘it is argued that’. However, don’t over‐represent yourself by focusing the narrative on yourself. You can find a balance by writing ‘this paper argues that…….’ or ‘the conclusion draws on…’ Unless you have a co‐author, never write ‘we’ instead of ‘I’.
- Strengthening the narrative Beyond the conscious construction of paragraphs dealt with above, at all cost, academic writing must avoid stringing together sentences within a paragraph without a logical sequence or link. One way of ensuring such links between sentences is to use phrases like:
‘This is important because…’ ‘Therefore, …..’ ‘However, ….’ ‘In contrast, ….’ ‘The significance of this statement is that…’ ‘The relevance of this is that…’
Note though that you should not start a new section (under a new sub‐heading) with these words or phrases. A new section needs to be introduced properly. It involves a break in the narrative. Assume the reader stops at that point and takes a break. He/she needs to be able to resume reading at that point and be able to follow. It also means that if you’re writing about an author (who is also mentioned in the previous section), the name needs to be repeated in the new section – don’t’ assume the reader knows who you mean if you write ‘he argues ….’ or ‘she argues….’ Avoid adopting too narrow a palate of terms (however, therefore, in contrast to, …), as your writing then becomes repetitive. Note you can use ‘however’, ‘yet’, ‘but’ in very similar situations. But never use a word like this more than once in a sentence – it signals to you that you need to break the sentence into two. Also avoid using any of these words too often. Sentences can follow logically on one another very well merely through their content and the way they are phrased. Also never construct a sentence that includes a cause of a cause, e.g. ‘Therefore….., because….’ A similar mistake that is commonly made: ‘In addition, …… also…..’
- When to be tentative Make a conscious decision whether to say must, should, may or could (or will, might, would, etc), and don’t use them interchangeably without fully understand the meaning of each one. There are instances in your writing where you can confidently state a case. There are other instances where it is necessary to be tentative, that means to allow the possibility of a different interpretation or conclusion. For instance: ‘One may argue that…’ is appropriate when you do not have access to all the facts.
- Avoiding passive writing Consciously try to use active rather than passive language, if a sentence gives you the choice. The starting point for getting this right is to recognise passive language in your writing – it is something we use without being aware of it. The important difference between active and passive writing is that active writing requires you to identify a ‘actor’ (in the form of a noun) and emphasises the ‘actor’.
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Passive: The house was built in the 1950s - Passive response to ‘who built the house?’: The house was built in the 1950s by the
municipal authority. - Active response to ‘who built the house?’: The municipal authority built the house in the
1950s. Passive: It is reported that there has been concern about traffic congestion. To turn this into an active sentence, you have to ask: who reported and who has been concerned? Active: (a) In my research I found that commuters have been concerned about traffic congestion. Why is the distinction between active and passive so important? To answer this, note the ambiguity in the sentence ‘It is reported that there has been concerns about traffic congestion’. The reader may well assume that as you were reviewing literature for your study you read somewhere that there is concern with traffic congestion. This means that the important point that this is your own finding is lost to the reader. Similarly the reader may assume that traffic officials are concerned about traffic congestions, when in fact it’s the commuters’ concern and traffic officials are not even aware of it. I.e. think through the implications of your writing, and anticipate its ambiguities. Look out for over‐use of passive language. Turning your sentences around into active writing can also help you shorten your sentences (e.g. if your essay if over the maximum permitted length) – it is a more efficient way of writing.
- Correct use of tenses Make sure to be consistent in your use of tenses. Do not jump from past to present tense or vice versa without a clear reason. Where ever possible or relevant, use present tense. Note that literature is generally reviewed in the present tense, unless you’re specifically referring to a piece written in a previous decade or era and you are commenting on that era or period, or if you point out that one author first made a point on which another built. When you describe the approach you took in your article, describe this in the past tense as the work is completed (in research reports, this applies to the methodology).
- Using words from another language Foreign language words or phrases must to be placed in italics and English meaning added in brackets at first mention. …..favela (informal settlement)….. Inside a quote: ‘….favela [informal settlement]….’ (italics only if its in italics in the original text). Note that Latin is also a foreign language and therefore terms like in situ, even though the meaning is widely understood in English, are also used in italics.
- Referring to literature in your text In the body of your essay you will be citing what others have written. Try to do this in an interesting and varied way, but also consciously choose the appropriate way for what you’re trying to say. While it may seem like an overkill (until you’re used to it), add the date in brackets every time you mention an author in the text. This is because many authors have published several texts, and actually you’re referring to an existing text and not to the author as a person. And yet, you have to write in a way that adequately introduces the author. You cannot have the
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first mention of the person’s name in brackets and thereafter refer to ‘him/her’ as this author is not as yet mentioned in the text. This would be an example of such as mistake:
Governance has been found to be undermined in contexts of civil strife (Smith, 1998). As he points out, this was the case in Rwanda (ibid.).
Correct: Governance has been found to be undermined in contexts of civil strife (Smith, 1998). As Smith (1998) points out, this was the case in Rwanda.
Note also that is ok to repeat an author’s name (with date of the publication) rather than write ‘he’ or ‘she’ – also often it is hard to tell from the name whether ‘he’ or ‘she’ applies. What you should definitely not do is start a new paragraph which refers to the same author as the paragraph above, and then only write ‘he’ or ‘she’. In that sense every paragraph should be ‘stand‐alone’ – it has to be clear who the author is you refer to. Within any one paragraph, be clear up to where you draw on one author and from where you draw on the next author. Also avoid a sentence which has one author sited at the start of the sentence and a different one at the end. Similarly, distinguish clearly between your own points or observations, and those drawn from the literature. One way of inserting your own point into a literature review is to write ‘In my assessment, …..’. ‘An observation I would like to add is that…’ There are certain conventions, and certain words to avoid. Here are a few tips: Useful ways of referring to writing that you agree with, and where an important point is made: Smith (2005) argues that …/ states that… / writes that…. Smith (2005) makes the powerful argument that… Smith (2005) highlights…/ emphasises… / makes the point that…/ points out that… More phrases are provided in Section 5 below. Avoid over‐use of any one phrase. Avoid wherever possible the following (which are not used much in the published literature in our field) – most of these are more common to writing in the legal field. Smith (2005) postulates (rather write ‘suggests’)… Smith (2005) contends that… (while this can be used once or twice, avoid over‐using this) Smith (2005) is of the opinion that… (note that calling something an opinion devalues it, often it is more appropriate to write ‘is of the position that….’ This acknowledges that the position may be scientific or evidence‐based) Smith (2005) opines that (ditto, this suggests that its only an opinion) Smith (2005) laments… (instead detail the critique that the author puts forward) Smith (2005) asserts…. (only used in very particular situations – don’t over use) Smith (2005) attests that (often more appropriate would be ‘provides evidence that’ or ‘demonstrates that’) Smith (2005) says that… (rather ‘discusses’, ‘argues’, ‘states’, etc.) Smith (2005) talks about… (this also sounds clumsy)
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Always show respect for the existing body of knowledge. Provide analytical nuance in your review of existing knowledge – show which readings expand on others, which contrast or even contradict others. Be careful with outright criticism of other authors’ work; criticism has to be very carefully argued, explained and positioned. Don’t simply say ‘I disagree with….’. You may suggest that a given argument may be extended to…, or that it appears that one author you’re reviewing contradicts another (in which case you should add where you would position yourself/your research at this point). Engaging with the literature leads to a higher level of analysis (essentially what is required at masters level). It automatically makes for more analytical writing, therefore more interesting reading, than a text that simply says ‘A said this, B said that, C said this and D said that’. Avoid drawing extensively on one source only across one or more paragraphs. In a longer piece (for instance a chapter of a research report), it might be necessary to discuss one source three paragraphs, but in an essay this is to be avoided. It takes you into summary style rather than the discursive style that we are looking for (or better still, critical engagement), which demonstrates that you have examined different views. Always use additional sources to compare, expand, etc. Forms of plagiarism that might not be evident to you:
- It is a legal offence to copy (directly or in your own words) someone else’s literature review without you having read the literature cited, and without acknowledging that it is also cited in the text you read. If you read Smith (2005) and found in it a useful paragraph that summarises some key points from other sources, directly on the topic you are writing on, then you may not cite those sources as if you had read them yourself. You have to acknowledge that you only read Smith (2005) and that Smith (2005) provides this review of other sources. If you then cite any of the sources Smith (2005) references, you need to write e.g. (Smith, 2005, citing Jacobs, 1967). If Jacobs (1967) is very relevant to what you are writing, you need to get hold of this and read it yourself. And then reference it as (Jacobs, 1967, also cited in Smith, 2005). That is how you acknowledge that you first found Jacobs (1967) cited in Smith, i.e. Smith (2005) lead you to Jacobs (1967). Note that Turnitin reports show up when students have copied citations from a source, and we can tell whether or not you have read them yourself, i.e. whether or not you are honest in your literature review. Please don’t take any chances, as this form of plagiarism is as serious as any other.
- You may not use an extensive section (a sentence or more) from a source and only substitute every second or third word, therefore making it look as if its your own conceptualisation and writing, when in fact it is not. Correctly placing a text in your own words means that you demonstrate your own understanding of the text by summarising/synthesising it, i.e. by providing the essence of it. Here, care must be taken to do so accurately, and not to step too far away. If you have read a text and recall something which you think is relevant to what you’re writing, don’t just write about it without going back to the text to check that you’ve captured the essence. Always be aware that the author you are using may be your reader, your lecturer, your examiner etc. Whereas Turnitin won’t pick up careless use of sources, your readers might know these texts intimately. However, your reason for working accurately with existing texts should not a fear of someone detecting your sloppiness later. Your reason should be a deep ethical commitment to treating all existing knowledge with honesty and respect.
- Introductory points In the various disciplines taught in the School of Architecture and Planning we use the Harvard System. This should not be confused (or used interchangeably) with the numerical system or footnoting.
- ‘Citing’ versus ‘referencing’ If you ‘cite’ someone else’s work in your text then you have to ‘reference’ it. Cite = referring to that person’s work in your text. Reference = providing the full details of that work in your reference list, so that any other person can find that exact same piece of work.
- How to cite In the text, indicate author’s surname (no initial) and date. ‘… Smith (1995)…’ [Not: Smith, N. (2005)]. This is sufficient for anyone then to identify the full source in an alphabetically sorted reference list at the end of the text. If you’re citing a direct quote, then the quoted text must be in single inverted commas, not in italics, and the page number must be added to the date. e.g. …. Smith (1995:4) argues ‘housing is a right for ….’
- Rules for citing in the text Find non‐repetitive ways of referring to people’s work Howard (1999) mentions housing inadequacies in Cuba. Howard (1999:4) refers to ‘extremely inadequate sanitation conditions’ in Cuban tenements. [note: DIRECT QUOTE, THEREFORE SINGLE INVERTED COMMAS AND PAGE NUMBER GIVEN] IF THE QUOTE GOES ACROSS 2 PAGES, GIVE BOTH PAGES: Howard (1999:4,5) As argued by Howard (1999), housing in Cuba has many inadequacies. Howard (1999) discusses the inadequacy of housing in Cuba, referring in particular to… Howard (1999) explains the housing inadequacy in Cuba in relation to the political economy of the country, whereas Peters (2000) points to the lack of technical capacity. Howard (1999) and Peters (2000) both emphasise the lack of technical training in Cuba, but each gives different reasons for this. On the one had, Howard (1999) blames the state of universities in Havana. On the other hand, Peters (2000) points to the low salaries in the professional sector, and the brain drain to the US.
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Tenement conditions in Cuba have been found to be inadequate, in particular in the capital Havana (Howard, 1999). However, owner‐occupied houses are also of poor quality (Peters, 2000). If the quote is longer than 30 words – indent as a separate paragraph. Only use such a long quote if the entire quote in its original wording is important (a decision you have to make consciously). Otherwise put it in your own words. Here is an example of an indented quote: This is clear from Howard’s assessment of tenements in Cuba:
‘Housing conditions in Havana have deteriorated since the economic decline and the government is currently developing ways of addressing this problem. Micro brigades have been constituted and are responsible for gradual improvement of the buildings.’ (Howard, 1999:15)
If you drew on Howard (1999) throughout a paragraph, and don’t refer to anyone else’s ideas, then put the reference at the end of the paragraph, after the full stop. ….. and tenements in Cuba have poor conditions. (Howard, 1999) Each sentence that draws on someone’s ideas must have a reference. But if you’re citing Howard repeatedly without citing other authors in between, then use (ibid.). If its Howard, but a different article, add date: (ibid., 1999); if its Howard, same article but direct quote, add page no.: (ibid.:3) When needing to acknowledge that more than one author has made this point, then cite chronologically, and alphabetically: Tenement conditions in many socialist countries are inadequate (Mayer, 1997; Smith, 1997; Howard, 1999). […1997 before 1999; and M before S…] (note that there is an alternative convention that lists these alphabetically. Don’t use the two interchangeably) When citing more than two authors that together wrote one piece: At first citation, list all authors (Makgoba, Smith and Henly, 1998), at second citation (Makgoba et al., 1998). et al. means ‘and others’. For this reason, there is never a comma before ‘et al.’ And et al. is never used to substitute for just two authors. If the citation consist of two authors, these two authors are written in full throughout where cited (Thompson and Makgoba, 2008). Note: As all foreign language words are written in italics, this also applies to et al. and ibid. (however, note that some publishers’ style guides might vary on this point. The rule, as always, is to be consistent throughout).
- Where to place the citation when citing a list: When an entire list is drawn from a source, then place the reference below the list. If the list is quoted directly, it must appear in inverted commas (and add page number). If the list is compiled from different sources (but not quoted directly), then individual entries in the list can be referenced in that line, or all the references can appear below the list. But note that stylistically, listing or bullet pointing must be used sparingly in academic writing.
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- Direct quoting
Original text: Housing inadequacies in Brazil are serious and eventually may lead to a decline in health.
Correct ways of quoting: Incorporating the quote into a sentence, and leaving out parts of the quote: Brazilian ‘[h]ousing inadequacies … are serious’ with results that impact on health (Smith, 1999:4). Smith (1999:4) argues that ‘[h]ousing inadequacies in Brazil are serious and eventually may lead to a decline in health’. Explanation added in square brackets: Smith (1999:4) argues that ‘[h]ousing inadequacies [referring primarily to conditions in informal settlements] in Brazil are serious and eventually may lead to a decline in health’. (use square brackets to insert an explanation into a quote) Emphasising text in a quote: Smith (1999:4) argues that ‘[h]ousing inadequacies in Brazil are serious and eventually may lead to a decline in health’ (my emphasis). Or, if a word is italicised in the original text you are quoting from, add: (emphasis in the original) If the original does not have page numbers (e.g. an internet document or an unpaginated draft document): Smith (1999: unpaginated) argues that ‘housing inadequacies in Brazil…’ If the original does not have a date: Smith (undated) argue that….
- Quote within a quote Smith (1998:4) argued that ‘housing should be “commodified” in Cuba’. Here Smith highlighted (or perhaps quoted) the word ‘commodified’ in his original text with inverted commas. Smith (1998) makes a case for ‘commodification’ of housing in Cuba. Here the single inverted commas are used merely to highlight the term commodification – therefore no page number required. Smith (1998) notes that Turner (1971) never mentions the term ‘commodification’.
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Smith (1998:5) notes that ‘Turner (1971) does not make reference to the term “commodification”’. Note, however, that it is unusual to include a citation (author name and date) in a quote. Usually this is avoided. Smith (1998:5 quoted in Harrison, 2000:3) notes that Turner (1971) does not make reference to the term “commodification”’. Make sure to add Smith (1998) and Harrison (2000) to your reference list. Smith (2000 cited in Harrison, 2001) points out that even Turner never used the term ‘commodification’. Again, make sure to add both articles to your reference list. This is to ensure that any reader can look up the original source. ______________________________________________________________________________
6. Constructing an accurate reference list
Note that for essays, your reference list need not start on a new page – it can simply begin with the heading ‘References’, right after the conclusion. For research reports, the convention is to place all references at the end of the document, and not at the end of each chapter.
- Applying a SYSTEM to accurate referencing
In the first (left side) column down the side is the sequence of any reference as it would appear in a reference list: Author, date, title of the text that is referenced, title of the publication in which the text appears, etc. The other columns of the table provide the different alternatives, depending on the type of publication and what information about it is available.
In the ideal case Note (a) Note (b) When uncertain
Author
Surname and first initial (only add second initial or full name if more than one reference in your list have same name and first initial).
List all authors. Separate two authors by ‘and’, and more than two more by comma (with ‘and’ before the last author.
If no person appears as author, then the use the organisation or in the case of a journal the name of the journal (this applies in anonymous editorials).
If you’re referencing a web article that indicates neither author nor organisation, then write ‘anonymous’ or ‘no author’ (use only one of these two options, consistently).
Date
The year If you are citing more than one article of that author published in the same year, add a, b, c,… to the date, alphabetically according to the first word in the title of the text. (note that a separate conventions exists that ranks these according to which is cited first in the paper – we recommend you adopt the former)
If no date indicated: (undated).
Title of the text that is referenced
Full title of chapter, journal article, or full book/report if it only has one author/co‐authors, i.e. is single‐authored and not an edited collection.
If you’re referencing a full book or report, this title is also the title of the publication – see below.
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Title of the publication in which the text appears
Full title of the book or journal or other publication – always with words starting in upper case, and italics.
For grey literature, e.g. thesis, unpublished report, words start in upper case but not italics. Italics applies only for published items.
Journal volume and issue number
Its important that a journal issue can be identified – give volume number and issue number. (note that some journals no longer indicate issue numbers, as the entire volume is treated as one, with page number from 1 to several thousands, even if packaged in separate issues).
Page numbers For book chapters and journal articles, give page numbers for start and end of the paper or chapter.
Publisher
In the case of a book: name of the publisher.
In the case of a journal – no publisher.
In the case of a report – the organisation is the publisher (unless another publisher is indicated).
Place (always the city, not the country)
Must be indicated for Book, reports and unpublished material.
Some books indicate two places (e.g. London and New York). No rule here, but its safe to guess where the copy you’re using was bought. If its from our library its more likely to be London than New York.
For journals, no place is indicated, unless it’s a non‐Anglophone journal (e.g. China, France, Germany).
Internet citing All of the above. Add: INTERNET: www……, last accessed [day‐month‐year] – as the internet changes daily, you have to indicate the day on which you last cited the text.
- Examples Note: For a document with multiple authors, list them all. Only use ‘et al.’ in the citation (in the text) and not in the reference list. Journal articles: Howard, B., 1999. Housing in Latin America. Habitat International, 26(5), 335‐342.
Note that a different convention is to have the date in brackets. Another is to write Vol 26, Issue 5, pp. 335‐342. We recommend you adopt the simplest convention, as set out below, but throughout, the rule is to apply the chosen convention consistently.
Smith, R., Howard, B., Nhlapo, M. and Makgoba, L. 2008. Housing challenges in Durban. International Journal of Sustainable Housing, 5(3), 15‐32. Nlhapo, B. and Mpanza, D., 2000. The challenge of housing in Bloemfontein. Urban Forum, 14(2), 34‐44. Note that some journals don’t indicate issue numbers, as in the case below: Nhlapo, B., Shubane, D. and Smith, A., 1999. Land and housing development in Cape Town. Town and Regional Planning, 24, 25‐36. Book chapter:
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Peters, F., 2000. Problems with housing in China. In Smith, R. and Davis, B. (eds), Chinese Policies in the Late Twentieth Century. Pp. 224‐229, Wilson and Sons, London. If there is only one book editor, then … In Smith, R. (ed.), Urban Policy in China. Pp. 233‐256, Wilson and Sons, London. Book: Howard, B., 2003. Cuban Housing into the New Millennium. University of Wales Press, London. Note that there is a different convention to instead write:
….New Millennium. London: University of Wales Press. Again, the rule applies not to mix up these two conventions, and to apply only one of them, and to apply it consistently.
Report: Department of Housing, 2004. Policy on Sustainable Housing and Infrastructure. Department of Housing, Pretoria. Academic research report: Nkado, F., 2003. Housing and Development Planning: The rural Challenge in Limpopo Province. Unpublished Research Report, MSc Development Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Conference paper: Mwangi, M., 2007. Traffic congestion and its causes in Nairobi. Paper presented at the Association of Urban Transport Conference ‘Traffic into the new Millennium’, Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, 5‐7 June. Media: Mail and Guardian, 2005. Houses burning in Cape Town. Mail and Guardian, 24‐31 September. McLeod, D., 2004. Housing crisis looming. Mail and Guardian, 24‐31 August. Mail and Guardian, 2004. Housing crisis looming. Article by McLeod, D., Mail and Guardian, 24‐31 August. Note that page numbers are not required for media articles. Web articles: Roberts, D., 2000. Housing for poor women in Bagdad. Asian People’s Front, Mumbai, 5 October. INTERNET: www.asianpeople.org.in/bagdad.html, accessed 5 June 2009. Smith, F. (undated), Housing in African Cities. (no organisation, place or date indicated) INTERNET: www.xwz.asia.org/cities/africa.html, last accessed 3 October 2008. Department of Housing (undated) N2 Gateway Project Review. Department of Housing, Pretoria. INTERNET: www.housing.gov.za/N2.html, last accessed 21 January 2010.
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Personal Communication Also apply a system to referencing people’s verbal statements:
Name Date of interview
Position Organisation Place of the organisation
If not interviewed in the organisation, add place of the interview. Also indicate if the interview was by e‐mail or over the phone or Skype.
Makgoba, N. (personal communication, 10 January 2016) Director, Policy and Planning, Department of Housing, Pretoria. Smith, D. (personal communication, 14 February 2016) Project Manager, Wilson Africa Consulting, Johannesburg, interviewed in Cape Town. Thompson, F. (personal communication, 8 March 2016) Community Liaison Officer, Department of Public Works, Gauteng Province, interview by telephone.
- Finalising the reference list: The reference list at the end of your essay/assignment/report must be titled ‘References’ (not ‘Bibliography’). Note that according to most definitions, a bibliography includes useful readings that are not directly cited, whereas a reference list is a list of all the cited sources. Don’t waste time preparing a bibliography in addition to your reference list. Under the heading ‘References’ or ‘Reference List’, list all cited sources alphabetically. The list may include a few cases of personal communication, but if interviewing was a conscious part of your study method, then add a separate listing titled ‘Personal communication’, with all the personal communication or interviews appearing alphabetically. Also if media was used consciously as a data source, then ‘Media sources’ can be listed separately. Keep a line open between each reference, so that the reader knows at a glance where one reference ends and the next starts. A different convention is to indent the first line of every reference but we recommend you use the former. Note that there is software that assists you with referencing:
- Endnote - Sotero (free downloadable software) - Refworks (available from the library free of charge – look out for training programmes)
A problem with using these in assignments is that your lecturer cannot make any tracked changes or add comment boxes to the reference list, should this be required. Most essays and assignments are not complex enough to warrant using referencing software.
7. Common editing mistakes which are easy to avoid
- Incorrect: The report pays attention on the gap in housing supply - Correct: The report pays attention to the gap in housing supply
- Incorrect: Smith (2005) emphasises on housing rights - Correct: Smith (2005) emphasises housing rights
or Smith (2005) places emphasis on housing rights
- Incorrect: Housing policy in 2004 prioritised on informal settlement upgrading - Correct: Housing policy in 2004 prioritised informal settlement upgrading
- Incorrect: Households can be able to access opportunities through…’ - Correct: Households can access opportunities through…’
Always avoid ‘can be able to…’
- ‘Overtime’ means working extra hours. Mostly you will want to write ‘over time’ as in ‘there were several changes over time’, but the spell‐check might change this to ‘overtime’.
- Throughout, use British/South African spelling. Note that most versions of Word are set
for US spelling. What you need to correct: o Incorrect: program; correct: programme
- Avoid stating points twice in a sentence, for instance:
o Incorrect: There are many causes of land disputes, such as corruption, maladministration, inequality and dispossession among others. (delete ‘among others’)
o Incorrect: Corruption causes land disputes. Similarly, maladministration also leads to land disputes as well. (delete ‘as well’)
- Note that the following words are not used in the plural
o Informal sector (i.e. it is incorrect to write about ‘the informal sectors’) o Private sector (i.e. it is incorrect to write about ‘the private sectors’) o Literature (the plural is ‘several pieces of literature’, not ‘literatures’) o Legislation (the plural is ‘several pieces of legislation’, not ‘legislations’) o Employment (the plural is ‘several forms of employment’) o Research (the plural is ‘several research studies’; ‘several studies’; ‘several
pieces of research’ or ‘several research initiatives’.
- Pay attention to single vs plural throughout. In particular: o The municipality is single, not plural. Therefore
Incorrect: The municipality resist changing their approach. Correct: The municipality resists changing its approach.
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Similarly: Incorrect: The committee explains their decision. Correct: The committee explains its decision.
- Reduce the use of apostrophes where this helps clarify the writing. For instance:
o Avoid: the urban poor’s housing needs are… o Instead: the housing needs of the urban poor are… (note how much better this
reads).
- Avoid the following words, which sound clumsy: ‘thing’, ‘got’, ‘gotten’.
- Avoid shorthand, for instance & instead of and.
- To use a double inverted comma, use the key for “ rather than twice pressing ‘
- Don’t use empty lines to move a heading onto the next page. Instead use page breaks.
- Use upper case (capital letters) very consciously. o Note that concepts are not capitalised, for instance housing, poverty,
unemployment. One of very few theories which is capitalised is Marxism. Left and right as political realms are only capitalised is preceded by the, e.g. the Left, the Right.
o Also edit your use of capital letters in headings and sub‐headings for 100% consistency. The same applies to your reference list.
o Whereas the abbreviation NGO is in capital letters, the term non‐governmental organisation is not capitalised.
- Note the difference:
o ‘Critic’ is the person engaging critically (usually in a constructive way) o ‘Critique’ is a constructive comment, whereas o ‘Criticism’ is usually a negative comment o ‘Criticise’ is to articulate a criticism
- Forms of repetition to avoid:
o Use of the same word more than once in a sentence. o Using the same word or phrase (a few words) in successive sentences. o Ending one sentence with the same word with which you start the next. o Starting successive sentences in the same way / with the same words. o Structuring successive sentences in the same way. o Repeating a sentence in full or in large part elsewhere in the essay/text. o Using the same quote more than once (in very exceptional cases one might
need to do this, but then also explaining this repetition in the narrative. You must avoid giving the reader the impression that you didn’t notice you were repeating)
- Look out for over‐use of ; and of –
Wherever you can replace ; with a full stop, do so. Don’t string together full sentences with a ‘ or ;
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Wherever you can replace – with a comma, do so. And in very carefully selected cases, use brackets. Incorrect: The housing policy – adopted in 2004 – has not been replaced to date. Correct: The housing policy, adopted in 2004, has not been replaced to date. Avoid: The housing policy (adopted in 2004) has not been replaced to date.
Only place text in brackets if its important to remove that text out of the main narrative, for the narrative to flow. Each case must be considered carefully.
1) All aspects of the assignment brief must be answered.
2) Introduction and a conclusion needed.
3) No new ideas introduced in the conclusion.
4) The conclusion is drawn from the main text and may not be on a tangent.
5) Sub‐headings needed.
6) Line between each paragraph.
7) No one‐line paragraphs.
8) Check whether there is repetition.
9) Check whether overly short paragraphs can be combined into on longer paragraph.
10) No full sentences stringed together with commas where there ought to be full stops.
11) All sentences have to be full sentences.
12) No sentences longer than three lines.
13) Spell‐check and grammar‐check.
14) Quotes in inverted commas, not in italics.
15) Don’t use ‘ and “ interchangeably.
16) The essay must be within the prescribed length.
17) All quotes must be properly represented with opening and closing inverted commas.
18) Each direct quote must be acknowledged with a page number.
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19) Every cited source must appear in the reference list.
20) Every source in the reference must be cited in the text.
21) There must be a line between each reference in the reference list.
22) The references in the reference list must be listed alphabetically (by surname of author),
23) The punctuation and style of the reference list must be 100% consistent.
24) All titles of journals and book must be in italics.
25) Full stop at the end of each reference.
26) Remember: your essay needs page numbers. If you use section breaks for formatting,
make sure your page numbers (at the top or the bottom of your page) are still consistent.
27) Final formatting: make sure no headings appear at the bottom of a page.
Remember:
- Keep a list of previous mistakes as corrected or pointed out by your lecturers. Avoid ever making a mistake twice. I.e. ensure that you internalise the feedback and incorporate it into your evolving academic writing skills.
- If you’re using images to illustrate your essay / assignment, compress these before pasting them into the Word document, so s to avoid excessive file size (don’t submit essays above 2MB).
- No need for a fancy title page. Instead: make sure your name, degree registered for, course name, course code, assignment number, assignment title and date appear at the top of the essay.
9. Some recommended reading (available in the Wits Library system)
Henning, A. 2005. Finding Your Way in Academic Writing. Van Schaik, Pretoria. Osmond, A., 2013. Academic Writing and Grammar for Students. Sage, London. Shields, M., 2010. Essay Writing: A Student’s Guide. Sage, London. Swales, J. and Feak, C., 2012. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Warburton, N., 2007. The Basics of Essay Writing. Routledge, London.
