This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.
Introduction
Topic sentence to set the scene of your paper |
General to specific information |
Thesis statement |
The thesis statement has to actually be a statement on your topic and has to cover the entire scope of the paper
Body: between-paragraphs
Logical order between paragraphs (cf. organisational patterns) |
Clear and natural flow |
Use conjunctions and linking words |
Balance the size of the paragraphs (9-12 lines on average) |
Body: in-paragraphs
Topic sentence |
Body (cf. organisational patterns) |
Climax sentence |
By only reading topic and climax sentences, you should be able to deduce a logical and coherent outline. Bad TS/CS = bad structure
Conclusion
Topic sentence to conclude your writing |
Summarise and rephrase thesis statement and arguments |
Recommendations or implications for future research |
Climax sentence to conclude everything |
Do not add new information but instead, try to sum up everything you have said in a clear and convincing way. Make sure the conclusion mirrors the introduction.
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Writing: general
Avoid informal words (big, huge, totally, ...) |
Check spelling & grammar |
Look up academic synonyms (but do not overuse them) |
Formal
Verdana 10, spacing 2 |
Alignment justified |
Paragraphs are coherent blocks which are separated from each other by a blank line |
Paragraphs start at the left hand side of the paper (no indents) |
Page numbers bottom right, not on first page |
No headings or subheadings |
No images in-text (optional: in appendix) |
Some of these formalities will be different in other cases, but for the course of Academic Writing, these are used to assure equality and comparability for all papers.
List of references
Style |
Harvard Reference Style |
Order |
Alphabetical |
Purpose |
Other people need to be able to find the sources you have used |
Try to find good and credible sources. Do not just list an entire bibliography: only the ones you actually use!
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In-text referencing
Style |
Harvard Reference Style |
Quotation |
Smith (2008: 15) states that "now, most cars are red." |
Adjust words in quotation |
Smith (2008: 15) states that "[in the year 2008], most cars are red." |
Leave out text in quotation |
Smith (2015: 8) discusses that "this happens because of three reasons: (...) and finally it is because of globalisation." |
Paraphrase |
Smith (2008: 15) argues that most cars can be considered red. |
Summary |
In general, most cars can be considered to be red (Smith 2008: 15). |
Several sources |
In Smith (2008: 15) & Williams (2017: 193) it is clear (...) |
More than three authors |
Smith et al. (2015: 37) observe (...) |
Same author repeated without a different author in between |
Smith (2008: 15) states that "most cars are red" (...) Cars can also be blue (ibid.: 19). Attention! Adjust year or page number when necessary. Only use (ibid.) when on the same page. New page = start over |
Footnotes
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Never for referencing. Only when you really need to explain something and it would be too much to write it in your text. |
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