BOOK
Academic Writing and Referencing for your Nursing Degree
Jane Bottomley | Steven Pryjmachuk
(2017)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
If you are embarking on a university nursing degree, the books in this series will help you acquire and develop the knowledge, skills and strategies you need to achieve your goals. They provide support in all areas important for university study, including institutional and disciplinary policy and practice, self-management, and research and communication. Tasks and activities are designed to foster aspects of learning which are valued in higher education, including learner autonomy and critical thinking, and to guide you towards reflective practice in your study and work life.
Academic Writing and Referencing for your Nursing Degree provides you with a sound knowledge and understanding of:
- what constitutes good academic writing in nursing
- a range of strategies for writing successful essays and reports
- the importance of clarity and coherence in your writing about nursing
- how to improve your academic style, grammar and punctuation, and formatting and presentation
- referencing conventions in the field of nursing, and of how to avoid plagiarism.
Jane Bottomley is a Senior Language Tutor at the University of Manchester and a Senior Fellow of the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes (BALEAP).She has been involved in the development of a number of content-based academic study skills courses at the University of Manchester and has published widely in this field.
Steven Pryjmachuk is Professor of Mental Health Nursing Education in the School of Health Science's Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Manchester and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His teaching, clinical and research work has centred largely on supporting and facilitating individuals – be they students, patients or colleagues – to develop, learn or care independently.
In December 2014, Steven was elected as vice Chair (2015-16) and Chair (2017-18) of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK, an organisation representing 65 Higher Education Institutions providing education and research on mental health nursing.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover 1 | ||
| Half-title | i | ||
| Series information | ii | ||
| Title page | iii | ||
| Copyright information | iv | ||
| Table of contents | v | ||
| Acknowledgments | vi | ||
| Meet the authors | vii | ||
| Introduction | viii | ||
| A note on terminology | ix | ||
| Chapter 1 Academic writing: text, process and criticality | 1 | ||
| Academic writing at university: a new start? | 1 | ||
| Academic writing for nursing undergraduates | 2 | ||
| The writing process | 3 | ||
| Approaching a writing assignment | 3 | ||
| Analysing a writing assignment | 4 | ||
| Planning | 6 | ||
| Reading and information gathering | 6 | ||
| Writing essentials | 8 | ||
| Writing critically | 8 | ||
| Stance | 8 | ||
| Argument | 9 | ||
| Nuance | 9 | ||
| Expressing stance | 10 | ||
| Discussion: writing critically | 10 | ||
| Discussion: summarising your argument | 12 | ||
| The importance of evidence | 12 | ||
| Writing essays | 13 | ||
| Essay structure | 14 | ||
| Introduction (the ‘beginning’) | 14 | ||
| Main body of the text (the ‘middle’) | 14 | ||
| Summary and/or conclusion (the ‘end’) | 14 | ||
| Reflective essays | 15 | ||
| Writing short reflections for journals or portfolios | 17 | ||
| Discussion: reflective writing | 19 | ||
| Writing in exams | 19 | ||
| Discussion: answering exam questions | 20 | ||
| Writing dissertations | 20 | ||
| Summary | 21 | ||
| Sources of example texts | 21 | ||
| References | 21 | ||
| Chapter 2 Coherent texts and arguments | 23 | ||
| Planning for coherence | 23 | ||
| Editing and redrafting for coherence | 26 | ||
| The truth about writing! | 26 | ||
| Putting yourself in the reader’s shoes | 26 | ||
| Writing essay introductions and conclusions | 27 | ||
| Cohesion and paragraph structure | 29 | ||
| General and specific information | 30 | ||
| Old and new information | 31 | ||
| Referring back in the text: repetition, variation and pronoun use | 31 | ||
| Linking ideas | 35 | ||
| Developing a coherent argument and expressing criticality | 37 | ||
| Discussion: developing a coherent argument | 39 | ||
| Paragraph 1 | 39 | ||
| Paragraph 2 | 39 | ||
| Paragraph 3 | 39 | ||
| Paragraph 4 | 40 | ||
| The language of criticality | 41 | ||
| Summary | 42 | ||
| Sources of example texts | 42 | ||
| References | 43 | ||
| Chapter 3 Referring to sources | 44 | ||
| Terminology | 44 | ||
| Why should I reference? | 44 | ||
| How should I reference? | 45 | ||
| The Harvard system | 45 | ||
| The Vancouver system | 45 | ||
| Referencing styles | 46 | ||
| Using the Harvard system | 46 | ||
| In-text conventions in the Harvard system | 46 | ||
| Multiple references | 47 | ||
| Direct quotations | 47 | ||
| The use of ‘et al’ | 47 | ||
| Compiling your final list of references in the Harvard system | 48 | ||
| Referencing books | 48 | ||
| Referencing chapters in edited books | 48 | ||
| Referencing journal articles | 49 | ||
| Theses and dissertations | 49 | ||
| Conference proceedings | 49 | ||
| Newspapers and magazines | 50 | ||
| Organisational or ‘corporate’ authors | 50 | ||
| Common problems in referencing | 50 | ||
| ‘Anonymous’ authors | 50 | ||
| Authors with multiple outputs in the same year | 50 | ||
| Secondary citations | 51 | ||
| Electronic sources of information | 51 | ||
| Variations in referencing | 52 | ||
| Using sources critically | 53 | ||
| Discussion: critical use of sources | 56 | ||
| Academic malpractice | 58 | ||
| Summary | 59 | ||
| Sources of example texts | 59 | ||
| References | 59 | ||
| Chapter 4 Language in use | 60 | ||
| Academic style | 60 | ||
| Clarity | 60 | ||
| Discussion: clarity | 61 | ||
| Strategies for achieving clarity | 62 | ||
| Formality | 63 | ||
| Discussion: identifying formal style | 63 | ||
| Discussion: word choice | 64 | ||
| Strategies for making your writing more formal | 66 | ||
| Grammar, spelling and punctuation | 67 | ||
| Common areas of difficulty in grammar and spelling | 68 | ||
| Quantifiers | 68 | ||
| Grammatical agreement | 68 | ||
| Commonly confused words | 69 | ||
| Common areas of difficulty in punctuation | 70 | ||
| The apostrophe | 70 | ||
| Hyphens | 70 | ||
| Brackets | 71 | ||
| Punctuation and sentence structure | 71 | ||
| Full stops | 71 | ||
| Commas | 71 | ||
| Colons | 73 | ||
| Semi-colons | 73 | ||
| Focus on fragments and run-on sentences | 74 | ||
| Focus on ‘hanging participles’ | 74 | ||
| Focus on relative clauses | 75 | ||
| Refining grammar and punctuation | 75 | ||
| Parallel structures | 76 | ||
| Summary | 77 | ||
| Sources of example texts | 77 | ||
| References | 78 | ||
| Chapter 5 Preparing your work for submission | 79 | ||
| Are you ready to submit your work? | 79 | ||
| Have you done what you were asked to do? | 79 | ||
| Have you stuck to the word count? | 79 | ||
| Are you clear about the submission process? | 80 | ||
| Editing and proofreading your final text | 80 | ||
| Editing your final text | 80 | ||
| Systematic treatment of names and titles | 81 | ||
| Systems for highlighting language | 81 | ||
| Discussion: systems for highlighting language | 82 | ||
| Proofreading | 82 | ||
| Formatting | 84 | ||
| Line spacing | 84 | ||
| Discussion: line spacing | 85 | ||
| Paragraph formatting | 85 | ||
| Discussion: paragraph formatting | 86 | ||
| Formatting tables and diagrams | 86 | ||
| Presentation | 87 | ||
| What should my essay look like? | 87 | ||
| 1) It should have a title page | 87 | ||
| 2) The word count should be written on the document | 88 | ||
| 3) Your pages should be numbered | 88 | ||
| 4) It should be written using an appropriate font | 88 | ||
| 5) The font size should be readable and appropriate | 88 | ||
| 6) It should look professional | 88 | ||
| 7) It should follow printing guidelines | 88 | ||
| Finding advice and support | 88 | ||
| Summary | 89 | ||
| Sources of example texts | 89 | ||
| Appendix 1: English language references | 90 | ||
| Dictionaries | 90 | ||
| Grammar books | 90 | ||
| Other resources | 90 | ||
| Appendix 2: Grammatical terminology | 91 | ||
| Appendix 3: Key phrases in assignments | 94 | ||
| Appendix 4: Academic levels at university | 95 | ||
| Index | 104 |