REPORTING

Dr Manoj Ariyaratne
 Academic writing styles

Academic writing is linear, which means it has one

central point or theme with every part contributing to
the main line of argument, without digressions
( unnecessary details) or repetitions. Its objective is
to inform rather than entertain. As well as this it is in
the standard written form of the language.
Cont
There are eight main features of academic writing
that are often discussed. Academic writing is to some
extent: complex, formal, objective, explicit, hedged,
and responsible. It uses language precisely and
accurately.
 Complexity

Written language is relatively more complex than spoken

language. Written language has longer words, it is lexically
( connected with words and phrases) more dense and it
has a more varied vocabulary. Written texts are shorter and
the language has more grammatical complexity, including
more subordinate clauses and more passives.
Cont
Eg:

This study examines the concept of the University in

Ceylon. The first university of the country was
established in 1942;three more universities have been
set up since.
 It is the contention of this study that the concept of the
University which was promulgated at the establishment of the
first University has continued through out, and that the people
who have been instrumental in establishing the university have
perhaps inadvertently ( unintentionally), perpetuated this
concept of the university derived from the educational thought
patterns of the nineteenth century Britain.
( Amarasekara C.L., The Impact of Educational Thought on the
Concept of University Education in Sri Lanka. A Thesis
Submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy . London:
Institute of Education)
Cont
Formality

Academic writing is relatively formal. In general this

means that in an essay you should avoid colloquial
words and expressions.
Cont
Precision ( Accuracy)

In academic writing, facts and figures are given

precisely.

Eg: This study attempts to show the impact of British

Education on the contemporary Sri Lankan society in
19th century.
Cont
Objectivity

Written language is in general objective rather than

personal. It therefore has fewer words that refer to the
writer or the reader. This means that the main
emphasis should be on the information that you want
to give and the arguments you want to make, rather
than you.
Cont
Eg: This study attempts to show..

The aim of this study is to examine..

It is intended in this study to examine.

The first chapter deals with

Chapter Two is a survey of literature related to

the study.
Cont
Explicitness (clear and easy to understand)

Academic writing is explicit about the relationships

in the text. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the
writer in English to make it clear to the reader how
the various parts of the text are related.
Cont

One sentence gives reasons for something in another

sentence, make it explicit.
While an earlier generation of writers had noted this
feature of the period, it was not until the recent work
of Cairncross that the significance of this outflow was
realized. Partly this was because the current account
deficit appears much smaller in current (1980s) data
than it was thought to be by contemporaries.
Cont
If you think two ideas are almost the same, say so.

Marx referred throughout his work to other systems than the

capitalist system, especially those which he knew from the
history of Europe to have preceded capitalism; systems such
as feudalism, where the relation of production was
characterized by the personal relation of the feudal lord and
his serf and a relation of subordination which came from the
lord's control of the land. Similarly, Marx was interested in
slavery and in the classical Indian and Chinese social
systems, or in those systems where the ties of local
community are all important.
Cont
If you intend your sentence to give extra information, make it
clear.
He is born into a family, he marries into a family, and he
becomes the husband and father of his own family. In
addition, he has a definite place of origin and more relatives
than he knows what to do with, and he receives a rudimentary
education at the Canadian Mission School.
Cont
If you are giving examples, do it explicitly.
This has sometimes led to disputes between religious and
secular clergy, between orders and bishops. For example, in
the Northern context, the previous bishop of Down and
Connor, Dr Philbin, refused for most of his period of
leadership in Belfast to have Jesuits visiting or residing in his
diocese
Cont
Accuracy

Academic writing uses vocabulary and sentences accurately. It

should be an error free document.
 Responsibility

In academic writing you must be responsible for, and must be

able to provide evidence and justification for, any claims you
make. You are also responsible for demonstrating an
understanding of any source texts you use. The researcher is
responsible to acknowledge the sources used otherwise he/she
will be guilty of plagiarism.
 Structure of a Report
The following common elements can be found
in many different reports:
Title Page
Declaration of the Candidate
Certification of the Supervisor
Acknowledgement
Contents
List of Tales/Figures
Introduction
Methodology
 Results or Findings
Discussion
Conclusion and Recommendation
List of References
Appendices
Supervisors Recommendation
 Structure of a Thesis
In terms of the structure, there is not much difference between
a research paper and a final thesis.
Title Page

Declaration and Certification

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Abstract
Cont
Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Maps and Photos or Plates
List of Abbreviations
Chapters
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Cont
Appendixes

List of References
 Contents of a Thesis

Chapter
One
..1
1.1 Introduction/Background of the
Study........................1
1.2 Research Problem 6
1.3 The Objective of the Study.8
1.4 Research Questions/ Hypothesis 08
1.5 The Research Methodology. ..10
 1.1 Introduction/Background of the
Study........................1

Writing a thesis introduction requires knowing all special

requirements for the thesis introduction.
The thesis introduction is to contain the following
components:
The title of your thesis topic;

The reasons for choosing this particular thesis topic;

The aims of your thesis paper;

Cont
The tasks, which the thesis author has to complete in order to
attain the aims of the thesis paper;
A little bit of a background data, which describes the history of
the topic development;
The researchers intents.
Cont
Let us also mention that the thesis introduction has the
following functions:
The thesis introduction has to attract the readers to get
acquainted with the entire thesis paper;
The thesis introduction has to make the readers understand
what the thesis paper is about;
The thesis paper introduction allows you to explain why you
consider your thesis paper topic to be important.
Cont
The thesis paper introduction has to be printed on a separate
page. It does not have to be either too long or too short. Even
if you have no choice but to use some term, you had better
explain its meaning by means of giving a simple definition.
The thesis introduction plays a very important role, so you
should try to prepare a good thesis introduction in order to
increase the quality of the entire thesis paper.
Type of Language in an Introduction

It is intended in this study to.

The goal of this study is to examine the therefore the

research is titled as
The contrastive analysis has been applied as a theoretical base
to analyze
The contrastive analysis is the comparison of the linguistic
system of two languages.
The Significant of this study is ..
Cont
Research Problem

Why the study of .is important

for.
Are there similarities and differences of
 Hypothesis

A language is a unique entity. It has its own characteristics.

This is applicable to English and Sinhala.
 Research Methodology
Note: (In some subjects like Economics separate subject is
included)
Data collecting methods

Primary Data

Secondary Data

Analyzing Tools( SPSS)

Cont
Chapter Two: Literature Review/Survey
- Prior work related to this study should be
included.
- The aim of a literature review is to
identify concepts related to the study and find the
knowledge gap of the relevant area.
Cont
Chapter Three: This chapter would in some subjects be on
Research Methodology but this can be a
chapter for discussion named according to the area of
the research.
Cont
Chapter For: Result and Discussion
-Related to data
- There may be many sub topics.
Cont
Final Chapter: Conclusion
Often people feel that conclusions are hard to write. However
this usually emerges for a number of
non-academic reasons
Psychologically you have finished your thesis, so it is hard
to write another chapter You are tired after many years of
work You are a little bored with the topic because the
interesting discoveries have been made
Cont
BUT It is not technically difficult to write and it is a short
chapter soenjoy it!
Importance of a conclusion
For the examination process
It is the often LAST piece of text in the thesis that examiners
read.
Cont
Examiners may have read the thesis over a series of weeks
with interruptions and come back to recap via a quick read of
the introduction and conclusion.
For your longer term research career

A good conclusion will provide you with the energy to publish

your thesis when you come back to recap your findingsafter
your post thesis rest.[Wah! Did I really discover that!!?]
 Basic Functions of a Conclusion

1.To summarize

What you researched Nature of your main

arguments How you researched it What you
discovered What pre-existing views were challenged
Cont
2.To provide an overview of
The new knowledge or information discovered
The significance of your research (where is it new?)
The limitations of your thesis (concepts, data)
Speculation on the implications of these limitations
Areas for further development and research(alternative data
sets; links with other fields; different method applied to same
data)
Cont
You must make a clear and concise statement of the
contribution to knowledge found in your thesis.
Ideally you should aspire to
1.Show links between the key ideas spread across chapters
2.Show your commitment to and enthusiasm for academic
research
3.Leave a positive impression with the examiner
 The Avoids

Avoid claiming findings that you have not proven throughout

your thesis
Avoid introducing new data in your conclusion
Avoid hiding weaknesses or limitations in your thesis(make a
virtue of showing strong analytical skills and self-critique by
discussing the limitations--but dont go overboard on this!)
Avoid being too long (repetitive) or too short (saying nothing
of importance)
 Sample Conclusion Structure (1)
One paragraph stating what you researched and what
youroriginal contribution to the field isthen break
into sections
One section on what you researched and how you did it
One section on what are the main findings were
showing links across chapters (this explains why you
chose the structure you did)
One section on possible areas for future research.
Final section reminding readers of the original
contribution and significance of your research to your
field.
 Sample Conclusion Structure (2)
One paragraph stating what you researched
and what youroriginal contribution to the
field isthen break into sections
Main finding 1 (subsections on how you
arrived at this finding and how it challenges
previous research)
Main finding 2 (subsections on how you
arrived at this finding and how it challenges
previous research)
Cont
Main finding 3 (subsections on how you arrived at this finding
and how it challenges previous research)
One section on potential leads to openings for further research
resulting from your research
Final section reminding readers of the original contribution
and significance of your research to your field.
 The Language in a Conclusion

Examples for the kind of language should be used

This chapter presents the observation reached after the

analysis of data pertaining to the study on the word order in
Sinhala and English.
The main findings of this study are.
Cont
Appendix

An appendix is a document which can be used to supplement

the main text.
Cont
Note: The entire chapter outline will depend on the subject
and the recommendation of the supervisor.
 Reference
Harvard System for Text Reference

Direct Quotation(One author)

(Kiribamune
1999:32-Note: We need to take the quoted
sentences into the middle of the text and use
single space.
33).
When organizing our time the centrepiece will tend
to be goals and objectives (Adair 1988: 51).
 No Date

..(Kiribamune ,
n.d).
 Two Authors

.(Thomson&King 1999:32-33).

McCarthy and Hatcher (1996: 69-70) insist that

with presentations structure must be clear and
precise.
OR
With presentations, structure must be clear and
precise (McCarthy and Hatcher1996: 69-70).
 More than two authors

..(Kiribamune , et al. 1999:32-33).
 Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

..(Oxford Dictionary 1999:32-33).
 Primary Sources

..(Mahawansa
1958:32-33).

..(Central Bank
Report 2012).
 News Papers

..(Daily News 24.

06. 2012).
 Interviews

..Pathirana 04.6.201)
 Edition

(Rupasingha 2005:32-33).
 Several books done by one author

..(Kiribamune 1999,2003).
 Two books of the same author in a year

(Kiribamune 1999 a:32-33).

.(Kiribamune 1999 b:31-33).
 Secondary source

(Cited in Oldenburg 1999:32).

 Internet

.(htpp//www.kunsw.e
du.au, accessed on 26h Sep 2012).
 Paraphrasing

According to Ariyaratne(2006:43)
Ariyaratne (2012:34)states that
Hadaragama( 2010:6) argues that
..This argument is supported in the work of
Handaragama( 2013:32).

Paraphrasing from a Book without date

Handaragama(n.d.) has explained
Earlier research (Handaragama, n.d.)demonstrated
that
 Paraphrasing from several works done by one author in
several years.
As suggested by Sarathchandra
(2011,2013)
Paraphrasing from several works done by one author in the
same year.
The research earlier done by Handaragama(2013a)
found that .but later he suggested in his
research( 2013b) that..
Note: All of the sources you refer to in the main body of your assignment need to be
listed at the end of the assignment in a reference list. In a reference list, you only
need to list those sources from which you have either quoted or paraphrased. For
example, you do not have to list books you used for background reading purposes.

List of References
This is the last part of a dissertation.
Books
Adger, David.2003.Core Syntax. A minimalist approach. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Arts,Bas.1997.English Syntax and Argumentation.London :Macmillan
 Books more than one author

Keenan.Edward L. & Bernad Comrie.1977.Noun phrase

Accessibility and Universal Grammar. Linguistic Inquiry.
Pune: India
 Books more than two authors

Grace,B.et al.,1988.A history of the world.

Princeton.NJ: Princeton University Press.

Edited books
Nicholson.L.J ed.,1990.Feminism/Postmodernism.New
York and London:Routledge
 Chapters of edited books

Smith.J.,1975.A source of Information. In W .Jones ed. Ione

Hundred and one ways to find information about
health.Oxford:Oxford University Press.ch 2
 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary(2003). assets.cambridge.org

Encyclopedia of Britannica (2005).USA: Deluxe Edition.

International Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2003). 2nd Ed, Vol 14, J.

William Ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (1948); 1990.Oxford: Oxford

University.
 Journal Articles and Papers

Chomsky, Noam. & Lasnik, Howard. 1993. "The theory of

principles and parameters." In Jacobs, Joachim et al. Eds.
Syntax. vol. 1. Berlin:de Gruyter. 506-569.

Gair ,James W., and John Paollilo. 1988. Sinhala non-verbal

sentences and argument structure. In Cornel Working Papers
in Linguistics. New York: Cornell University. 39-77.
 Journal Article from an
Electronic Source
Fernando,Laksiri.2009.Sri Lanka: the Danger of
General.Asian Tribune.[On line]30 Nov.Vol.9.no.228.
p. 2-3 available at
htpp://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/11/30[Acce
ssed on 10 Dec 2009]
 Unpublished Thesis

David, Alexander McKercher . 1996. On the Syntax

and Semantics of English. MA Thesis. Department of
Linguistics. Canada: University of Victoria
 Thank you