Academic conventions PDF

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Academic convention...

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Essay Guidelines Contents Page 2

1.

General Advice

2.

Presentation

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3.

Conventions of Essay Style 3.1. Titles 3.2. Names of persons 3.3. Tense 3.4. Foreign Terms 3.5. Conventions Governing Quotations

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Referencing your Text and Acknowledging your Sources 4.1. Types of References 4.2. The Harvard System: Parenthetical References 4.3. The Harvard System: When quoting from a play text When quoting from a periodical When quoting from a newspaper/magazine When quoting from a film/video When quoting from a radio programme When quoting from a web-site

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5.

Compiling a Bibliography

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6.

Library Resources

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7.

Essay Checklist

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1.

General Advice

1.1.

Assignments and projects require intelligent and perceptive understanding of the set topic and lucid communication of your ideas and insights. To achieve this, use clear, simple and vigorous prose accurately and effectively and organise your material.

1.2.

The main aim of writing an essay is not to show how brilliant you are at your subject, but rather it is an opportunity to explore certain ideas with which you wish to engage as a result of the course. The primary aim is not only to be assessed, but to apply the knowledge that you have gained during the course to a field that particularly interests you. It is a chance for you to develop ideas of your own and have them critically assessed (along with your writing) within a safe and supportive environment. Remember that criticism is the lifeblood of the scholar. People write essays not to produce a definitive work on a subject, but to test out ideas in the forum of scholarly debate. To write an essay is to invite and welcome criticism as a way of developing your own ideas.

1.3. Answer the question specifically, do not simply write down everything you know about the subject. If you are given a choice of topics, read each one very carefully and make sure that you understand what each is asking of you before choosing one. Once you have chosen the question ensure that you understand exactly what is required of you. 1.4. Plan your essay thoroughly before starting to write. This should help to give you an overview of the whole shape of the argument and will help you to compose your writing more fluidly. There are different ways of planning such as ‘brain-storms’ and ‘mind maps’: find a system that works for you. 1.5. Pay attention to the structure of your essay. Your writing should have an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. This shape should be immediately apparent to the reader in the order, shape, content and interconnections of your paragraphs. 1.6. If using quotations, avoid simply sandwiching them between paragraphs as if they are self-explanatory. Use quotations to support your argument, or respond to issues raised in them. Your essay should not simply consist of alternating paragraphs and quotations which have no apparent connection.

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1.7. Essays usually go through a series of drafts. Do not expect your first draft to be your final essay, so leave plenty of time for re-reading and rewriting as necessary. 1.8. Before handing in your work, proof-read your essay carefully. Check spelling, grammar, presentation, and very importantly, that you lead the reader logically through your argument.

2.

Presentation

2.1. Your essay should be typed, using one side of the page only 2.2. Use double-line spacing (except for indented quotations where you use single-line; see 3.5. below) 2.3. Use font size 12 (preferably Times New Roman, Universal or Courier) 2.4. Please write the question out in full at the start of your essay 2.5. Ensure that your pages are numbered 2.6. Please pay attention to spelling and punctuation which unfortunately are not trivial matters, since they can radically change the meaning of what you are saying. They are a guide to accurate reading. If you are working on a computer, it is worth running your work through a spellcheck, but remember to proof-read yourself as well, as the spell-checker won’t pick up errors such as writing “there” instead of “their”. 2.7. Some of the most common grammatical mistakes have to do with apostrophes – take note of the following examples: i. Wilhelm Grimm’s version of the story first appeared in 1850. ii. The Grimms’ collection, published in 1812, was a great success. iii. So, to what extent were the Grimms addressing a political agenda in their work? 2.8.

Numbers under 100 should always be written (e.g. sixty-eight, seventeen, etc.), unless they are dates, which should be written without punctuation, as follows: 22 December 1996.

2.9.

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3.

Conventions of Essay Style 3.1.

Titles

(a) Italicise titles of books, plays, films, periodicals, newspapers, magazines, long poems, videotapes, radio and television programmes, dance works, operas and instrumental music. Towards a Poor Theatre As you Like It The Waste Land Modern Drama South Wales Echo Time Magnolia Panorama The Archers Swan Lake The Magic Flute Boticelli’s Birth of Venus Michelangelo’s David

(published work) (play) (long poem) (periodical) (newspaper) (magazine) (film) (television programme) (radio programme) (dance) (opera) (painting) (sculpture)

(b) Use inverted commas for articles, essays, short stories, short poems, songs, chapters of books, unpublished works, lectures and speeches. “The Role of the Fool in King Lear” “The Tempest on Stage” “The Tell-Tale Heart” “The Road Not Taken” “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” “Theatre and Childhood Development” “Characteristics of Epic Theatre”

3.2.

(article in periodical) (chapter in a book) (short story) (poem) (song) (dissertation) (lecture)

Names of Persons

After you have referred to a writer in full once in your essay, it is generally accepted to refer to him or her by his or her surname after that. 4

For example, in an essay referring to Timberlake Wertenbaker, you would refer to her as Wertenbaker through the essay, not as Timberlake.

3.3.

Tense

Use the present tense for relating or referring to events in a play: “When Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle…” and not “When Duncan arrived at Macbeth’s castle”.

3.4.

Foreign terms

Foreign terms should be underlined or italicised: In ancient Greek tragedy actors wore high boots called cothurni and a head-dress called an onkos.

3.5.

Conventions governing quotations

Important Note: See Section 4 below for details on how to reference quotations.

a) A Short Quotation A short quotation is less than four lines, if taken from a single paragraph. Incorporate this into your text and mark it off by quotation-marks at the beginning and the end. Example (from an imaginary essay on Hamlet) Anyone who reads the play or sees a production of Hamlet would agree with Harold Jenkins (1993, p.297)that “the big moral and metaphysical issues are rarely from his [Hamlet’s] mind”.

Some points to note: i. The quotation is incorporated into the writer’s sentence. ii. The interpolation in square brackets removes any ambiguity. 5

iii. iv.

The full stop is part of the writer’s sentence, not the quotation, so it is placed outside the quotation marks. The parenthetical reference (in brackets after the author’s name) enables the reader to find the source of the quotation.

b) A Long Quotation A longer quotation is four lines or more, or a quotation involving more than one paragraph. Set this apart from your text by leaving a line blank before and after it. Indent it and centre it on your page. Use single-line spacing and do not enclose it in quotation marks. Example (from an imaginary essay on Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine)

Commenting on the process of developing Cloud Nine, one of the performers, Anthony Sher, refers to the relationship between the workshop process and final production: Act One bore no direct resemblance to the workshop which had never dealt specifically with Victorian sexual politics. Caryl had obviously been inspired and nourished by the workshop, but had then taken a bold imaginative leap and used a different period and society to highlight the themes of sexual prejudice and role-playing. (1994, p.298) Turning to Act One itself we can see various examples of the ways in which these themes are highlighted…

Points to Note: i. The main body text is in double-line spacing, whereas the quotation is in single-line spacing. ii. The reference comes after the full-stop (see section 4 below)

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c) Stage Directions and Characters’ Names Stage Directions must be italicised when you quote them. Example (from an imaginary essay on Angels in America) When Hannah is in the hospital room and calls for the lights to be turned back on, there is “the sound of a silvery trumpet in the dark, and a tattoo of faraway drums” (p.77).

Example (From an imaginary essay quoting from Waiting for Godot) ESTRAGON VLADIMIR

(giving up again). Nothing to be done. (advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart). I’m beginning to come round to that opinion. (p.9).

Points to note: i. In these examples, references have been given in brackets after the quotations. (see section 4 below on how to reference). ii. Characters’ names are in capital letters and stage directions are italicised

d) Omissions If you leave out part of a passage you are quoting, show this by means of three ellipsis dots. To show an omission that includes or follows the end of a sentence, use four dots (one being the full stop and the other three the ellipses). Example “The final image of the wind dropping… is the termination of the whole sequence of ideas and images…. The passage ends with tears stilling the blast.”

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e) Emphasis If, in a quotation, you underline or bold a word or phrase to emphasise it, you must say, in brackets after the quotation, that you have done so. This is done as follows: (Emphasis mine) or (Underlining mine).

f) Double Quotations Where one quotation appears inside another, use single inverted commas for the inner quotation. Example (from MOORE, S (1984) , The Stanislavski System, London: Penguin Books, p.13). In discussing Stanislavski’s work, Sonia Moore points out that “Stanislavski’s belief about the incarnation of the inner life is in accord with what Leonardo da Vinci said to his disciples: ‘The soul does not like to be without its body because without the body it cannot feel or do anything; therefore build a figure in such a way that its pose tells what is in the soul of it.’”.

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4. Referencing your Text and Acknowledging your Sources As soon as you refer to somebody else’s work or ideas, be it as a straight quotation, or a paraphrase, you must provide a reference and acknowledge your sources. If you use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source, you are plagiarising which is a form of intellectual theft. According to the UWIC Academic Handbook, plagiarism is an infringement of university regulations and if you are found guilty of such action, you may be failed in the complete stage of the award, and in some extreme cases may be discontinued. Please take careful note of the following.

4.1.

References Please use the Havard style of referencing throughout your written work i.e. where a reference is cited, the author’s surname and the date of publication are given in the text. At the end of the essay, one bibliography is provided with a comprehensive list in alphabetical order or all the references cited.

4.2.

The Havard system - parenthetical references This simply means that you put referencing details in brackets after a quotation, or after information that you have paraphrased. This is done as follows: (author’s surname, year of publication, page number). Examples (from an imaginary essay about Harold Pinter)

According to Esslin, (1970, p.37) Pinter was a radical pacifist OR Esslin (1970) makes some interesting observations about Pinter’s ideological background. There can be little doubt that Pinter’s radical pacifism was a reaction to this experience of violence in the years of his boyhood and adolescence. (p.37) 9

Some points to note: i. Note that you do not need to include the title of the work, or publisher information in the reference. ii. The full details of the reference would be listed in your bibliography, so the reader could simply look up Esslin and find the full details. iii. If you are using two different publications published by the same author in the same year, you would list the date in the reference as, for example, 1973a and 1973b. Your bibliography would then have to show this distinction as well. 4.3.

Using the Havard system when quoting from the following:

4.3.1 A play text When quoting from a play under discussion, you should reference as follows: a) For a prose play, give only the page number (using “p.” or “pp.” for “page” or “pages”). Example (from an imaginary essay on The Room) In The Room, Rose clearly shows her fear of the outside world when she tells Mr Sands, “We’ve got our room. We don’t bother anyone else” (p.21). b) For a verse play, give act, scene and line (note that in this case there is no prefix abbreviations, and no page numbering given). Example (from an imaginary essay on Hamlet) When Hamlet speaks of the “special providence in the fall of a sparrow” (5.2.212-213), he has reached a turning point. Note: you may use Arabic or Roman numerals for Act and Scene, for example the above reference could also be written as (V.ii.212213).

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4.3.2

Article from a periodical: Mel Gordon, (1974, pp.72-88)

4.3.3

A newspaper or magazine: Julia Somers, (1994, p.96)

4.3.4

A film or video: In the film It’s a Wonderful Life, (Capra, 1946)

4.3.5

A radio programme: During the radio programme You and Yours, (BBC 8 April 2001)

4.3.6

A web-site or electronic publication: (www.eb.com, p.1 of 8)

5. Bibliography

5.1.

All essays must include a bibliography, even if the only entry is the text under discussion.

5.2.

All works listed in your bibliography must be referenced in your essay

5.3.

List Bibliography entries in alphabetical order according to the authors’ surnames.

5.4.

A basic entry for a book includes the following information: author’s surname, initials. Title (italicised). Publisher: Place of Publication. Year of Publication. Note the variations below for other kinds of publications and sources.

5.5.

Please pay close attention to the following conventions for different types of publications:

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(i)

Book with a single author: BROOK, P. (1968) The Empty Space, London, Penguin Books.

(ii)

Book with more than one author: HOLLOWS, J., HUTCHINGS, P. & JANCOVICH, M. (2000) The Film Studies Reader, London, Arnold Publishers.

(iii)

Revised edition of a book: BROCKETT, O.G. (1995) History of the Theatre, seventh edition, Boston, Rev. Allyn and Bacon

(iv)

Article from a periodical MIENCZAKOWSKI, J. (1997) Theatre of Change, Research in Drama Education, vol.2, no.7, pp.159-172.

(v)

Article from a newspaper or magazine CARVEL, J. (2001) Immigration Rise Main Social Trend of the 1990s, The Guardian, 25 January, p.24.

(vi)

A Performance SHAKESPEARE, W. (1964) Hamlet, Dir. Gielgud J. Shubert Theatre, Boston.

(vii) A Film or Video CAPRA, F. (1946) It’s a Wonderful Life, RKO

(viii) A Radio Programme BBC Radio 4 (2001) You and Yours. 12

(ix)

A Web-site or Electronic Publication Britanica Online. Vers. 98.2. Apr. 1998. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 8 May 1998 .

(x)

Chapters in books. SMALLWOOD, R.L. (1996) Shakespeare’s use of History, in WELLS, S.(ed) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies,Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 143 – 162.

(xi)

Government publications DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT (1998) Teachers: Managing the challenge of change, London, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

6. Library Resources

6.1

Ensure that you know how to use the Library resources fully. Information can be found in five main sections: the open shelves (upstairs), the reference section, the short loan collection, the periodicals section and electronic sources.

6.2

Please do not rely exclusively on the world wide web for your research. Whilst the internet offers a wonderful wealth of information, at present the Library does not offer the detailed critical works that books provide. It is crucial for academic essays that you read widely and that you engage with scholarly debate and discussion. Do not fall into the trap of relying only on the ‘encyclopaedic’ type of information that is found in abundance on the net. (However, also see 6.6. below)

6.3

You can find books, journals, electronic sources and audio-visual material using the computerised library catalogue known as TALIS which can be accessed from terminals in the Library or via the university website.

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6.4

Note that library materials can also be accessed via the inter-library loans system. This means that you can borrow books from other libraries via the Library. A request should be made on the appropriate form available from Library staff. Please do this as soon as possible – do not leave until Yr. 4 when you are doing your dissertation.

6.5

Details of book and audio-visual holdings for all four UWIC Campus Libraries may be obtained from the Library Catalogue. The catalogue can be accessed in the Library, or via the UWIC Library web pages www.uwic.ac.uk/library. Information about UWIC’s holdings for journals and subscriptions for electronic sources may also be obtained from the Library web pages.

6.6

If you need help using the Library or finding resources, please ask Library staff who will be pleased to help you. You are also advised to refer to the study skills package on the UWIC website.

6.7

You may also be interested to know that there is also a basic guide to finding information in education on the Library Homepage http://www.uwic.ac.uk/library/information/subjects/cyncoed/education.ht m. In addition, there are also pointers to guidance on using the Harvard Referencing System (including the UWIC Study Skills site) http://www.uwic.ac.uk/library/electronic/elecref/referencinglitsearch.htm

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Essay Checklist BEFORE STARTING YOUR ESSAY…  Analyse the question and ensure that you understand what is being asked of you. DO NOT simply write down everything you know about the topic, answer the question specifically.  Plan your essay, read widely, write down notes, brainstorm, and be prepared to work through various drafts of your work before preparing a final version for submission.  Plan your time carefully. Check the due date and time and leave sufficient time for the printing and submission of your essay. Also ensure that you leave enough time to access books in the library, as there are a limited number of copies with a lot of people using them.
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