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Academic English Trifold Passive into Active Tips and Tricks ACADEMIC In a sentence written in the active voice, the subject of Here are some tips for success: sentence performs the action. In a sentence written in the • Read your work from the last sentence to the passive voice, the subject receives the action. first sentence- ALOUD. Example 1: • Underline your subjects and circle your verbs. ENGLISH Academic English is different from everyday spoken • Passive: It is believed by the candidate that a • Keep graded papers or a journal of your English because much of academic English is about ceiling must be placed on the budget by Congress. instructor’s comments. Make notes about the expressing the relationship between ideas. Academic • Active: The candidate believes that Congress must areas you need to practice. English can be challenging for ELL students; however, place a ceiling on the budget. • Have someone read your paper aloud or record learning specific techniques used by scholars will help Example 2: yourself reading your paper and play it back. students produce a concise and coherent academic paper. • Passive: The interviews were conducted by two Pay close attention. people who had no relationship with New York • Make a Post-draft outline. It will help you see Important Principles City. how well paragraphs connect to each other, The audience must understand • Active: Two people who had no relationship with whether or not sections of your paper are Grammatical Correctness: New York City conducted the interviews. redundant, and if you have supported your what the speaker or author is trying to say or must be influenced in the way the speaker or writer is trying to thesis in each paragraph. A trick to remember: If you can add “by zombies” after the influence them. Grammar errors can confuse the reader or • verb and it makes sense, you probably have passive voice. If Use words that you know. Do not use words sometimes change the meaning of the passage. it does not make sense, it is active voice, and you have that you cannot define. It may not be the correct successfully escaped the zombies. word choice or meaning for the sentence. Specific language: Assume that your reader does not know Example 3: • Use control find (Ctrl + F) to search for words. much about the topic of your paper. Be specific and include • Save proofreading until the end! information that will help your reader understand. • The town was attacked (by zombies). PASSIVE • Zombies attacked the town (by zombies). ACTIVE Resources Formalism: We interact with a variety of people every day, Note: In most cases, using active voice will result in shorter, often times using language such as “Hey, what’s up?” In an Resources for students: sharper sentences that are easier for the reader to follow. This academic paper, it is essential to stay away from makes your writing clearer and aids the reader in visualizing • The Writing Center tutors and handouts conversational language (see inside for specific examples). what is happening. • Grammarly (Grammarly is a website/application that automatically detects grammar, spelling, Academic Audience: An academic audience is a group of experts in their field who are able to comprehend higher- punctuation, word choice, and style mistakes in Sentence Structure level papers. Keep the audience in mind while forming and your writing; it also has grammar lessons) supporting your argument. Using different types of sentences will help emphasize • The Purdue OWL (The Online-Writing Lab (OWL) different words or ideas. Here are four types of sentences: has writing resources and instructional material). Clichés: Avoid clichés. Do not use phrases or words that are A simple sentence includes only one independent clause • Scribens (Corrects over 250 types of common overused. Be unique and straightforward. - Ex.: I kicked the ball. grammar and spelling mistakes, including verbs, Consistent: Consistency is presenting ideas in the same or A compound sentence contains at least two independent nouns, pronouns, prepositions, homonyms, an expected order. Don’t change the order of words or ideas clauses. Either a semicolon or a coordinating punctuation, typography, and more.) suddenly and be sure to keep consistent verb tense. conjunction joins these clauses. - Ex. I kicked the ball, and it hit Tom. Need more help with Academic English? Citing or writing questions? A complex sentence has one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. If you need help with Academic English, consider THE WRITING CENTER - Ex. Since Tom cried, I can no longer kick the ball. making an appointment or walking in to meet with ELB 273 csusm.edu/writingcenter Amanda, the Academic English Language Specialist. A compound-complex is a sentence having two or more coordinate independent clauses and one or more Her email address is [email protected] Research process questions? 2/18 ES dependent clauses. THE LIBRARY - Ex. I kicked the ball, and because of that Tom cried csusm.edu/writingcenter KEL 3rd Floor biblio.csusm.edu and my parents were angry. st Avoid 1 Person No Expletives Outside Sources First person point of view is considered informal and Expletives are words or phrases that do not add any Academic English often relies on outside sources to is not encouraged in academic writing. First person structural or grammatical meaning to a sentence. These support arguments in the writing. While personal examples can appear to weaken the credibility of the writer in words and phrases are referred to as “empty” or “fillers.” may have been enough before, academic writing often research and argument because it reads as the writer’s Different types of expletives: requires that the writer brings in information from experts personal opinion. First person personal pronouns who have published research on the topic. • Empty words: actually, really, basically, truly, include I, we, me, us, my, mine, our, and ours. obviously, etc. To use outside sources, you have the option to quote, • Example (1st person): I will be discussing • Vague words: Things, stuff, something, etc. paraphrase, or summarize the information. why bullying is a problem and how we can • Meaningless phrases: in my opinion, kind of, sort • Remember that whenever you use an idea from an change it. of, it is important that outside source, you need to cite that information. • Example (3rd person): Bullying is a problem • Redundant pairs: Final outcome, past history, free • Paraphrasing is the most common way to cite in among middle school students; however, gift, each individual, true facts academic English. Be sure your paraphrase is in community interactions and programs can • your words, and be careful if you use words that eliminate bullying. Question-less question words: What or how; you have found in a thesaurus. The reader knows that you are the person discussing the unnecessary if you are not asking a question. • issue, so you can introduce your ideas in third person. • “This” as the subject of the sentence or without a Different classes or professors may prefer certain --The exception to this is if your professor has asked you noun directly after it. citation styles. Be sure to ask your professor if you to write about personal experience. Then, it may be The above words are seen as informal and can be taken out are unsure of which style to use. acceptable to use first person. of a sentence without changing the overall meaning. Avoid 2nd Person Keep Consistent Tone Using new vocabulary found in a thesaurus might seem Academic papers should avoid using second person. No Contractions like a good way to make your writing “sound more Second person refers to the pronoun you. While this Contractions are shortened versions of words that use academic.” However, adding in words that do not match rule is becoming more relaxed, the general rule is that apostrophes in place of letters, such as "can't," "isn't," your tone or voice will make your writing sound awkward. formal papers should not address the reader directly. "she's," and "wouldn't." The more formal, non-contracted If parts of the paper “sound” like you but other parts Here are some tips to avoid using 2nd person: versions are "cannot," "is not," "she is," and "would not." A “sound” more academic, your professor may believe you • Use the word people sentence will sound better non-contracted. have plagiarized or cited incorrectly. To avoid this: - Ex. Most people believe that the sun is hot. Examples: • Use the word one • Write in your own words first. If the tone seems - Ex. One may have a different opinion • The man in the store wouldn’t pay full price too informal, try using words from your textbook for a damaged item. about the topic or class lecture before a thesaurus. • Use someone or somebody Vs. • If you use words from a thesaurus, ask someone - Ex. Someone might have thought it was a else to read your paper. Ask them if the tone seems • The man in the store would not pay full price good idea to go to the beach on a Sunday. consistent and share where it does not. for a damaged item. • Rearrange the sentence to avoid the word you. • Consider using a corpus, such as The second sentence sounds professional and scholarly. Wordandphrase.info, to see examples of how new vocabulary should be used in full sentences. Vagueness- NO! No Colloquialisms or Clichés Do not assume that your audience knows the topic of your Colloquialisms are slang or localized language, and clichés paper. If you use vague language, your reader might not are sayings that have been overused and lost their meaning Writing Workshops understand your argument due to a lack of background overtime. Both should be avoided in an academic paper.
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