Glossary of terms used to discuss academic writing
Abbreviation
The short form of a word or phrase (See
3.1)
Abstract
A short summary of the aims and scope of
a journal article (see 1.2B)
Acknowledgements
A list
of people the author wishes to thank for their assistance, found in books and
articles
Appendix (plural – appendices)
A section at
the end of a book or article contain supplementary information
Assignment
A task given to students, normally for
assessment
Authority
A well-known expert on a
subject
Back issue
A previous issue of a journal or
magazine
Bias
A subjective preference for one point of
view
Bibliography
A list of sources an author has read
but not specifically cited
Brainstorm
A process of
collecting ideas on a topic at random (see 1.4)
Case
study
A section of an essay which examines one example in detail (see
4.3)
Citation
An in-text reference providing a link to
the source (see 1.3 & 1.8)
Cohesion
Linking ideas
in a text together by use of reference words (See 2.3)
Coursework
Assessed assignments given to students to complete
during a course
Conclusion
The final section of an
essay or report (see 1.11)
Contraction
A shortened
form of pronoun and verb e.g. she’s, I’d
Criteria
(singular – criterion)
The principles on which something is judged or
based
Deadline
The final date for completing a piece
of work
Draft
The first attempt at a piece of
writing
Edited book
A book with contributions from
number of writers, controlled by an editor
Extract
A
piece of text taken from a longer work
Formality
In
written work, the use of a non-idiomatic style and vocabulary
Format
The standard pattern of layout for a text
Heading
The title of a section of text
Higher degree
A Master’s degree or Doctorate
Hypothesis
A theory which a researcher is attempting to
explore/ test
Introduction
The first part of an essay
or article (see 1.11)
Journal
An academic publication
in a specialised area, usually published quarterly (see 1.2A)
Literature review
A section of an article describing other
research on the topic in question (see 4.3)
Main
body
The principal part of an essay, after the introduction and before
the conclusion
Margin
The strip of white space on a
page around the text
Module
Most academic courses are
divided into modules, which examine a specified topic
Outline
A preparatory plan for a piece of writing (see
1.4)
Paraphrase
A re-writing of a text with
substantially different wording and organisation but similar ideas
Peer-review
The process of collecting comment from academic
authorities on an article before publication in a journal. This system gives
increased validity to the publication.
Phrase
A few
words which are commonly combined (see 1.1)
Plagiarism
Using another writer’s work without
acknowledgement in an acceptable manner (see 1.3)
Primary
research
Original research e.g. a laboratory experiment or a
sociological enquiry
Quotation
Use of the exact words
of another writer to illustrate your writing (see 1.8)
Redundancy
The unnecessary repetition of ideas or information
(See 2.10)
References
A list of all the sources you
have cited in your work (see 1.8)
Register
The level
of formality in language
Restatement
Repeating a
point in order to explain it more clearly
Scan
A
method of reading in which the eyes move quickly over the page to find a
specific item
Skim
A related reading technique to
quickly find out the main ideas of a text
Source
The
original text you have used to obtain an idea or piece of information
Summary
A shorter version of something (see 1.7)
Synonym
A word or phrase with a similar meaning to another
(see 3.11)
Synopsis
A summary of an article or
book
Term
Word or phrase used to express a special
concept
Word class
A grammatical category e.g. noun,
adjective