How to Write Right

How to Succeed at University

Topics
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Rules for writing: Right and wrong
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Avoiding plagiarism
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Good style vs bad style
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Common makes students make

Rules
● Writing in English has rules
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If you follow the rules = good
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If not = bad
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If not, either you don’t know the rules (bad)
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Or you don’t care (bad)
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So, writing properly shows you are educated.
 Rule: Acronyms
● Acronym = word formed by initials of words
●
SCUBA
– Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
● ASAP
– As soon as possible
●
You must define on first use.
In my project (PJ) I will...

Rule: Citation in 2 places

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Citation: In the text
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Reference: At end of text
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All citations must be in references
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All references must be in citations
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Otherwise, it is wrong
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Same citation multiple times: OK
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Same reference multiple times: Bad.

Rule: Citation format

● Harvard, APA, etc. follow same format
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(Name, date)
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Name = family name only
– Andre
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Date = year only In-text citation
– 2021 . (Andre, 2021)
 Rule: Reference format
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Harvard, APA, etc. follow same format
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Last name, first initial
In References section
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Year Andre, J. (2021) Hyperautomation to
Increase Effectiveness of Student
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Name of article Online Learning Behavior. Journal of
Education Management; 9(A).
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Name of journal, including issue DOI:10.53750/1859-
2910.2021.13.9A-293
●
DOI
– Document object identifier
– Unique ID to a paper
– Example: 10.53750/1859-2910.2021.13.9A-293
– Available at https://doi.org/10.53750/1859-2910.2021.13.9A-293 .

Rule: Plagiarism
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Taking words or ideas that are not yours
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and claiming them to be yours
If not cited, you are
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Can be accidental claiming as yours
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Still stealing
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Academics’ value is in their ideas, words
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When you steal, that is very, very bad.

Direct quote
● “due to the Covid-19 pandemic, students will
naturally interact with the LMS more than
before” (Andre, 2021)
●
This means the words are from Andre in his
2021 paper
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If you got from someone else, do not cite like
that.
 Indirect quote (2)
● According to Andre (2021), the Covid-19
pandemic led to increased usage of the LMS
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If you read this in Smith, 2022, and you copy
and paste it, is it OK ?
– It is cited, right ?
●
No, not OK because you are stealing the work
of Smith.

Indirect quote (3)

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The only reason to use an indirect quote
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Is because you cannot find the original paper
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If Smith (2022) wrote about Andre (2021), and you
cannot find Andre (2021) then cite indirectly
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According to Andre (2021, cited in Smith, 2022), the
Covid-19 pandemic increased LMS usage
●
If you can find the original paper, read it, verify it really
says that, and then cite the original paper.

Citing Authors
● Website: Author should be human
●
Never SlideShare (or similar)
– They are not author nor publisher
– They are a hosting service, they didn’t say it
●
Publisher OK if Economist
– Some publishers do not use reporter names.
 Ellipses
-"..." say that we have purposedly removed unimportant words from a
Activity direct quote

● When do we use three dots “...”

Feedback
Activity - Some ways to improve writing are reading books on writing, talking to
teachers
- No, this is wrong
Is it OK to write like this? It should be written
Many people need to improve their writing. Some etc = end cetra
ways to improve writing are reading books on
writing, talking to teachers, …
etc What is important is
that you take steps to get better.

Paraphrasing
● Paraphrasing helps to avoid plagiarism
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But still must cite the idea
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Do not cite someone else’s paraphrase
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Usually paraphrasing is better than direct quote
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Avoid direct quote
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Unless you have a really reason for using it.
 Activity
● You see this:

In particular, communication that reveals shared values

and reflects common commitments to organizational
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Can you write: goals enables coworkers to forge and sustain
productive relationships in organizations (Herriot
2002). Communication can also have direct and
indirect effects on team and organizational
performance (Greenbaum and Query 1999).

Cover Page
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Always include a cover page
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If you do not, it is wrong
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It should include your name, module name,
module leader, any tutor(s), the date, the name
of the assignment.

Citing Teacher
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Lecturers prepare lectures
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They do a lot of research
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They are usually experts in their fields
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You can cite them but this is lazy
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You should find the original source and cite it
– This might require research from you
– University is all about doing research.
 Rule: Academic argument
What problems exist here?
Note: There are some
minor grammar issues but
ignore those for now.
Employees’ satisfaction is the
most difficult factor that every
large firm need to focus if they
want to increase performance
particularly big company as
CGV Vietnam. Obviously firms
can’t satisfy each and every
employee under their
management but CGV
Vietnam’s HR is try their best to
meet their employees’ demand
as much as possible.

Feedback
Spelling - LibreOffice Writer & Microsoft Word spell check
- So use the technology you have
●
Anything else wrong here?
Employees’ sastisfaction is the most difficult factor
that every large firm need to focus if they want to
increase perfomance particularly big company as
CJ CGV Vietnam. Obviously firms can’t sastisfy
each and every employee under their management
but CJ CGV Vietnam’s HR is try their best to meet
their employees’ demand as much as posible.

Paragraphing
How long should one paragraph be?
- A paragraph should be as long as it needs to be
+ And not longer
- Could be one sentence
- Could be 1/3rd of a page
- If over 1/2 of a page, it is likely wrong
- A paragraph has a single idea
 - To say a weakness is" cost money" is bad
- You should never eat or grow own food?
Quality of Evaluation - Why is money more valuable than time to you?
- This is why good criteria are important
● You can buy a Banh Mi Trung for 20,000 vnd + You get good criteria from reading
- Simple thinking is of no value to anyone
●
Evaluate
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Strength: Tasty, high in protein, veggies
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Weakness: Costs money
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Is this a good evaluation?

Quality of Sources
Why does it matter if you use journals or
websites?

- Website: I want to say, I say

+ Nobody checks me, nobody controls me
-> Freedom!
- Journal: I want to say, I write
+ Multiple expert check (could be 5-6)
+ Editor controls me (gatekeeper)
+ If anyone finds problems after: Retractions

Activity: Good or bad

●
Info on Wikipedia
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Info on essay hosting service
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Info on VN gov’t ministry website
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Article in Journal of Economic Development
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Conference Paper from 30 years ago
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Report from MNC consulting firm (PwC)
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A paper on ResearchGate.
 - You are valuable because of your mind
- Show you can think in greater idea
Critical vs Descriptive - From multiple perspective
- There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking
● The company has 1,500 employees
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They have monthly birthday parties
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They give all employees onboarding training
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Employees say they like their boss
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The company has a great reputation
Is this good writing? What could be better?

Table of Contents
When should you include a table of contents?
- Read the brief
- If nothing mentioned, use your judgment
- What is the purpose of ToC
- 200 page of book need ToC
- 2 page memo does not

Formatting numbers
● 1000000000 = very difficult to read
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7000 = wrong
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7,000 = right
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15.323 is not 15,323
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15.323 usually should be just 15
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Avoid distraction.
 Quantity of Sources
● Guideline: 80/20
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Generally, 20% of writing should be from
sources
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80% should be from you, your own thinking
● Making connections, explaining
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Giving examples helps a lot.

Beautiful Writing
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Generally writing should be
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Double spaced (never less than 1.5)
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Font that is easy to read
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Consistent font, black on white background
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New paragraph need a gap from previous
– Or indent first line of each paragraph .

Review
Key Points:
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Writing in English does have rules
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Educated people know them
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Educated people use them