Why Should I Use Topic Sentences? When writing an essay for university, you must use topic sentences. These are sentences that go at the beginning of each paragraph in which you are about to discuss a new topic. Their purpose is to improve the logical flow of the essay, and…
You may have read in ‘Understanding Verb Forms—Part One’ that verbs can come in various forms including present and past tense. By choosing these verb forms appropriately and consistently in your academic writing, your thoughts will come across clearly and logically to the reader. When should I use past tense?…
In our last article, ‘How to Use the Semicolon: The Soft Separator’ , we explained how semicolons are used to create a close relationship between two related independent clauses. It’s useful to repeat here that the semicolon denotes a pause that is longer than a comma, but shorter than a…
Vertical lists, sometimes referred to as ‘dot points’, have an important role in writing. The Style Manual (2002, p. 141) describes their role as a ‘visual signpost’ to help ‘readers absorb information, particularly when they are scanning material’. The material itemised in a list should have some importance to justify the emphasis.…
In the first article of this series ‘What is Find and Replace? And Why You Should Be Using It’, you were oriented to the Find and Replace dialogue box and the many options at your disposal when creating a Find and Replace search. These next articles carry this theory over…
Knowing the difference between active and passive voice is important for academic writing. It’s important to state upfront that neither voice is wrong per se; when used correctly, they each serve a purpose in academic writing. This article will explain the difference between the active and passive voice and our…
This is the third, and final, instalment in our ‘Understanding Verb Forms’ series. We encourage you to catch up on ‘Understanding Verb Forms—Part One’ and ‘Understanding Verb Forms—Part Two’, which cover plain and past tense form, and past participle form respectively. This article will explain the present participle form of…
You may have read some articles from our ‘Commonly Confused Words’ series: a series where we explain the difference between some of the most misused words in academic writing. As a tangent to that series, we want to spend some time exploring the confusing aspects of tense. What is the…
Our previous article, ‘Using Lists—Vertical Lists’, outlined how to create emphasis in your writing through effective construction of lists. What happens if you have a list, but don’t want that much emphasis or visual signposting? What if you don’t have the physical space to present dot points? Horizontal lists, lists…
You might remember from your early schooling that it’s a pretty safe bet to put an apostrophe before an ‘s’ at the end of a word. Chances are you’ll need one there, right? This is not always the case. There is nothing more irksome for a reader than to wade…