Check the following:
• Quotes and citations (see “Citations done right”)
• Spelling and grammar (have someone proofread your work)
Things to bear in mind when writing an academic text:
Make sure your sentences are easy to understand:
- Keep main clauses and subordinate clauses together
- Break up long sentences into shorter ones or use punctuation such as colons and semicolons
- Active, not passive
- Make sure the subject and verb agree
Avoid filler words and unnecessary phrases:
Examples of unnecessary words:
- Past experience
- The reasons noted
- The results achieved
- The disruptions that occurred
- Common filler words include: purely, mostly, but, well, exactly, namely, also, definitely, so to speak, simply, to this end, ultimately
Last but not least:
Formal criteria:
Pay attention to your instructor’s specifications here. There are a number of criteria that often apply:
- Scope: printing on one side of the page, page numbering (not including title page), number of pages or characters specified by instructor (in case of doubt, it is a good idea to consult the study and examination regulations for your discipline)
- Body text: paragraph justification and hyphenation at the end of the line, headings aligned left, line spacing: 1.5 lines, leave sufficient margins for corrections (3 cm)
- Fonts: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt
The formal structure of your paper:
- Title page
- Table of contents
- List of abbreviations, if applicable
- List of illustrations, if applicable
- Introduction
- Main or central body text
- Summary/conclusion/outlook
- Appendix, if applicable
- Bibliography
- Affidavit (you can generally get the template for this from the examinations office responsible for your discipline or from your institute’s website)