The Mechanics of Writing

This Blog-post is a response to the thinking activity task 'Mechanics of Writing' given by our professor made Megha Trivedi ma'am. 

What is the Mechanics of Writing? 

In composition, writing mechanics are the conventions governing the technical aspects of writing, including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviations. Getting your main points together can be a challenge, and one solution is to put together a draft of the main ideas before writing. Some writing textbooks also include issues related to usage and organization under the broad heading of mechanics. 

"Teachers using a traditional, product-oriented approach tend to focus on the formal mechanical and technical aspects of writing while paying little attention to the individual writer's communicative purposes. Thus with this approach, there is a danger that, for many children, writing will become an exercise in formal mechanics divorced from personal content and intentions."

Joan Brooks McLane and Gillian Dowley McNamee, Early Literacy. Harvard University Press, 1990 (www.thoughtco.com)

Video 1. Academic Writing by Kalyan Chattopadhyay

In this video, the resource person delivered an expert talk on the Mechanics of Writing in Research Methodology. He talked about the importance of linguistic markers to identify formal and informal writing. He also shared his views on Critical Writing.

Formal and Informal Language:(www.touro.edu)

What is the difference between formal and informal language?

Formal and informal language serve different purposes in written communications depending on the reader (Audience) and reason for writing (Purpose). The tone, the choice of words, and the way the words are put together vary between the two different styles.

Formal language is less personal than informal language. It is used when writing for professional or academic purposes like graduate school assignments. Formal language does not use colloquialisms, contractions, or first-person pronouns such as “I” or “We.”

Informal language is more casual and spontaneous. It is used when communicating with friends or family either in writing or in conversation. It is used when writing personal emails, text messages, and some business correspondence. The tone of informal language is more personal than formal language.

Some notes were taken while listening to the lecture: 

- Formal Vocabulary, posing, exercising

- you do not argue strongly 

- formal language has the passive voice, Maybe, perhaps - language markers should be used

- passive voice + Objective language

- Topical Sentences

- supportive sentences

- concluding sentences - summary of your earlier argument, do not repeat topical sentences

- signally expression, like- however, indeed, because of, because

- in concluding sentences, should not repeat Topical sentences, do not use 'I think, 'I mean markers

- addressing your question and trying to conduct your research

- careful thoughts

- analysis

- comparison - discussion making

- question- why should I agree with a particular critic? 

- deal specifically with the most seminal/critical opinion. 

Video 2. Academic Writing: The Basics by Atanu Bhattacharya

In this video, the resource person talked about the Basis of Academic Writing. In this video, the speaker gave example and explain how we should not afraid of academic writing, He named two books, 1. The Scale:The Harmless proof, Book: Intellectual Impostures by Alan Sokal & Jean Bricmot. 2. The Publication Scale: Not so Harmless Book: The Emperor of all Maladies - A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. 

A Few Takeaways 

- writing has material effects

- Avoid massive jargonization 

- Research and publication ethics

- Carefully choose the topic

Introduction last

-Writing it up: a few tips

-Create an indexed literature review

-Be sure of the triangulated methods

-DO NOT repeat the same arguments

-Use available digital tools

-Follow the literature

Digital Tools for Reference Management: 

Zotero, Mendeley, MS word

Summing up

- Linguistic choices - the "pitching" of the paper/dissertation/thesis

-Discourse choices - how do we organize it, lines of argument, etc.

-Topic choices - availability/non-availability of material; synchronic/diachronic

-Ethical choices - plagiarism, etc.

(from speakers presentation slides)

Video 3. The Mechanics of Writing by Atanu Bhattacharya

The final part delivered by the resource person Atanu Sir is about the mechanics of writing in research methodology. 

Formulating Propositions/ Defining

Formulating a proposition/ defining often takes the following linguistic form:

Key term + verb (be)/ is defined as/ can be defined as/ may be defined as/ is often defined as + [in] which/that/where/ when + defining features

Here's an example:

The program of gynocritics is to construct a female framework for the analysis of women's literature, to develop new models based on the study of female experience, rather than to adapt male models and theories.

Genre: Classification (Swales's CARS Model)

Definition

Purpose

Justification

Literature Review

Method

Argument

Conclusion

Paraphrasing: 

Avoid repeating yourself

Avoid quoting someone else exactly

Paraphrasing

Change your vocabulary (and do not repeat)

Develop your own 'voice' in your writing

Introduction

the rationale

the thesis statement (or the topic sentence)

contextualizing material

a statement to gain the reader's interest

a basic definition

Noun Phrases and Nominalisations:

- In 1835, Lord Macaulay who was an essayist, historian, and colonial administrator, produced his 'Minute on Education'.

- This report focuses on countries that have high birth rates.

- In Britain in 1807 a bill was defeated which would have brought elementary education to everyone.

- Many older people lived in rural areas which meant that they did not have access to good healthcare.

- This information enables the formulation of a new theory.

Stance: 

- The internet and the World Wide Web have provided a new medium for culture, generally labeled cyberculture, because it exists in cyberspace.

- The internet and the Web made possible a culture free of many of the constraints that operated in other media.

- It may be argued that Sherry Turkle (1997) supports the view that virtual subjects can become free of themselves.

- Arguably, a 'techno power spiral' has brought about control by a technical elite.

Hedging Language:

Academic texts frequently discuss theories, evaluate evidence, and propose solutions, and mostly these things are not absolute facts. This means that authors often "hedge" or soften what they say to avoid sounding too certain. They use modal verbs (can, may), verbs (seem, appear), adverbs (arguably, significantly), adverbials (on occasion, to some extent), using impersonal structures (it, there), etc.