1. Avoid overly colloquial expressions such as ‘I think’, as your academic attitude may be misinterpreted and your tutor may think you are not serious about your research. In the early stages of essay writing, novice writers often use this kind of blunt expression unintentionally. Academic papers are not as casual as our domestic writing, and the use of too much colloquialism will make you look unprofessional and even a little casual.
2. Try to use passive voice as little as possible, unless the paper is in the field of science or biology, or the teacher specifically requested the tense. Otherwise, the use of passive voice may weaken the original subject and make the essay seem less formal.
3. Don’t be sloppy about citation formatting. There are four common citation formats: APA, MLA, Harvard, and Chicago style, each with different requirements, and even for the same format, such as APA, there are different versions. Foreign countries are very strict about formatting, and if you don’t get the format right, you will easily be judged as a plagiarist!
4. Do not overly pursue advanced vocabulary, many people after writing the paper, like to use the touch-up software to replace many words with synonyms that seem to be high but do not know, so as to show their professional level. However, this is often counterproductive and makes your tutor feel that you are making a fuss and overcomplicating a simple issue.
5. Avoid repeating the same or similar cases or phrases, and do not expand concise and clear sentences into long and incomprehensible ones. Doing so not only fails to demonstrate your critical thinking, but may also result in a low score for your paper.
6. Pay attention to the clarity of grammatical logic in the writing process. Chinese writing has a different logical structure than English writing, and without proper logical linking words, your tutor will find it very difficult to read, which will affect the score of your paper. Therefore, it is important to add appropriate conjunctions between each sentence to better convey your ideas.
7. In academic papers, avoid using overly casual abbreviations, such as ‘they will = they’ll’, ‘i.e.’ = ‘in other words’, ‘e.g.’ = ‘for example’ and so on. These abbreviations are forbidden in formal academic writing. Remember, academic writing is rigorous and needs to be kept rigorous and dignified at all times.
8. The conclusion is a summary of the entire text, stating the results of the research and emphasising the importance of the research. Do not belittle your own ideas or introduce new ones here.
9. In citation format, even a small punctuation mark must be accurate. There may be differences between different versions of the same format, for example, the seventh edition of the APA is slightly different from the regular APA format, so you should be careful to identify this when citing.
