Writing in English: A Guide for Advanced Learners

This book offers practical advice and guidance to German-speaking undergraduates and academics who aspire to write in English. It also provides valuable assistance to editors, examiners and teachers who conduct English courses for intermediate or advanced students. It consists of four modules and is rounded off with a subject index and a glossary. Making extensive use of authentic texts, the authors adopt a contrastive approach and focus on the major problems encountered by Germans writing in English.This third edition has been thoroughly revised, updated and expanded to include, among other things, advice on how to use new Internet technology.

PrefacesIntroductionModule I Organizing ideas into textIntroductionChapter 1 The term paper: gearing up to start writing1.1 The term paper as an argued text1.2 The three processes of planning, writing proper and editing1.3 Making the plan1.4 Using a computer1.5 ConclusionChapter 2 Different types of term paper: Two models2.1 Term paper as essay or as mini-article2.2 Quotation and paraphrase2.3 The literary essay2.4 The linguistic mini-article2.5 ConclusionChapter 3 Title, Introduction, Body and Conclusion3.1 The Title3.2 The Introduction3.3 The Body sections3.4 Paragraphs within the Body sections3.5 The ConclusionChapter 4 Getting the paper ready for submission: Editing and formatting4.1 Editing4.2 Formal requirementsBibliographyModule II Building effective sentencesIntroductionChapter 1 Basic issues in sentence construction1.1 Sentence construction1.2 Information packaging1.3 Sentencing1.4 OverviewChapter 2 Information packaging2.1 Basic grammatical moulds2.2 The order of information in the clause2.3 Organizing the starting point2.4 Establishing a special kind of starting point: framing2.5 Organizing the end point2.6 What goes wrong in clause construction2.7 OverviewChapter 3 Complex sentences3.1 Different kinds of sentence3.2 Clause combining: the basic forms3.3 Foregrounding and backgrounding3.4 Complex framing3.5 Interruption techniques3.6 Elaborational techniques3.7 Coordinating and listing3.8 Problems with sentence length3.9 ReviewChapter 4 Punctuation4.1 Commas 1: the principle of semantic unity4.2 Commas 2: optional use4.3 Colons4.4 Semicolons4.5 Dashes and brackets4.6 Commas revisited: dealing with comma splices4.7 OverviewBibliographyReferencesModule III Lexis and GrammarIntroductionChapter 1 A constructional view of languageChapter 2 Academic lexis and patterning2.1 Nouns and noun patterns2.2 Adjective patterns2.3 Prepositions and prepositional phrases2.4 Verbs and verb patterns2.5 The interface between verb patterning and sentence-buildingChapter 3 From word to collocation3.1 Words, words, words3.2 How words go together3.3 Collocation of semantic-pragmatic features3.4 Collocational gaps and incompatibilities3.5 Making creative use of collocation3.6 The interplay of collocation and patterningChapter 4 Rhetorical moves and their lexical realizations4.1 Stating your topics and objectives4.2 Reporting, summarizing and paraphrasing4.3 Expressing opinions and criticizing4.4 Enumerating ideas and changing the topic4.5 Topicalizing specific items4.6 Exemplification4.7 Comparison and contrast4.8 Concession4.9 Cause, reason and explanation4.10 Consequence and result4.11 Static relationsBibliographyModule IV StyleIntroductionChapter I Style and stylistic competence1.1 What is style?1.2 How to achieve stylistic competence1.3 Academic style1.4 From non-specialist to specialist text1.5 Personal styleChapter 2 The principles of style2.1 Aptness2.2 Clarity2.3 Concision2.4 Variety2.5 EleganceBibliographyAfterwordGlossaryIndex