Writing Styles

Writing Skills for Accounting Students http://ceds.vu.edu.au/studentlearning/

Amanda Pearce 2003 Wendy Fleet 1

Writing Style: Academic, informal or journalistic? Look at these three passages about accounting. They all say the same thing, but in different styles. Each style has certain features. A feature may belong to more than one style; for example, using short forms of verbs (can’t, he’s, etc) is common in both informal and journalistic styles but very rare in academic style. When you write, it is very important to follow the rules regarding the style you are using. Writing at university is usually in formal, academic style. Most students know this, but many still lose marks because they use some features of informal or journalistic styles.

Passage 1: Informal style This style is most like conversation. These features are not usually acceptable in writing at university.

When you decide how to account for small things, you have to think about materiality. For example, really you should call the tools you buy an asset, but actually I would probably call them an expense because they don’t cost much compared with everything the company owns.

Use of “you” to mean people in general

Use of “I”, “my” or “we”

Short forms of verbs (don’t, can’t, he’s)

Imprecise terms and simple, everyday words

Ordinary words instead of technical terms

Short, everyday words like “buy”, “call”



Passage 2: Journalistic style

Accounting for those tiny bits and pieces? The clue is materiality. Those tools you bought last year are technically an asset, but hey, it’s easier to expense them – they’re just a drop in the ocean compared with the company’s overall worth.

Passage 3: Academic style

Materiality may also influence the treatment of minor items. The purchase of tools, for example, in theory ought to be regarded as an asset, but because the cost is small in comparison with total assets it may be expensed immediately (Carnegie et al 1999, p. 307)

Referring to the reader’s imagined personal experience

Use of questions to get the reader’s attention

“Cool” language Short forms of verbs (“it’s”, “they’re”)

Idioms or slang

Exaggeration

Impersonal ways of saying things, that avoid saying who did the action

More passive* structures (“ought to be regarded”, “may be expensed”)

Technical terms

More formal words (many from Latin or Greek)

Nominalisation*



*Nominalisation Nominalisation means finding ways to express the results of actions without using verbs and without saying who did the action. It means combining several ideas into a short word group that centres on a noun. Nominalisation is usually used together with other features of academic writing such as passive structures, impersonal language and formal words that come from Latin or Greek This technique can help to make academic writing more concise and succinct - to express more meaning in fewer words. Here are some examples: Not nominalised Nominalised “everything the company owns”……………….“the company’s total assets”. “when you buy small things”…………………..“the purchase of minor items Not nominalised Nominalised (plus other techniques of

academic writing) The group throws away some ideas which people in the brainstorm come up with because they decide not to use them. This process may upset people” (26 words)

……………… The discarding of unused brainstorm ideas may frustrate participants”. (9 words)

Everyday word

The agent that does the action of owning or buying

The verb for the action

No verb – the idea of owning or buying is in the word “assets” or “purchase

Formal word (adjective) from Latin that means “everything”

Everyday words

Formal words from Latin that mean “small” and “things”



*Passive and active structures Active structures name the person or people who do the action. Passive structures often do not, because the person or people who do the action does not matter or is obvious. Passive structures are more impersonal, and are commonly used in Australian academic writing. However they are different from nominalisation because passive structures keep the verb, while nominalisation removes it altogether. Passive structures use the verb “to be” (or some form of it like “is”, “will be” etc) plus the past participle of the main verb. Here are some examples, with the verbs in bold: Active structure Passive structure The accountant expenses it immediately It is expensed immediately The company painted the logo The logo was painted Accountants must take into account SAC 4. SAC 4 must be taken into account. They would report it in the Profit and Loss Statement

It would be reported in the Profit and Loss Statement

We may consider it as capital expenditure It may be considered as capital expenditure The company may have purchased the asset The asset may have been purchased Note: your computer grammar checker will probably highlight your passive sentences and tell you to change them to active sentences. This is not because they are wrong, but simply because the people who wrote the program for the grammar checker preferred active sentences. Ignore the grammar checker!

Test yourself Tick the boxes in the table below to indicate what features are more common to the three styles. Feature Informal Journalistic Academic Use of “I” or “we” Use of “you” to mean people in general More passive* structures Short forms of verbs (can’t, he’s) Idioms More active* structures Nominalisation* Imprecise terms Impersonal or third person statements Technical terms “Cool” language Use of questions to get the reader’s attention Exaggeration Formal words that come from Latin or Greek Referring to the reader’s imagined personal experience

Simple, everyday words

Writing Styles

Documents

Transcript of Writing Styles