Language as a Key Component of a Scholarly Tone
A critical analysis of different authors’ thoughts and works is an integral part of academic writing. The evaluation of scientists’ research works gives the article a scholarly tone and allows achieving a better consideration of a particular issue. Perhaps, the use of language offers the reader the best understanding of a distinctive voice in the written piece. According to Parryville Media (2012), critical writing means responding to a piece of literature to reflect a specific approach and refer to any assumptions that the author is making. The use of a proper language gives the author of the paper an opportunity to convince the reader of his or her position and to convey some thoughts as wisely as possible. The vocabulary of the specific sphere used in work allows approaching the style of cited sources and does not violate the general idea and concept of a chosen topic. Therefore, a correctly chosen language is an integral component of an article written in a scholarly tone.
Also, as Spatt (2010) notes, the style of presentation directly affects the reader’s perception of specific information. If a particular work aims at conveying any information to a selective audience, the manner of writing should be in accordance with the interests and level of knowledge of the target group. In other words, it means that it is useless to try to write scientific work and implement youth slang or other jargon in it. At the same time, if the work that is aimed at young people contains complicated academic terms, it is unlikely that readers will appreciate the author’s potential for their worth. A competent analysis implies the combination of personal ideas and thoughts of other authors, and all of it should look harmonious since only in this case the work acquires a tone of a critical one.
Practical Aspects of Plagiarism
The idea of copying other people’s thoughts to confirm this or that hypothesis is widely used in academic writing. However, in parallel with it, a rather significant question arises regarding plagiarism. It is not that easy to claim what can be considered the theft of other people’s ideas and what is used just as the confirmation of a specific theory. For example, Spatt (2010) offers to select vocabulary intelligently when rephrasing different authors’ ideas and not to distort the original meaning of the quote. According to Fusch, Ness, Booker, and Fusch (2017), plagiarism is an ethical dilemma, and adherence to responsibility for the use of other people’s thoughts is one of the critical aspects.
However, the use of other people’s ideas can be quite a natural process, as the Academy of Management (2011) notes. According to the authors of the video, the use of specific quotes makes it possible to obtain the confirmation of a chosen theory in question and to present the views of respected authors as an argumentation (Academy of Management, 2011). Planning work on writing an academic article on a specific topic is usually associated with the use of additional sources as a support for research. In this case, the importance of explicitly identifying, crediting, and referencing sources is one of the essential aspects that can help in the process of writing. The fact is that borrowed ideas can hardly be considered plagiarism if they are used in accordance with specific requirements and are not presented as personal thoughts of the author but as a reference to a more respected source. Therefore, the question of plagiarism is relevant only if authors give out other people’s ideas for their own and do not intend to display in the text that some material used is their own.
References
Academy of Management. (2011). Ethics video series: Plagiarism [Video file]. Web.
Fusch, P. I., Ness, L. R., Booker, J. M., & Fusch, G. E. (2017). The ethical implications of plagiarism and ghostwriting in an open society. Journal of Social Change, 9(1), 55-63.
Parryville Media. (2012). Writing an article critique – postgraduate program in higher education [Video file]. Web.
Spatt, B. (2010). Writing from sources (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.