Efficient sentences
Writing as a process | Preparations | Creating cohesion | Headings and metatext | Paragraphs and topic sentences | Efficient sentences | Using in-text citations | Feedback and revision
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Sentences
To make it possible for a reader to understand the flow of a text, the sentences need to be connected thematically. One trick to make sure this happens is the principle "one thought – one sentence", which roughly means that you should put a full stop before you start a new thought in the text. This is important because if you combine more than one thought into the same sentence, the risk is that the reader doesn't catch all the information but instead starts to prioritise between the information you provide. The consequence is that you can no longer control the message and that the reader is able to understand what you want to tell them is of course crucial to the success of the text.
This principle is as simple as it sounds, but at the same time, it's not always that easy to know what information units you have. Take a look at this sentence:
The Korean drama series "Goblin" was a major success both domestically and abroad.
This sentence conveys a fairly simple thought = this drama series was popular. But in text, we often want to use more complicated sentences.
The Korean drama series "Goblin", a major success when it was released in 2016, is still widely streamed.
What is the thought in this case? The thought (= this drama is still popular) is made clear by putting what can be regarded as extra information (a major success when it was released in 2016) within commas, marking it as not part of the core of the sentence but extra information.
In academic texts, you will sometimes want to write longer and more complex sentences than this. But for the point to come across to the reader, the principle still needs to be the same. Take a look at this more extended sentence:
The Korean drama series "Goblin" was a major success both domestically and abroad in 2016 and today many enjoy the book series "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien.
This sentence is harder to make sense of because the information isn't linked. Do the drama and the book have anything in common? Is it the same people who used to watch the drama that nowadays prefer this book? This sentence doesn't seem to express one thought but two, and in those cases it is always better to make two sentences instead. Note that it's important to include the link between the thoughts even when they are not in the same sentence!
Let's look at an even longer sentence!
The book series "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien is a popular culture phenomenon with an avid fanbase, and adaptations of the original material, as well as new stories set in the same fantasy world, are often criticised for not following the rules of the original in enough detail – even when this is not always the intention of the creators.
This sentence is fairly long but still conveys one cohesive thought to the reader (=The Lord of the Rings-fans have opinions about adaptations").
A simple rule of thumb to help you figure out if a sentence contains one thought or more is to look at the beginning and the end of the sentence and think about if they are about the same thing or not. If yes, then your sentence probably works.
Remember that if these examples were written in an academic text, they would need references!
Some quick tips on efficient sentences
- Make it simple
A complicated sentence isn't more academic, it just makes it harder to understand for the readers. It's also risky, as more complicated sentences make it easier to make grammatical mistakes. - Choose your words carefully
It's very important that you use terminology and other words in a consistent way. The reader always have to understand exactly what you mean. Word choice also affects if your text is perceived as written in an academic style. - Vary the sentence length
If you vary shorter and longer sentences, the text feels lively and easy to read. Never aim for a long sentence if it's not required to express your thought.
Connective markers
The purpose of using linguistic markers that connect the content within the text is to help the reader understand how the information you present relates to the other content. You can do this in different ways, for example:
- Introductory: Starting with, to begin with
- Additions: also, further, in addition
- Cause: a reason for this might be, a possible explanation is
- Comparison: similar conclusions can be drawn, a similarity, in contrast to
- Concluding: in conclusion, finally, to sum up