A Guide to Academic Writing and Research Reports by Dr. Mangala Fonseka and Dr. Athula Manawaduge (co-authors) was presented to Senior Professor Sampath Amaratunge, Vice-Chancellor, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura on the 27th of May 2019 at the Vice Chancellor’s Office.
Improving the academic writing of our students is an urgent need of the times. A Guide to Academic Writing and Research Reports is an attempt to contribute towards meeting this need. A revised and enlarged edition of a publication that has been used by local undergraduate and postgraduate level students, their responses and authors’ interactions with them have prompted relevant revisions to the previous edition and also a new section on research report writing.
Accordingly, this book, which is focussed on management based writing is organized in two parts, Basics of Academic Writing and Writing of Research Reports. The first part introduces the building blocks of effective academic writing, viz. themes, basic structures, paragraph writing and correct use of language. The second part deals with more specialized areas such as referencing, formatting and finesse. The book also contains an excellent overview of management research as a preamble to writing research reports. Thus, the book, as a whole carries many value-adding features.
Though A Guide to Academic Writing and Research Reports has been written mainly for use by students of the Department of Accounting, it can be of value to those engaged in similar posits both within and outside the University. The general guidelines provided in the book may be suitably adapted by and used by them to meet their specific requirements. In fact, will serve as a useful handbook for the academic community.
Both Dr. Mangala Fonseka (now retired) and Dr. Athula Manawaduge are respected and longstanding academics from the Department of Accounting, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
