Revising the “BIG Four” Literature Review Faux Pas

Revision is an iterative process; it is not something that only happens at the end. This chapter focuses on four major issues that are commonly observed in engineering student writing, along with examples, rationales for why they are problematic, and potential revisions. The issues are ineffective or missing topic sentences, fluffy writing, globalisms, and lack of connection or synthesis between topics or articles. All paragraphs need to have a topic/umbrella sentence that encompasses the scope of the paragraph that follows it. Eliminating fluff means getting rid of excessively wordy alternatives to more direct words. One of the most prevalent examples is the tendency of engineers to overuse the word utilize. The chapter presents some real examples of globalisms in action, along with revisions and comments on the examples. An effective literature review is to show the connections between the articles rather than asking readers to surmise the connection between the articles.