Introduction to Academic Writing

Academic Writing

Academic writing is a formal writing. The main aim of academic writing is to

inform or to persuade and not entertain like creative writing. Both academic writer

and academic readers have no time to be entertained but they rush for useful information they are looking for. Academic writing comprises many different types of text, ranging from a research article written for publication in an academic journal to a MSc dissertation to an essay written for a university course.

There are certain features which appear to be typical of academic writing. For example, academic texts answer a specific question, or questions, using a set of well-structured, logical arguments. The arguments are often based on research carried out by the writer or other researchers. Academic texts contain references to previous research, which are documented at the end of the text. Academic texts are written in an impersonal, objective style, and are characterized by certain language features such as the avoidance of personal and contracted forms, a high lexical density, frequent nominalisations and the use of the passive.

Academic Writing Style

A. Academic writing is formal.

1) Try to use full forms, avoid contractions.

e. g. don’t should be do not

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2) Use single-word verbs; avoid phrasal verbs wherever possible because phrasal verbs are generally more colloquial and informal than single word verbs.

e. g. put up with should be tolerate

3) Use standard or formal words and expressions; avoid informal or nonstandard words and expressions such as colloquialism, slang, and taboo words and expressions.

e. g. Informal words formal words

leave depart

quit resign

tired fatigued

flunk fail

lab laboratory

4) Use concrete words and expressions; avoid vague or imprecise terms. Words like thing should be banned. “The right thing” would be better expressed as “the right action” or “the right procedure”.

e.g. Several things must be borne in mind when evaluating EFL textbooks.

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Several points must be considered when evaluating EFL textbooks.

A nice addition to the collection

A popular/ prestigious addition to the collection

B. Academic style is objective.

1) Avoid the first person pronoun “I”.

I have considered... Consideration has been given to...

I suggest that... The suggestion is made that...

I have observed... It has been observed that...

If the first person pronoun cannot be avoided, use “we” instead of “I”, or use third person reference, like “the writer, the present author, or this author”.

2) When expressing an opinion or belief, try to use impersonal constructions.

e.g. you can see--- it can be seen that

I believe --- it is commonly believed that

I hear --- it is said

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C. Academic style is concise.

1) Find the most direct way to express the idea. Use as few words as possible.

2) Avoid repetition of ideas.

3) Concentrate on the topic. Anything that is irrelevant and unnecessary, no matter how well written, should be deleted.

e.g. We should exercise centralized control over the management of foreign exchange and foreign debts and centralize such power in the hands of central authorities. --- The power to manage foreign exchange and debts should be placed in the hands of central authorities.

D. Academic style is varied.

1) Use a variety of words, or substitute with synonyms, or different forms. Avoid as much as possible repetition of the same words.

2) If there is a special word that must be repeated, find ways to refer to it without repeating, e.g.: the above-mentioned point.

3) Use a variety of sentence structures. Avoid overuse of one favorite structure or linking words.

E. Academic style is tentative and cautious.

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1) Use affirmative structures only when there is complete certainty. E.g. It is true that… it has been proved that…

2) Use tentative structures if there is no complete certainty. Modal verbs, adverbs, and other expressions often help to achieve this purpose. E.g. It is commonly accepted that… There is evidence to suggest that ….The author tends to believe that….

F. Academic style is well-linked and connected.

1) Use signaling devices to indicate what the next sentence might be. E.g “besides, in addition” to show additional information; “on the other hand, however, whereas” to show contrast; “as a result, consequently, therefore” to show cause and effect; “for example, for instance” to show exemplification.

2) Introduce different sections clearly.

3) Create logical connections between sentences and paragraphs.

Why is the following text not a good example of academic style?

Today being fat is totally bad for your health. About 30,000 fat people die every year in the UK and lots more fat people die in the USA. By 2015 more people will die of being fat than smoking and it doesn’t have to be this way, this could easily be prevented, couldn't it?

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The number of deaths per year attributable to obesity is roughly 30,000 in the UK and ten times that in the USA, where obesity is set to overtake smoking in 2015 as the main preventable cause of illness and premature death.

Characteristics of Good Academic Writing

Unity: all parts or elements of the writing constituting an organic and harmonious whole

Coherence: all parts or elements well connected to show clear logical relations

Emphasis: special and significant stress given to important ideas by means of position, repetition, or other indication

Development: adequate elaboration and sufficient expansion

Clarity: precise, concise, and lucid in style

Understanding the elements of writing

Writing is a way of communicating a message for a pupose to readers. Communicating in writing means sending a message that has a destination. The message of the writing is its content, which originates in your engaging in one or more of the processes of observing, remembering, reporting, explaining, exploring, interpreting, speculating, and evaluating. Purposes for writing can be many.

Readers, also called your audience, are the deatination your writing must reach.

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Taking readers into account as you write is crucial to your success as a communicator.

Purposes for writing concern a writer’s goals, sometimes called aims of writing or writing intentions. Purposes for writing originate from the motivating forces behind what is being written.

 To express yourself

 To inform a reader

 To persuade a reader

 To create a literary work

These purposes of writing offer you the pleasure of writing for yourself as audience and of creatively composing a work of literature for others to read.

Expressive writing allows you to express your thoughts and feelings.(When expressive writing is intended for public reading, it becomes more like literary writing.)

When we lived in Maine, the fall and winter holidays were my touchstones---the calendar moved along in comforting sequence. I wrpped the snow and foods and celebrations around me like a sofe blanket. I burrowed in. Now that we live in New Mexico, I don’t need that blanket. But I surely do miss it.

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Informative writing seeks to give information and, often, to explain it. Informative writing can also be called expository writing because it expounds on, or sets forth, ideas or facts. Informative writing includes reports of observations, ideas, scientific data, facts, and statisitics. It can be found in textbooks, encyclopedias, technical and business reports, non-fiction, newspapers, and magazines.

When writing to inform a reader, you are expected to offer information with a minimum of bias. Your aim is to relay material that can educate. Your goal here is not to persuade your reader. Like all effective teachers, you need to present the information completely, clearly, and accurately. Readers should be able to verify your material by additional reading, talking with others, or personal experiences.

In 1914 in what is now Addo Park in South Africa, a hunter by the name of Pretorius was asked to exterminated a herd of 140 elephants. He killed all but 20, and those survivors became so cunning at evading him that he was forced to abandon the hunt. The area became a preserve in 1930, and the elephants have been protected ever since. Nevertheless, elephants now four generations removed from those Pretorius hunted remain shy and strangely nocturnal（夜间的）. Young elephants evidently learn from the adult’s trumpeting alarm calls to avoid humans.

This passage is succcessful because it communicates (transmits) a message (about young elephants learning to avoid humans) to a reader (a person who might become or already is interested in the subject) for a purpose (to inform). In

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this passage, the writer’s last sentence states the main idea. The other sentences offer support for the main idea.

Persuasive writing seeks to convince readers about a matter of opinion. This writing is sometimes called argumentation because some forms of it argue a position.

When you write to persuade, you deal with the debatable, which has other sides to it. Persuasive writing seeks to change your reader’s mind or at least to bring your reader’s point of view closer to yours. Even you feel quite certain that your reader’s position on the subject will never change, you are expected to present your position as convincingly as possible. How do you persuade convincingly? You go beyond merely stating an opinion. You offer convincing support for that opinion. Such support relies on clear presentation of whatever information your readers needs to understand your topic, your position on that topic, and your evidence ---such as examples and reasons---that backs up your point of view. Only with support can you hope to convince readers.

The search for some biological basis for math ability or diability is fraught with logical and experimental difficulties. Since not all math underachievers are women, and not all women are mathematics-avoidant, poor performance in math is unlikely to be due to some genetic or hormonal difference between the sexes. Moreover, no amount of research so far has unearthed a “mathematical competency” in some tangible, measurable substance in the body. Since “masculinity” cannot be injected into women to test whether or not it improves

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their mathematics, the theories that attribute such ability to genes or hormones must depend for their proof on circumstantial evidence旁证. So long as about 7 percent of the PhDs in mathematics are earned by women, we have to conclude either that these women have genes, hormones, and brain organization different from those of the rest of us, or that certain positive experiences in their lives have largely undone the negative fact that they are female, or both.

This passage is successful because it sends a message (about math ability and disability) to a reader (a person who might become or already is interested in the subject) for a purpose (to persuade the reader that math ability or disability is not related to gender). The writer’s first sentence summarizes the point of view that she argues in the rest of the paragraph. The other sentences support the writer’s assertion.

Writing is a process

 Planning calls for you to gather ideas and think about a focus.

 Shaping calls for you to consider ways to organize your material.

 Drafting calls for you to write your ideas in sentences and paragraphs.

 Revising calls for you to evaluate your draft, and based on your decisions, rewrite it by adding, cutting, replacing, moving---and often totally recasting material.

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 Editing calls for you to check the technical correctness of your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics.

 Proofreading calls for you to read your final copy for typing errors or handwriting legibility.

Writing begins with thinking about each writing situation. Your thinking involves answering the following questions.

 Topic: What will you be writing about in this situation?

 Purpose: What will be your writing purpose in this situation?

 Audience: Who will be your audience in this situation?

 Special requirments: How much time were you given, and how long should the paper be?

The topic is the foundation of each writing situation. You may choose your own topic or narrow an assigned topic. Whatever the topic, you are the starting place for your writing. Draw on yourself as a source. Whatever you have seen, heard, read, and even dreamed contributes to your fund of ideas and prior knowledge. As you think about your topic, remember that in your writing, you will need to include specific support for the points you intend to make.

The purpose of your college writing is usually to inform or to persuade.

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Effective writing reflects a sense of its purpose. Some writing assignments include or clearly imply a statement of purpose. For example, your purpose is informative if you are writing about the dangers of smoking. Conversely, your purpose is persuasive if you are writing an argument against smoking. When an assignment does not stipulate the writing purpose, you must choose either an informative or a persuasive purpose, based on the topic, what you want to say about it, and how you intend to develop the topic.

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