1 The Academic Writing Process: 1.1 Preliminary Phase

Unit 1: Writing a scientific report (oral expression)
Lecture 1: Introduction to academic writing

By: F. A. Mansour
1 The academic writing process

Whether you are writing a short assay, an article, a report or a research paper, the
overall process is generally the same.
1.1 Preliminary phase

Ask yourself some planning questions that will help guide the rest of the process.
What is the purpose of this piece of writing?
For example:
• To answer a specific essay, examination or research question;

• To convince others of your point of view;
• To communicate your knowledge to others, such as a teacher or an examiner.
Who is my audience?
For example:
• A teacher or professor;
• Students or colleagues;
• An employer;
• The general public.
The answer will help you to choose the appropriate level of formality, to make decisions
about the amount of research required, as well as the kinds of examples and supporting
evidence you will use.
1.2 Pre-writing phase

Explore
Brainstorm for ideas using whatever method suits you best:
• Mind maps;
• List of interesting concepts, facts, questions, etc;
• Conversations with colleagues.
Research
Research your topic and gather information from a variety of sources:
• Book and journals;

• The media;
• Websites;
• Interviews or questionnaires.
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By: F. A. Mansour
When you read sources, take detailed notes and keep an accurate record of each source.
Ask yourself, have you used the citation style recommended by your teachers or
institution? Have you listed your references in the style recommended?
Organise
Now you can draft a thesis (your main argument, statement or idea) to guide you. Then,
using your notes, make a detailed outline of the logical plan of your assay to support
this thesis, giving a structure to your writing before you begin to write.
• Decide how many words you will give to each part of your essay/report;
• Collect any visual aids such as charts or diagrams that you might need.
1.3 Writing phase

Revise several times until you have what you consider to be a final draft.
Draft
Write your draft in formal sentences and paragraphs.
• Remain focused on your thesis or main idea. If you do change this, go back and
adapt your original plan to ensure that your essay/report continues to support the
new thesis;
• Follow your outline, modifying if necessary;
• In early drafts, concentrate on structure rather than spelling and punctuation.
Review/Edit
In early drafts, ask yourself:
• Have you answered the question or achieved your original purpose?

• Have you introduced your subject, developed it logically and come to a
conclusion?
• Is your supporting evidence appropriate and complete? Do you need more
examples, statistics or quotes?
• Have you used headings to help the reader, if appropriate?
• Are the relationships between ideas clear and clearly signalled to the reader?
• Is each part the right length for the demands of the topic-with no part too long?
In later drafts, ask yourself:
• Have you used paragraph breaks well?

• Is the level of formality appropriate for your readers?
• Have you chosen your words carefully, using correct collocations?
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By: F. A. Mansour
• Have you avoided repeating the same words or phrases too often (except
technical terms)?
• Have you met any word count requirements?
If possible, ask someone else to read your text. After each review, return to the drafting
step, revising and editing your writing as necessary.
1.4 Presentation phase

Proofread
When you have a final draft of your writing, you will need to read it once more to find
and correct errors. Don’t forget to check for:
• Spelling;
• Punctuation;
• Grammatical mistakes.
You may find it helpful to ask someone else to proofread your final draft as a last step.
Format
Check with your teacher how you should present your work in terms of:
• Font size;
• Margins;
• Line spacing;
• Paper size.
2 What makes writing formal?

With the aim of expressing your ideas clearly and easily understood by the readers, the
text should be written in a more formal way. One may consider:
Word choice
• It is usually best to use standard English words and phrases, that is, those with
no label in the dictionary;
• Only use words and phrases marked formal if you are sure they are appropriate.
• Avoid anything marked informal, slang, offensive, etc;
• Use suitable synonyms for common words such as do, put, get, make, e.g.
Several operations were carried out/performed (not done).
Short forms
Avoid contracted forms (e.g. haven’t, I’m) and abbreviations (e;g. ad-advertissement)
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By: F. A. Mansour
Sentence structure
• In formal writing you are likely to be expressing complex ideas. To do this you
will need to write sentences using relative pronouns (e.g. which, that),
subordinating conjunctions (e.g. and, but, or);
• Avoid very long sentences with many clauses which can be difficult to
understand.
• Limit the use of the first person pronouns (I and we). Avoid using you. Rather
than: In this study I aim to… write: This study aims to…;
• Passive forms are often used as they focus attention on the verb, not the person.
For example: A study was conducted to see…; It can be argued that…;
• Patterns with it and an adjective are often used: It is clear that…; It is necessary
to…
• Nouns are often used as subjects of active verbs; The results show that…
• Complex noun phrases with prepositions are very common. The advantages of X
are…; the use of light treatment in 95 patients with…
Terminology
Assay: essai
Report: rapport
Article: article
Draft: bouillon
Headings: en-tête
Proofread: relire
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Unit 1: Writing a scientific report (oral expression)

Lecture 1: Introduction to academic writing

1 The academic writing process

1.1 Preliminary phase

What is the purpose of this piece of writing?

• To answer a specific essay, examination or research question;

1.2 Pre-writing phase

Brainstorm for ideas using whatever method suits you best:

Research your topic and gather information from a variety of sources:

• Book and journals;

1.3 Writing phase

Write your draft in formal sentences and paragraphs.

In early drafts, ask yourself:

• Have you answered the question or achieved your original purpose?

In later drafts, ask yourself:

• Have you used paragraph breaks well?

1.4 Presentation phase

2 What makes writing formal?

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