ACADEMIC WRITING VS.

NON-ACADEMIC WRITING

ACADEMIC WRITING

• Formal

• impersonal mode of writing that is intended for a scholarly audience

• tends to depend heavily on research, factual evidence, opinions of educated researchers and
scholars.

• heavily contains vocabulary typical to a specific field.

• Citations and a list of references or sources

• the tone in academic writing should always be objective and formal.

Examples: Scholarly essays, research papers, dissertations

Main aim -inform the audience while providing non-biased information and backing up the writer’s
claims with solid evidence.

SOME TIPS:

• Always use formal language. Avoid using colloquialism or slang.

• Don’t use contractions (shortened verb forms).

• Use the third-person point of view and avoid the first-person point of view.

• Don’t pose questions; convert the questions into statements.

• Avoid exaggerations or hyperbole.

• Don’t make sweeping generalizations

• Be clear and concise and avoid repeating.

NON- ACADEMIC WRITING

• Informal or Casual

• written for a lay audience or the mass public

• this type of writing may be personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature

• Most non-academic writings do not include references, citations or a list of sources.

• Often does not have a rigid structure as academic writing.

• It is often free-flowing and reflects the style and personality of the writer.

Examples: Newspaper articles, memoirs, magazine articles, personal or business letters, novels,
websites, text messages

Point of view

Subjective and personal – It is based on personal opinions and feeling rather than on facts that comes
from reliable sources.

Asking rhetorical questions – It is a self-evident, and used for style as an impressive persuasive
device. It may have an obvious answer, but the questioner asks it to lay emphasis to the point.

Language Used in Academic Texts

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

• the language used in the classroom and workplace,

• the language of text,

• the language assessments,

• the language of academic success; and

• the language of power

 The term academic language may be used to refer to formal English rules, structure, and content for
academic dialogue and text, and the communicative conventions that allow students to meet the
demands of school environments.

FEATURES OF ACADEMIC LANGUAGE

1. Formal
Ways to achieve formality
a. Choosing expanded forms over contracted forms
Example: don’t –do not
b. 2. Choose one word verb over two verb words
Examples:
1. Calculate- James added up the number of attendees in his party.
2. Purchase (someone’s assets)-The large company bought out the smaller ones.
3. Cancel- The teacher was to call off the noisy students immediately.
4. Continue- The meeting will carry on even without your presence.
5. Discover- The purpose of this meeting is to find out what would be your idea about our
new project.
c. Avoid abbreviations
Examples: ASAP (as soon as possible) tom.(tomorrow)
d. 4. Avoid using colloquial/idiomatic expressions
Example: Kind of/kinda

2. Objective
-based on research not on the writer’s own opinion about the topic.
-Concerned about FACTS and not the influenced by Personal feelings or biases.
Ways to achieve objective
a. Avoid Rhetorical Questions (have obvious answers)
b. Avoid Emotive Language
Example: The police investigators were shocked to see the results of the tests.
The police investigators did not expect the results.

NOTE:
• Avoid using “I think” instead use words such as “apparently, arguably, ideally, strangely and
unexpectedly”.
• Attitude should be based on the evidences and not on personal preferences.

3. Impersonal
Avoid using personal pronouns (I, Me,My,Mine)
Examples
a. We need to follow instructions.
The researchers need to follow instructions.
b. I will show
This report will show
4. Precise
- The facts are presented accurately.
- The choice of words is appropriate.
- The use of technical terms to achieve precision is applied.
Text Structure

- It is how information in a passage is organized.

- refers to the internal organization of a text. As authors write a text to communicate an idea, they will
use a structure that goes along with the idea (Meyer,1985).

Six common patterns of organization:

1. CHRONOLOGICAL
-information is organized in order of time.

*Chrono = time Logic = order

Example:

Signal words: shortly, since, second, third, immediately and etc.

2. CAUSE AND EFFECT

-an action and its result are explained.

Example:

Signal words: Causes – because, due to, for this reason, if this, etc.

Effects – as a result, consequently, hence, resulting, since, therefore etc.

NOTE: Don’t confuse with chronologic al.

Won’t have a beginning, middle and end.

Time won’t progress much.

3. COMPARE AND CONTRAST

-tells how two things are similar and different.

Example:

Signal words: Comparison –also, as well as, both, compared to, in comparison, similarly, and etc.

Contrast – although, on the contrary, on the other hand, in spite of, unlike and etc.

4. PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

-a problem and answer are suggested.
Example:

Signal words: answer, challenge, improve, respond, suggest and etc.

NOTE: Don’t confuse with cause and effect.

It is presented as a PROBLEM.
 5. SEQUENCE / PROCESS WRITING
-information is listed step - by- step and explains how to do it or how it happens.

Example:

Signal words: next, later, last, finally, in the end, at first and etc.

NOTE: Does not occur at a specific TIME.

6. SPATIAL / DESCRIPTIVE WRITING

-describes something in order of space describes how something looks.

Example:

Signal words: above, adjacent to, away, below, behind, nearby, toward

TIPS:

1. Ask, “what is the author doing in this paragraph?” Put it in your own words.

2. Have a hunch? Use the graphic organizer to see if the information fits.

3. Look for signal words.

SUMMARIZING ACADEMIC TEXT

SUMMARIZING

- reducing text to one-third or one- quarter its original size, clearly articulating the author’s meaning,
and retaining main ideas (Buckley 2004).

SUMMARY-is a short retelling of a longer passage, containing the author’s most important ideas.

Difference between summary and paraphrase

SUMMARY

• contains only the main idea and the supporting ideas of a passage.

• much shorter than a paraphrase.

PARAPHRASE

• simply a rewriting of a passage in your own words

Purpose of summarizing

-briefly present the key points of a theory or work in order to provide context for your argument/thesis.
NOTE:

 Summarizing is useful in many types of writing and at different points in the writing process.
 It is used to support an argument, provide context for a paper’s thesis, literature reviews, and
annotate a bibliography. The benefit of summarizing lies in showing the “big picture,” which allows
the reader to contextualize what you are saying.

BASIC RULES:

1. Erase things that don’t matter.

2. Only write down important points.
3. Erase things that repeat.
4. Trade, general terms for specific names. Substitute superordinate terms for lists (e.g., flowers for
daisies, tulips for roses). Focus on the big picture. Long, technical lists are hard to remember. If one
word will give you the meaning, then less is more.
5. Use your own words to write the summary.

SUMMARIZING STRATEGIES

1. Somebody Wanted But So Then

-is an excellent summarizing strategy for stories. Each word represents a key question related to the
story's essential elements:

Somebody: Who is the main character?

Wanted: What does the main character want?
But: Identify a problem that the main character encountered.
So: How does the main character solve the problem?
Then: Tell how the story ends.
(After answering the questions, combine the answers to form a summary)

Example: (The Little Red Riding Hood)

Somebody: Little Red Riding Hood

Wanted: She wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother.
But: She encountered a wolf pretending to be her grandmother.
So: She ran away, crying for help.
Then: A woodsman heard her and saved her from the wolf.

SUMMARY:
Little Red Riding Hood wanted to take cookies to her sick grandmother, but she
encountered a wolf. He got to her grandmother’s house first and pretended to be the old woman. He
was going to eat Little Red Riding Hood, but she realized what he was doing and ran away, crying
for help. A woodsman heard the girl’s cries and saved her from the wolf.

2. SAAC Method
-another useful technique for summarizing any kind of text (story, an article, or a speech)
-SAAC is an acronym for "State, Assign, Action, Complete." Each word in the acronym refers to a
specific element that should be included in the summary.

State: the name of the article, book, or story

Assign: the name of the author
Action: what the author is doing (example: tells, explains)
Complete: complete the sentence or summary with keywords and important details .
(After answering the questions, combine the answers to form a summary)

Example: (The Boy Who Cried Wolf)

State: "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"

Assign: Aesop (a Greek storyteller)
Action: tells
Complete: what happens when a shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf

SUMMARY:

"The Boy Who Cried Wolf," by Aesop (a Greek storyteller), tells what happens when a
shepherd boy repeatedly lies to the villagers about seeing a wolf. After a while, they ignore his false
cries. Then, when a wolf really does attack, they don’t come to help him.
3. 5 Ws, 1 H
-strategy relies on six crucial questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. These questions
make it easy to identify the main character, important details, and main idea.

Who is the main character of the story?

What did they do?
When did the action take place?
Where did the story happen?
Why did the main character do what she/he did?
How did the main character do what she/he did?

(Then,use the answers to the Five Ws and One H to write a summary.)

Example: ("The Tortoise and the Hare."

Who? The tortoise

What? He raced a quick, boastful hare and won.
When? When isn’t specified in this story, so it’s not important in this case.
Where? An old country road
Why? The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare boast about his speed.
How? The tortoise kept up his slow but steady pace.

SUMMARY:
Tortoise got tired of listening to Hare boast about how fast he was, so he challenged Hare to
a race. Even though he was slower than Hare, Tortoise won by keeping up his slow and steady pace
when Hare stopped to take a nap.

4. First Then Finally

-technique helps students summarize events in chronological order. The three words represent the
beginning, main action, and conclusion of a story, respectively:
First: What happened first? Include the main character and main event/action.
Then: What key details took place during the event/action?
Finally: What were the results of the event/action?

Example: "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

First, Goldilocks entered the bears' home while they were gone. Then, she ate their food, sat in their
chairs, and slept in their beds. Finally, she woke up to find the bears watching her, so she jumped
up and ran away.
5. Give Me the Gist/ Outlining
When someone asks for "the gist" of a story, they want to know what the story is about. In other
words, they want a summary— NOT A RETELLING OF EVERY DETAIL.

An outline is a map of your essay. It shows what information each section or paragraph will contain
and in what order.
I. Main Idea A. Supporting Details B. Supporting Details
II. Main Idea A. Supporting Details B. Supporting Details

SUMMARY: The Seductive, Destructive Power of Meth

The main reason people get hooked on meth (methamphetamine) is that it boosts their sex
drive and performance, but only temporarily. After about half a year, meth users can only have
sex when they’re high, and later on, they can’t have sex at all. In addition, meth causes brain
damage and has other terrible effects. Meth use has become a nationwide epidemic.