Academic Writing Nature and Concept

Academic
Writing
Nature and Concept
Define as
is any writing done to fulfill a
requirement of a college or university
used for publications that are read by
teacher and researchers or presented at
conferences.
any writing assignment given in an
academic setting.
it
deals with the underlying theories and

causes governing processes and
practices in everyday life, as well as
exploring alternative explanations for
these events.
follows a particular tone and adheres
to traditional conventions of
punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
it
has one central point or theme with

every part contributing to the main line
of argument, without digressions or
repetitions. Its objective is to inform
rather than entertain.
the standard written form of the
language
Characteristic
Planning
- There is a certain amount of

planning before you start writing the paper;
so, it will be analytical and organized.
Outline - A proper outline is a must for
academic writing. An outline will not only
help you formulate your thoughts, but will
sometimes make you aware of certain
relationships between topics. It will help you
determine the pertinent information to be
included in your paper.
Tone
- A formal tone is used. You do not

use slang words, jargon, abbreviations,
or many clichs.
Language - The language in your paper
needs to be clear and words need to be
chosen for their precision. A thesaurus is
a good tool to help you pick just the
right words to explain the issues.
Point-of-view
- The point of view in the

third person, as the focus of academic
writing is to educate on the facts, not
support an opinion.
Approach - Deductive reasoning is a big
part of academic writing as your readers
have to follow the path that brought you
to your conclusion.
Deductive
reasoning and an analytical

approach are important in academic
writing. Much planning and forethought
are needed to have a well organized
paper
Always check to see if the school you
are writing for has a preferred format
and style
Features
Complexity
Written language is relatively more
complex than spoken language.
Written language has longer words, it is
lexically more dense and it has a more
varied vocabulary.
It
uses more noun-based phrases than

verb-based phrases.
Written texts are shorter and the
language has more grammatical
complexity, including more subordinate
clauses and more passives.
Formality
Academic writing is relatively formal. In
general this means that in an essay you
should avoid colloquial words and
expressions
Precision
In academic writing, facts and figures
are given precisely
Objectivity
Written language is in general objective
rather than personal.
It therefore has fewer words that refer to
the writer or the reader.
This means that the main emphasis
should be on the information that you
want to give and the arguments you
want to make, rather than you. For that
reason, academic writing tends to use
nouns (and adjectives), rather than
verbs (and adverbs).
Explicitness
Academic writing is explicit about the
relationships in the text. Furthermore, it
is the responsibility of the writer in
English to make it clear to the reader
how the various parts of the text are
related. These connections can be made
explicit by the use of different signalling
words.
Accuracy
Academic writing uses vocabulary
accurately. Most subjects have words
with narrow specific meanings.
Linguistics distinguishes clearly between
"phonetics" and "phonemics"; general
English does not.
Hedging
In any kind of academic writing you do,
it is necessary to make decisions about
your stance on a particular subject, or
the strength of the claims you are
making. Different subjects prefer to do
this in different ways.
A technique common in certain kinds of
academic writing is known by linguists
as a hedge.
Responsibility
In
academic writing you must be

responsible for, and must be able
to provide evidence and
justification for, any claims you
make.
You are also responsible for
demonstrating an understanding
of any source texts you use.
Structure
Introduction
you
must grab the readers attention

and identify the thesis of the paper. You
can do this by starting with:
Several questions
A quote from a famous work or person
Some interesting facts or information
A definition of an important term related
to the work
Body
This
is the main part of the work and the

paragraphs must be clearly written and
be arranged in a logical order, like
chronologically or in order of
importance.
Each initial sentence links the preceding
paragraph and the whole section flows
smoothly.
Within
each paragraph, the sentences

need to flow and refer back to the topic.
Cohesion is achieved by repeating
important words, using synonyms for
the main subject, and using transitional
words like: however, such as, therefore,
and for example.
Conclusion
re-emphasize
the thesis and summarize

all the main points.
consists of one paragraph which shows
the final conclusion to the reader.
Your thesis will be substantiated and
explanations clear. Readers of your
paper will follow your reasoning and
understand your conclusion.
In essay
,
theintroductory paragraphinforms the

reader about the nature of the topic, which
is discussed and evaluated in the middle of
the essay, also referred to as thebody.
The introduction may also summarise very
succinctly, in a sentence or two, your
position on the issue, which is then
elaborated on at length in the series of
paragraphs that make up the essay's body.
Thefinal
paragraphconstitutes a
conclusion in which you may summarise
the overall points made.
The concluding paragraph is also a good
point at which to move the essay
forward to touch on implications or
future advancements surrounding the
issues addressed.
Reports
labeled
sections, such as Introduction,

Discussion, Conclusions, and
Recommendations.
Further, unlike an essay, reports allow
for bulleted points with respect to the
conclusions and recommendations
sections.
Referencing
If you make judgments about something in
academic writing, there is an expectation
that you willsupportyour opinion by linking
it to what a published author has previously
written about the issue.
Citing the work of other authors is central to
academic writing because it shows you have
read the literature, understood the ideas, and
have integrated these issues and varying
perspectives into the assignment task.
The
importance placed on referring to

other authors in your work can be
reflected in the elaborate referencing
conventions that have been created
within different disciplines, such
asAPA(American Psychological
Association) referencing, which is used
in psychology, education, some social
sciences, as well as for business.
Abstract thought
Typically, academic writing requires you to clearly
describe abstract forms and their component parts,
their links to other abstract forms, as well as where
they are positioned in relation to a general, overall
system.
Even if you are dealing with a practically oriented
topic like economics, computer science,
rehabilitation, nursing, or teaching, the academic
practice of learning about these things will likely
require you to delve into theories, philosophies,
concepts, and other abstract ideas that underlie the
practical nature of the activities concerned.
Therefore, the very nature of academic

writing is also different from many
practically-oriented or socially-oriented
writing tasks. This is because academic
writing tasks require you to look beneath
the surface for underlying principles,
theories, and concepts that can offer
mainstream as well as alternative
explanations for common practices,
processes, and procedures.
Academic tone
which
dictates the choice of words and

phrasing
It aims to:
objective(e.g. usinginclusive language)

concise
formal (e.g. avoiding slang, exclamation
marks, contractions)
The audience
remember
who you are writing for.

Being conscious of academic tone
suggests that you are aware of your
audience and respect the formality
normally associated with academic
writing.
When
writing academically, you must

target a more general audience than
just your lecturer and/or marker.
assume that your readers will be
intelligent thinking people, but they may
not be specifically informed of your
topic. Do not presume that your reader
knows all the terms and concepts
associated with your work.
Punctuation and grammar

always
follow rules ofpunctuation and

grammar, especially as the end-user or
consumer of your writing,
it is vital that you are clear.
Punctuation and the conventions of
grammar are universally known systems
(within English speaking cultures) that
maintain clarity and avoid ambiguity in
expression.
Guides in Academic Writing

keep
your writing clear and concise

make sure that you get your ideas over in a
comprehensible form
It's clear expression of these ideas that will
impress your tutor, not a string of long,
inappropriate words found in your dictionary.
A wide range of vocabulary is of course
important, but you must use the right word,
and shorter ones are often better than
longer ones.
avoid
everyday, informal language,

especially colloquial expressions and slang
Also, spoken language is naturally full of
hesitations, repetitions, grammatical errors
and unfinished ideas
sentences should be complete and ideas
arranged into paragraphs or sections, and
you should aim for perfection in your
grammar and spelling.
However,
especially if English is not your

first language, don't become too obsessed
with this, to the point perhaps of copying
word for word from your sources.
Whats important is that you clearly show your
understanding of the subject and your ability
to manipulate information to answer a specific
question or complete a specific task, and as
long as any grammar errors you make dont
impede this, then it shouldnt be a problem.
General points
don't (do not!) use contractions (eg it's, he'll, it'd etc):
always use the full form (it is/has, he will, it would/had).
don't use colloquial language or slang (eg kid, a lot
of/lots of, cool)
always write as concisely as you can, with no
irrelevant material or waffle.
generally avoid "phrasal verbs" (e.g. get off, get away
with, put in etc): instead, use one word equivalents.
avoid common but vague words and phrases such as
get, nice, thing. Your writing needs to be more precise.
avoid overuse of brackets; dont use

exclamation marks or dashes; avoid
direct questions; dont use etc.
always use capital letters appropriately
and never use the type of language
used in texting
STRUCTURE YOUR WRITING

CAREFULLY
make
sure you write in complete

sentences
divide your writing up into paragraphs
use connecting words and phrases to
make your writing explicit and easy to
follow
check your grammar and spelling
carefully
MAKE YOUR WRITING FORMAL

AND IMPERSONAL
use
emotive
language; be objective
rather than subjective.(See Guide 1.22).
avoid being too dogmatic and making
sweeping generalisations. It is usually
best to use
some sort of hedging language (see
below) and to qualify statements that
you make.
you
should consistently use evidence from

your source reading to back up what you are
saying and reference this correctly.
avoid sexist language, such as chairman,
mankind. Dont refer to the doctor as he;
instead, make the subject plural and refer to
them as they. Avoid he/she, herself/himself etc.
use nominalisation; that is, try to write nounbased phrases rather that verb-based ones.
For example, instead of

Crime was increasing rapidly and the
police were becoming concerned.
Write:
The rapid increase in crime was causing
concern among the police.
In
general, academic writing tends to be

fairly dense, with relatively long
sentences and
wide use of subordinate clauses.
Remember, however, that your main
aim is clarity, so
dont be too ambitious, particularly
when youre starting to write
HEDGING/AVOIDING
COMMITMENT
avoid
overuse of first person pronouns (I, we,

my, our)
use impersonal subjects instead (It is believed
that ..., it can be argued that ...)
use passive verbs to avoid stating the doer
(Tests have been conducted)
use verbs (often with it as subject) such as
imagine, suggest, claim, suppose
use attitudinal signals such as apparently,
arguably, ideally, strangely, unexpectedly.
These words allow you to hint at your

attitude to something without using
personal language.
use verbs such as would, could, may,
might which soften what youre saying.
use qualifying adverbs such as some,
several, a minority of, a few, many to
avoid making over generalisations.
Exercise
Direction: Replace the contractions in the following sentences with full
forms where necessary.
1 The results weren't very encouraging. _________________________
2 We'll have to conduct another experiment. _____________________
3 She's been all around the world. _________________________
4 It's the best solution to the problem. ______________________
5 Our questionnaire shows that teachers aren't paid what they're
worth.______________________
6 His response was, "A job's a job; if it doesn't pay enough, it's a lousy
job'. _______________
7 He'd rather announce the findings at the conference.
_________________
8 The department's approach didn't succeed. _________________________

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Academic

deals with the underlying theories and

has one central point or theme with

- There is a certain amount of

- A formal tone is used. You do not

- The point of view in the

reasoning and an analytical

uses more noun-based phrases than

academic writing you must be

must grab the readers attention

is the main part of the work and the

each paragraph, the sentences

the thesis and summarize

theintroductory paragraphinforms the

sections, such as Introduction,

importance placed on referring to

Therefore, the very nature of academic

dictates the choice of words and

objective(e.g. usinginclusive language)

who you are writing for.

writing academically, you must

Punctuation and grammar

follow rules ofpunctuation and

Guides in Academic Writing

your writing clear and concise

everyday, informal language,

especially if English is not your

avoid overuse of brackets; dont use

STRUCTURE YOUR WRITING

sure you write in complete

MAKE YOUR WRITING FORMAL

should consistently use evidence from

For example, instead of

general, academic writing tends to be

overuse of first person pronouns (I, we,

These words allow you to hint at your

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