Fundamentals of Reading Academic Texts

Before reading through this material, answer this question, “What do you think makes a paper
academic?”

Definitely, you know that school books are different from the texts that you read during your leisure
time. Using the Venn diagram below, write some differences and similarities of academic vs non-
academic text.

STRUCTURE OF ACADEMIC TEXT

There are four components of academic text that you need to remember:

1. Academic texts are written formally. Meaning, you are not allowed to truncate, use
contractions, and use everyday phrases.
2. Academic texts should be well-structured. The most basic structure is the three-part essay
which consists of introduction, body, and conclusion.
3. Academic texts includes information from credible sources. When writing an academic texts one
of your purpose is to inform and give out knowledge; for your readers to believe you, you need
to back-up your claims from credible sources.
4. Academic texts must properly cited. It is important to back-up your claims with credible sources
and these sources should properly cited. Reference List is also included in developing academic
paper.

It is important that your academic text is a well-structured text, in that way your readers can easily
follow and understand what they are reading.

EXAMPLES OF ACADEMIC TEXT

1. Articles – Published in scholarly journals—a periodical that contains articles written by experts.
This type of academic texts offers results of research and development that can either impact
the academic community or provide relevance to nation-building.
2. Conference papers – these are papers presented in scholastic conferences, and may be revised
as articles for possible publication in scholarly journals.
3. Reviews – these provide evaluation or reviews of works published in scholarly journals.
 Fundamentals of Reading Academic Texts

4. Theses, Dissertation – these are personal researches written by a candidate for a college or
university degree. Thesis is written to obtain an academic degree such as college diploma or
master’s degree, it is about the research you have conducted. Dissertation, on the other hand, is
more complex than thesis which demonstrates a firm understanding on the field of knowledge.

CONTENT AND STYLE OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

Academic texts include concepts and theories that are related to the specific discipline they explore.
They usually exhibit all properties of a well-written text such as organization, unity, coherence and
cohesion, as well as strict adherence to rules of language use and mechanics.

Before moving on, may I ask, do you still know what is coherence and cohesion?

In general, when writing an academic texts these are the things that you need to observe:

1. State critical questions and issues.

2. Provide facts and evidences from reliable sources.
3. Use precise and accurate words while avoiding jargons and colloquial expressions. There are
times that we cannot avoiding using jargons, in this case, always include a definition so that the
general readers can fully grasps what was written.
4. Take an objective point-of-view and avoid being subjective.
5. Do not forget to list references.
6. Use hedging or cautious language to town down your claims. Always remember, when writing
an academic texts you do not want to make your claims and statement very direct making the
statement applicable to all situation, which is not the case.
Below are some examples of hedging expressions.
TYPES EXAMPLES As used in the sentence
Modal auxiliary verbs may, might, can, could, The measure might have
-used to show capability or would, should negative effects on the patients’
possibility health.
Modal lexical verbs doubting to seem, to appear, to The discussion appears to have
and evaluating rather than believe, to assume, to a positive implications.
merely describing suggest, to estimate, to tend,
to think, to argue, to indicate,
to propose, to speculate

Probability adjectives possible, probable, un/likely A number of significant changes

-refers to chances that an are possible.
event will occur.

Nouns assumption, claim, possibility, There are a number of claims

estimate, suggestion pertaining to the possibility of
divorce.
 Fundamentals of Reading Academic Texts

Adverbs perhaps, possibly, probably, The proposal is practically an

practically, likely, presumably, answer to the confusion.
virtually, apparently

Indicators of degree, quantity, approximately, roughly, Fever is present in about a third

frequency and time about, often, occasionally, of cases
generally, usually, somewhat,
somehow, a lot of

Introductory phrases believe, to our knowledge, it The committee believes that the
is our view that, we feel that issue needs to be explained

“If” clauses if true, if anything If anything, the opinion holds a

number of truths
See worksheet 1 for a mini activity about hedging.

PARTS OF RESEARCH REPORT

Title Page - contains an informative title which describes the content of the paper, name of author,
addresses or affiliation, and date.

Abstract - contains a summary of the findings and conclusion.

Introduction - explains the current state of the field of discipline and identifies the research gaps
addressed by the research

Literature Review - contains summary and synthesis of all available sources directly related to the
study.

Methodology - contains summary and steps taken in gathering data for research; contains participants,
instruments used, data gathering procedure, and data analysis.

Results - factually describes the data gathered.

Discussion - presents the why’s of the results. Results and Discussion often times are together in one
chapter.

Conclusion - contains the restatement of major findings, limitations of the study, recommendation, and
implications.
 Fundamentals of Reading Academic Texts

CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES

There are different phases when reading most especially when reading academic texts for this requires
more focus and understanding. You have to interact with the text by questioning its assumptions,
responding to its arguments, and connecting it to real-life experiences and applications. Being a critical
reader helps you identify the key arguments presented by the author and analyze concepts presented in
the text.

There are stages in reading that one needs to practice to be able to adopt critical reading approach:

Before Reading

 Determine which type of academic texts you are reading.

 Determine and establish your purpose for reading; Identify the author’s purpose for writing
 Predict or infer the main idea or argument of the text based on its title.
 State what you already know and what you want to learn about the topic.
 Use concept map or graphic organizer to note your existing ideas and knowledge on the topic

During Reading

 Annotate important parts of the text. Annotating can help you determine essential ideas, main
ideas and arguments, and new information.
Tips on how to annotate text:
1. Write key words or phrases on the margins in bullet form.
2. Write brief notes.
3. Write questions on information that you find confusing.
4. Write what you already know about the idea.
5. Underline meaning or definition.
6. Mark relevant/essential parts of the text.
7. Use concept map or any graphic organizer to note down ideas being explained.
8. Determine the main idea.

*See attached picture for example.

After Reading

Always remember the 2RDL:

 Reflect on what you learned.

 React on some parts of the text through writing.
 Discuss some parts with your teachers or classmates.
 Link the main idea of the text to what you already know.
 Fundamentals of Reading Academic Texts

Other Reading Strategies

Aside from the given strategies before, during, and after reading, there are other reading strategies that
you can employ to ensure critical reading not only on academic texts, but also of other texts in general.

a. SQ3R Method of Reading

SQ3R stands for:
› SURVEY
› Skim the target text.
› Check headings and tables, diagrams, or figures presented
› Read the first few and last sentences of the text to determine key information
› QUESTION
› Annotate the headings with your questions
› READ
› Look for answers to your questions as you read the texts
› Stop and slow down if the passage is not clear
› RECITE
› Recount the main points; Recall by writing a summary
› REVIEW
› Evaluate what you have learned; go back and re-read your question and see if you can
answer them