MODULE 8 COMMUNICATION FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

This chapter will make you recall some of what you know about academic writing, but most
importantly, as college students, you will be doing some analyses of various types of academic articles
before finally producing your own academic papers for presentation both orally and otherwise (print,
audio, visual, web-based).

UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF ACADEMIC WRITING

In its broadest sense, “academic writing is any writing done to fulfil a requirement of a college or
university . . . , which [may] also [be] used for publications that are read by teacher and researchers or
presented at conferences,” such as essays, book reports, abstracts, translations, research and term
papers, academic journals, theses, and dissertations (“Writing for Education,” 2018).

A more narrow meaning specifies that academic writing is any formal written work produced in
an academic setting by students, professors, and researchers in every discipline to convey ideas, make
arguments, and engage in scholarly conversation; its most common forms are literary analyses, research
papers, and theses and dissertations (Valdes, 2018).

Academic writing produces or analyzes knowledge; while writing, you learn how to analyze
knowledge and take up a position or stance appropriate to your degree program (“What Is Academic
Writing?” 2007). The type of writing you are expected to work on differs from that of a student in
another degree program because academic writing varies from discipline to discipline.

Different areas of knowledge have different traditions, conventions, as well as ways of thinking
and doing things; therefore, to be effective in your chosen field, you need to know not only its language
but also its values, rules, and terms—things that are important to actively and competently perform and
participate in the academic discourse and college writing of your academic discipline (“What Is Academic
Writing?” 2007; 2018).

KNOWING HOW ACADEMIC WRITING IS DONE

Although the academic output varies from discipline to discipline, the same process of writing is
followed for all degree programs. Here are the guidelines that need to be considered (Bullock &
Weinberg, 2009).
1. Choose a topic. Look for any topic that interests you. The topic should be appropriate to the
kind of text assigned and to the specified, required time of completion.

2. Consider the rhetorical elements. These are (a) purpose for writing, (b) expected audience, (c)
stance—whether serious, objective, critical, opinionated, curious, passionate, or indifferent—
and tone—whether funny, ironic, reasonable, thoughtful, angry, or gentle, (d) genre that calls
for either formal or informal language—such as memo, letter, report, abstract, research,
personal essay, narrative, review, and proposal, (e) medium—print, spoken, or electronic, and
(f) design—format, typefaces, illustrations, and audio-visual materials.
 3. Generate ideas and text. Aim to find the best information from credible sources. Self-publishing
media, such as websites, should be evaluated—if managed by an expert or a group of experts,
or by laypersons and amateurs.

4. Organize your ideas. The organization needed depends on rhetorical elements, like purpose,
audience, stance and tone, genre, and medium.

5. Write out a draft. Consider your genre, medium, and design when deciding on register and style
of writing.

6. Revise, edit, and proofread. Pay special attention to correctness of language (grammar,
mechanics, style).

7. Evaluate your work. Answer the following questions.

a. How well did you convey the information? Is it complete enough for your audience’s needs?
b. What strategies did you rely on, and how did they help you achieve your purpose?
c. How well did you organize your ideas?
d. Are the data properly documented? Are the sources of information credible?
e. Did you use any tables, graphs, diagrams, photographs, illustrations, or some other graphics
effectively?
f. What did you do especially well?
g. What could still be improved?

THE STRUCTURE OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

You can easily recognize academic texts because they are organized in a specific way; they have
clear structure that helps you as writer to organize your ideas easily and to allow your reader to
understand your writing better.

Most texts use the IMRD structure—the acronym for introduction, methods and materials,
results, and discussion. The aim and research questions, which are usually found after the introduction,
together with a conclusion and references, complement the structure (Berger, 2016; “The Structure of
Academic Texts,” 2017).

1. Aim. This is the general purpose of the text, and it appears after the introduction. (Example: “To
investigate how effective nursing interventions are for smoking cessation”)

2. Research questions. The questions, which are placed after the aim, limit or specify the aim.
(Questions for the cited aim: “What nursing interventions exist?” and “How many patients are
still smoke-free after one year?

3. Introduction. This comes before the aim and the research questions. Explain the importance of
the aim, mention that there is something about it that is not yet known, and specify the
benefit/s that can be gained from the knowledge to be discovered.

Using the cited aim and research questions, perhaps the benefit can be “to provide
better care or develop a new drug or new treatment method,” or “that there is a problem with
an existing method and that alternative methods are needed.” After you have accounted for the
 context and pointed to the importance of new knowledge in the field, your reader will be well
prepared when you present your aim and research questions after the introduction.

When writing a thesis, you may also cite researches done (in a literature review) and
what still needs to be found out, leading to your aim.

4. Methods and materials. Mention what procedure you followed to achieve your aim and answer
your research questions. First, your reader should understand how you got the results, and
second, after reading this section, they should be able to duplicate your research.

Start with the method, such as your study design. If you tell your readers right away that your
work is a literature review or that your method consisted of interviewing nurses using semi-
structured interviews, it will easier for them to understand the details that follow.

5. Results. Present the results objectively without interpreting them because the interpretation
will appear in the discussion section. For text coherence, sequence the results by following the
particular order of the research questions as they were given.

Use properly labelled or captioned tables to make the results easier to understand even
without reading the accompanying texts.

6. Discussion. This is where you interpret your results. It is the most difficult part because you
need to analyze the results and interpret them at the same time. This is the usual outline for this
part.

a. First paragraph: repeat the aim and give the importance of the study to the field. For
instance, you can say “this is the first study to examine the correlation between…” Then you
briefly account for the most important parts of your results, perhaps linking them to your
hypothesis if you have one.

b. The rest of the discussion analyzes and interprets the results. These questions can help you.

● What do your results mean?

● How do they relate to previous research? What are the reasons for potential differences
between your study and previous research? What do potential similarities indicate?

● How may your method have affected your results?

● What are the strengths and weaknesses of the study? How do they affect your results?

● How are your results important for future developments? What are the clinical
implications,
for example?

● What kind of research is needed in the field in the future, and why?
7. Conclusions. Make a general statement about your aim and your results; focus on the
implications of your results and mention the need for further research.

8. References. Indicate all cited sources of data, and use the American Psychological Association
(APA) style of documentation

Formats of Research or Scholarly and Professional Reports

Research/Scholarly Report (Treadwell, 2017)

Title Page

Abstract

Introduction

• Goals and Significance of Research

• Literature Review

• Aim and Research Questions and/or Hypothesis

Methods and Materials

• Participants or Sampling

• Procedure Used

• Measures Used (if quantitative study)

Results

Discussion

• Analysis and Interpretation of Results

• Conclusions

• Recommendations for Future Research

References

Appendices
 Professional Report (Treadwell, 2017)

Title Page

Table of Contents (if necessary)

Executive Summary

Introduction

Body of Report

(The headings used depend on the length, purpose, and intended audience of the report.)

(A professional report may or may not contain the sections expected for a research report.)

Recommendations

Appendices

KEY FEATURES OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

Whatever format is followed for the presentation of ideas, the various academic texts are identified
through their basic features (Bullock & Weinberg, 2009).

1. Literacy Narrative (well-told story, vivid detail, clear significance)

2. Article/Book Review (a summary of text, attention to context, a clear interpretation, support for
your conclusions)

3. Research Report (a tightly focused topic, well-researched information, various writing strategies,
clear definitions, appropriate design)

4. Position Paper (a clear and arguable position, background information, good reasons, convincing
evidence, appeals to readers, a trustworthy tone, consideration of any other positions)

5. Abstract, such as informative, descriptive, critical abstracts (a summary of basic information,

objective description, brevity)

6. Evaluation (a concise description of the subject, clearly defined criteria, a knowledgeable

discussion, a balanced and fair assessment, well-supported reasons)

7. Laboratory Report (an explicit title, abstract, purpose, methods, results and discussion,
references, appendices, appropriate format)
8. Literary Analysis (an arguable thesis, careful attention to the language of the text, attention to
patterns or themes, a clear interpretation)

9. Proposal (a well-defined problem, a recommended solution, a convincing argument for your

solution, possible questions, a call for action, an appropriate tone)