Reading Academic Texts

OBJECTIVES
• Differentiates language used in academic texts from various
disciplines.
• Uses knowledge of text structure to glean the information
he/she needs.
• Uses various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic
texts.
• States the thesis statement of an academic text.
• Outlines reading texts in various disciplines.
 Academic
Texts/Academic
Writing
Academic Writing
• A broad definition of academic writing is any
writing done to fulfil a requirement of a
college or university. 
• Academic writing is also used for publications
that are read by teacher and researchers or
presented at conferences.
Here is a list of documents where academic writing is used.
Some are self-explanatory and some have a brief explanation.
– Books and book reports
– Translations
– Essays
– Research paper or research article
– Conference Paper
– Academic Journal
– Dissertation and Thesis - These are written to obtaining an advanced
degree at a college or university.
– Abstract - This is a short summary of a long document.
– Explication - This is a work which explains part of a particular work.
Characteristics of Academic Writing
Now that you have a definition of academic writing, here are some things to
remember about the characteristics of academic writing.

• 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.

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 clichés.
Characteristics of Academic Writing
• 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.
Academic Writing Structure
• An academic paper has three distinct sections - the introduction,
body and conclusion:
1. INTRODUCTION:
In the introduction, you must grab the reader's attention and
identify the thesis of the paper. You can do this by starting with:

 several questions
 A quote from a famous work person
 some interesting facts or information
 a definition of an important term related to work.
2. 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.
3. CONCLUSION:

• In the conclusion, you re-emphasize the thesis and summarize

all the main points.
– The conclusion consists of one paragraph which shows the final
conclusion to the reader.
• Whether you are writing a research paper, a thesis, or a paper
for a conference, these tips should help your paper be
authoritative and coherent.
– Your thesis will be substantiated and explanations clear. Readers of
your paper will follow your reasoning and understand your conclusion.
Why Evaluate Academic
Reading Strategies?
“Reading is fundamental to writing and research at University,
but often gets overlooked – lecturers assume that students know
how to read, and students assume there’s only one way to read
– but neither of these things is necessarily true! There are ways
to read that can improve information processing, can help with
building an argument, and importantly for many students, can
save lots of time!!”
— Academic Literacy Workshops, University of Cape Town
Academic Reading
• Academic reading is a specific category of reading.
• It’s helpful to remember that academic reading is an act
of performance.
• We will be quizzed or tested. We will be asked to debate,
analyze, or critique what we read. We will need to read
closely, remember the text accurately, and compare it to
other texts for style and content.
• “Reading is more than seeing words clearly, more than
pronouncing printed words correctly, more than recognizing
the meaning of isolated words. Reading requires you to think,
feel, and imagine. Effective reading is purposeful. The use one
makes of his reading largely determines what he reads, why
he reads, and how he reads.”
-Strang, McCollough,
and Traxler (1967)
Purpose of Academic Reading
 Why is academic reading beneficial?

1. Information comes from reputable sources:

Academic sources such as textbooks and scholarly journal
articles, on the other hand, are usually written by experts in the
field and have to pass stringent peer review requirements in
order to get published.
2. Learn how to form arguments: In most college classes
except for creating writing, when instructors ask you to write a
paper, they expect it to be argumentative in style. This means
that the goal of the paper is to research a topic and develop an
argument about it using evidence and facts to support your
position. 

3. Exposure to different viewpoints: One purpose of

assigned academic readings is to give students exposure to
different viewpoints and ideas.
Reading Strategies for Academic Texts
• Effective reading requires more engagement than
just reading the words on the page.
• In order to learn and retain what you read, it’s a good idea
to do things like circling key words, writing notes, and
reflecting.
• Actively reading academic texts can be challenging for
students who are used to reading for entertainment alone,
but practicing the following steps will get you up to speed:
1. Preview: You can gain insight from an academic text before
you even begin the reading assignment.
– For example, if you are assigned a nonfiction book, read the title, the
back of the book, and table of contents.
– Scanning this information can give you an initial idea of what you’ll be
reading and some useful context for thinking about it. 

2. Read: While you read an academic text, you should have a

pen or pencil in hand.
– Circle or highlight key concepts.
– Write questions or comments in the margins or in a notebook.  
3. Summarize: After you an read academic text, it’s worth taking the time
to write a short summary—even if your instructor doesn’t require it.
– The exercise of jotting down a few sentences or a short paragraph capturing the main
ideas of the reading is enormously beneficial:
– it not only helps you understand and absorb what you read but gives you ready study
and review materials for exams and other writing assignments.

4. Review: It always helps to revisit what you’ve read for a quick refresher.
– It may not be practical to thoroughly reread assignments from start to finish, but
before class discussions or tests, it’s a good idea to skim through them to identify the
main points.
– Reread any notes at the ends of chapters, and review any summaries you’ve written.
To be continued . . . . .
Reading Styles
 Skimming - Reading rapidly for the main points.
 Scanning - Reading rapidly through a text to find specific
information required.
 Extensive - Reading longer texts, often for pleasure and for an
overall understanding
 Intensive - Reading shorter texts for detailed information with
emphasis on precise understanding
• These different types of skills are used quite naturally
when reading in a mother tongue. Unfortunately,
when learning a second or foreign language,
students/pupils tend to employ only ‘intensive’ style
reading skills.
– They often insist on understanding every word and find it
difficult to read for the general idea, or only to look for
required information.
What is a Thesis
Statement???
• A thesis statement is one sentence that
expresses the main idea of a research paper or
essay, such as an expository essay or
argumentative essay. It makes a claim, directly
answering a question.
Why is the thesis statement important?
The thesis statement is one of the most important sentences in
your paper. Its functions include:
– Establishing the purpose of your paper
– Stating your position on the topic
– Guiding the reader through your argument
– Keeping your writing focused
– You should keep your thesis statement in mind throughout the writing
process: the main body should expand on this statement, support it
with evidence, and argue for its validity.
Thesis Statement Examples
1. Argumentative
If the goal of your paper is to persuade your reader of a claim, your thesis
statement should take a clear, specific position and introduce the reasoning you’ll
use to argue for it.
• The Brexit referendum result was driven by political frustration.
• The Brexit referendum result was driven by working-class frustration with the
political elite, caused by austerity policies that have eroded public services and
fragmented communities; the referendum offered an alternative to the status
quo.
The first example takes a position, but doesn’t tell the reader anything about how
you will build your argument. The second example condenses the key ideas and
evidence that you will use to convince your reader.
2. Analytical
You might not want to make a strong persuasive argument, but to
analyze, interpret and evaluate various aspects of a topic.
• The UK has always been hostile to the EU.
• The history of the UK’s relationship to the EU is complicated; from the
beginning, Britain has been reluctant to fully integrate into Europe,
both economically and culturally, but the politics of EU membership
has changed throughout the past 50 years.
The first example makes a generalizing statement – it isn’t clear what
will be analyzed or why. The second example is much more specific, and
guides the reader through the historical analysis that your paper will
undertake.
 3. Expository
If your paper only aims to explain and discuss the facts of a topic, your
thesis statement should summarize the main points that you will cover.
• Many demographic factors affected how people voted in the Brexit
referendum.
• Polling and surveys shed light on the demographics of the Brexit vote,
which can be broken down in terms of age, ethnicity, region, and
educational level.
The first example is vague and obvious. The second example clearly lays
out the sources and categories of information that your paper will explore.
Understanding the 4 Types of Academic Writing

The 4 main types of academic writing

are:
Descriptive, Persuasive, Expository and
Narrative
1. Descriptive Academic Writing
• Descriptive writing is characterized with descriptions of
objects, places, persons, emotions, experiences, situations,
and so on. You’re asked to analyze something and paint a
picture in words.
Example:
Mt. Everest: The Tallest Mountain in the World
 2. Persuasive (Argumentative) Writing
• The persuasive (also known as argumentative) essay is one of
the most common genres of academic writing required for
school.
• It requires you to investigate a topic, form your own opinions,
generate evidence in support of those opinions, and convince
the reader that you’re making a valid point.
Example:
The Advantages of K+12 Education in
the Philippines
3. Expository Academic Text

• The expository writing style requires you to investigate an

idea, collect and evaluate evidence that supports that idea,
expound on it, and provide an argument that involves that
idea.
Example:
Low Body Mass Index: Is it Healthier for Individuals?
4. Narrative Writing

• Narrative style, as one of the most common types of academic

writing, requires you to tell a story about a personal experience,
anecdote, or a real-life situation.

Example:

The Life of Jose Rizal

To be Continued. . . .
Reading Strategies for Specialized
Texts and Online Resources
• Different disciplines and subjects have different writing
conventions and styles, and it can take some practice to get to
know them.
– For example, scientific articles follow a very particular format and
typically contain the following sections: an abstract, introduction,
methods, results, and discussions.
– If you are used to reading literary works, such as graphic novels or
poetry, it can be disorienting to encounter these new forms of writing.
 Below are some strategies for making different kinds of texts
more approachable.

1. Get to Know the Conventions

Academic texts, like scientific studies and journal articles,

may have sections that are new to you.
– If you’re not sure what an “abstract” is, research it online or ask your
instructor.
– Understanding the meaning and purpose of such conventions is not
only helpful for reading comprehension but for writing, too.
2. Look up and Keep Track of Unfamiliar Terms and Phrases

• Have a good college dictionary such as Merriam-Webster handy (or

find it online) when you read complex academic texts, so you can look up
the meaning of unfamiliar words and terms.
– Many textbooks also contain glossaries or “key terms” sections at the ends of chapters
or the end of the book.

• If you circle or underline terms and phrases that appear repeatedly, you’ll
have a visual reminder to review and learn them.
– Repetition helps to lock in these new words and their meaning get them into long-
term memory, so the more you review them the more you’ll understand and feel
comfortable using them.
3. Look for Main Ideas and Themes
• As a college student, you are not expected to understand
every single word or idea presented in a reading, especially if
you haven’t discussed it in class yet.
– However, you will get more out of discussions and feel more confident
about asking questions if you can identify the main idea or thesis in a
reading
• A theme may be a recurring idea, word, or image that strikes
you as interesting or important:
– “This story is about men working in a gloomy factory, but the author
keeps mentioning birds and bats and windows. Why is that??”
4. Get the Most of Online Reading

• Reading online texts presents unique challenges for some

students.
– For one thing, you can’t readily circle or underline key terms or
passages on the screen with a pencil.
– For another, there can be many tempting distractions—just a quick
visit to amazon.com or Facebook.
While there’s no substitute for old-fashioned self-discipline, you can take
advantage of the following tips to make online reading more efficient and
effective:

• Where possible, download the reading as a PDF, Word document,

etc., so you can read it offline.
• Get one of the apps that allow you to disable your social media sites
for specified periods of time.
• Adjust your screen to avoid glare and eye strain, and change the text
font to be less distracting (for those essays written in Comic Sans).
• Install an annotation tool in your Web browser so you can highlight
and make notes on online text.
• A low-tech option is to have a notebook handy to write in as you
read.
5. Look for Reputable Online Sources

• Professors tend to assign reading from reputable print and online sources, so

you can feel comfortable referencing such sources in class and for writing
assignments.
– If you are looking for online sources independently, however, devote some time and energy
to critically evaluating the quality of the source before spending time reading any resources
you find there.
• Find out what you can about the author (if one is listed), the Web site, and any
affiliated sponsors it may have.
– Check that the information is current and accurate against similar information on other
pages. 
– Depending on what you are researching, sites that end in “.edu” (indicating an “education”
site such as a college, university, or other academic institution) tend to be more reliable
than “.com” sites.
6. Pay Attention to Visual Information
• Images in textbooks or journals usually contain valuable
information to help you more deeply grasp a topic.  
– Graphs and charts, for instance, help show the relationship between
different kinds of information or data—how a population changes
over time, how a virus spreads through a population, etc.
• Data-rich graphics can take longer to “read” than the text
around them because they present a lot of information in a
condensed form.
7. Vocabulary-Building Techniques
• Gaining confidence with unique terminology used in different
disciplines can help you be more successful in your courses
and in college generally. In addition to the
suggestions described earlier, such as looking up unfamiliar
words in dictionaries, the following are additional vocabulary-
building techniques for you to try:
8. Read Everything and Read Often
• Reading frequently both in and out of the classroom
will help strengthen your vocabulary.
– Whenever you read a book, magazine, newspaper, blog, or
any other resource, keep a running list of words you don’t
know. Look up the words as you encounter them and try
to incorporate them into your own speaking and writing.
9. Make Connections to Words You Already Know

• You may be familiar with the “looks like . . . sounds like”

saying that applies to words. It means that you can
sometimes look at a new word and guess the definition based
on similar words whose meaning you know.
– For example, if you are reading a biology book on the human body
and come across the word malignant, you might guess that this word
means something negative or broken if you already know the
word malfunction, which share the “mal-” prefix.
10. Make Index Cards
• If you are studying certain words for a test, or you know that certain
phrases will be used frequently in a course or field, try making
flashcards for review.
– For each key term, write the word on one side of an index card and the
definition on the other. Drill yourself, and then ask your friends to help
quiz you.
• Developing a strong vocabulary is similar to most hobbies and
activities. Even experts in a field continue to encounter and adopt new
words.
– Words are sneaky, charming, and intriguing. The more complex our
vocabularies, the more complex our thoughts are, too.
 ACTIVITY!
Instructions: You will be provided with articles from each of
the four types of Academic writing. After reading, you will
answer the corresponding questions.
1. What are the distinguishing features that can be found
from all the articles you have read? Give at least 3 features
per article.(15 points each)
2. Create a thesis statement of all the articles.(5 points each)
3. Make an outline of each of the article that you read. (20
points each)
4. Choose at least 2 outlines that will serve as your guide in
making the summary of your chosen article. (200 words)
(25 points each)
REFERENCES
• Reading Academic Texts Retrieved on June 4, 2020 from
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-fmcc-english1/chapt
er/reading-academic-texts/

• Reading Styles Retrieved on June 4, 2020 from

https://www.ph-ludwigsburg.de/fileadmin/subsites/2b-engl-t
-01/user_files/Rodgers/Introduction_to_the_Teaching_of_En
glish__Modul_1c_/reading_styles_01_herkoemmlich.htm
• Definition of Academic Writing Retrieved on June 5, 2020
from
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