ACADEMIC WRITING

BBA 4A
PREPARED BY: Ms. Fatima Kiran
OBJECTIVES:

 This course aims to introduce students to the basics of essay

structure, including introduction, body and conclusion, Employ the
various stages of the writing process, including pre-writing, writing
and re-writing, Demonstrate ability to write for an academic
audience, and Demonstrate understanding of and apply the
principles of effective paragraph structure.
INTRODUCTION TO ACADEMIC WRITING:
• Academic writing is a form of language used by people who
communicate within an academic context using a written
means.

• Such a context is formal in terms of relationships,

expectations, thinking, performance, creativity and
competition among peers.

• Language must reflect such formality especially when

communicating through written words.
 Extended Writing: Why Students Write at University?

 Students write for a number of purposes, according to the particular

requirements of their major.
 In many cases, the topic or title will be predetermined by the course instructors
and may require the reading of recommended texts.
 At other times during specialization for example, when writing a thesis or
dissertation students have to choose their own titles. Students will receive
guidelines and support from a faculty member, but on the whole, they are
expected to work independently at this level.
 REASON WHY STUDENTS CARRY OUT ACADEMIC
WRITING ACTIVITIES:
The reasons why students carry out extended academic writing activities
may include the following:

 to develop and express their ideas;

 to provide evidence to support their ideas;
 to show they can dispute or support existing theories (which involves
demonstrating their critical thinking ability);
 to display knowledge.

The type of writing required is determined by the purpose of the writing.

 CHARACTERISTICS OF ACADEMIC WRITING:

 Formal
 Explicit
 Precise
 Structured
 Unbiased
 Responsive
 Supported
 FORMAL:

Academic writing is formal in terms of vocabulary used. The writer should

avoid abbreviated forms of verb, contractions, sexist or racial terms,
emotional language and idioms.
 EXPLICIT:

Academic writing is explicit in terms to the message communicated and the

connections among the parts of the text. You as a writer, write to express
ideas not to entertain or impress your reader. Be sure what you intend to say.
 PRECISE:

The text for written communication in academics must be focused. The

sentences, data, figure, dates terms should be included if needed otherwise writer
must avoid extra information to avoid the ambiguity.
 STRUCTURED:

All the academic writing styles like essays, Study reports, thesis/ dissertation,
and research articles have specific structure. All the academic writer must
follow the structure that characterizes each type of academic text.
 UNBIASED:

The unbiased form of writing in academic writing. You try to convince using
rational argument based on subjectivity that can be evaluated. To achieve such a
goal, you need to use language and arguments that express neutrality.
 RESPONSIBLE:

While writing for academia the written words should be responsibly

articulated. One should provide evidence to support your claim,
managing information ethically, and understanding sources deeply before
citing others work in your work.
 SUPPORTED:

Supporting material in research article and thesis/ dissertation is characterized

by acknowledging sources used to develop your own views and ideas. The
proper referencing is mandatory.
ACADEMIC READING:
Completing reading assignments is one of the biggest challenges in academia.

Purposes for reading

People read different kinds of text (e.g., scholarly articles, textbooks, reviews)
for different reasons. Some purposes for reading might be

 to scan for specific information

 to skim to get an overview of the text
 to relate new content to existing knowledge
 to write something (often depends on a prompt)
 to critique an argument
 to learn something
 for general comprehension
READING STRATEGIES:

Strategies differ from reader to reader. The same reader may use different
strategies for different contexts because their purpose for reading changes.
Ask yourself “why am I reading?” and “what am I reading?” when
deciding which strategies to try.
BEFORE READING

DURING READING

AFTER READING
BEFORE READING

 Establish your purpose for reading

 Speculate about the author’s purpose for writing
 Review what you already know and want to learn about the topic
 Preview the text to get an overview of its structure, looking at headings, figures,
tables, glossary, etc.
 Predict the contents of the text and pose questions about it. If the authors have
provided discussion questions, read them and write them on a note-taking sheet.
 Note any discussion questions that have been provided (sometimes at the end of
the text)
DURING READING:

 Annotate and mark (sparingly) sections of the text to easily recall important or
interesting ideas
 Check your predictions and find answers to posed questions
 Use headings and transition words to identify relationships in the text
 Create a vocabulary list of other unfamiliar words to define later
 Try to infer unfamiliar words’ meanings by identifying their relationship to the
main idea
 Connect the text to what you already know about the topic
 Take breaks (split the text into segments if necessary)
AFTER READING

 Summarize the text in your own words (note what you learned, impressions, and
reactions) in an outline, concept map, or matrix (for several texts)
 Talk to someone about the author’s ideas to check your comprehension
 Identify and reread difficult parts of the text
 Define words on your vocabulary list