Lesson

01

English for Academic and

Professional Purposes
AN INTRODUCTION
 DIFFERENTIATING
ACADEMIC AND NON-
ACADEMIC TEXTS

Objectives TYPES OF ACADEMIC

AND NON-ACADEMIC
TEXTS

FACTORS THAT SHAPE

ACADEMIC WRITING
 written by professionals in the given field

Well-edited and often takes years to publish

ACADEMIC
TEXTS
Uses formal language

Contains words and terms specific to the

field (jargon)
 special words or expressions
that are used by a particular
Jargon profession or group and are
difficult for others to
understand.
 ACADEMIC TEXTS
• Contains list of sources and
references
• Main goal is to advance human
understanding in a particular
discipline
• Can be challenging for
novice/beginner readers
• Informative, argumentative, or
objective in nature
 Examples of Academic
Texts
• School books and Textbooks
• Journal Articles
• Research proposals and papers
• Some newspapers and
magazine articles
• Thesis and Dissertations
 Types of Academic Texts
Descriptive
Provides facts and information
Identify, report, record,
summarize, define
Analytical
Organizes facts and information into
categories, groups, parts, types, or
relationships
Analyze, compare, contrast,
relate, examine
 Types of Academic Texts
Persuasive Critical
Includes argument, recommendation,
interpretation, or evaluation of the work Requires you to consider at least
of others with the addition of your own
point of view.
two points of view, including
your own
Needs to be supported by evidence

Argue, evaluate, discuss, take a position

Critique, debate, disagree,
and evaluate
 Written for the mass subject

Published quickly and can be written by

anyone

NON-
Often doesn’t involve research or
ACADEMIC sources
TEXTS
Uses informal and more conversational
language

May contain slang

NON-ACADEMIC TEXTS

Author may be Usually delivers simple

unknown and basic information

Can be read and easily Personal, emotional,

understood by any kind impressionistic, or
of reader subjective in nature
Examples of Non-
Academic Texts

• Blog posts
• Fiction Books
• Letters
• Personal journals and
diaries
 STRUCTURE PURPOSE TONE
ACADEMIC TEXTS sentences and paragraphs;
third person; objective; To inform; Formal;
factual; research-based;
use opinions of educated To educate Impersonal
scholars rather than that of
the author’s

NON-ACADEMIC sentences and paragraphs; Informal;

TEXTS verses; first person; To entertain;
subjective; Personal;
creative/imaginative; uses To persuade
personal experiences and Emotional
opinions
FACTORS THAT
SHAPE
ACADEMIC
WRITING
Audience Purpose

Organization Style

Flow Presentation
 WHOM
Are you writing for?
Audience
 WHY
Are you writing?

Purpose
 HOW
will you arrange your ideas ?

Organization
 WHAT
Technique/s will you use?

Style
 How well will you

express
Ideas?
Flow
 Is your output

READY
for publishing ?
Presentation
Read the passages below. Then, identify whether each passage can
be an academic text or non-academic text.

1. Just as the sun rises and peeps from the east, and as the roosters of
the neighborhood crow, the man gathered his be longings and left his
house.
2. When synthesizing information, a new understanding about a topic is
developed by using information from more than one source.
3. Depression is one of society’s prevailing issues that requires attention.
One’s mental health is as important as one’s physical health.
4. I want to obtain answers to the questions that are swarming in my mind.
But, it seems everything in life is just a cycle of questions with no
answers in sight.
5.He saw the pure crystal water turned crimson red as the
monster devoured the victim. He cried for help but it was too
late.
6.Statistics show that the higher percentage of the population
prefer dogs over cats.
7. Yesterday was a beautiful day. It was warm enough to feel
comfortable in shorts. A nice breeze made the air feel fresh. The
flowers vibrated with color. It felt good to be alive.
8.Antibiotics are prescribed to fight infections. Sore throats,
earaches, and other symptoms may be caused by the growth of
bacteria in your body. As the antibiotics fight to destroy the
bacteria, the bacteria struggle to become stronger.