AW100 ACADEMIC WRITING

ACADEMIC WRITING
CONSIDERATIONS IN ACADEMIC
WRITING
 Audience
Even before you write, you need to
consider your audience.
Understand your audience’s
expectations and prior knowledge
because this will affect the content of
your writing.
 Purpose and Strategy
Audience, purpose and strategy are
typically interconnected.
If the audience knows less than the
writer – the writer’s purpose is
instructional.
If the audience knows more than the
writer – the writer’s purpose is usually to
display familiarity, expertise and
intelligence.
 Organization
Information is presented to readers in a
structured format.
Use appropriate patterns of organization.
One common strategy is to organize
information in terms of problem-solution. It
has four parts:
1. Description of a situation
2. Identification of a problem
3. Description of a solution
4. Evaluation of the solution
Description of
a situation

Identification
of a problem

Description of
a solution

Evaluation of
the solution
Description of Conducting a survey of news on
women in general news websites provides
a situation us a glimpse of the high rate of violence
against women. Most of the news talked
about different gendered issues in Canada,
but there were news highlighting other
parts of the world, including the Asia Pacific
region and countries like India and
Identification Pakistan. The issues covered
included bullying and harassment of
of a problem
women workers, sexual assault and rape,
honor killings, and highly-publicized and
criticized incidents like a cover signs of
domestic violence.
We do not have to look far to see the
discrimination and violence that women
encounter in their everyday lives. It exists
everywhere, regardless of caste, class, age,
race and religion. Let us look at some facts
and figures from four South Asian
countries: Two of these have Hindu-
majority populations (Nepal and India) and
two of the others are Muslim majority
(Afghanistan and Bangladesh).
 
 The campaign to fight violence against
women has reached many cities and
villages, making people aware of the reality
Description of that women face. More women are
reporting and writing about violence forcing
a solution governments to take action to address them
such as passing legislation to counteract the
violence.
But different kinds of discrimination still
persist across the globe: unequal pay;
discrimination in the home and at work;
household chores still not considered
“work”; women being seen as incapable of
“hard” physical jobs; women’s bodies being
sexually objectified and taken as “property”;
and granted unequal citizenship and
property rights.
Evaluation of The list is seemingly endless. It is, therefore,
the solution essential to ask the questions regarding
gender discrimination and violence, not just
to find the answers as to why it is
happening, but to make us all realize that
the struggle and the fight are still in full
swing.
Some Other Ways of Organizing
Information
Comparison and Contrast
Cause-effect
Focusing on one cause and multiple effects as in
an earthquake or describing multiple causes and one
effect as in global warming
Classification
Categorizing as suggested by the following
example:
“Earthquake effects on underground structures
can be grouped into two categories: (1) ground
shaking and (2) ground failure such as liquefaction,
fault displacement, and slope instability.  
 Style
Make sure communications are written
in the appropriate style.
Observe consistency
Determine whether voice should be
active or passive
Use acceptable style in terms of area of
study
Use third-person point of view
Avoid gender-biased words
 Style
Spell out the abbreviations and acronyms
Spell out the numbers less that ten
Instead of broad categories, you should
use the exact age ranges that are more
relevant and specific (instead of over 65,
write 65-75).
Use descriptive phrase.
Word spelling should conform to the
American English spelling.
LANGUAGE FOCUS: The Vocabulary
Shift
Verbs
English often has two (or more) choices
to express an action or occurrence. The
choice is often between a phrasal verb
(verb + particle) or prepositional verb
(verb + preposition) and a single verb.
 
 Example:  
According to some biologists, coming
up with clear proof of the decreasing
numbers of frogs has been difficult. (less
formal style)
According to some biologists, offering
clear proof of proof of the decreasing
numbers of frogs has been difficult. (academic
style)
 
LANGUAGE FOCUS: Formal
Grammar Style
Recommendations for Maintaining
a Formal Academic Style
 Generally, avoid contractions (but keep in
mind that in some fields it may be okay to use
them)

Example:
Incorrect
Export figures won’t improve until the economy is
stronger.

Correct
Export figures will not improve until the economy is
stronger.
 
 Use the more appropriate formal negative
forms.
Examples:

Incorrect
The analysis didn’t yield any new results.
Correct
The analysis yielded no new results.

Incorrect
The government didn’t allocate much funding. 
Correct
The government allocated little funding.
 Limit the use of run-on expressions such as
and so forth and etc.

Example:
Incorrect
These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD
players, etc.

Correct
These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD
players, and other electronic devices.
 Avoid addressing the reader as you (except
when you are writing a textbook or instructional
material).

Example:
Incorrect
You can see the results in Table 1.

Correct
The results can be seen in Table 1.
 Place adverbs within the verb.
In academic writing adverbs are often placed
midposition rather than in initial or final positions. In
informal English adverbs often occur at the beginning or
end of sentences.

Example:
Incorrect
This model was developed by Krugman originally.

Correct
This model was originally developed by Krugman.
 Aim for an efficient use of words.
Use as many words you need to express your
points; try to use no more than you really need.

Example:
Incorrect
It may be difficult to make a decision about the method
that we should use.

Correct
Choosing the proper method may be difficult.
LANGUAGE FOCUS: Linking Words
and Phrases
 Linking words and phrases can help a writer
maintain flow and establish clear relationships
between ideas.
Examples:
Subordinators – although, even though, because,
since, while, whereas
Sentence connectors – furthermore, in addition,
moreover, therefore, as a result, consequently, hence,
thus, in other words, that is, in contrast, however, on
the other hand, conversely, for example, for instance,
on the contrary, as a matter of fact, in fact
Phrase linkers – in addition to, despite, in spite of,
because of, due to, as a result of, unlike
 Semicolons join two completely independent
sentences and work much like a full stop.
Example:
Air traffic delays due to high traffic volume have
increased considerably over the last decade; these
delays have become a major public policy issue.
Semicolons can be used with sentence connectors.
Note the use of comma after the connector.
Example:
Increasing the size of airports is one solution to
traffic congestion; however, this is a long-term
solution whose benefits may not be seen for many
years into the future.
 In addition, semicolons can be used to
separate rather long items in a list.
Example:
Some of the solutions to the air traffic
delay problem include increasing the size of
airports that routinely experience major flight
delays; overhauling the air traffic control so
that more flights can be safely handled; and
increasing landing fees during peak periods.
 Sometimes a dash is used to introduce a list
as well. Often, dashes are used to intrude into
a sentence with some additional information.
Example:
The beam “cuts” inside the eye with
minimal damage to the surrounding tissue—
even the tissue between the laser and the
incision.
General to Specific Texts
 Texts move from broad statements to
narrower ones. However, they often widen out
again in the final sentence. The shape is similar
to that of a glass or cup.
 You produce GS text for:
An answer to an examination question
An opening paragraph of an assignment
A background (or scene-setting) paragraph to an analysis or discussion
How to begin GS texts
A short or extended definition
A contrastive or comparative definition
A generalization or purpose statement
A statement of fact
 
 GENERAL STATEMENTS
General statements can include general statements of fact as well as broad statements made
about a topic that are usually, but not necessarily always true. Here are a few examples:
Individuals in organizations exhibit a wide range of behaviors, from the minimalist who does the
least possible to maintain membership to those who go beyond expectations, engaging in extra-role
behavior to promote the effective operation of the organization or to benefit others.
In the last decade, tremendous strides have been made in the science and technology of organic
light-emitting diodes (OLEDS).
Over the years, interest in economic benefits of meetings tourism has been growing.
 
LANGUAGE FOCUS: The Language of
Defining and Naming
 FORMAL SENTENCE DEFINITIONS
May be signaled by a single verb phrase or may be expressed using a class term and restrictive clause some
verb phrases include refer to as, is/are known as, is/are defined as
e.g. Dental erosion is defined as a progressive loss of hard dental tissues by a chemical process without
bacterial action.
This variant of the efficiency wage hypothesis is known as the shirking model.
Elements of formal sentence definitions
Term + Class + Distinguishing Detail
e.g. A solar cell is a device that converts the energy of sunlight into electric energy.
 
DELETION
THANK YOU!