academic writing

Academic writingAcademic writingAcademic writingAcademic writing

By Irina KoksharovaBy Irina Koksharova

Outline• General comment of different

writing patterns and their peculiarities

• Research process• Parts of a scietific paper• Grammar and Vocabulary

Cultural peculiaritiesAnglo-American• Who – busy reader

who may lack some background knowledge

• How –text is easy to understand with a transparent structure

• Why – text must be marketed

• READER-FRIENDLY

Estonian and Russian• Who – informed

colleagues• How – aims to

impress, text is sophisticated, needs hard work to be understood

• Why – the absence of the necessity to sell

• WRITER-FRIENDLY

MOTO•KISS KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE! KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!

•MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT!

General remarks• CLARITY• READABILITY• NON-AMBIGUITY

(EASE Bulletin, 1998)

Readers of scientific papers DO NOT read them to ASSESS them, they read them to LEARN from them...What is needed is more SIMPLICITY NOT SOPHISTICATION! Wrtiters should aim to INFORM NOT to IMPRESS!

(Frances Luttikhuizen)

Strategies• Make the strategy of the text CLEAR• NEVER translate!• Accept TOTAL responsibility for

being clear• The worst sin is AMBIGUITY• Trust your ear!• Careful editing shortens your text!

““...If I had more ...If I had more time, I would have time, I would have

written you a written you a shorter letter...”shorter letter...”

Research process and parts of a scientific

paper (1)• Question?

• What is known?• Formulate the

problem• Hypothesis• Project plan

• Title• Abstract

• Introduction

Research process and parts of a scientific paper

(2)• Conduct the

experiment• Collect the data• Decide on methods• Analyse results• Interpertation • Make conclusions• Comment on the

new knowledge

• Materials

• Methods

• Results• Discussions

• Conclusions

TITLE• Informative (SUBJECT not

RESULTS)• Concise (7-10 words)• Initiating• Specific

Abstract is the most highly polished part of

the paper!• Why what was done was done• What was done• What was found• What was concluded• So what -implications

NB! Length - 250 wordsNB! Few if any abbreviations!

Introduction (1)Move I• Establish the field• Assert briefly how significant,

relevant, important the topic isMove II• Summarise previous general research• Omit the facts known to every

scientist

Introduction (2)Move III• Focus on your research project• Indicate a gap in knowledge that

should be filledMove IV• Introduce your own research• State the purpose of your work, your

intention, hypothesis to test• Rarely, some results may be

mentioned(John Swales)

Methods• Observe strict chronology• Stay in the past tense• Passive voice is common here

(passive forms in the middle of the sentences)

• Informative names, not evaluative

• Numbers, statistics

Results• Avoid double documentation• Guide the reader into discovery• The results should show statistical

significance• PastTenses, limited use of Passive

Voice• Do not evaluate• End with a summary

(Hall, 1998)

Discussions

• Answer the questions posed in the introduction

• Critical assessment (shortcomings)

• Comparison with other studies

Conclusions

• Implications• Suggest further research• Avoid promising to publish

References• Malmfors, B., Garnsworthy, P., and M.

Grossman.2005. Writing and Presenting Scientific Papers. Nottingham University Press.

• Norris, C.2006-2007. Academic Writing in English. University of Helsinki.

NB! No numbersNB! Alphabetical orderNB! Recommendations of the

publisher!

Grammar and vocabulary peculiarities of the Formal

Register• Full forms• Impersonal structures• No slang!• Never start sentences with: “but”,

“because”, “and” and others.• Use parallel constructions• Careful choice of words• No extra words!• Refer immediately to all the main

items involved

Problematic issues• Passive vs Active Voice• Verb sv Noun• Latin abbreviations (etc, e.g., i.e.)

Final points• Individualty of a piece of writing• Cultural differences• Editor’s and publisher’s

recommendations• Rules are made to make our life

easier not more complicated

Thank you for your attention!

Write creatively!