An Approach to Academic Writing

212:190Fall 2011

Audience

• Audience reflects WHO you are writing to/for.– Who are the people I am trying to communicate with?– Who will be interested in the research I am doing?– What is the most interesting thing about the topic?– If the audience I am writing for is not interested in my

topic, what should I do to get their interest?– Will everyone in my audience agree with what I have

to say?– What counter-arguments should I be prepared to

answer?

Audience

• Group Work Passage– Compare and contrast the two passages from

Cinderella. Answer the questions with your group.

Purpose and Strategy

• Purpose– What do you hope to accomplish?– Argumentative Prove yourself right.

• Strategy– How are you planning on completing your goal?• Argumentative, Persuasive, Expository, Narrative• Academic paper, technical paper, news article,

literature review, experimentation

Organization

• Problem-Solution (pg. 14)1. Description of a situation2. Identification of a problem3. Description of a solution4. Evaluation of a solution

• Other organizational patterns we will talk about later:– Compare and Contrast– Cause and Effect– Classification

Style and Language Choice• Whenever possible, chose a single verb, rather than a phrasal verb or a prepositional

verb.• Chose more formal language

– Avoid contractions– Use more concise negatives (avoid DO)

• The analysis didn't yield any new results.• The analysis yielded no new results.

• Avoid run-ons– so on– and so forth– etc.

• Avoid pronouns– You can see the results in Table 1.– The results can be seen in Table 1.

• Avoid questions!!!• Place adverbs within the verb (they shouldn't hang out at the end of a phrase or clause).• Split infinitives should be avoided, but are not banned.• Aim for efficient use of words (less is more!)

Style and Language ChoiceWord Choice/ToneAdjust the language to achieve an academic tone.

1. A huge number of people have been really upset with Bush over the events of the Iraqi war.

2. Rents have skyrocketed in the last couple of years and the situation isn't going to change for a while, probably.

3. Nobody was crazy about the drawings submitted for the World Trade Center site, so they kept the competition open a little bit longer.

4. We can solve the problem by just switching a few elements around.

5. The research proposal was turned down because the research would have required lots of money.

From: MIT Open Courseware

HW

• Read AW Pgs. 24-43 due W 9/7• Journal Entry 1 due on PB works by 10pm

FRIDAY• NO CLASS MONDAY-LABOR DAY