universidad de nariño ana c. sánchez solarte...•avoid ambiguous words and clichés because they...

Academic Writing

Universidad de Nariño

Ana C. Sánchez Solarte

What is Academic Writing?

It is a product of considering:

• Audience: must have an understanding of your

audience’s expectations and prior knowledge.

These will affect your writing content.

• Purpose and strategy: if your audience knows

less than you do, you are informing. If they

know more you convince them about your

knowledge. Strategies include: write, research,

reviewing, looking for cohesion, editing.


• Organization: It must present a predictable

layout so that your readers can follow the

ideas rather than guessing what you mean. A

common organization is: description of a

situation, identification of a problem,

description of a solution, evaluation of the

solution.

• Style: it should be consistent all over the paper

and consider audience and purpose. Although

in English you write in a simple, direct way, a


sign of formality in English is language use.

• Flow: the reader can move easily through the

text and the ideas. Connecting ideas

cohesively is necessary to help readers.

• Presentation: in Academic Writing you must

proofread a paper and look for types,

homophones, mistakes in agreement and

spelling.

Parenthetical and Sentence Definitions

A common task in academic writing is writing

definitions. They can be short or long,

informal or formal. They can be parenthetical,

sentence and extended.

1. Parenthetical definitions: a short

explanation of a word or phrase placed

discreetly in a sentence. Ex:

Burger King has been trying unsuccessfully for

years to buy the equity stock (common

stock) of McDonald’s.

Parenthetical and Sentence Definitions

It can also be a longer phrase or clause:

His uncle sells municipal revenue bonds,

bonds issued to finance projects that will

eventually generate their own revenues, such

as a toll bridge.

Sentence Definitions

2. Sentence Definitions

It is a one-sentence explanation of a word or

phrase. They are useful when your readers

require a more formal or informative

clarification than parenthetical sentences

provide. It usually follows a standard pattern

in which the item being defined is placed in a

class or category of similar items and then

distinguished from them.

Sentence Definitions

BASIC is a simple computer language,

popularly used by students and

microcomputer owners, in which line

numbers precede each statement.

Workshop One

Get in pairs and write a sentence definition for

2 of these terms: competence, output, focus

on form, communicative language teaching,

grammar, noticing. You must not copy

exactly from sources.

Extended Definitions

Extended definitions are composed by one or

more paragraphs that attempt to explain a

complex term. Some terms may be so

important in your report, there may be so

much confusion about them or they may be

so difficult to understand that an extended

discussion is vital for the success of your

report, article, monograph or research paper.

Writing Summaries

A summary is a compilation of the essential

ideas of a longer composition such as an

article, a chapter in a book or book. I can

also be written taking as the starting point a

video or a lecture (less common). The basic

thought of a passage is reproduced in

miniature replicating the purpose, tone and

intention of the original. No interpretation or

comment should be added by the person

writing the summary.

Writing Summaries

A summary, as any other academic text

should make use of a formal style and

consider a G-S construction. Its unity and

coherence should be emphasized through

smooth transitional devices. It should be

intelligible and meaningful to a reader who

has not read the original. It should provide an

account of the main parts of the original text

in about 200 words (it may vary according to

the requirements of Ts and advisors).

Steps in Writing Summaries

• Write an outline with the ideas you consider

others should know about the text.

• State the name of the author, the article and

the source.

• Use formal wording.

• When writing about history use the past

tense.

• Avoid abusing commas, “ands” and

“becauses”.

Steps in Writing Summaries

• Avoid ambiguous words and clichés

because they may not be motivation for your

audience.

• Once the first draft is finished, read through

it, see if it makes sense and if the original

ideas are reflected in your summary.

• Once you are satisfied with your draft check

spelling, concordances and homophones.

Comparative Summaries

They can be assignments, part of a longer

paper or a response to an exam. They are

more difficult than simple summaries

because you have to analyze and use

information from 2 sources and infer and

make explicit the relationships among those

sources. Its extension will vary according to

the T and to the difficulty and extension of

the question. However, keep in mind that

summaries are always short.

Comparative Summaries

In comparing the authors’ views you can do

the following

• Introduce author 1 & main idea 1

• Introduce author 2 & main idea 2

• Introduce author 1 & 2 common ideas

• Introduce author 1 & 2 dissimilar ideas

• Conclude stating similarities and differences

between authors.

Styles

Most summaries begin with a sentence

containing the author, source and main idea.

Here are some examples of how to do it:

In T.S. Rodgers’ article “Language Teaching

Methodology”… (main idea)

According to T.S. Rodgers in his article

“Language Teaching Methodology”, …(mi)

T.S. Rodgers’ 2001 article on methodology

discusses… (mi)

Styles

When writing a summary you can also use

the following objective and evaluative verbs:

describe, discuss, state, present, explain,

maintain, examine, affirm, argue, reveal,

presume, assume, assert, contend, allege,

claim, imply.

Styles

To avoid overusing the author’s name and to

remind the reader that you are summarizing

a text use:

The author goes on to say that…

The article further states that …

The author also states/maintains/argues that..

The author concludes that

In the second half of the paper the author

presents…

Styles

To compare and contrast authors you can use

• Saricoban and Olaofe maintain that

• The authors agree that…

• Although Saricoban explains this more

clearly, Olaofe would agree that…

• While both Saricoban and Olaofe analyze the

topic of listening, the former… while the

latter…

• Both Saricoban and Olaofe explain…

Writing Critiques

The first real text where are real evaluation of

the content is carried out by a reader is a

critique. It is a critical assessment of the

strengths or weaknesses of an article, a

piece of research or study. It may include

positive and negative views to make the

paper look more fair and reasonable. In LT

we focus on the methodology used to get to

a conclusion, in engineering the most

important is the results obtained.

Reasons for Writing Critiques

To asses the learners’ understanding of the

content of the text.

To push Ls into developing a critical reading of

authors in a specialized field.

To take Ls to a higher level of performance by

writing more complex tasks that can be

needed later on

To encourage Ls to compare the criticized

article with their previous background on that

topic.

Form in Critiques

The connotation of should is negative, would

and could are preferred.

In order to express your opinion you can use:

Positive: useful, significant, remarkable,

competent, impressive, organized, efficient

Neutral: unusual, traditional, complex, ambitious

Negative: small, simple, limited, restricted,

flawed, unsatisfactory, poor.

Table of contents

Replace it with your original text.






Table of contents






Organizational Chart

CEO

VP IT VP Admin Secretary

Manager Development

Manager QA

Manager Admin

Manager HR

Test Lead 1

Team Members List

Test Lead 2

Team Members List

Dev Lead 1

Team Members List

Dev Lead 2

Team Members List

Admin Officer 1

Admin Officer 2

Support 1

Support 2

Support 3

HR Executive 1

HR Executive 2

HR Support 1

HR Support 2

Accounts

&

Finance Staff

Replace designations as per your requirements.

Area Wise Distribution

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

East

West

North

Quarterly Sale

13%

17%

57%

13%

1st Qtr

2nd Qtr

3rd Qtr

4th Qtr

Employee Detail

Employee No Name Gender Grade Department

70899 Triet Beo Male 4 Management

70909 David Smith Male 4 Marketing

70839 Susan Cyler Female 4 Dev

70800 Suzi Decosa Female 5 Management

70829 Abrahim Bukhatir Male 2 Dev

70394 Suresh Kumar Male 5 Dev

70291 Deborah Green Female 3 Testing

70844 Michael Bennot Male 1 Doc

70194 George Wood Male 2 Testing

Area Wise Growth

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

North

West

East

Important Points

This is sample text, please replace it with yours…







Project Iterations

Planning Execution Testing Deployment

Process Diagram

Process

Input

Output

Basic Process Flow Diagram

Input

Output

Process

Compass

East

North

West

South

Yearly Sales

Quarters

Sale in Million $

1 2 3 4

100

150

200

250

300

170 M

155 M

230 M

250 M

Formula

65%

20%15%

Growing Wealth

Business Chain

RawSale

Finished

Good

Training

Training

detail

comes

here

Product List

Name of Product A

Name of Product B

Name of Product C

Time Line

3rd Quarter

Milestone

4th Quarter

Milestone

1st Quarter

Milestone

2nd Quarter

Milestone

Detail of joint ventures

can be provided here.

Joint Ventures

SWOT Analysis

Opportunities

OThreats

T

Strengths

SWeaknesses

W

Main Points

Replace this text with your original point of discussion.







Timeline

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

This is sample

text, please

replace it with

your original

facts and figures.

Thanks

This is sample

text, please

replace it with

your original

facts and figures.

Thanks

This is sample

text, please

replace it with

your original

facts and figures.

Thanks

This is sample

text, please

replace it with

your original

facts and figures.

Thanks

This is sample

text, please

replace it with

your original

facts and figures.

Thanks

Sample Timeline

2000

2010

2020

2030

This is sample text, please

replace it with your original

facts and figures. Thanks

This is sample text, please

replace it with your original

facts and figures. Thanks

This is sample text, please replace it with

your original facts and figures. Thanks

This is sample text, please replace it with

your original facts and figures. Thanks

Sample Timeline

2000

2010

2020

2030

Good News

This is sample text, please replace it with your

original facts and figures. Thanks

Economic Growth Circular Flow Model

Goods and Services

Factors and Production

Consumer Expenditures

Wages Rent Dividends

Path Diagram

Your

text

Your

text

Your

text

Your

text

Your

text

Circles & Segments

Yo

ur

text

he

re

Yo

ur

text

he

re

Your text here

Your text here

Circles & Segments

Yo

ur

text

he

re

Yo

ur

text

he

re

Your text here

Your text here

Your

Text

here

Circles & Segments

Yo

ur

text

he

re

Yo

ur

text

he

re

Your text here

Your text here

Your

text

Your

text

Your

text

Your

Text

here

Your

Text

here

Circles & Segments

Your

Text

here

Your

Text

here

Water Fall Model

Your text here

Your text here

Your text here

Your text here

Your text here

Water Fall Model

Your text

here

Your text

here

Your text

here

Your text

here

Your text

here

Your Detail Comes Here.

Your text here

Your text here

Your text here

Water Fall Model

Your text here

Flowchart

Your

Document

Your

Process

Closed

DB1

Your

Decision

Your

Decision

Your

Process

Your

Process

Your

Process

Your

Process

Annual Profit in million dollars

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

$378 $580 $523 $590

$421 $492 $600 $610

Ideas

Your text here. Your text here.

Your text here.

Your text here.

Obstacles

Your Obstacles

Detail Comes Here

Your Obstacles

Detail Comes Here

Your Obstacles

Detail Comes Here

Checklist







universidad de nariño ana c. sánchez solarte...•avoid ambiguous words and clichés because they...

Documents