English for Academic and Professional Purposes – READING AND UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Academic Language

Halliday (1993) posited that learners use language as their tool to make sense of the world that surrounds them, and during
this sense-making process, they are (1) learning language, (2) learning through language, and (3) learning about language.
Language utilized in schools to acquire new or deeper understanding of concepts, constructs, and theories in a specific
content area and communicate that understanding to others (Bailey & Heritage, 2008)

Academic Writing
• A process that starts with a question.
• It has a specific purpose – to inform, to argue, and to persuade.
• It also addresses a specific audience.
• Reflects critical thinking.
• Deliberate, thoughtful, careful, and involves research

Academic writing starts with posing a question, problematizing a concept, evaluating an opinion, and ends in answering the
question or questions posed, clarifying a problem, and/or arguing a stand. The assumption is that your audience is
composed of people who are knowledgeable on the subject that you are writing about. You must demonstrate a thorough
understanding of your subject.

Academic writing is thinking. There are rules and practices that must be followed.
-Language is formal but not too pretentious
-Considers background of audience
-Audience determines language of paper
-Can back up statement with strong and valid evidence

Academic writing is generally defined as any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or university. Please note that
academic writing in English is linear. It has one central point or theme with each part contributing the main argument.
Example of these are book reports, translations, research articles, academic journals, thesis, and abstract.

Characteristics of Academic Writing

 Planning - There is a certain amount of planning before you start writing the paper; so, it will be analytical and
organized.
 Outline - A proper outline is a must for academic writing. An outline will not only help you formulate your thoughts,
but will sometimes make you aware of certain relationships between topics. It will help you determine the
pertinent information to be included in your paper.
 Tone - A formal tone is used. You do not use slang words, jargon, abbreviations, or many clichés.
 Language - The language in your paper needs to be clear and words need to be chosen for their precision. A
thesaurus is a good tool to help you pick just the right words to explain the issues.
 Point-of-view - The point of view in the third person, as the focus of academic writing is to educate on the facts,
not support an opinion. However, the first person POV has also been accepted in recent years.
 Approach - Deductive reasoning is a big part of academic writing as your readers have to follow the path that
brought you to your conclusion.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

 Wordiness. The goal of academic writing is to convey complex ideas in a clear and concise manner.
 A vague or missing thesis statement. The thesis statement is the single most important sentence in any
academic paper. Your thesis statement must be clear, and each body paragraph needs to tie into that thesis.
 Informal language. Academic writing is formal in tone and should not include slang, idioms, or conversational
language.
 Description without analysis. Do not simply repeat the ideas from your source materials, analyze and explain
these.
 Not citing sources. Keep track of your source materials throughout the research and writing process. Cite them
consistently using one style manual. Any ideas that are not your own need to be cited, whether they're
paraphrased or quoted directly, to avoid plagiarism.
English for Academic and Professional Purposes - WRITING A REACTION PAPER, REVIEW AND CRITIQUE

What are Reaction Papers, Reviews, and Critiques?

A reaction paper, a review, and a critique are specialized forms of writing in which a reviewer or reader evaluates any of
the following:
 A scholarly work (e.g., academic books and articles)
 A work of art (e.g., performance art, play, dance, sports, film, exhibits)
 Designs (e.g., industrial designs, furniture, fashion design)
 Graphic designs (e.g., posters, billboards, commercials, and digital media)

Reaction papers, reviews, critiques usually range in length from 250-750 words. They are not simply summaries but are
critical assessments, analyses, or evaluation of different works. As advanced forms of writing, they involve your skills in
critical thinking and recognizing arguments. However, you should connect the word critique to cynicism and pessimism.

CRITICAL APPROACHES IN WRITING A CRITIQUE

There are various ways or standpoints by which you can analyze and critique a certain material. You can critique a
material based on its technical aspects, its approach to gender, your reaction as the audience, or through its portrayal of
class struggle and social structure.

1. Formalism- claims that literary works contain intrinsic properties and treats each work as a distinct work of art. In
short, it posits that the key to understanding a text is through the text itself; the historical context, the author, or any
other external contexts are not necessary in interpreting the meaning.

Following are the common aspects looked into formalism:

 Author’s techniques in resolving contradictions within the work
 Central passage that sums up the entirety of the work
 Contribution of parts and the work as a whole to its aesthetic quality
 Relationship of the form and the content
 Use of imagery to develop the symbols in the work
 Interconnectedness of various parts of the work
 Paradox, ambiguity, and irony in the work
 Unity in the work

2. Feminist Criticism-also called feminism, it focuses on how literature presents women as subjects of socio-political,
psychological, and economic oppression. It also reveals how aspects of our culture are patriarchal, i.e., how our culture
views men as superior and women as inferior. The common aspects looked into when using feminism are as follows:
  How culture determines gender
 How gender equality (or lack of it) is presented in the text
 How gender issues are presented in literary works and other aspects of human production and daily life
 How women are socially, politically, psychologically, and economically oppressed by patriarchy
 How patriarchal ideology is an overpowering presence

3. Reader-Response Criticism- is concerned with the reviewer’s reaction as an audience of a work. This approach
claims that the reader’s role cannot be separated from the understanding of the work; a text does not have meaning
until the reader reads it and interprets it. Readers are therefore not passive and distant, but are active consumers of the
material presented to them. The common aspects looked into when using reader response criticism are as follows:
 Interaction between the reader and the text in creating meaning
 The impact of the reader’s delivery of sounds and visuals on enhancing and changing meaning

4. Marxist Criticism- is concerned with differences between economic classes and implications of a capitalist system,
such as the continuing conflicts between the working class and the elite. Hence, it attempts to reveal that the ultimate
source of people’s experience is the socioeconomic system. The common aspects looked into when using Marxist
criticism are as follows:
 Social class as represented in the work
 Social class of the writer/creator
 Social class of the characters
 Conflicts and interactions between economic classes

Note that these are not the only critical approaches you can use. Other approaches in writing a critique include
postmodern criticism, post-colonial criticism, structuralism, psychological criticism, gender criticism, ecocriticism,
biographical criticism, historical criticism, mythological criticism, and deconstructionist criticism.

STRUCTURE OF A REACTION PAPER, REVIEW, OR CRITIQUE

You have to follow a logical organization and structure for your reaction paper or review to be able to present your critical
evaluation effectively.

Structure for Critiques of Academic Researches and Articles

Introduction (around 5% of the paper)
o Title of the book/article/work
o Writer’s name
o Thesis Statement
Summary (Around 10% of the paper)
o Objective or purpose
o Methods used (if applicable)
o Major findings, claims, ideas, or messages
Review/Critique (in no particular order and around 75% of the paper)
o Appropriateness of methodology to support the arguments (for books and articles) or appropriateness of mode of
presentation (other works)
o Theoretical soundness, coherence of ideas
o Sufficiency and soundness of explanation in relation to other available information and experts
o Other perspectives in explaining the concepts and ideas
Conclusion (around 10% of the paper)
o Overall impression of the work
o Scholarly or literary value of the reviewed article, book, or work
o Benefits for the intended audience or field
o Suggestion for future direction of research

For other types of reviews, there is no prescribed structure, but the following sections are almost always present.
Introduction
o Basic details about the material, such as its title, director or artist, name of exhibition/event, and the like
o Main assessment of the material (for films and performances)
Plot Summary/Description
o Gist of the plot
o Simple description of the artwork
Analysis/Interpretation
Discussion and analysis of the work (you may employ the critical approach here)
It is best to ask the following questions during this part.
o What aspects of the work make you think it is a success or failure?
o Were there unanswered questions or plot lines? If yes, how did they affect the story?
o Does the work remind you of other things you have experienced through analogies, metaphors, or other figurative
devices? How does this contribute to the meaning?
o How does the work relate to other ideas or events in the world and/or in your other studies?
o What stood out while you were watching the film or the performance?
Conclusion/Evaluation
o Reinforcement of main assessment
o Comparison to a similar work
o Recommendation of the material (if you liked it)

English for Academic and Professional Purposes - WRITING A CONCEPT PAPER

The purpose of the concept paper is to explain, clarify, or theorize a particular concept so that it can be discussed in
the world of the academe. Thus, when one writes a concept paper, he or she is said to be engaging in an academic discourse
about it – that is, he is contributing to the dialog of scholars about a given topic.

The concept paper answers the questions: “what is it?” And “what is it about?” (Dadufalza, 1996). It often starts with a
definition, either formal or informal, of the term or the concept and proceeds with an expanded definition and an analytic
description of the aspects of the concept.

Another purpose of a concept –to stipulate the meaning of a term by limiting, extending, or redirecting the reference or
sense in which they term is commonly understood or to use in a special way, a term borrowed from another field in which it
is made to apply (Dadufalza, 1996). In this sense, a concept paper can be subjective because the writer can choose what
areas to emphasize, what complex ideas to simplify, and what explanations can be included/excluded. Despite this, keep
in mind that even if the concept paper tends to be subjective, the author still has to ensure that the concepts are explained
in a way that readers can connect and separate what is the traditional definition and what is the definition of the author.

In developing a concept, it is important to connect theory and experience. Theory comes from the numerous academic
articles written about your desired topic while experience comes from the day-to-day observations made by the researcher.

Take note that it is essential that you research about your topic for a concept paper and provide in-text citations or
references for the traditional definition of the topic that you want to explain or clarify. Keep in mind that you should gather
informative and objective pieces of literature relevant to your topic. The rule is that you must have three to five credible
sources composed of scholarly journals, books, magazines, or interviews.

Techniques in clarifying a concept:

1. Formal – follows a pattern or equation: term + genus + differentia (differentiating characteristics)

Ex. A robot is a machine that looks like a human being and performs complex acts of a human being (Webster)
2. By synonym- using a word or phrase that shares a meaning with the term being defined. Ex: Hashish – marijuana.
3. By origin or semantic history – Ex. Yoga comes from the Sanskrit “to join”
4. By Illustration – Ex: Known for their shedding their leaves in the fall, deciduous trees include oaks, maples, and beeches.
5. By function – Ex: A thermometer measures temperature change.
6. By analysis (Breaking down wholes into parts, aspects into levels, and a process into steps) Ex: The republican form of
government has three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.
7. By likeness or similarity – Ex: Brighter than 100million suns, quasars stand like beacons on the shore of the universe…
8. By analogy or metaphor –Ex: The germs and bacteria or antigens are like a gang of villains invading our body, attacking
our unseen defenders, the layers of macrophages, cytokines, and lymphocytes,
9. By contrast- use of opposites Ex: Unlike those of gas, the particles of plasma are electrically charged.
10. By negation – stating what a term is not. Ex: Wild rice, an American delicacy, is not rice at all but the seed of a tall
aquatic grass.