Notes in Academic Writing

Academic text or Academic Writing
- It is a process; it has to follow the steps or procedure. To have a purpose.

- Also addresses specific audience: teachers ( for most part), peers ( will read and evaluate), and
people in the academic community.
Academic writing should be formal.
In academic writing, using jargon should not allow.
Diction is choice of words. It depends on the audience.
Posing a question – if there is no question, there will be no answer or topic
Problematizing a concept (ideas) – from the question or the topic, Finding an issues.
Evaluating a opinion – it’s either your own opinion or the others
Answering the question – when there is a question, it should be answer.
Clarifying the problem – to make the problem understand by the audience
Arguing for a stand – very important, you should have concrete evidence in your stand.
- Concept paper
- Position paper
- Reaction paper
- Basics of literary analysis
- Parenthetical Citation – part of academic
Purpose:
To inform, Argue for specific points, and to persuade ( you feel accomplish and satisfied).
Why the citation is importance?
- To give credits to the owner of ideas.
11/19/2018
- It requires sophisticated use of language (sophistication)

- Expected quality
Certain aspects of academic writing
- Formality – in a literal sense, appropriateness

- Objectivity – certain degree of evidence
- Explicitness – expressing clear ideas, must be obvious
- Caution - careful thought
Formality – reflects your dignified stance in your writing as a member if the academic community.
Formality can be achieved through the following ways:
1. Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms. Ex. Cannot (instead of can’t)
2. Choosing one verb form over two-word verbs. Ex. Damage (instead of mess up)
3. Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated equivalents. Ex. As soon as possible (instead of
ASAP)
4. Avoiding colloquial/idiomatic expressions. Ex. Kind of like (piece of cake, bring home the bacon,
break a leg)
Sample sentence: this will cut down a lot of drug required and the cost won’t be the same.
This will reduce plenty of drugs required and the cost will not be the same.
Objectivity - Academic writing requires a special knowledge and use of more complex language and
objectivity.
Objectivity can be achieved by:
1. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as YOU, I and WE.

Poor example: You need to conduct the experiment.
Improve Version. The researcher needs to conduct experiment.
2. Avoiding rhetorical question as it marks “closeness” with the reader and constantly seeks
his/her attention.
Poor example: How can these problems be solved?
Improve version: Certain measures must be discovered to solve the problems.
3. Avoiding emotive language that shows biases and lessens objectivity.
Poor example: The investigators were very shocked to see outcome of the test.
Improve version: The investigators did not expect the results.
- deliberately playing on the readers feeling (it creates an additional impact on the readers
mind)
- evokes strong emotional response such as anger and shock (people react unnecessary to many
such sentences and take in to wring aspects)
- pushing the readers to get feedback ( the write’s main motive is to get the feedback)
- make the issue appear more significant than it actually is ( it makes the sentence seem more
significant than it actually is because of the deliberate choice of the words. These language
technique often overstake a particular sentence)
- target audience misunderstood as expectation
- creates a negative impact in the mind of the reader (the writer uses this t5echnique to fool the
target audience, it is a powerful way to express one’s feeling and emotion)
4. Other examples:
- Don’t write “In my opinion, this is a very interesting study” – this is a very interesting study.
- Don’t write “You can easily forget how difficult life was 50 years ago” – it is easy to forget how
difficult life was 50 years ago.
Explicitness – academic writing demands the use of sign posts (transitional devices) that allow readers
to trace the relationships in the parts of a study.
1. If you intend to show a change in your line if argument, make it clear by using HOWEVER.
the following phrases may be useful in making ideas , explicit: this is due to the, this resulted in
2. When two ideas seem the same express each clearly by using SIMILARLY
3. If you intend to give extra information in your sentence, make it clear by writing IN ADDITION
4. If you’re giving examples, do so explicitly by writing FOR EXAMPLE
Caution - academic writing requires care since knowledge is build/built from proven theories and
concept
- Important features of academic writing are the concept of cautious language, often called
hedging or vague language.
- Hedging s the use of linguistic devices to express hesitation or uncertainty as well as to
demonstrate politeness and indirectness.
Fundamental Purposes of hedging
1. To minimize the possibility of another academic opposing the claims that is being made.
2. To conform to currently accepted style of academic writing
3. To enable the author to device a politeness strategy where they are able to acknowledge that
they may be in their claims.
Examples:
1. Government official are corrupt.
 Some government official may be corrupt 9modal verb)
 Corruption is commonly linked to some key government officials(adverb)
 A number of government officials tend to be linked with cases of corruption (verb)
Verbs indicating caution: tends, suggests, appear to be, think, believe, doubt , indicate
Modal verbs: will, must, would, may, can, might, could,
Adverbs of frequency: often, sometimes, and usually
Features of Academic Writing
a. Formality
Avoid:
- colloquial/ “trite expressions”
- Contractions
- Abbreviations
- Two-word verbs, modifiers
b. Objectivity
Avoid:
-personal pronouns
-rhetorical questions
-Emotive language
c. Explicitness
- we use connectives
Avoid:
- similarly
-however
-this is due to the (effect – cause)
-this resulted to (cause – effect)
-for example
-in addition
d. Caution
Avoid:
- Conclusive statement
Relevance of STRUCTURE IN ACADEMIC WRITING
-Aside from language, sentences need to be constructed in such way that they show a level
of complexity that reflects the sophistication of an academic writer.
-Combining ideas effectively, nominalization and passivation are some ways to achieve fit
for academic writing.
In combining ideas effectively, you will need to avoid redundancy and at the same time,
make sure that ideas are packed effectively.
Examples:
- The earthquake caused loss of life.
- The earthquake caused massive property damage.
- The earthquake changed the landscape of the village.
Though the sentences are grammatically correct, they need to be improved by continuing
similar ideas expressing them through a more complex construction and to make it more
appealing.
The earthquake was a disaster that caused loss of life, property damage, and permanent
changes in landscape.
Oxford commas
NOMINALIZATION
- In nominalization, the verbs are made central as they denote action. Transforming verbs
into nouns help the readers focus the action and not on the doer of the action.
The company created software to manage the transaction successfully.

Using nominalization:
The creation of software to manage transaction was a success.
The president announced a three-day holiday this September.

The president’s announcement of a three-day holiday for September was released.
The mall distributed several free items to consumers in the hope to boost sales.
Distribution of free items for consumers was done in the hope to boost sales.
PASSIVIZATION
In passive constructions, the results of actions are highlighted. In academic writing, since the
writer of the paper is presumed to have done the collection and analysis of data, it is
understood that all the actions are a product of the writer’s work.
The researcher conducted experiments to validate the hypothesis.
Using passivization:
Experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis.
An engineer built a saltwater lamp to help communities with no electricity.

A saltwater lamp was built to help communities with no electricity.
Several scientists conducted experiment to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.

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Academic text or Academic Writing

- It is a process; it has to follow the steps or procedure. To have a purpose.

Why the citation is importance?

- To give credits to the owner of ideas.

- It requires sophisticated use of language (sophistication)

Certain aspects of academic writing

- Formality – in a literal sense, appropriateness

Formality can be achieved through the following ways:

Objectivity can be achieved by:

1. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as YOU, I and WE.

Fundamental Purposes of hedging

Modal verbs: will, must, would, may, can, might, could,

Adverbs of frequency: often, sometimes, and usually

Features of Academic Writing

Relevance of STRUCTURE IN ACADEMIC WRITING

The company created software to manage the transaction successfully.

The president announced a three-day holiday this September.

The researcher conducted experiments to validate the hypothesis.

An engineer built a saltwater lamp to help communities with no electricity.

Several scientists conducted experiment to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.

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