ACADEMIC WRITING

 Academic Writing According To Saqueton And Uychoco (2016)

 It is thinking. You have to follow a set of rules and practice in academic writing.
 It involves research. Requires deliberate, thorough, and careful thought.
 Your audience determines the language of your paper; jargons for expert readers, and
layperson’s terms when writing for your colleagues.
 Academic writing is a style of writing that exhibits formality. This type of writing is used in
schools/ universities and even in scholarly publication.
 Academic writing adopts similar processes in writing like other categories of text (journalistic
and legal documents) but follows different conventions in line with its content, structure, and
style.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ACADEMIC WRITING:

Formal and Unbias

 Formal - condition or quality of being formal; accordance with required or traditional rules

(Dictionary.com)
Traditonal rules example:
 Grammar
 Mechanics/Technicalities (Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization Spacing, Font Style)
 Unbiased
 Impartial (arguments are based on evidences or sources not author’s
preconceptions nor opinions)
 Represents works of other researchers and/authors

Formal English:

 Used in official, literary, academic, etc. content.

 Typically used in careful, edited writing — when the writer has a lot of time
to polish his text.
 also occurs in speech, usually when the speaker is saying something that was
prepared beforehand (for example, reading the news or delivering an official
speech).
 Sentences are longer and more complicated.

Informal English:

 Used in everyday, personal conversations.

  Typically used in “improvised” speech or an impromptu
 Whenever the writer is writing quickly and without editing
Ex:
 Chatting online
 Personal e-mails
 Sentences are simpler and shorter

Clear and Precise

 Clear - It is easy to understand

 Precise - exact (context)

Focused and Well-Structured

 Focused:
 It contains main idea, topic sentene, and outline
 Includes clear purpose and goal
 only the relevant and related information
 Well-structured:
 You arranged ideas in where it should be
 Should contain the structures of a paragraph (introduction, body, and conclusion)

Well-sourced

 Cites credible authtors

 Cites credible websites that is verified (google scholar)
 Includes only the relevant or related information (books, research, etc.)

Examples of well-sourced:

 Gass and Varonis (1984) found that the most important element in comprehending non-
native speech is familiarity with the topic.
 Research shows that listening to a particular accent improves comprehension of accented
speech in general (Gass & Varonis, 1984; Krech Thomas, 2004).
 Heavy social media use can be linked to depression and other mental disorders in
teens (Asmelash, 2019).
Correct and Consistent

 Numbers should be written properly (instead of writing 1,2,3 write one, two, three)
 Consistent with capitalization, spelling and punctuation
 You must considered the Grammar and Subject-Verb Agreement

WHAT ACADEMIC WRITING IS NOT

Not Personal

 Your personal opinion and reflection shouldn’t be included

 Avoid using the words “ In my opinion”, “For me”, etc.
 Should use third person view and don’t use the personal pronouns “I, me, and You”.

Not Long-Winded

 You should state claims straightforwardly

 Direct to the point
 Not flowery or too elaborate

Not Emotive And Grandiose

 Writers must avoid overly emphasis on emotions or impressions.

TEXT STRUCTURE

Text structure according to Adolescent Literacy. Org (n.d.):

“how the information within a written text is organized. This strategy helps students understand that:

 a text might present a main idea and details;

 a cause and then its effects; and/or different views

Three essential parts of a essay, namely:

 Introduction
 Body (discussion)
  Conclusion

Purpose as a Writer:

 To Inform (give information)

 To Entertain (stir emotions of the readers)
 To Persuade (to convince)

THE PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT IN WRITING (directly quoted from Susan Oaks, n.d. “College
Writing”)

1. Narration - The purpose of narration is to tell a story or relate an event. Narration is a especially
useful tool for sequencing or putting details and information into some kind of logical order,
usually chronological.

TRANSITIONAL DEVICES FOR NARRATION

First, second, after, next, then, eventually, soon, meanwhile, a short time later, during, at the
same time, simultaneously, suddenly, instantly, momentarily, the next day, following, thereafter,
in the end, ultimately

2. Description - The purpose of description is to recreate, invent, or visually present a person,

place, event, or action so that the reader/listener can picture that which is being described. It is
heavily based on sensory details: sight, sound, smell, feel, taste.

3. Example/Exemplification - it carries one or more examples into great detail, in order to show the
details of a complex problem in a way that’s easy for readers to understand.

TRANSITIONAL DEVICES FOR EXEMPLIFICATION

• For instance
• Another instance of
• For example
• Another example of
• To illustrate
 4. Definition - it moves beyond a dictionary definition to deeply examine a word or concept as we
actually use and understand it.
 It is a statement that provides for charcteristics and meaning to a certain idea or concept

Two kinds of definition:

 Denotation – comes from dictionary

 Connotation – derived from how it is being used, meaning in context came from a group or
culture (Urban Dicionary)

5. Process Analysis - Academic writing can incorporate process analysis to show how an existing
problem came to be, or how it might be solved, by following a clear series of steps.
- it should be written in chronological order.
Ex.
 Tying a shoe lace
 Parallel Parking
 Planning a successful first date
 Being an effective communicator
 Writing a recipe

Process – written as a guide for the future

Analysis – analyzing the process itself

6. Classification - divides it divides large concepts or broad topics into individual pieces.

 it helps the reader to understand a complex topic by focusing on its smaller parts

7. Comparison/Contrast - Comparison focuses on similarities between things, and contrast focuses

on their differences.
 The goal of comparison and contrast in academic essays is generally to show that one item
is superior to another, based on a set of evaluations included as part of the writing.


Words Used to Indicate Similarities

o Also
o Like
o Both
o as well as
o similarly
o in the same way
 o equally important
o likewise

8. Cause/effect – it offers an explanation about why that sequence matters. Cause/effect writing is
particularly powerful when the author can provide a cause/effect relationship that the reader
wasn’t expecting, and as a result see the situation in a new light.

Words to Use to Signal Cause and Effect

o As a result,
o Accordingly
o because of (this)
o due to (this),
o Consequently
o Hence
o Therefore
o Thus

9. Problem/solution – it identifies a problem, and then providing a logical, practical solution for
that problem. Establishing that a particular situation IS a problem can sometimes be a
challenge–many readers might assume that a given situation is “just the way it is,” for instance.