English for Academic Purposes

Academic Writing:

Academic writing refers to a piece of writing which focuses on proving a

theory or viewpoint in one way or the other and emphasizes upon one
specific subject. Through academic writing the writer intends to prove a
theory or viewpoint in one way or the other. Mainly academic writings are
based on academic. Findings and academic research. The writer can explain
a specific subject matter by providing his/her own point of view. Academic
writing refers to a style of expression that researchers use to define the
intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and specific areas of expertise.

The purpose of writing Is usually to inform the reader, providing non-biased

facts and backing up claims with evidence. In the field of literature, an
academic may write an essay based on a theory, but shows how the theory
can be proven with evidence from the literature.

Non Academic :

Non academic writing is writing that is not intended for an academic

audience. They are written for a lay audience or the mass public. This type of
writing may be personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature.

The purpose of non-academic writing may be to entertain its audience or to

persuade the reader.

Non-academic writing is written for a lay audience, to appeal to people who

are not experts in the field in question

Technical Writing:

Technical writing refers to a piece of writing which focuses on providing

detailed and lucid information about the product or service. It contains
factual and straight forward content. It is entirely goal-oriented and it talks
about different ways by which the desired goal can be achieved. Mainly
Technical writings are something new or existing concept based on the same
technical domain. Here the writer avoids to explain a specific subject matter
by providing his/her own point of view.
Creative Writing:

Creative writing is a form of artistic expression. It inspires writers to use their

imagination to bring bags of personality and flair to their work. It doesn’t just
focus on more traditional, technical forms of writing, like journalistic and
academic styles, but instead displays imagination and invention.

Blooms Taxonomy
- Active and Passive Voice

- Critical Reading

Skilled readers can recognize an author’s point and the support for that
point.

Critical readers not only recognize but can also evaluate an author’s support
for a point and determine whether that support is solid or not.

Three categories of critical reading:

• Separating fact from opinion

A fact is information that can be proved true through objective evidence:

physical proof or the spoken or written testimony of witnesses.

An opinion is a belief, judgment, or conclusion that cannot be objectively

proved true. As a result, it is open to question.

• Detecting propaganda

Propaganda uses emotional appeals instead of presenting solid evidence to

support a point.

Advertisers, salespeople, and politicians often lack adequate factual support

for their points, so they appeal to our emotions by using propaganda
techniques.

Part of being a critical reader is the ability to recognize and resist these
propaganda techniques.

- The bandwagon technique tells us to buy a product or support a

certain issue because “everybody else is doing it.”
 - The testimonial approach tells us to buy a product or support a certain
issue because a celebrity is endorsing it.
- In transfer, the most common type of propaganda technique, products
or candidates try to associate themselves with something that people
admire or love.
- In the plain folks technique, people present themselves as ordinary,
average citizens, hoping we will identify with them and like them.
- Name calling is the use of emotionally loaded language or negative
comments to turn people against a rival product, candidate, or
movement.
- A glittering generality is an important-sounding but unspecific claim
about some product, candidate, or cause.

• Recognizing errors in reasoning

Fallacies are errors in reasoning that take the place of the real support
needed in an argument.

A valid point is based on a rock-like foundation of solid support.

A fallacious point is based on a house of cards that offers no real support at

all.

Two common fallacies:

• Changing the subject distracts us from the issue by presenting irrelevant

support that actually has nothing to do with the argument.

• Hasty generalization is a fallacy in which a point has inadequate support.

Drawing a conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence is the same as
making a hasty generalization.

Six Other Common Fallacies

Three Fallacies That Ignore the Issue

• Circular Reasoning

• Personal Attack

• Straw Man
Three Fallacies that Oversimplify the Issue

• False Cause

• False Comparison

• Either-Or

Three Fallacies That Ignore the Issue

• Circular reasoning repeats the point instead of giving evidence for it.

• Personal attack ignores the issue and concentrates instead on the

character of the opponent.

• Straw man falsely claims that an opponent holds an extreme position and
then opposes that position.

Three Fallacies That Oversimplify the Issue

• False cause assumes that because event A came before event B, event A
caused event B.

• False comparison assumes that two things being compared are more alike
than they really are.

*Either-or assumes that there are only two sides to a question.

- Plagiarism

Pre-writing
Prewriting is a preliminary step in the writing process that allows you to
generate ideas, organize theru and create a plan for your paper, report or
article. Organizing and planning can help you in the later stages of the
writing process, such as when seeking relevant sources to support your
argument or editing your final report. The prewriting phase can save you
time, as it allows you to identify your main points before you write the paper.
The main reasons to implement prewriting strategies include:

- Organizing your content into clear categories Narrowing your main

topic to clarify your point
- Discussing all relevant information to ensure your report includes
necessary details
- Selecting a topic
- Expressing similar ideas in different ways to gain a new perspective

1. Talking

Simply talking through your ideas with someone, regardless of their

knowledge of the subject, can help you gather your thoughts. Pay special
attention to questions the listener asks because these can help you
determine the information you might include for the reader. Speaking your
ideas aloud may also help you identify your knowledge gaps, which you can
note for further investigation.

2. Researching

Research is a vital aspect of the writing process, but it can also be an

effective prewriting technique. As you read books and articles about your
topic, take notes about the information, as well as your reactions and
opinions. You can then use these notes to organize your thoughts and plan
your paper.

3. Listing

When using the listing strategy, you write a list of as many ideas or terms
associated with your topic as possible. This strategy is useful if you’re writing
about a broad topic because it helps you create precise subtopics. Instead of
editing during this process, write as many thoughts into a list as you can.

4. Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a process where you quickly verbalize or write all of your

thoughts as they occur to you. Though you can brainstorm without writing
your thoughts down, keeping a record makes it easier to keep track of them.
This process is usually very informal, and it often helps writers find a theme
or topic on which to focus their paper

5. Clustering

Clustering, also known as mind mapping or idea mapping, is a prewriting

technique that focuses on the relationships between topics and 1 ideas.
Ideas. When your mind map is complete, it often looks like a web

6. Freewriting

Freewriting involves writing whatever comes to your mind without worrying

about the grammar, spelling or quality of your ideas. When freewriting, the
goal is to write quickly and without too much thought so you can generate as
many ideas as possible. Regardless of what you’re writing, the key is to write
continuously for a set amount of time, usually between five and 10 minutes.

7. Outlining

Outlining allows you to organize your thoughts into the general order in
which you want to address them in your paper. When outlining, most writers
create a structure for their paper by using ballet points or Roman numerals.
First, you can split the introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion into
headings. Then, list the main idea, evidence and analysis for each section
underneath the corresponding heading. Though some benefit from this
strategy on its own, it’s typically most effective when you pair it with another
prewriting technique that gives you a sense of your argument, themes and
approach.

What type of academic text is Why Do They Say That Our English Is
Bad? By Grace M Saqueton

 The text, why do they say that our English is bad, focused on how
there were still persistent errors in writing and speaking of Filipino
 students. You can consider the fact that for most Filipinos, English is
not their mother tongue.
 It is difficult to practice speaking in English when you can’t practice it
at home as most of your family members will not be speaking to you in
English. It helps if you can hang out with other people who speak in
English which can help promote your fluency and use in the language.
 So what is the writer’s goal in writing the text why do they say that our
English is bad? To inform and promote what factors hinder student
growth in developing their English proficiency.

The text is open to interpretation and here are what others thought of it:

Why do they say our English is Bad? By Grace M. Saqueton

The text focuses on describing and explaining why Filipino’s English is not
that good. The writer’s purpose is to inform the reader why our English is
bad. The target audience is the one interested in English. The text is narrated
in Third Person point of view. The writer does not use the word “T” and
mainly focuses on giving some studies and research that tells the errors
made in the Philippines and why our speaking in English language shows
wrong in grammar. The writer organized the text by giving first introduction
about the Filipinos and how they speak in English then she give some cited
some research about how Filipinos talk in English badly. The author wrote this
formally. The choice of words are deep and formal.

Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

The text is about how the mother of narrator use her English language. The
writer’s purpose is to narrate the experiences she had with her mother when
her mother is talking in her limited English. The target audience are those
people who are interested in speaking English and those who are having
difficulties in having conversation in this language. The text is narrated in
first person point of view. She frequently used “I” and all her experiences
about her mother talking in grammatically wrong English. The writer knew
the topic very well. She tells everything about her experience and also her
mother’s experience while talking in that kind of language. The writer
organize the text by describing first herself and how well she knew how to
speak in English. Then she changed the subject by pointing out her mother’s
way of talking. She said that the way her mother talked in English is broken. I
think the author write this informally because it uses first person point of
view. She also uses words with contractions which is considered informal.
She also uses light vocabulary words that can be understand easily by the
reader. This is her own experience, so this text is informal. This is non-
academic text.

Love is a Fallacy

Love Is a Fallacy

- About the author Max Shulman (March 14, 1919-August 28, 1988) is a
20th century American writer, best known for his television and short
story character Dobie Gillis, as well as for his best-selling novels.
- His writing often focused on young people, particularly in a collegiate
setting.
- He is one of America’s best-known humorists. He is a writer of many
talents---he has written novels, stories, Broadway plays, movie
screenplay, and television script.
- This story is an interesting_and humorous story. In this story the
narrator tells his failure to win the heart of a young woman with the
force of logic, which proves to him that “Love is a fallacy”.
- Characters in the story
• There are three persons in the story :
- Dobie Gillis, narrator, a freshman in a law school, the protagonist of
the story;
- Petey Burch, his roommate girlfriend he plans to get; whose
- Polly Espy, the girl whom he intends to marry

Dicto Simpliciter

- The fallacy is committed by an argument that applies a general rule to

a particular case in which some special circumstances make the rule
inappropriate.

Hasty Generalization

- The fallacy argues improperly from a special case to a general rule.

Post Hoc

- This fallacy assumes that if event Y happened after event X, then X

must be the cause of Y.

Appeal to pity fallacy

- Someone tries to convince another person by evoking their feelings

rather than providing evidence.

False Analogy

- A false analogy is a logical fallacy where two things that may share
some similarities are assumed to be alike in other respects without
sufficient evidence. This flawed reasoning suggests that because two
things are similar in one way, they must be similar in other ways, even
if the comparison does not hold up under scrutiny.

Hypothesis Contrary to Fact

- It is to draw any supportable conclusion from a hypothesis that is not

true.