Academic Writing

Shahla Gahramanova
Department of Economics and
Business Administration, UNEC
[email protected]
[email protected]
 How much do you know about academic
writing? Find out by doing this fun quiz.
Best time to write an introduction is: Plagiarism is:
(a) first (a) a dangerous disease
(b) last (b) an academic offence
(c) after writing the main body (c) an academic website

Paraphrasing a text means: Paragraphs always contain:

(a) making it shorter (a) six or more sentences
(b) changing a lot of the vocabulary (b) an example
(c) adding more detail (c) a topic sentence

One of the differences between academic Proof-reading means:

writing & normal writing is that acad. writing: (a) an expert to check your work
(a) uses longer words (b) checking for minor errors
(b) tries to be precise and unbiased (c) re-writing
(c) is harder to understand
How much do you know about academic
writing?
The main difference between academic writing and
everyday writing is that academic writing:

Get ideas from students….

 Academic writing VS other forms of writing
Academic Writing Business Writing General Writing
1. Formal in style. Casual language should Formal and semi- informal, semi-
only be used for emphasis. formal formal language
2. Impersonal- doesn’t employ 1st person Uses Uses
pronouns (may use I person plural “we”) Can use contractions
3. Strong format requirements considering
things like: margins, headings, typeface,
and a myriad of other elements
4. Employs a certain structure 
5. Tone: avoids rhetorical tactics, like
emotional arguments
6. Referencing and citations: relies on facts Can use …
and often uses tables and charts in order
to validate the thesis of the author
7. Referencing style, such as MLA for
English, APA for social sciences
8. More analytical approach (or deductive
reasoning) that presents a logical and
consequential flow of argument.
Main defining features of
academic writing
In scientific disciplines, they include:
well-defined, recognizable structure;
formal tone free from colloquialisms;
factual perspective, typically centered on objective, often
experimental evidence;
clear focus on the research question under study;
accurate choice of words that avoids ambiguity;
analytical approach (or deductive reasoning) that presents
a logical, consequential flow of argument.
The term academic writing refers to a specific
type of prose used by scholars within an
academic context.
All too often, inexperienced academic writers assume that
their writing should be full of impressive words and
technical terms for it to be considered academic enough.
Much of our ability to write well stems
from our ability to critically assess what
we read.
Good academic writing requires
careful planning
clear idea of what to say
acceptance that first drafts will be far from perfect;
and the willingness to spend enough time revising
and polishing the text.
Harvard reference Guide

HTTPS://USINGSOURCES.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/WHY-USE-SOURCES
Instead of this Do this
Clear
Excessive use of jargon
concise
highly technical terms pleasant to read

Give one example (bad and

revised version) for both tables
Good essays don’t appear spontaneously. They
emerge, usually, from many time-consuming
drafts:
with each draft, the writer moves closer to what s/he
wants to say. (Syllabus 2015)
The purpose of academic
writing
Writers should be clear why they are writing. The
most common reasons for writing include:
to report on a piece of research the writer has conducted
to answer a question the writer has been given or chosen
to discuss a subject of common interest and give the
writer’s view
to synthesize research done by others on a topic
other…
 Once you know the scope and the
 subject of the task , its time to
start researching.

…WHERE TO START?
 RESEARCH
 What are credible sources?
 Where to find them?
 How many resources?
Research

A credible source for academic writing is one

whose accuracy is supported by academic
peer review and reference to a foundation of
relevant established research.
i.e. a source with a solid authority within its
discipline
Credible Sources
Your textbooks and books published
by recognized authors & publishers

Papers published in Scientific journals

Scholar and official websites that are regularly

updated (.edu, .edu.sa, .edu.--, .gov)

Scientific and scholar databases

Is Wikipedia a Credible Source?

Wikipedia, for example, is not a credible

source. Even if a given article may be
completely and verifiably true, but there
is no academic authority present to
validate its truth.

BUT IT CAN BE USED AS A STARTING

POINT!
Match the terms on the left to the definitions
on the right
Match the terms on the left to the definitions
on the right
 Exercise:
Draft a letter on the below-given context

An Azerbaijani NGO dealing with the problem of child labour

exploitation wants to conduct a survey in southern regions of
Azerbaijan and based on the results of the survey to contribute to
prevention of violation of children' rights. As the NGO is new and
does not have enough experience in this field it needs to benefit
form the expertise of NGO’s qualified in child labour protection.
Director of the NGO knows that Italian NGO's had a great success
in this sphere and decides to send a letter to the Italian Embassy
to help them to establish relations with relevant Italian NGO's.

Your task: Draft a letter to the Italian Ambassador. Name

of the NGO, its director, name of the Ambassador are
optional.
Task for the next class

Find and download 2 journal articles from

your field that you think are well written.
The articles don’t necessarily be written
by native English speakers, however they
need to be typical research articles.
Code of Ethics
 Students should be attentive when their colleagues
present and try to enrich the process with relevant
questions and comments when appropriate. Reasonable
questions and comments would be highly appreciated.

 However, you are requested to be courteous and respect

the opinions of your colleagues. While spirited debate on
the issues is an integral part of the learning process,
there is no room for discourteous discourse, personal
attacks or mocking upon anyone in the class.

 Trying to change discussion topic by asking non-related

questions or making irrelevant comments is against your
interest and “contributes” to wasting time.
The format of long and short
writing tasks
Short essays generally have this pattern:
Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
Longer essays may include:
Introduction: 1) Main body 2) Literature review 3)Case
study 4)Discussion ..
Conclusion
References
Appendices
The format of long and short
writing tasks
Longer essays may include:
Introduction
Main body
 Literature review
 Case study
 Discussion
Conclusion
References
Appendices
 CRITERIA FOR GRADING
General
During the semester each student has to demonstrate their
knowledge of the learned material by
1)Delivering presentations on the course related topics (PPT or other
forms);
 Each presentation should last around 7-10 minutes covering main aspects of the
chapter or of its related part.
 Presenting only one part of the given text does not exempt you from reading and
understanding the whole material. Your knowledge of the rest of the text will be tested
and evaluated by asking random questions and tasks requiring analytical skills and
related knowldge.
2)Actively participate in class discussions;
 In addition to presentations everyone is encouraged to be ready to contribute to class
discussions. Essential contributions will be highly appreciated and will make a positive
impact on grading.

3)Delivering group presentations*;

4)Deliver 1 presentation compensating so called 10 “Serbest Ish”
CRITERIA FOR GRADING
Group Presentations
 *Topics of group presentations better to be proposed by
students. Otherwise, the teacher will advise on the topic
selection.
 Each group (3-4 people) has to finalize the presentation
within 15min making sure that all group members
participates in the process.