ACADEMIC WRITING  Formality – relatively formal.

- should avoid colloquial words and

Academic Writing – express your emotions nor to
expressions.
impress your readers.
FORMALITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY:
- has specific purpose (to inform, argue, and
to persuade). a) Avoiding colloquial words and expressions
- requires critical thinking. “stuff”, “a lot of”, “sort of”.
b) Avoiding abbreviated forms “can’t”,
WRITIING GENERAL FEATURES
“doesn’t”, “shouldn’t”.
 Communicative c) Avoiding two word verbs “put off”, “bring
 Fact-based argument up”.
 Identify your audience d) Avoiding subheadings, numbering and
 Objective writing bullet-points in formal essays but use them
- avoid biased language and generalizations. in reports.
- don’t bring in personal pre-conceptions or e) Avoiding asking questions
opinions. f) Choosing full forms of words: exam;
examination, memo; memorandum.
WRITING RESOURCES
Colloquial Formal
 University library resources Contractions Full Forms
- books Don’t Do not
- journals Gonna Going to
- student’s papers There’ve There are
- degree projects Should’ve Should have
 Introduce arguments
 Define and use discipline specific terms g) Avoiding text/chat language (lol, brb, cu,
 Make use of previous research omg)
CHARACTERISTICS OF ACADEMIC h) Avoiding informal words and phrases
WRITING i) Avoid idiomatic expressions and clichés
 Under the weather
 Planned and focused  Raining cats and dogs
 Structured  Piece of cake
 Evidenced  Barking at the wrong tree
 Formal in tone and style
Slang/Idioms Formal Words
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN WRITING Guy Person
Topic – what am I writing about? Kids Children
Stuff, Junk Personal Items, Objects
Purpose – why am I writing this in the first place? Drives me up a Wall Is upsetting/upsets me
 Persuasive Purpose
 Analytical Purpose j) Choosing one verb form instead of two-
 Informative Purpose word form
 Set up: organize
Audience – who is reading the piece?  Cut down: reduce
Role – who am I as a writer?  Gone up: increased
 Come up: thought
FEATURE OF ACADEMIC WRITING:
 Looked into: investigated
LANGUAGE
  Objectivity – written language is in general  Caution – called “hedging” or “value
objective rather than personal. language”.
- main emphasis should be on the a) Avoid sweeping generalizations
information that you want to give b) Use verbs like: tends, suggest, appears,
and the arguments you want to make, seems, believe, indicate
rather than you. c) Use modal verbs: may, might, could, would
- nobody really wants to know what d) Use adverbs: often, sometimes, usually,
you “think” or “believe”. generally
a) Avoid using words like “I”, “me”, “myself”,
LANGUAGE USED IN HEDGING:
and “we”.
b) Avoid “you” to refer to the reader or people Introductory verbs: seem, tend, look, like, appear
in general. to be, think, believe, doubt, be sure, indicate,
c) Avoid rhetorical questions. suggest.
d) Avoid evaluating or intensifying words such
as “badly”, “disappointment”, “amazing”, Modal nouns: assumption, possibility, probability
“awfully”, “very”, “really”. That clauses: it could be the case that, it might be
e) Find authoritative sources who support your suggested that, there is every hope that.
point of view.

CRITICAL THINKING
 Explicitness – make it clear to our reader
how various parts of the text are related. Critical Thinking – analyze information
 However objectively and make a reasoned judgement.
 This is due to the, Because - involves the evaluation of sources (data,
 This resulted in facts, observable phenomena, and research
 Similarly findings), Doyle, Alison, 2020.
 In addition to, Moreover,
Furthermore, Additionally, Likewise Analysis – carefully examine something, whether it
is a problem, a set of data or a text.
- if you want to tell your reader that your line
of argument is going to change, make it Communication – communicate w/ others to share
clear. your ideas effectively and figure out solutions to
- if you think two ideas are almost the same, complex problems.
say so.
- if you intend your sentence to give extra Creativity – to spot patterns in the information you
information, make it clear. are looking at or come up w/ a solution that no one
- if you are giving examples, do it explicitly. has thought of before.
- if you know the source of the ideas you are
presenting, acknowledge it.
PREPARING CREATIVE AND CRITICAL
Spoken Transition: anyway, anyhow THINKERS BY DONALD J. TREFINGGER
Formal Transition: moreover, furthermore
- involves searching meaningful new
SIGNAL WORDS: connections by generating many unusual,
original and varied possibilities as well as
 Contrast/Opposite Ideas details that expand or enrich possibilities.
 Cause and Effect - effective problem solvers must think both
 Explanation/Equivalence creatively and critically, generating options
 Examples and focusing their thinking.
 - critical thinking is analyzing developing Examples:
possibilities.
- I sneezed at the same time the power went
Open-Mindedness – put aside any assumptions or off. My sneeze did something to make the
judgements and merely analyze the information you power go off.
receive. - Every time I wash my car, it rains. I washed
my car today; therefore, it will rain today.
Problem Solving – analyzing a problem, generating
and implementing a solution, and assessing the Contradictory Premises – when the premises of an
success of the plan. argument contradict each other, there can be no
argument.
3 CORE CONSTRUCTS OF CRITICAL
THINKING Examples:
1. Effective Reasoning – create claims and - If God is everywhere, why can’t we see
support them w/ logical evidence. God?
2. Decision Making – identify options for a - If God can do anything, he can make a stone
choice. so heavy that he won’t be able to lift it.
3. Problem Solving – identify the key
Ad Misericordiam – appeals to another’s
questions in a problem, to develop possible
sympathy; not answering the argument.
plans for solving.
Examples:
CRITICAL THINKERS
- A red cross commercial that shows the
- Recognize problems and find workable
aftermath of a hurricane just before asking
solutions to those problems
viewers to donate money.
- Understand the importance of prioritization
- Grocery store commercial that shows a
in the hierarchy of problem solving tasks
happy family sitting around the table at
- Gather relevant information
Thanksgiving.
- Read between the lines by recognizing what
is not said or stated False Analogy – assumes a fundamental similarity
- Use language clearly, efficiently and with between two things that resemble each other only in
efficacy part.
- Interpret data and form conclusions based on
that data Examples:
- Determine the presence of lack of logical - People who cannot go without their coffee
relationships every morning are no better than alcoholics.
- Make sound conclusions and/or - That group of teenagers is up to no good,
generalizations based on given data they are out after dark, and they are wearing
FALLACY dark clothes and baggy pants.

Dicto Simpliciter – based on an unqualified Hypothesis Contrary to Fact – you can’t start w/ a
generalization hypothesis that is not true and then draw any
supportable conclusions from it.
Examples:
Examples:
- Birds normally can fly. Tweety the penguin
is a bird. Therefore, tweety can fly. - If God can do anything, he can make a stone
- All high school students are irresponsible. so heavy that he won’t be able to lift it.
- If I had stayed home, I would be ok now.
Post Hoc – assuming that because two things - If I had never net Dan twenty years ago in
happened, the first one caused the second one. college, I would never have fallen in love.
Poisoning the Well – attacking the person instead Examples:
of attacking his argument.
- Halliday (1975) described how language
Examples: helps children to learn to ascertain meaning
from the world around them.
- A parent who says that the teacher doesn’t
- Chomsky (1972) found that children who
know how to teach because she graduated
are introduced to literature at an early age
from a community college.
tend to develop sophisticated language
structures.

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM Text-Oriented Citation – paragraph or sentence

from a source is followed w/ the surname of the
Plagiarism – to use (another’s production) w/o author of the work and the year of publication.
crediting the source.
Examples:
- to commit literary theft.
- to present as new and original an idea or - Also the aim at the development of use-
product derived from an existing source. oriented second and foreign language skills
and is distinguished by the concurrent
THE THINGS THAT ARE CONSIDERED learning of a specific content and related
PLAGIARISM language use skills (Wesche, 1993).
- Turning in someone else’s work as your - Motivation stimulates students to acquire,
own. transform and use knowledge (Groccia,
- Copying words or ideas from someone else 1992).
w/o giving credit. ANOTHER WAY OF CITATION
- Failing to put a quotation in quotation
marks. - Start the sentence of paragraph by using the
- Changing words but copying the sentence phrase. “According to…” followed by the
structure of a source w/o giving credit. surname of the author and the year of
- Copying so many words/ideas from a source publication enclosed in parenthesis.
that it makes up the majority of your work,
Examples:
whether you give credit or not.
- According to Pearson (2000), the end goal is
TWO KINDS OF A PLAGIARISM
to provide students with the most
 Plagiarism of Ideas – occurs when credit comprehensive instructional program
for a work is ascribed to oneself available in order to gain meaning from a
untruthfully. text.
 Plagiarism of Language – when an author - As identified by Dyson (1986) and Parker
uses the language of another writer and (1983), children’s writing develops through
claims it as his/her won. constant invention and reinvention of the
forms of written language.
HOW TO AVOID PLAGIARISM?
Movies, Images and Music – author, title of work
Author-Oriented Citation – surname of the (may it be image, movie or music) and year it was
author, followed by the year of publication in produced (if applicable).
parentheses.
Examples:
- argues, posits, emphasized, etc.
- Images: Van Gogh’s Starry Night (1889) is
one of the most recognized pieces of art in
the world.
CITATION STYLES
 American Psychological Association
(APA) – entries should be arranged
alphabetically w/ the surname of the authors
as points of reference.
- In cases where there is no author, the tile of
the work becomes the first part of the entry.
- The hanging indent format should be
observed when writing entries.
 Books General Format – Author’s
Surname, Initials (year of publication).
Title of work (set in italics). Place of
Publication: Publisher
Martinez, A. (2008). Creating memories.
Quezon City: Maxwell Publishers.
 Periodicals (Journals, Newspaper, and
Magazines)
General Format – Surname of author/s, Initial
(year of publication). Title of the article. Title of
the periodical, volume (issue numbers), page
numbers.
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening.
The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.
 Online Sources – Author, Initials or
Institution. (date of retrieval). Title of
work. Retrieved from Web site.
Micklin, A., (June 29, 2008) Negritude
Movement. Received from (URL)
 Modern Language Association (MLA)
 Chicago Manual of Style