Academic Writing

It takes the form of a formal paper that follows specific standards such as the use of a formal language,
referencing where sources are given credit and specific grammatical patterns, organization and argument.

Characteristics of Academic Writing

1. AUDIENCE – Guidelines for understanding your audience.
a. Who are the readers that will be most interested in my writing?
b. What do my readers know or think about my subject?
c. Why will my readers read my writing?
d. How can I interest my readers in my subject?
2. PURPOSE – refers to the writer’s objective in writing about a certain topic.
3. VOICE (academic voice) – It is used to distinguish between your thoughts and words and those of
other authors.
4. CONVENTIONS – It refers to the rules about appearance and format of the writing. In academic
writing, you need to follow specific standards, rule, and format.

Features of Academic Writing

1. Formality – In general, this means in an essay that you should avoid;
a. colloquial words and expressions;
b. abbreviated forms;
c. two word verbs;
d. subheadings, numbering and bullet points in formal essay;
e. asking questions
2. Impersonality – An objective tone can be achieved through the use of impersonal language.
3. Hedging – The concept of cautious language, often called “hedging” or vague language.
4. Complexity – Written language has longer words it is lexically denser and it has a more varied
vocabulary.
5. Explicitness – Academic writing is explicit about the relationships in the text.
6. Organization – Academic writing is well organized. It flows easily from one section to the next in
a logical fashion.
7. Planning – Academic writing is well planned. It usually takes place after research and evaluation,
according to a specific purpose and plan.
 Interpersonal Communication
It is the process by which people exchange information through verbal and non-verbal messages.

Interpersonal communication skills include:

 Communication Skills
 Verbal Communication
 Assertiveness
 Non-Verbal Communication
 Listening Skills

Four Principles of Interpersonal Communication

 It’s inescapable
o You cannot communicate. Even your body sends a message when you are silent.
 It’s irreversible
o Once you’ve said something (verbally or non-verbally), it’s out there. You can’t reword it
or ask to take it back.
 It’s complicated
o Words are actually symbols, giving different meaning by different people in different
circumstances.
 It’s contextual
o Psychological, cultural, situation, rational and environment. When and where you speak
will have a bearing on the meaning of your message and how it is received.

Gateways of Effective Communication

 Effective communication would help make the communication process effortless and smooth.

Effective Interpersonal Communication

 Transparency
o As the leader of the team if you are not transparent in what you do, interpersonal
communication can never be effective.
 Multiple channels to interact
 Clarity in communication
o As a leader subordinate or peer, you should keep in mind that preciseness and clarity in
what you communicate are important because if you are not clear, interpersonal
communication would fail.
  Feedback
o If the team members are not open to receiving or giving feedback, the team would feel
demoralized hampering the interpersonal communication.

Three Ways to Develop Good Interpersonal Skills

1. Communicate clearly.
2. Practice active listening.
3. Humor them.

Pronouns
It is the sentence element used to replace a noun, or a noun equivalent construction. The replaced noun
is named antecedent.

Classes of Pronouns
 Personal Pronouns
o It represents specific people or things. We used them depending on a number, person,
gender, and case.

Personal Pronouns
Singular Plural
I, me we, us
First Person
my, mine our, ours
you you
Second Person
your, yours your, yours
he, she, it
they, them
Third Person him, her
their, theirs
his, her, hers, its

Examples:

 I like coffee.
 Aeon helped me.
 Do you like learning?
 She is clever.
 Demonstrative Pronouns
o Demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives have exactly the same forms. The
way to differentiate them depends on their position relative to the antecedent or
determined nouns.
 Demonstrative Pronouns and Adjectives
Near Far
Singular this that
Plural these those

 Reflexive Pronouns
o It is used with an active voice verb in order to reflect the action of the verb back on the
subject which is the antecedent.

Personal Pronoun Reflexive Pronoun

I Myself
You Yourself
He Himself
She Herself
It Itself
We Ourselves
You Yourselves
They Themselves

Examples:

 I made it myself. / I myself made it.

 Have you yourself seen it? / Have you seen it yourself?
 She spoke to me herself. / She herself spoke to me.
 Intensive Pronouns
 Interrogative Pronouns
o It represents the thing that we don’t know (what we are asking the question about).
o There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which.

Examples
Who Person (subject) Who took the book?
Whom Person (object) Whom is she talking to?
Whose Person (possessive) Whose car is this?
What Thing What do you want for lunch?
Which of them is the tallest?
Which Person/Thing
Which color do you prefer?

 Relative Pronouns
o Relative pronouns can be used to join two sentences.
o There are only a few relative pronouns in the English language. The most common are
which, that, whose, whoever, whomever, who, and whom.
o In some situations, the words what, when, and where can also function as relative
pronouns.
 Examples
Relates to people
Who The artist who wrote this song is Filipino.
(subject)
Relates to people
Whom I know the boy whom sits next to you.
(object)
Relates to animals and
Which This is the project which Juli made.
objects
Do you know the reason why the market is
Why Refers to reason
closed today?
The day when the concert takes place is
When Refers to time
Tuesday.
Where Refers to places This is the place where I was born.
The boy whose phone just rang should leave
Whose Refers to possession
the room.
Relates to people,
That The 15th of June is the date that I was born.
animals, and things

 Indefinite Pronouns
o An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing, or amount. It is vague
and not definite.

Singular
anybody/ somebody/
another anything each other
anyone someone
everybody/
either enough everything something one
everyone
nobody/
less little much neither nothing
no one
Plural
both few fewer many others several
Both Singular & Plural
all any more/most none such some

 Possessive Pronouns
o It shows ownership to someone or something in the sentence.
o It can substitute a noun phrase in order to prevent the repetition of a noun in the
sentence.
o Examples of possessive pronouns are like my, your, mine, his, yours, her, its, hers, our,
their, theirs, ours, whose, etc.

Sentence examples:

 She is her mother.

 This is our house.
 This pen is yours.
 You’re mine.