English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Fundamentals of Reading Academic • Based on the examples, it can

Texts be said that in academic reading,
full concentration and
comprehension are required for
you to understand the key ideas,
ACADEMIC TEXTS
information, themes, or
- Academic texts are objective. This arguments of the text.
means that they are based on facts
with solid basis.
- Academic texts are written by READING GOALS
professionals in any given field (e.g.
medicine, architecture, economics, - It is important that you know your
etc.) purpose for reading early on, so you
- Academic texts often take years to can save time and improve your
publish. comprehension. Before you read an
- It uses formal words and may academic text, ask yourself the ff.
contain technical terms that are questions:
related to a certain field. • Why am I reading this text?
• What information or pieces of
NON-ACADEMIC TEXTS information do I need?
- Non-academic texts are non- • What do I want to learn?
objective. These texts tend to be - Below are some general purposes
more personal and based on for reading an academic text.
opinions or one’s point of view. • To better understand an existing
- Non-academic texts are written for idea
the mass public. There is no specific • To get ideas that can support a
audience for non-academic texts. particular writing assignment.
- These are published quickly and can • To gain more information
be written by anyone. No • To identify gaps in existing
specialization is needed. studies
- Authors of non-academic texts use • To connect new ideas to existing
casual, informal language. ones

Examples of Academic Texts:

1. Articles – published in scholarly CONTENT AND STYLE OF
journals. This type of academic text ACADEMIC TEXTS
offers result of research and
- Academic text include concepts and
development that can either impact
theories that are related to the
the academic community or provide
specific discipline they explore. They
relevance to nation-building.
usually exhibit all the properties of a
2. Reviews – These provide evaluation
well-written text that is organization,
or reviews of works published in
unity, coherence, and cohesion, as
scholarly journals.
well as strict adherence to rules of
3. Theses, Dissertations – These are
language use and mechanics.
personal research written by a
candidate for a college or university
degree.
English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Authors observe the ff. when writing 3. After Reading

academic texts: - Reflect on what you learned.
- They state critical questions and - React on some parts of the text
issues. through writing.
- They provide facts and evidence - Discuss some parts with your
from credible sources. teacher or classmates.
- They use precise and accurate - Link the main idea of the text to what
words while avoiding jargon and you already know.
colloquial expressions.
- They take an objective point of view
and avoid being personal and SQ3R METHOD OF READING
subjective.
- They list references. - It stands for Survey (Skim),
- They use hedging or cautious Question, Read, Recite (Recall),
language to tone down their claims. Review.

CRITICAL READING STRATEGIES KWL METHOD

- Reading academic texts requires - This method guides you in reading

focus and understanding. You have and understanding a text. To apply
to interact with the text by the KWL method, simply make a
questioning its assumptions, table with three columns.
responding to its arguments, and • First column – what you Know
connecting it to real-life experiences (K)
and applications. • Second column – what you Want
- Critical or Reflective reading helps (W) to learn.
you identify the author’s key • Third column – what you have
arguments and analyze concepts Learned (L)
presented in the text.
STRATEGIES TO BE EMPLOYED
DURING EACH STAGE OF READING Locating the Main Idea

1. Before Reading One effective way of increasing your speed

- Determine which type of academic in reading is by finding the main idea or
text you are reading. thesis statement of the text and the topic
- Establish your purpose for reading. sentence of the paragraphs.
- Identify the author’s purpose for It involves the identification of the central
writing. message of a reading.
- Predict or infer the main idea or
argument of the text based on its
title.
THESIS STATEMENT
2. During Reading – annotate
important parts of the texts. - It presents or describes the point
Annotating a text can help you of an essay.
determine essential ideas or - In an academic text, it is usually
information, main ideas or presented in the abstract or
arguments, and new information or executive summary or found at the
ideas. last part of the introduction.
English for Academic and Professional Purposes

- It is written in a declarative
sentence.
- It is a one-sentence summary that
guides, controls, and unifies ideas
when writing a paper.
STRATEGIES IN LOCATING THESIS
STATEMENT
- Read the title of the text and make
inferences on its purpose.
- If the text has no abstract or
executive summary, read the first
few paragraphs as the thesis
statement usually located there.
- In other cases, you may also check
the conclusion where authors sum
up and review their main points.

TOPIC SENTENCE
- It presents or describes the point of
the paragraph, main idea of the
paragraph.
- It can be in the beginning, middle, or
last part of a paragraph.

STRATEGIES IN LOCATING TOPIC

SENTENCE

• Read the first sentence of the

paragraph very carefully.
• Browse the sentences in the
paragraph to identify what they
describe.
• Find the concept or idea being
tackled, which in colloquial term
is the “big word” in the
paragraph.
• Identify the purpose of the
paragraph.
• Observe the writing style of the
author. Focus specifically on
where he/she usually places
his/her topic sentence.