Techniques of Writing

Academic Text
English for Academic and Professional Purposes
Quarter 11-Lesson 4
 Title Lorem Ipsum

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LOREM IPSUM NUNC VIVERRA PELLENTESQUE
DOLOR SIT AMET, IMPERDIET ENIM. HABITANT MORBI
CONSECTETUER FUSCE EST. TRISTIQUE
ADIPISCING ELIT. VIVAMUS A TELLUS. SENECTUS ET
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FAMES.
 Types of academic writing
 The four main types of academic writing are descriptive, analytical,
persuasive and critical. Each of these types of writing has specific
language features and purposes.
 In many academic texts you will need to use more than one type. For
example, in an empirical thesis:
 you will use critical writing in the literature review to show where
there is a gap or opportunity in the existing research
 the methods section will be mostly descriptive to summarize the
methods used to collect and analyze information
 the results section will be mostly descriptive and analytical as you
report on the data you collected
 the discussion section is more analytical, as you relate your
findings back to your research questions, and also persuasive, as
you propose your interpretations of the findings.
 Descriptive
 The simplest type of academic writing is
descriptive. Its purpose is to provide facts or
information. An example would be a summary of an
article or a report of the results of an experiment.
 The kinds of instructions for a purely descriptive
assignment include: 'identify', 'report', 'record',
'summarize' and 'define'.
 Analytical
 It’s rare for a university-level text to be purely descriptive. Most
academic writing is also analytical. Analytical writing includes
descriptive writing, but also requires you to re-organize the facts and
information you describe into categories, groups, parts, types or
relationships.
 Sometimes, these categories or relationships are already part of the
discipline, while in other cases you will create them specifically for
your text. If you’re comparing two theories, you might break your
comparison into several parts, for example: how each theory deals
with social context, how each theory deals with language learning, and
how each theory can be used in practice.
 The kinds of instructions for an analytical assignment include:
'analyze', 'compare', 'contrast', 'relate', and 'examine'.
 Analytical
 To make your writing more analytical:
• spend plenty of time planning. Brainstorm the facts and ideas, and try
different ways of grouping them, according to patterns, parts, similarities and
differences. You could use color-coding, flow charts, tree diagrams or tables.
• create a name for the relationships and categories you find. For example,
advantages and disadvantages.
• build each section and paragraph around one of the analytical categories.
• make the structure of your paper clear to your reader, by using topic
sentences and a clear introduction.
 Persuasive
 In most academic writing, you are required to go at least one step
further than analytical writing, to persuasive writing. Persuasive
writing has all the features of analytical writing (that is, information
plus re-organizing the information), with the addition of your own
point of view. Most essays are persuasive, and there is a persuasive
element in at least the discussion and conclusion of a research article.
 Points of view in academic writing can include an argument,
recommendation, interpretation of findings or evaluation of the work
of others. In persuasive writing, each claim you make needs to be
supported by some evidence, for example a reference to research
findings or published sources.
 The kinds of instructions for a persuasive assignment include: 'argue',
'evaluate', 'discuss', and 'take a position'.
 Persuasive
 To help reach your own point of view on the facts or
ideas:
 readsome other researchers' points of view on the topic.
Who do you feel is the most convincing?
 lookfor patterns in the data or references. Where is the
evidence strongest?
 list
several different interpretations. What are the real-life
implications of each one? Which ones are likely to be most
useful or beneficial? Which ones have some problems?
 discussthe facts and ideas with someone else. Do you
agree with their point of view?
 Persuasive
 To develop your argument:
• list the different reasons for your point of view
• think about the different types and sources of evidence which you can use to
support your point of view
• consider different ways that your point of view is similar to, and different from, the
points of view of other researchers
• look for various ways to break your point of view into parts. For example, cost
effectiveness, environmental sustainability, scope of real-world application.
 To present your argument, make sure:
• your text develops a coherent argument where all the individual claims work
together to support your overall point of view
• your reasoning for each claim is clear to the reader
• your assumptions are valid
• you have evidence for every claim you make
• you use evidence that is convincing and directly relevant.
 Critical
 Critical writing is common for research, postgraduate and advanced
undergraduate writing. It has all the features of persuasive writing, with
the added feature of at least one other point of view. While persuasive
writing requires you to have your own point of view on an issue or topic,
critical writing requires you to consider at least two points of view,
including your own.
 For example, you may explain a researcher's interpretation or argument
and then evaluate the merits of the argument, or give your own
alternative interpretation.
 Examples of critical writing assignments include a critique of a journal
article, or a literature review that identifies the strengths and weaknesses
of existing research. The kinds of instructions for critical writing include:
'critique', 'debate', 'disagree' and 'evaluate'.
 Critical
 You need to:
• accurately summarize all or part of the work. This could include identifying the
main interpretations, assumptions or methodology.
• have an opinion about the work. Appropriate types of opinion could include
pointing out some problems with it, proposing an alternative approach that
would be better, and/or defending the work against the critiques of others.
• provide evidence for your point of view. Depending on the specific assignment
and the discipline, different types of evidence may be appropriate, such as
logical reasoning, reference to authoritative sources and/or research data.
 Critical writing requires strong writing skills. You need to thoroughly understand
the topic and the issues. You need to develop an essay structure and paragraph
structure that allows you to analyse different interpretations and develop your
own argument, supported by evidence.
 Planning your writing
 There are two main approaches to organizing and analyzing
information for academic writing.
• The planning approach: spend a lot of time on different types of
planning before you begin writing. Only start writing when you know
what you will write in each paragraph.
• The drafting approach: start writing early, while you are still developing
your ideas. Write many drafts and gradually re-organize your text until
your ideas are clear and your paragraphs are well structured.
 Both of these approaches can be successful. However, if your writing
needs to be more logical, clear or analytical, focus more on your
planning. Creating a good plan is a very positive early step towards
writing a good assignment.
 Making the structure clear
 Your writing will be clear and logical to read if it’s easy to see the structure
and how it fits together. You can achieve this in several ways.
• Use the end of the introduction to show the reader what structure to expect.
• Use headings and sub-headings to clearly mark the sections (if these are
acceptable for your discipline and assignment type).
• Use topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph, to show the reader
what the main idea is, and to link back to the introduction and/or headings
and sub-headings.
• Show the connections between sentences. The beginning of each sentence
should link back to the main idea of the paragraph or a previous sentence.
• Use conjunctions and linking words to show the structure of relationships
between ideas. Examples of conjunctions include: however, similarly, in
contrast, for this reason, as a result and moreover.
 Introductions
 Most of the types of texts you write for university need to have an introduction.
Its purpose is to clearly tell the reader the topic, purpose and structure of the
paper.
 As a rough guide, an introduction might be between 10 and 20 percent of the
length of the whole paper and has three main parts.
1. The most general information, such as background and/or definitions.
2. The core of the introduction, where you show the overall topic, purpose, your
point of view, hypotheses and/or research questions (depending on what kind of
paper it is).
3. The most specific information, describing the scope and structure of your paper.
 If the main body of your paper follows a predictable template, such as the
method, results and discussion stages of a report in the sciences, you generally
don’t need to include a guide to the structure in your introduction.
 You should write your introduction after you know both your overall point of view
(if it is a persuasive paper) and the whole structure of your paper. You should
then revise the introduction when you have completed the main body.
 Paragraphs
 Most academic writing is structured into paragraphs. It is
helpful to think about each paragraph as a mini essay with
a three-part structure:
• topic sentence (also known as introductory sentence)
• body of the paragraph
• concluding sentence (necessary for long paragraphs but
otherwise optional).
 The topic sentence introduces a general overview of the
topic and the purpose of the paragraph. Depending on the
length of the paragraph, this may be more than one
sentence. The topic sentence answers the question 'what's
the paragraph about?'.
 Paragraphs
 The body of the paragraph develops this topic. It may elaborate
directly on the topic sentence by giving definitions, classifications,
explanations, contrasts, examples and evidence.
 The final sentence in many, but not all, paragraphs is the
concluding sentence. It does not present new information, but often
either summarizes or comments on the paragraph content. It can
also provide a link, by showing how the paragraph links to the topic
sentence of the next paragraph. The concluding sentence often
answers the question ‘so what?’, by explaining how this paragraph
relates back to the main topic.
 You don’t have to write all your paragraphs using this structure. For
example, there are paragraphs with no topic sentence, or the topic
is mentioned near the end of the paragraph. However, this is a clear
and common structure that makes it easy for the reader to follow.
 Conclusions
 The conclusion is closely related to the introduction and is often
described as its ‘mirror image’. This means that if the introduction
begins with general information and ends with specific information, the
conclusion moves in the opposite direction.
 The conclusion usually:
• begins by briefly summarizing the main scope or structure of the paper
• confirms the topic that was given in the introduction. This may take the
form of the aims of the paper, a thesis statement (point of view) or a
research question/hypothesis and its answer/outcome.
• ends with a more general statement about how this topic relates to its
context. This may take the form of an evaluation of the importance of
the topic, implications for future research or a recommendation about
theory or practice.
Grammar, spelling and vocabulary
 It’s important to use correct grammar, spelling and technical vocabulary in
your university work. This will often be part of the marking criteria for your
assignments.
 If you’re not confident in your grammar or spelling skills, the
Learning Hub (Academic Language and Learning) has a number of online
resources such as the Write Site.
 You can also attend a
Learning Hub (Academic Language and Learning) workshop where you can
learn strategies for paying close attention to grammar, proofreading or
editing your work.
 Building your technical vocabulary specific to your discipline takes time.
You can improve your vocabulary by looking up technical words you come
across in your readings or in class and noting down what they mean and
how they’re used. You should also look out for frequently occurring
academic words, for example: 'analysis', 'aspect', 'factor' and 'discourse'.
Grammar, spelling and vocabulary
 However, it’s important to read first for the general
meaning of the whole text. Looking up every new word
will make it much slower and harder to understand.
 If English is not your first language, there are English
language courses, both on campus (
Centre for English Teaching) and off campus, as well as
many books and online resources for learning more
about English grammar. The best way to improve your
use of English grammar is to spend as many hours each
day as possible in English conversation. However,
remember that formal written English is different to
conversational English.
 Avoiding plagiarism
 To avoid plagiarism, you need to be aware of what it is, and have good writing skills and
referencing knowledge. You need to be able to:

 paraphrase and summarise

 When you paraphrase or summarise, you put the author’s ideas in your own words.
However, you still need to attribute the idea to the author by including a reference.

 It’s usually better to paraphrase than quote, as it shows a higher level of thinking,
understanding and writing skills. To rephrase ideas, you need a large vocabulary of formal
and technical words for the subject matter, as well as grammatical flexibility.