What is

“Academic”
Writing?
 Academic vs ‘normal’ writing
• Are there any differences?
• If so, how can we describe those differences?
• We will have a look at some examples and try
to establish some ‘rules’.
 Read the examples and decide..
• Example 1: This is to inform you that your book
has been rejected by our publishing company as it
was not up to the required standard. In case you
would like us to reconsider it, we would suggest
that you go over it and make some necessary
changes.
Example 2: You know that book I wrote? Well, the
publishing company rejected it. They thought it
was awful. But hey, I did the best I could, and I
think it was great. I’m not gonna redo it the way
they said I should.
 What are the differences?
• It is the style of writing, or the way we use
words to say what we want to say. Different
situations call for different ways of putting
words together. The way we write in academic
and scientific settings differs greatly from the
way we write to a friend or a family member.
• The tone, vocabulary, and syntax, all change
as the occasion changes. This difference in the
styles of writing is the difference between
formality and informality, or the difference
between formal and informal writing.
What are the factors affecting our style
of writing?
Audience
Who are you writing it for?
“Swales positions ‘audience’ at the top of the
hierarchical representation of considerations
for the academic writer” (de Chazal, 2014: 59).
The style of writing is written for the intended
readers or audience.
 Think of your audience
• When writing an academic paper, you must
not only consider what you want to say, you
must also consider to whom you are saying it.
In other words, it’s important to determine
not only what you think about a topic, but also
what your audience is likely to think. What are
your audience’s biases and values,
expectations and knowledge base?
• What do you know about your readers and
their positions on your topic? What are your
readers likely to know about the topic? What
effect do you hope to have on your readers? Is
your aim to be controversial, informative, or
entertaining? Will your readers appreciate or
resent your purpose?
 Other Factors

PURPOSE
• The purpose of any piece of writing can be
determined by the writer asking
a simple question:
• "What am I trying to accomplish with this
piece of writing?"
• For many kinds of professional writing the
purpose is clear.
• A social worker writes an observation report
to record certain facts, impressions, and
opinions related to a case or to a specific
meeting with a client.
• A civil engineer writes a report based on the
site visit made to monitor progress of the
construction.
• For the writing to be effective, however,
the writer would need to understand his or
her own purpose. It obviously matters
whether your purpose is to inform, comfort,
impress, attack, advertise, or some
complicated combination of some or all of
these purposes.
 Genre
• As with purpose and audience, the genre of a
piece of writing is sometimes very specific, and
this is especially true in certain disciplines.
• For example: A lab report in engineering must
adhere to a very specific set of format and
content rules.
• While some genres are defined by very specific
set of conventions – e.g. a court proceeding
report
 Think of your own situation
• Who is your audience?
• What’s the purpose of your writing?
• What’s the genre?
• Is your writing governed by certain
conventions?

How to write Successfully
Who’s your audience?
What’s the occasion or context?
What’s your message?
What’s your purpose?
What documents/genres are used?
Academic Writing
Primarily the lecturer and possibly
your classmates (though you may be
asked to include a secondary outside
audience).
An assignment given by the lecturer
within a learning context and
designed to have you learn and
demonstrate your learning.
It will be your learning or the
interpretation gained from your study
of the subject matter.
To show your learning and get a
good grade (or to accomplish the
goals of the writing assignment).
The essay is the most frequent type
of document used.
 Features of Academic Writing
• It is a process
• It is a social practice
• It has an obvious audience and a clear
purpose
• Academic writing is linear.
 Features of Academic Writing
• Complexity
• Formality
• Precision
• Clarity and conciseness
• Objectivity
• Explicitness
• Accuracy
• Responsibility.
 Rules of Academic Writing
• Any evidence used to support an argument
must be based on reliable research.
• Objectivity is better than subjectivity.
• Both sides of the argument must be presented
– for and against, pros vs cons.
• Emotional language should only be used with
great care.
• Critical analysis is vital.
 Description vs. Critical Analysis
• Describe what you have read.
– But don’t just stop there!
• Offer your views on what you have read.
• Support your views.
 How to decode the Writing
Assignments?
Academic Writing is
an Argument
▪ An argument means a carefully arranged and
supported presentation of a viewpoint;
▪ When you’re presenting a thesis, for instance,
you’ll have to support your ideas using facts (or
“evidences”) to convince your audience of your
point of view.
 Academic Non-Academic
Levels of formality in
Reader Academics Family & friends
academic and
non-academic writing Content Serious thought conversational
Style Complex Mostly simple
After sentences and compound
showing sentences
distinguishing considerable joined by
some features of variety in
construction
conjunctions
such as and or
academic and but
Organization Clear and well Less likely to be
non-academic planned as clear and as
writing, let us organized
Grammar Likely to be May not always
now recognize error free use complete
levels of sentences
Vocabulary Technical and Use of short
formality academic forms, idioms
language used and slang
accurately
KSV MPhil - D.P.Barad
 Read the following sentences and tick
A(academic) or N(non-academic)
Sentences A N Notes
I couldn’t finish the interview on time.
The initial tests were completed and the results
analyzed by June 2008.
I’d like to start by drawing your attention to
previous research in this area.
In the 1990s, some researchers started to point
out the problems with this theory.
He agreed with me that this procedure didn’t
make much sense.
We’ll repeat the test sometime next year.
While it is still too early to draw firm conclusions
from the data, preliminary analysis suggests the
following trends are present.
In addition, the research attempts to answer two
further related questions. KSV MPhil - D.P.Barad
 Check your answers: compare and evaluate
Sentences
I couldn’t finish …
The initial tests …
I’d like to start …
In the 1990s, some…
He agreed with me …
We’ll repeat …
While it is still too early…
In addition, the research…
A N Notes
N Use of “I”; and short form, ‘couldn’t’
A Use of passive voice; ‘were completed; use
of precise vocab, ‘initial’
N Use of ‘I’ and ‘Your’; short form ‘I’d’
N In an academic work we would expect
some bibliographic references after ‘some
researchers’
N Use of ‘me’; short forms; vague vocab,
‘much sense’
N Use of short form; ‘We’ll; vague
A Complex sentence
A Use of connector, ‘In addition’; impersonal
style i.e. ‘the research attempts’ rather
KSV MPhil -than ‘I’ or ‘we’
D.P.Barad
 How to write good academic essay?
• Basic guidelines:
• No colloquial or idiomatic vocabulary : e.g.
kids, ‘quit’, ‘does not hold water’ instead use
…
• Be precise when dealing with facts and
figures. Avoid phrases such as ’about a
hundred’ or ‘hundreds of years ago’
• Avoid absolute statements such as ‘education
reduces crime”. Instead use cautious language
• Avoid adverbs that show personal attitude:
‘luckily’, ‘surprisingly’, ‘fortunately’ etc
• Do not contract verb forms : ‘don’t’, ‘can’t’ etc
• Avoid using question forms – “What were the
reasons for the decline of the ringgit?” Instead
use statements
• Make good use of the ‘passive’
 Let’s try
In the following sentences, first highlight the
examples of poor academic style and then
re-write them in a more suitable way.
1.Lots of people think that the economy is
getting worse.
2. Sadly, serious crime like murder is going up.
3. You can’t trust numbers in that report.
4. The second thing is that most kids in that
district will become crooks
 Tutorial tasks
• In groups of three, find different types of texts
to show: i.e. to argue, to inform, to persuade
and to describe. Identify the intended
audience and purpose of the text. Take notes
of the style of writing, register used and also
the tone of the writer. Share your findings
with the rest of the class.
BO IS AL RE
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 References
1. De Chazal, E. (2014). English for academic
purposes. Oxford: OUP.
2. Swales, J. M., Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic
writing for graduate students: essential tasks
and skills. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press.