Unit 1.3.

Fundamentals of Reading Academic Texts

Lesson 3:
a. Language and Text Structure Across Discipline
i. Mathematic Texts
 Symbols in place of words
 Symbols for operations(+ x)
 Special meaning ‘x’ ‘y’ ‘z’
 Notations 5.6 x 10
 Numbers 1, 2, 3
 Formulas E=mc

 Special meanings
 (Statistics) universe

 Verb ‘is”
 3 is the square root of 9
 10 is less than 15
 5 is a prime number

 Problem-solution
 Question
 Answer to which you arrive at by doing any or several math operations

 Comparison and contrast

 Which is bigger/faster/cheaper?

ii. Business Texts

 Special vocabulary (jargon)
 Interest
 Compound nouns
 Bulk buying
 Conventions or established practices
 Form letters (memo) –
 Date
 Inside address
 Salutation
 Body
 Complimentary close
 Polite communication
 Modal expressions (may)
 Adverbs (kindly)
“Please let me know what your thoughts and suggestions are.” Problem-solution
 Cause-effect
 result

iii. Social Science Texts

 Jargon of specific disciplines
 Political science (executive branch)
 Economics (profit) –
 Sociology (social class)
 Psychology (depression)

 Graphs and tables

 The common text structure in

Social Science texts are : definition for
jargons, recount of a historical event,
cause and effect of economic situation
and comparison and contrast for
political matters.
iv. Natural Science Texts
 Technical terms
 Pressure
 Symbols
 CO
 Abbreviations
 Lb.
 Prefixes
 uni
 root words
 geo
 suffixes
 -ation
 Diagrams

 Drawings

 Information-heavy
“Each nucleus is packed with information coded in the form of a chemical called
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and organized into groups called genes which are
arranged on thread-like structures, the chromosomes.”
 Slow reading for comprehension and retention of facts.

v. Literature and the Arts

 Content-specific terms or jargon
 Tone
 Connotative language – implicit meaning of a word like
 Snake
 Figures of speech
 Metaphor

 Work’s style
 Creativity weighs more than content
 No one-to-one correspondence
 We saw her duck.
 Violate language rules
 Ten thousand saw I at a glance
 Text structures under this are definition for literary terms, descriptions for fiction stories,
and cause effect which maybe in a form of recounts.