Introduction to Academic Writing Karin Macdonald

Academic Writing Skills

Look at the list of 'Academic Writing Skills' below. With two or three other students discuss
what you think each of them involves, and how important each one is in academic writing.
Make notes as you go along and then check your ideas with your teacher.

Academic Writing Skills Importance

1 Making an outline
2 Narrowing down the topic
3 Reading around the topic
4 Selecting relevant ideas
5 Ordering ideas logically
6 Making headings, subheading etc ....
7 Describing tables, charts and diagrams
8 Writing an introduction
9 Writing a conclusion
10 Constructing a bibliography
11 Including references
12 Proof-reading
13 Keeping the audience in mind
14 Getting the tone right
15 Being concise
16 Sticking to the point
17 Being clear
18 Quoting
19 Summarising
20 Paraphrasing
21 Spelling correctly
22 Using appropriate vocabulary
23 Using correct grammar
24 Punctuating correctly
25 Stating a clear purpose
26 Defining terms
27 Answering essential questions
28 Including relevant information
29 Excluding bias and unsupported opinion
30 Considering all viewpoints

Source: Adapted from 'Study Tasks' by Waters & Waters 1995 CUP

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Introduction to Academic Writing Karin Macdonald

12 Ways to be Successful in Academic Writing

Your essay should ....

1. be objective (impartial, detached, neutral, unbiased, unprejudiced), not subjective.

2. be argumentative and discursive .
3. be clear with original thoughts and ideas.
4. be relevant, and supported by evidence and examples.
5. be analytical, not descriptive.
6. be formal and impersonal, with use of indirect speech (reported speech) and passive.
7. be specific, not too general with good use of vocabulary, using an English-English
dictionary and a thesaurus.
8. be well-presented, with a title, word processed with size 12 font and 11/2 line spacing,
and spacing between each paragraph.
9. be well-structured and organised, with introduction, main body and conclusion.
10. be coherent, with links and good use of topic sentences and supporting sentences.
11. be accurate, in terms of punctuation, grammar and spelling.
12. have sources and references.

Source: Presessional A/vsl/2006

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Introduction to Academic Writing Karin Macdonald

Identifying Types of Text

(1)

Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain--which
is to say, all of it. Every last bit of it, good and bad-old churches, country lanes, people saying
'Mustn't grumble' and 'I'm terribly sorry but,' people apologizing to me when I conk them
with a careless elbow, milk in bottles, beans on toast, haymaking in June, seaside piers,
Ordinance Survey maps, tea and crumpets, summer showers and foggy winter evenings-every
bit of it.

(2)

Estuary English is the form of the English language widely spoken in South East England,
especially along the river Thames and its estuary. It is a hybrid of Received Pronunciation
(RP) and South Eastern accents, particularly from the London, Kent and Essex area. It first
came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in the Times Education
Supplement in October 1984 Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace RP as the
Standard English pronunciation.

(3)

British English in the 20th century has been characterised by dialect levelling and
standardisation. It is probably useful to see this as composed of two stages, running in
parallel. The first stage affects the traditional rural dialects of the country, once of course
spoken by a majority of the population, but by the beginning of the 20th century probably
spoken by under 50%.

These dialects are very different from standard English in their pronunciation and in their
grammar. What has happened is that, over one or more generations, families have abandoned
these dialects in favour of a type of English that is more like the urban speech of the local
town or city. These more urban ways of speaking have been labelled modern dialects or
mainstream dialects by Peter Trudgill (1998). What most characterises them is that they are
considerably more like standard English in phonology, grammar and vocabulary.

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(4)

Regional dialects in the UK are holding their own in spite of fears the South East accent,
or Estuary English is taking over, a BBC survey suggests.

The BBC Voices project found more than 700 ways of describing playing truant, including
"nick off' in northern England and "mitch" in south Wales.

Its website survey of 32,000 people also found 480 expressions for "cold".

Mick Ord, the project's director, said there were far more accents now than there used to be.

“Not true. People are often going on about the spread of Estuary English and have wrongly
led us to believe that we'll all be speaking the same soon,” he said.

"Before I came to this project I had the idea that dialect words were dying out. Nothing could
be further from the truth.”

(5)

The courses aim to:

• give you the opportunity to work on your overall English language proficiency before
starting a course or undertaking research at a British University

• help you to improve your proficiency in English before starting a course or undertaking
research at a British University

• help you to develop the necessary cultural and study skills for effective learning through the
medium of English

• introduce you to Britain and British culture

• give you a chance to 'settle in' to the British academic environment before starting your
programme of academic study.

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Introduction to Academic Writing Karin Macdonald

The Writing Process Source: UEFAP

Which skills are needed for each stage of the writing process?

Task Skills Needed Product

1 Read the question and Essay subject
understand what you are
required to do. Think
about the subject, the
purpose and the
audience.
2 Think about what you Diagrams or notes
know about the subject.
Write it down in some
way.
3 Go to the library and find Reading list
relevant books or
articles.
4 Find the books on your reading list List of materials
and study them. studied
5 Make notes on these Notes
books and articles.
Record full details of the
materials you use.
6 Organise your Essay Plan
essay/assignment.
7 Type or write your first First Draft
draft.
8 Discuss your first draft List of
informally with friends, revisions/changes
other members of your
class and your lecturer if
possible.
9 Revise your first draft, Second draft
bearing in mind any
comments that were
made in your
discussions.
Go back to 2. if
necessary
Produce your second
draft.
10 Proofread your draft Assignment with
changes marked
11 Produce a final typed version Final assignment
12 Check everything Hand in

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Introduction to Academic Writing Karin Macdonald

a)
checking for spelling mistakes
checking punctuation and grammar
checking vocabulary use
checking style
checking organisation, references etc.
checking for plagiarism

b) final check

c) reading in detail, selecting & note-taking, paraphrasing/summarising

d) brainstorming

e) thinking academically

f) library/research skills

g) typing/word-processing, writing title/contents page

h) speaking skills, listening skills, discussion skills

i) writing from notes synthesis

writing paragraphs
typing/word-processing

j) reading skills: skimming and scanning

k) use of dictionaries & reference books

writing introduction & conclusion
quoting/writing a list of references

l) planning and organising

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Introduction to Academic Writing Karin Macdonald

MARKERS OF FORMALITY AND INFORMALITY IN WRITTEN ENGLISH

Source: E.Hauge University of Southampton

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Academic Style
Source: R.R. Jordan, Academic Writing Course, 1999 Longman
A. Formal and Informal

1 Compare these two explanations or definitions of economics. What are the main
differences?

Informal/Spoken. Economics? Yes, well, ... economics is, I suppose, about people trying to ...
let me see ... match things that a~ scarce, you know, with things that they want, ... oh, yes,
and how these efforts have an effect on each other ... through exchange, I suppose.

Formal/Written. Economics is the social science that studies how people attempt to
accommodate scarcity to their wants and how these attempts interact through exchange.

2 The following sentences are mixed formal and informal. Write F (formal) or I (informal) in
the brackets after each sentence.

a The project will be completed next year. ( )

b I showed that his arguments did not hold water. ( )

c I wonder why he put up with those terrible conditions for so long. ( )

d Five more tests will be necessary before the experiment can be concluded. ( )

e It is possible to consider the results from a different viewpoint. ( )

f It has been proved that the arguments so far are without foundation. ( )

g He'll have to do another five tests before he can stop the experiment. ( )

h It isn't clear why such terrible conditions were tolerated for so long. ( )

i There are a number of reasons why the questionnaire should be revised. ( )

j We'll finish the job next year. ( )

3 The following sentences are all informal. Rewrite them in a formal style.

a She said it wasn't good enough.

b I thought the lecture was terribly difficult to follow.

c They've got to find out how to carry out a survey of old folks' opinions of little kids.

d The results were a lot better than I expected

e None of our other student friends knew the answer either.

f He said: 'It's hell being on your own.'

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4 Cautious Language is important in academic writing. Look at the following sentences,

which all contain definite statements. Rewrite the sentences so that the statements are more
cautious. This will involve changing the verb forms and/or adding appropriate qualifying
adverbs, adjectives or nouns.
a A survey has shown that lecturers use the terms 'seminars' and 'tutorials' interchangeably.
b The rate of inflation will not increase this year.
c Reading is effective when it has a particular purpose.
d The answer to problems is found in asking the right questions.
e Countries disagree on the interpretation of democracy.

B. Different Styles

1 Look at these eight explanations or definitions of 'education', written in different styles.

- Decide if the explanations are spoken or written.
- Match each one with the source from which you think it is taken, listed at the end.

What is education?

a Education can be seen either as a battlefield for values or a question of systems or, more
simply, as an extension of the biological function of the upbringing of children - known more
simply as parenting. We'll start by looking at how far the role of teacher goes beyond being a
parent.

b The process by which your mind develops through learning at a school, college, or
university; the knowledge and skills that you gain from being taught.

c 'Education' comes from a Latin word. One of the important things about education is to give
people an interest in knowledge and an ability to learn - or strategies or techniques for
learning- and a knowledge of how to find out about things they want to know.

d Education: teaching, schooling, training, instruction, tuition, tutelage, edification, tutoring,

cultivation, upbringing, indoctrination, drilling; learning, lore, knowledge, information,
erudition ...

e ‘Tis Education forms the common mind,

Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd.

f Central to the concept of education is the development of knowledge and understanding. In

schools and universities explicit attempts are made to do this by means of an organised
sequence of learning experiences which is called the curriculum. But what should be its
priorities? Should the depth of knowledge or breadth be the ideal? ...

g People going to school and learning.

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h Education ... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is
worth reading.
Sources:
1 Spoken - a simple explanation by an adult.

2 The Oxford Thesaurus (An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms), Oxford University Press, 1991

3 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1995

4 English Social History, G.M. Trevelyan, Longmans Green & Co., 1962

5 Spoken - a considered explanation by an educated adult.

6 Spoken - an introduction to a lecture on education.

7 The Philosophy of Education - Introduction by Prof. R.S. Peters, Oxford University Press, 1973

8 From a poem in 1734 by Alexander Pope (1688-1744).

2 Now write your own explanation of 'education' in an academic style.

3 Look at these eight explanations or definitions of 'poverty'. Discuss with another student the
distinguishing features of the different explanations (spoken or written) and try to identify the
type of source for each. Give reasons for your decisions.

What is Poverty?

a The situation or experience of being poor.

b It is the inability to attain a minimal standard of living. It can be expressed either in

absolute terms (total numbers living below a certain per capita income level) or relative terms
(compared with the average standard of living of the country as a whole). First we will
consider absolute poverty.

c When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of the window.

d The situation facing those in society whose material needs are least satisfied. Poverty can
be defined by some absolute measure ... or in relative terms ... In either case it is necessarily
an arbitrarily defined concept.

e It means not having enough to live on in terms of food and shelter and the other basic
necessities of life.

f The poor old man is badly off; he's always hard up and needs everything he can get.

g The greatest of evils and the worst of crimes is poverty.

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h The Social Surveys of London, Liverpool and other towns round about 1929 showed that
there remained perhaps ten per cent of the urban population below the 'poverty line', even
outside the depressed areas.

4 Now write your own explanation of 'poverty' in an academic style.

5 In an academic style write an explanation or definition of one of these:

Democracy money language

Boredom crime development

happiness death

C. Inappropriate Language

The following passage is written in a mixed style with some colloquialisms and other
inappropriate words. Rewrite it in an academic style with appropriate vocabulary, structures
and cautious language.

Causes of Writing Errors

Research has shown (James) that learners of English find writing the most difficult thing
they've got to do. There are 3 main types of error that the learner will make.
The biggest sort of error leads to misunderstanding or a total breakdown in communication.
There are lots of causes of this: the biggest is the use of translation from the mother tongue.
By translating word for word the student uses the wrong sentence patterns (grammar) and the
wrong words (vocabulary). Another cause is choosing to write long and complicated
sentences with far too many supplementary clauses. The longer the sentence the bigger is the
chance of making mistakes and failing to communicate the meaning. Therefore, in the early
stages of your writing, you shouldn't write sentences longer than 3 lines.

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