Critique Bailey (2006) Critique on Bailey (2006). Academic Writing: A handbook for international students (2nd ed.

Baileys (2006) genre based second edition handout offers practice and academic writing definitions for higher education international students attempting to improve their academic writing skills. As Butler (2012) states, Baileys (2006) purpose with the book is to assist international learners in their academic written tasks in English during their university studies (para. 1). It serves both as a reference book for students working with a teacher and for students studying on their own since it offers a key. Four tests are included at the end of the unit on different academic areas dealt with throughout the book. As it is usually the case with handbooks aiming at such a wide audience, from foundations to PhD writers, an erroneous idea that academic writing in diverse fields is ruled by the same set of conventions mainly as regards referencing sources is suggested. The author does warn students that they should consult other sources when writing references; yet, this piece of advice may be insufficient mainly for beginning writers. Bailey (2006) states "Referencing is a complex subject and students are advised to seek specialist help, e.g. from a library, when referencing less usual subjects." (p.102). However, there is no account of the diverse conventions ruled by different styles like American Psychological Association (APA) , Chicago style, Modern Language Association (MLA), Council of Science Editors (CSE ) or other associations offering canons in writing. Even a simple list of sources could have been included for extra reading. The handbook is divided into four parts which are pedagogical in nature since they go from the general to the particular and from the easiest to the hardest aspects of writing 1 EAP-Final draft-Carla Allende

Critique Bailey (2006) academic papers. All areas dealing with grammatical accuracy, process writing, proofreading prove to be a sound guidelines for both tertiary and university level students. All in all, the only flaw is that the book does not even include a reference list with links to available manuals for professional writing at academic level. The handbook is a valuable reference manual for international university students as far as sentence, paragraph, grammar and broad genre requirements go; yet, the author offers little guidelines for more advanced researchers who require specific field conventions training in the use of available cannons for academic writing like those mentioned above.

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Critique Bailey (2006) References Bailey, Stephen. Academic writing: a handbook for international students. 2nd. ed. London: Routledge, 2008. Retrieved October, 2012 from: http://www1.doshisha.ac.jp/~ji-iie/Bailey.Academic_Writing.pdf Butler, N. (2012). Book review. Bailey, S. 2011. Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students (3rd. ed.). London: Routledge. Retrieved October, 2012 from http://www.baleap.org.uk/bookreview/2012/apr/28/bailey-s-2011-academic-writinghandbook-internatio/

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