Study Writing skills

Writing skills for academic purpose

March 2, 2018
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zaini Amir
 Academic Writing processes
• Our aim in this study is to:
1. Introducing the idea that writing is a set of
processes.
2. Showing how to distinguish between
academic and personal styles of writing.
3. Looking at the grammar of academic
discourse.
4. Practicing visualizing text as a pre-writing
step.
 Thinking about writing processes:
1. When you write an important text, do you make
more than one draft?
2. If option is given, do you prefer to write on paper
or use a computer? Have you ever asked yourself
why?
3. What do you do before you start writing?
4. How do you start writing? Do you begin at ‘the
beginning’ or jump in wherever you have some
ideas? Do you think one approach is better than
another?
5. What do you do while you are writing? Do
you stop and think? Do you ever go back to
the beginning and start again?
6. When you finish your first complete draft,
what do you do next?
Discuss answers with your friends…
• Remember, there are no correct answers, only
sensible or thoughtless ones. Freely discuss all
views.
• Would your answer be same for writing in your own
language?

• Objective of this question: to capture thinking

about something in order to talk clearly
about it later.
 What is academic writing?
• There are different kinds of academic writing in
English. Some of these differences arise from
the different disciplines and the ways in which
they create and share knowledge;
• some relate to the audience (reader);
• and some to the use of which the text will be
put.
• The rules and definitions are very complicated.
• Yet we can easily recognize the difference
between informal and formal (academic)
writing.
 Recognizing academic writing
• Read:
Linguists were and remain convinced by Noam
Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, who discovered that however disparate
human languages seem, all share a common, basic
structure, seemingly hardwired into the brain.

* Identify three features of this sentence that you

think are academic.
 Features of academic writings

– Complex sentence
– Serious subject
– Reference to academics, ‘linguists’ and ‘Noam
Chomsky of …’
– Use of passive voice ‘Linguists were and remain
convinced by N.Chomsky …’
- Shows truth status of statement, ‘seemingly
hardwired into the brain’.
• Read
– The way you speak says a lot about you.

• Identify three features of this sentence that seem

non-academic to you.
• Discuss with your partner….
• Let us see the answers …
 Features
non-academic writings

– Vague vocabulary, such as ‘way’, ‘say’ and ‘a lot’ –

lack of precision.
– Directly addressing the reader, ‘you’ –
conversational style
– Simple sentence structure.
 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
sentences
levels of
Vocabulary Technical and Use of short
formality academic forms, idioms
language used and slang
accurately
 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.
 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
than ‘I’ or ‘we’
 Acknowledgement
Writing skills for academic purpose
Liz Hamp-Lyons & Ben Heasley. Pub: CUP