Part I:
With your group, discuss the term ACADEMIC WRITING.
What does this concept mean to you and your teammates?
Take a few notes so we can discuss this…
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PART II:
In your opinion, what do the following words mean?
How do they relate to academic writing?
Think of it like this: Academic Writing should be ANALYTIC because_________________________
1)
2)
3)
4)
Analytic:_________________________________________________________
Objective:________________________________________________________
Intellectual:______________________________________________________
Rational:________________________________________________________
Workshop Task One
Analyze the following two extracts in terms of style. Which one has a formal, academic style? Identify
the features of acceptable and unacceptable academic style used in the extracts.
A.
Contact with neighboring people must have been limited prior to European settlement in Australia in
1788. Melanesians from New Guinea and the islands of Torres Strait are known to have visited the
northern shores, especially Cape York Peninsula. The Indonesians frequently visited Arnhem Land
and the northwest of Western Australia to collect pearl and tortoise shell. As early as 1803, Matthew
Flinders documented the size and frequency of Indonesian expeditions. He made contact with several
ships while he was charting the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
B.
I think the first Europeans came to live in Australia around 1788. I don’t know too much about how
many Aborigines there were at the time but everyone says there must have been around 300 000
altogether. They say they came here 40 000 years ago when Java was joined to Asia and then they
island hopped to New Guinea and then on to Australia. Anyway, when the Europeans came the
Aborigines were split up into about 500 tribes. About a third of them lived in Queensland, probably
along the coast. It looks like only about 18 000 lived in the central deserts of SA and WA.
Pizzorno, LLC Writing Work Shop #1: Help me I am drowning!!! What is Academic Writing??