1. Common beliefs about
academic writing
Warm-up discussion:
What do you associate with academic writing?
Main features of academic English
According to an Open University (UK) Student Guide
 usually formal in tone and impersonal in style
 avoids contractions or shortened forms of verbs, such
as ‘won't’, ‘doesn't’ or ‘it's’
 avoids using a linking word such as 'and' or 'but' at the
beginning of a sentence
 avoids personal pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘your’
 may use the passive form of verbs
 avoids verbs that are composed of multiple words,
such as 'give up', 'put up with'
 tends to employ a cautious way of explaining findings,
using expressions such as 'may', 'it is possible that...',
'could'
 may use specialised vocabulary.
2. Differences between spoken
and written academic English?
Register: Written v. Spoken English
From the spoken version of a paper:
“We had to pay a penalty because we finished
the project late.”
How would the same idea be represented in the
written version of the same paper?
Register: Written v. Spoken English
From the spoken version of a paper:
“We had to pay a penalty because we finished the
project late.”
How would the same idea be represented in the written
version of the same paper?
↓
“The late completion of the project resulted in a
financial penalty.”
Register: Written v. Spoken English
From the spoken version of a paper:
“We had to pay a penalty because we finished the project late.”
From the written version of the same paper:
“The late completion of the project resulted in a financial penalty.”
In written academic English, abstract nouns are often the subjects of
sentences. Spoken English can be more personal (e.g. I, we, etc.) and
tends to use simpler vocabulary.
Lexical choice
You should also avoid contracted forms in written academic
English. Some verbs which are very common in spoken English
(e.g. get, do, make, put) should also be avoided in formal
written English.
•
Spoken English
Written academic English
•
We got an interesting result.  We obtained an
interesting result
We’ve done four experiments.  We have conducted four
experiments.
•
Membership of a discourse community
“A discourse community is a group of people
who share a set of discourses, understood as
basic values and assumptions, and ways of
communicating about those goals.”
Borg, E. (2003) Discourse Communities, ELT Journal 57:4, 398310
Communicating with different discourse communities
Within own discipline
(“technical”)
Within the wider
academic community
(“sub-technical”)
Outside the academic
community
(“general”)
Academic writing requires a rich vocabulary in
terms of sub-technical and technical words
“In a typical class at an international university, the students may look
like a homogeneous group, at least in terms of age and years of fulltime education. All are studying through the medium of English. All
have met the institution’s English language entry requirement. Yet, in
one important respect, there is an important difference between the
native and non-native speakers of English: the size of their vocabulary.
Some students may know around 20,000 word families, while others
may know less than 4,000.” (McNeill 2015)
English for Academic Study, www.epigeum.com, (forthcoming 2015)
http://www.epigeum.com/component/programmes/?view=programm
e&programme=73 ]
Summary of key issues in academic writing
• Distinguish between spoken and written
academic English.
• Familiarize yourself with the academic writing
style of your own discipline area and the
genres you will need to produce.
• Use papers published in prestigious journals
within your own discipline as models.
• Make an effort to demonstrate criticality.
Resources for academic writing
Guidance on academic writing style and citation:
• Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL):
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/
• Duke University anti-plagiarism guidelines:
http://library.duke.edu/research/plagiarism
Referencing software:
• RefWorks: https://www.refworks.com/
• EndNote:
http://endnote.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=e
ndnote_exact&utm_term=%7Bkeyword%7D&gclid=COaLmqsycACFYOTvQod34oA6Q
Vocabulary (including Lexical Frequency Profiler):
• Professor Tom Cobb’s vocabulary resources site: www.lextutor.ca
Wordlists:
• New General Service List (Browne, Culligan & Philips 2013):
http://www.newgeneralservicelist.org
• New Academic Wordlist (Browne, Culligan & Philips 2013):
http://www.newacademicwordlist.org
Which genres will you write?
Text-type
Discipline
Essay
Anthropology, Archaeology, Biology, Computing, Economics,
Engineering, English, Food Sciences, Health, History, Hospitality and
Tourism, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy, Psychology,
Publishing, Theatre Studies
Report
Computing, Food Sciences, Hospitality and Tourism, Law,
Psychology
Project report
?
Dissertation
?
Thesis
?
Capstone
?
Review/Critique
?
Case study
?
Case notes
?
Reflections
?
Typical functions required in academic writing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Describe
Analysize
Synthesize
Compare
Evaluate
Persuade (construct arguments)
Explain
Interpret
Style preferences
• Impersonal style of writing.
• Clear signposting of the text and document
structure.
• Control of paragraphing.
• Include “structural” sentences and paragraphs.
• Avoid repetition.
• Formal grammar (no contracted forms).
• Academic vocabulary and lexical richness.