ACADEMIC DISCOURSE
Discussion of genre transformation issues
Newspaper to academic text: “Women skipping
mammography”, Herald tribune, 2006
General remarks: References
Popular text
Academic
(Magazine/Newspaper)
List of References at the end of the text
No list of
References/Bibliography at the
end of the text.
Reference/Bibliography is
always at the end of an
academic article.
In-text references
(how people are referred to inside the text)
Authors in the Journal of
Jones (2009) suggests that …
Medicine say …
Reference to journals of other
organizations in general
General remarks: Structures
 Structures:

Good use of impersonal and passive structures, but
without using in-text references on a number of
occasions
 Linking expressions:



When used, restricted to ‘however’ or ‘additionally’.
Restricted use of expressions for linking arguments
in the text: e.g. ‘the above-mentioned study’, ‘as
argued above’, ‘the research in question’, etc.
Use of contracted forms:

‘so long as they don’t have’. Academic: ‘so long as they
do not have’
General remarks: Vocabulary (1)
Popular text
(Magazine/Newspaper)
Academic
Informal expressions
A great number of
Have their breasts screened
A substantial number of
Have breast cancer screening
Informal words
Skipping mammograms
Omission of mammograms
General remarks: Vocabulary (2)
 Vocabulary:

Absolute statements instead of a cautious language:


‘…mammography does not have any value …’.
Academic: ‘…there is no firm evidence supporting
mammography’s value…’
Real vs. actual:


Real denotes that something is genuine as opposed to
false.
Actual denotes existence rather than possibility; it
emphasises contrast with another state of affairs.
General remarks: Content
 Be clear about what you are trying to express and
express it concisely:

Better to use simple and clear sentences than
convoluted ones

“However, the findings of a more recent survey (Kagey,
2006) seem to provide with a quite different viewpoint
that tends to alter the previous considerations on the
basis of a much lowered actual rate of breast
screening.”
General remarks: Style
 Academic texts are objective and impersonal.

Use of cautious language (probably, may, assume, etc.) is widespread.
 Expressions such as the following create an atmosphere of
urgency and topicality not typical of academic texts:







‘…it is of utmost importance for scientists to discover…’
‘In a recent study scientists (K. Brown and F. Jones) found that…’
‘However, the real concern must refer to…’
‘…the aggressive free-fall…’
‘…an undeniable truth…’
“…a group of scientific and social researchers…’
‘…specialists on the scientific field…’
Important to have in an academic text
 In an academic text it is important to include the
following:



Sections for the handling of separate issues
In-text references
A list of references at the end
In-text references (1)
 In-text references only require surname and date
of publication:

For one author:


Smith, 2000
For more than one author, the order is alphabetical

Albin, Jones and Simons, 2009
In-text references (2)
 You DO NOT need to mention the:



researcher’s title
first name
research institute

Yes: (Smith, 2009)
 NO: (Dr Smith, 2009)
 NO: (Dr Christopher Kagay)
 NO: (Dr Christopher Kagay of Harvard)
In-text references (3)
 One author:


It has been argued (Murphy, 2003) that…
Murphy (2008) argues that …
 Many authors:

Linguists have argued (Burns, 1977; Jones, 1986;
Palmer, 1980) that the cultural significance…
Paraphrasing and quoting
 Paraphrasing:


As Jones notes (2002:98), instances of this type…
Murphy (2009:56) maintains that the value of…
 Quoting:


Such examples are referred to as instances of
“systemic opposition” (Jones, 2008:27)…
Antonymy has traditionally been defined as follows:
“Two lexical items that denote opposite ends of a
scale” (Jones, 1980:78).
Specific issues (1)
 ‘Additionally, it was found that…’


Additionally, the above-mentioned study also
revealed that …
Additionally, Jones (2002) found that …
 ‘According to recent research an estimated 80%...’

According to recent research (Jones, 2009)an
estimated 80%...
 ‘However, it is shown that real numbers …’

However, actual numbers are shown (Monk, 2010)…
 ‘Doctors suggested women over 69 should…’

Despite the lack of evidence supporting
mammography’s value for women over 69 (McKain,
2009), doctors still recommend it as a prescriptive
test (Owen, 2010) …
Specific issues (2)
 “It has been reported that important differences have
been demonstrated in surveys that had been held
concerning the frequency women get to have a cancer
screening.”

A recent study conducted by Kagey (2006) investigated the
frequency of breast cancer screening in elderly females. Contrary to
existing data (Jones, 2003), according to which screenings take
place once every two years, the above-mentioned study reveals that
the actual screening rate approximates 61 percent.

Content issues
 Reported by whom?
 Differences between which studies?
 Which particular surveys?
 get to do sth informal
Specific issues (3)
 “According to Dr. Christopher Kagay of Harvard, it
is assumed that the real rate of screening is
equivalent to 61 percent.”

According to Kagay (2006), the actual screening
rate is equivalent to 61 percent.
Specific issues (4)
 “A survey (Caballos, 1988) on mammographs has
suggested that 80% of older women have the
cancer screening regularly.”
 Content issues:

A survey:


when at the start of an article it is important to be
somewhat more specific.
On mammograms:


In general or a specific aspect of mammograms?
Existing surveys (Caballos, 1988) on the frequency of
mammography show that 80 percent of elderly females
have the cancer screening regularly.
Specific issues (5)
 The following sentence was found at the
beginning of a new section:
 “Besides this, it has to be mentioned that
mammography may not be useful for women aged
69 and older.”

Despite the aforementioned/above-mentioned issue
concerning screening numbers, it is important to
point out that, as Kagay (2006) argues,
mammography may not be useful for women aged
69 and older.
Specific issues (6)
 “This difference could be associated with several factors,
one of them being the age of the women interviewed that
leads them into forgetfulness, as also, the deeply
established tendency of individuals to present the image
deemed as ‘correct’ for their personal customs.”
 The above difference could be associated with several
factors/could be attributed to a number of factors, one of
which concerns the age of the women who were
interviewed, which is associated with forgetfulness by a
number of researchers (Jones, 2003), as well as
individuals’ well-established tendency (Smith, 2003) to
offer what they believe is the ‘right’ answer when
discussing their personal habits.
Specific issues (7)
 ‘However, according to the researchers there is a
better and more logic explanation: it is an
undeniable truth that people who are surveyed
about their personal habits tend to give as an
answer what they believe is right.”

However, based on the research in question there
is a more logical explanation: there exists a wellestablished tendency amongst people who are
surveyed about their personal habits (Lemming,
1980) to offer answers that they believe are the
‘right’ ones.
Specific issues (8)
 “In a recent study scientists (Dr. M. Johnson and
Dr. F. Smith, 2006) demonstrated that there is no
firm evidence that mammography has any value
for women 69 and older.”


In a recent study Johnson and Smith (2006) argued
that so far there is no firm evidence that
mammography has any value for women aged 69
and older.
In a recent study Johnson and Smith (2006) argued
that there is presently no firm evidence supporting
mammography’s value for women older than 69.
Specific issues (9)
 “However, the real concern must refer to the
reasons for this aggressive free fall.”

However, what seems to be more important is to
consider the reasons for the substantial difference
in screening rates, which was discussed/mentioned
above.
Specific issues (10)
 “Researchers in general based on Medicare data
agree that the actual rate is approximately 61%.”

Based on a representative sample larger than
145,000 women older than 65 years-of-age, it was
estimated in the above-mentioned study that the
actual screening rate approximates 61 percent.
Specific issues (11)
 In their effort to answer to the fundamental
question of how many women are actually
screened, the professor of Harvard, Dr
Christopher Kagey and his group of researchers,
investigated the Medicare data demonstrated from
a representative application of more than 145,000
women, over the age of 65.”

In an effort to answer the question of actual
screening frequency Kagey (2006) investigated a
representative sample larger that 145,000 women
older than 65 years-of-age/aged 65 and older.
Specific issues (12)
 “However, the findings of a more recent survey
(Kagey, 2006) seem to provide with a quite
different viewpoint that tends to alter the previous
considerations on the basis of a much lowered
actual rate of breast screening.”

However, the findings of a more recent survey
(Kagey, 2006) seem to offer a quite different
viewpoint in that they reveal that actual screening
rates are considerably lower than was considered
to be the case
Specific issues (13)
 “Even though the survey does not seem to contain any
possible explanation concerning the difference between the
two studies, however, it has been suggested on the one
hand that older women are characterized by a tendency
towards forgetfulness, and on the other hand, that quite a
few survey participants tend to give what they assume is the
‘right’ answer.”

Even though the survey does not offer any conclusive explanations
concerning the difference between the two studies, it nevertheless
suggests that, on the one hand, elderly females’ well-documented
tendency towards forgetfulness (Jones, 2000) and, on the other, the
equally well-established tendency participants have to give what
they assume is the ‘right’ answer (Monk, 2004) might provide
plausible reasons for the discrepancy.
Specific issues (14)
 “Despite the unmentioned reason of this rate difference in
Dr. Christopher’s research, a group of scientific and social
researchers have tried to report alternative explanations
(2006).”
 Despite the undetermined reasons for the rate difference
in Kagey’s research, which was discussed above,
research undertaken by social scientists (Matthews et al.,
2006) has tried to identify possible explanations.
 While Kagey (2006) did not offer any explanation
concerning the discrepancy in screening rates, research
undertaken by social scientists (Matthews et al., 2009) has
attempted to elucidate this issue by means of in-depth
interviews with more than 2,000 elderly females. More
specifically,…”
Specific issues (15)
 According to a recent survey (London, March, 2006)
regarding mammograms, the majority of elderly women
(nearly 80 percent) tend to have the cancer screening at
least once every two years. However, according to a new
study (D. Christopher Kagey of Harvard), the actual
numbers may be significantly lower. It has been reported
(Corsi, T.M. and Harvey, M.E., the American Journal or
Preventive Medicine) that the number of elderly women
who are actually screened has been indefinite yet. As a
matter of fact, the representative sample has been
detected to be more than 145,000 women at the age of
65 and older (Medicare Data). Taking into account the
above figures the actual screening rate is calculated to be
nearly 61 percent.”
 According to a recent (existing) survey (London, March,
2006) regarding mammograms, the majority of elderly
women (nearly 80 percent) tend to have the cancer
screening at least once every two years. However,
according to a new (recent) study (D. Christopher Kagey of
Harvard Kagey, 2009), the actual numbers may be
significantly lower. It is important to point out that the
question of actual screening rates in elderly females seems
to be a somewhat pressing issue (Corsi and Harvey, 2007.
To address that particular issue Kagey (2009) employed a
representative sample of more than 145,000 women at the
age of 65 and older (Medicare Data) and estimated that the
actual screening rate approximates 61 percent.”