Types of Academic Writing презентация

Types of Academic Writing

Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout life. In general, academic writing produces or analyses knowledge [6] and is formal and structured. it has its own set of rules and practices [12]. Academic writing in English has one central point or theme with every part contributing to the main line of argument, without digressions or repetitions. Its objective is to inform. Academic writing is: complex, formal, objective and explicit. It uses language precisely and accurately [7]. Academic writing follows a particular ‘tone’ and adheres to traditional conventions of punctuation, grammar, and spelling [12]. During the post-graduate studies, students usually encounter a need to write academic papers of various kinds: an essay, summary, annotation, abstract, paper, a review, an academic article.

An essay is a sustained piece of writing in which the author tries to set down significant ideas, convey information, analyze issues or set forth a proposition. A well-written essay has The main idea called a thesis, it has a direction, an adequate development, unity and coherence. It may be any length. In an essay, the paragraph serves to move the author’s idea forward, each paragraph relates logically to the others. The forms an essay may take are numerous An essay may represent any of the four modes of discourse-narration, description, exposition or persuasion-whether singly or in combination, although usually one mode predominates [2].

An essay is usually divided into 3 parts: the introduction, the body (the middle), the end (the conclusion). The main idea is expressed in a thesis statement, which may appear anywhere in the essay, though it is most often found in the beginning paragraphs [2]

Traditionally, for academic writing purposes, four types of essays are used:  Traditionally, for academic writing purposes, four types of essays are used:  expository, persuasive, analytical, argumentative. The expository essay is aimed to explain a short theme, idea or issue to the audience. It could be used to give a personal response to a work. The persuasive essay is used to convince the reader to adopt your position on an issue or point of view, where your arguments are the most important. The analytical essay is used to analyze, examine and interpret something (a book) and contains: introduction and presentation of an argument, analysis of the text (the longest part of the essay), personal response, conclusion (related to the analysis and the argument) The argumentative essay is used to prove that your opinion, theory or hypothesis about an issue is correct or more truthful than those of others. Certain facts, statistics, quotes and examples are usually used [3].

A report is always a systematic, short, clear, and well-organized document which defines and analyses a subject or problem. Reports are written in sections with headings and sub-headings, which are usually numbered [4]. Some possible components of a report: title page (always included), a list of people and organisations who have helped you, contents page, terms of reference (sometimes included), procedure (sometimes included), materials and methods, materials and methods, introduction, main body/findings , results, conclusion, recommendations, references, bibliography [4].

Summary- is a short piece of writing that summarizes a longer report, article, book in about 1/3 of the original length. It includes only the main points of a text without giving examples or details, such as dates, numbers or statistics. Also, you should not mention your own comments or evaluation [1].

To write a good summary it is important to clearly understand the material you are working with, that is why it would be useful to follow such steps as : skimming, dividing the text into sections, highlighting important information, taking notes, writing down the main points and key words of each section. To write a good summary it is important to clearly understand the material you are working with, that is why it would be useful to follow such steps as : skimming, dividing the text into sections, highlighting important information, taking notes, writing down the main points and key words of each section. In the end go the process through again, making changes as appropriate [1].  

An effective summary: An effective summary: (After Christine Bauer-Ramazani) Begins with an introductory sentence that states the article's title; Includes all of the article's main points and major supporting details; Deletes minor and irrelevant details; Paraphrases accurately and preserves the article's meaning; Uses student's own wording and sentence style; Uses quotation marks when using phrasing directly from the article or source; Includes only the article's ideas; excludes personal opinion; Is shorter than the original; Has few or no mechanical errors; Includes linking words [1].

AN ABSTRACT - IS A SHORTENED VERSION OF A LONGER PIECE OF WRITING THAT HIGHLIGHTS THE MAJOR POINTS COVERED, SHORTLY DESCRIBES THE CONTENT OF THE WRITING, AND REVIEWS THE WRITING'S CONTENTS IN ABBREVIATED FORM [1]. Abstracts are short statements that briefly summarize an article or an academic document. They attract someone to read further and explain why reading your work is worthwhile [1].

Two types of abstracts are generally used: Descriptive Abstracts: - tell readers what information the paper contains; - include the purpose, methods, and scope of the paper; - do not provide results, conclusions, or recommendations; - are always very short, usually under 100 words; Informative Abstracts: - communicate specific information from the paper; - include the purpose, methods, and scope of the paper; - provide the paper's results, conclusions, and recommendations; - are short – from a paragraph to a page or two, usually they are 10% or less of the length of the original piece; - allow readers to decide whether they want to read the article or paper [1].  

All abstracts include: All abstracts include: - a full citation of the source, preceding the abstract; - the most important information first; - the same type and style of language found in the original; - key words and phrases; - clear, shortened, and powerful language [1].  

Keep in mind: Keep in mind: Don't copy and paste from the article! Don't rely on the way the material was phrased in the article. Write an introductory sentence to introduce your central concept. Write a one- or two-sentence conclusion. Revise your abstract as needed. Fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation [1].

Paper - is an academic work that is usually published in an academic journal. The actual process of writing a paper is often hard and labour-intensive work. Many good research papers fail to achieve their potential because of the student's failure to address six important presentation issues: presentation format; grammar and style; adequate research; citation; plagiarism; and field component [1].

Writing a graduation paper is similar to writing a scientific report, in which the main goal is the demonstration of acquired knowledge Writing a graduation paper is similar to writing a scientific report, in which the main goal is the demonstration of acquired knowledge in your field. There are some important elements of graduation paper writing: - Identifying a research problem -A literature review - Formulating a hypothesis - Data collection [1].

A REVIEW - IS AN EVALUATION OF A PUBLICATION, BOOK ETC. REVIEW IS MORE THAN A DESCRIPTION OR SUMMARY. IT IS AN EVALUATION, A CRITICAL ANALYSIS, A COMMENTARY [5]. To write an effective review, you should: Be informative, specific, authentic. Use good grammar, spelling, Avoid profanity [5].

Annotation may be defined as critical or explanatory note; a commentary, which is used in order to add more information about a topic. Annotations vary according to their intended use and their content: Descriptive Annotations describe the content of a book or article and indicate distinctive features. Critical Annotations, in addition to describing the contents, evaluate the usefulness of a book or article for particular situations [9].

There are four ways of annotating a text: highlighting or underlining key words and phrases or major ideas, paraphrasing/summarizing of main ideas, descriptive outline, commenting/ responding. There are four ways of annotating a text: highlighting or underlining key words and phrases or major ideas, paraphrasing/summarizing of main ideas, descriptive outline, commenting/ responding. Thus, a well-annotated text will accomplish all of the following: •clearly identify where in the text important ideas and information are located •express the main ideas of a text •trace the development of ideas/arguments throughout a text •introduce a few of the reader’s thoughts and reactions [8].

Writing an annotation: Writing an annotation: 1. Do the bibliographic entry. 2. Include: Scope and main purpose of text (Do not summarize the whole work), the relation of other works in the field. 3. Do the summarizing comment. 4. Do not repeat the words of the title  5. Be concise [9].

Some useful phrases: The paper (article) under discussion (consideration) is intended (aims) to describe (explain, examine, survey)… The author outlines (points out, reviews, analyses)… The results obtained confirm (lead to, show)… The article deals with … The paper is concerned with… It is known that… The fact that.. is stressed. It is reported that… The text gives valuable information on… Much attention is given to… It is shown that… The following conclusions are drawn… It draws our attention to… It is stressed that… The article is of great help to … The article is of interest to [10].

An academic journal article According to Summers (2001:410), to report the results of a well-conceptualized and executed study you need to be organized, accurate, clear and concise in your writing and keep your eye on the details. The success or failure of an academic article is determined by the initial conceptualization and design of a study [11]

Typical structure of an academic article:

There are four main reasons why articles are rejected by leading academic journals: The research does not make a sufficiently large contribution to the "body of knowledge" The study is purely descriptive or replicates previous research without adding anything new. The literature review is not well developed. It lacks precise definitions of the core constructs and compelling theoretical motivation for the stated hypotheses. The methodology used in the study is seriously flawed The authors writing style is disorganized and the article is not structured properly [11].

List of references: Мележик К. А. Курс современного английского языка межкультурной коммуникации / К. А. Мележик.- К.: Центр учебной литературы, 2014. – 448 с. [Навчально-методичний посiбник з комплексного аналiзу художнього тексту] / [О. В. Полховська, О. М. Мазiна, Н. А. Князева].- Сiмферополь, 2012. http://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/types-of-essays/ http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.02%20Reports.htm http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/documents/ASC_Writing_Academic_Reviews_Final.pdf

http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/academic/index.xml http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/academic/index.xml http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/featfram.htm http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/reading-writing/on-line/annotating-a-text.pdf http://myrin.ursinus.edu/help/resrch_guides/annotate.htm http://books.ifmo.ru/file/pdf/334.pdf http://web.up.ac.za/sitefiles/file/40/753/writing_an_academic_journal_article.pdf

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