1 Lec - Unit 1.pptx

Essentials of Scientific Writing & Presenting By Dr. Yousef Zahrani Assistant Professor of Public Health [email protected] 017-241-7670 What is Academic Scientific Writing? Academic writing - Academic writing refers to a style of writing that is used in academic or scholarly contexts, primari...

Essentials of Scientific Writing & Presenting By Dr. Yousef Zahrani Assistant Professor of Public Health [email protected] 017-241-7670 What is Academic Scientific Writing? Academic writing - Academic writing refers to a style of writing that is used in academic or scholarly contexts, primarily in higher education and research. It is characterized by specific conventions, structures, and standards designed to communicate ideas and information in a clear, organized, and authoritative manner. - Academic writing serves the purpose of advancing knowledge, presenting research findings, and contributing to the body of academic literature. Characteristics of academic writing - Academic writing is formal in style, structured, focused and concise, supported by evidence, impersonal in language and style, usually written in the third-person—using personal pronouns like, he, she, they - Academic writing presents and evaluates issues and arrives at an objective position; a position that focuses on and is informed by research and reasoning rather than personal feelings and opinions. - Personal pronouns, especially ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘we’ are usually avoided, as these are often associated with subjective views that are influenced by personal preferences or biases. Characteristics of academic writing - Formal Tone: Academic writing typically maintains a formal and objective tone. It avoids colloquial language, slang, and personal opinions. Instead, it emphasizes objectivity, neutrality, and the use of evidence to support claims. - Citation and Referencing: Academic writing requires proper citation of sources to give credit to the original authors and to support arguments with evidence. Different academic disciplines often use specific citation styles (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) to format citations and references consistently. - Clear and Logical Structure: Academic papers follow a well-defined structure, which often includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. Each section serves a specific purpose and contributes to the overall coherence of the paper. Characteristics of academic writing - Evidence-Based: Academic writing relies on empirical evidence, data, and research to support claims and arguments. Authors are expected to cite relevant studies, experiments, or sources to back up their assertions. - Objectivity: Academic writing strives to maintain objectivity by presenting multiple perspectives on a topic and acknowledging limitations and potential biases. It avoids emotional language and personal judgments. - Precision and Clarity: Clarity is essential in academic writing. Authors use precise and specific language to convey their ideas and research findings. Ambiguity and vague language should be avoided. - Audience Awareness: Writers consider their target audience, often assumed to be knowledgeable in the field, and tailor their writing accordingly. They may use specialized terminology and concepts relevant to their discipline. Characteristics of academic writing - Critical Thinking: Academic writing encourages critical thinking, analysis, and evaluation of existing literature and research. Authors are expected to engage with existing scholarship, identify gaps in knowledge, and contribute new insights. - Peer Review: Many academic papers undergo peer review, where experts in the field evaluate the quality and validity of the research before publication. This process helps ensure the rigor and credibility of academic work. - Contribution to Knowledge: Academic writing aims to contribute to the broader body of knowledge within a specific discipline. It should bring new insights, theories, or empirical findings to the field What are the types of academic writing? www.calltutors.c om Types of academic writing The four main types of academic writing are descriptive, analytical, persuasive and critical. Each of these types of writing has specific language features and purposes. In many academic texts you will need to use more than one type. For example, in an empirical thesis: - you will use critical writing in the literature review to show where there is a gap or opportunity in the existing research - the methods section will be mostly descriptive to summarise the methods used to collect and analyse information - the results section will be mostly descriptive and analytical as you report on the data you collected - the discussion section is more analytical, as you relate your findings back to your research questions, and also persuasive, as you propose your interpretations of the findings. Types: - Descriptive: The simplest type of academic writing is descriptive. Its purpose is to provide facts or information (e.g: a summary of an article or a report of the results of an experiment). The kinds of instructions for a purely descriptive assignment include: 'identify', 'report', 'record', 'summarise' and 'define'. - Analytical: Analytical writing includes descriptive writing, but also requires you to re-organise the facts and information you describe into categories, groups, parts, types or relationships. Sometimes, these categories or relationships are already part of the discipline, while in other cases you will create them specifically for your text. If you’re comparing two theories, you might break your comparison into several parts. The kinds of instructions for an analytical assignment include: 'analyse', 'compare', 'contrast', 'relate', and 'examine'. Types: - Persuasive: Persuasive writing has all the features of analytical writing (that is, information plus re-organising the information), with the addition of your own point of view. Most essays are persuasive, and there is a persuasive element in at least the discussion and conclusion of a research article. Points of view in academic writing can include an argument, recommendation, interpretation of findings or evaluation of the work of others. In persuasive writing, each claim you make needs to be supported by some evidence. The kinds of instructions for a persuasive assignment include: 'argue', 'evaluate', 'discuss', and 'take a position'. - Critical: Critical writing has all the features of persuasive writing, with the added feature of at least one other point of view. While persuasive writing requires you to have your own point of view on an issue or topic, critical writing requires you to consider at least two points of view, including your own. The kinds of instructions for critical writing include: 'critique', 'debate', 'disagree' and 'evaluate'. What Is Academic Plagiarism? Plagiarism is using another person’s ideas or words as showing them as your own. Structure of Academic Writing