ENG114 Academic Writing Midterm Lessons PDF

ENG114 1ST SEMESTER Academic Writing MIDTERM LESSONS ★ By Isea Autea - S12G ACADEMIC WRITING - A process that starts INTRODUCTION TO...

ENG114 1ST SEMESTER Academic Writing MIDTERM LESSONS ★ By Isea Autea - S12G ACADEMIC WRITING - A process that starts INTRODUCTION TO ACADEMIC WRITING with posting a question, problematizing a concept, evaluating an opinion, and ends in MACROSKILLS IN COMMUNICATION answering the question or questions posted, clarifying the problem or arguing for a stand. READING - Reading has many benefits, including improving memory by exercising the brain, RHETORICAL PATTERN USED IN ACADEMIC increasing vocabulary, and exposing you to new WRITING ideas. DESCRIPTIVE WRITING SPEAKING - Speaking can be an intimidating Explains a topic or issue by clarifying and experience, even in your native tongue, let alone giving information when learning a new language. The best way to Present the details of the results learn how to speak, though, is by practicing, so put your inhibitions aside and strike up a PERSUASIVE WRITING conversation whenever you are given an Giving information that has been opportunity to do so. restricted to accommodate several opinions WRITING - Writing is perhaps the most complex Provide convincing arguments of the communication skills and takes the most time to master. ANALYTICAL WRITING Rearranging and classifying the facts in a LISTENING - Active listening is considered the logical sequence most effective because the listener is not only Evaluate the merits of your topic as you listening with interest, but actively discuss your findings acknowledging listening by brief responses. CRITICAL WRITING Requires you to evaluate, assess, debate, critique, disagree, and consider ACADEMIC WRITING Weigh your own assumptions but also the merits of alternatives. WRITING Is a form of communication that is shaped by the topics, themes, and ideas. Its purpose is to inform, to argue a specific point, and to persuade  Your audience will determine the ○ language of the paper. 4. STATEMENTS ○ Must be backed up with strong evidences that involves a deliberate, thorough, and careful thought through research. UNDERSTANDING ACADEMIC TEXTS Writer’s purpose IF ACADEMIC WRITING IS PERSONAL, WHY Writer’s tone SHOULD CERTAIN STANDARDS BE Relevance of the text FOLLOWED? Academic writing is said to be personal WRITER'S PURPOSE because it is written from a POINT OF VIEW OF THE WRITER TO INFORM However, certain conventions have to be Seeks to inform, to teach. To add to the followed because academic writing is reader’s knowledge by the way of new INFORMED WRITING. ideas. Example: WRITING CONSIDERATIONS FOR ACADEMIC PAPERS 1. PURPOSE TO ENTERTAIN ○ Must be clear To state a narrative in a academic way; ○ Language, style, and tone must be uses the conventions of formal writing appropriate to convey your while writing about a personal experience purpose. (What is the need for writing? What do I want my Example: readers to gain from this?) 2. LANGUAGE ○ Must be appropriate and formal ○ Use of professional and businesslike language TO PERSUADE ○ ACADEMIC WRITING uses a To influence readers to take a particular language that is concise, precise, stance or belief logical and inclusive Example: 3. AUDIENCE ○ Their knowledge and background must be considered. TO INSPIRE LITERAL MEANING To uplift, to make someone feel better or No hidden meanings are disguised in the be enlightened. form of satire or sarcasm, double meanings or puzzling statements Example: What is stated = what actually appears in the text IMPLIED MEANING “A conclusion that can be drawn from something, although it is not explicitly WRITER’S TONE stated” This kind of meaning can only be arrived A writer often creates the tone he wants to at after analyzing the hidden, or implied convey through his choice of words. As a reader, meaning of the text. you should be able to detect the tone of the writer. FORMAL - businesslike or professional READING ACADEMIC TEXTS language that complements the academic purpose CASUAL – more conversational and direct CRITICAL READING approach that favors the readers Is an active process or discovery SARCASTIC - to lighten the impact of Involves SCRUTINIZING any information what could have been a harsh statement that you read or hear. It means NOT EASILY BELIEVING information offered to you by text. RELEVANCE OF THE TEXT Is reading with a purpose ○ ENGAGE with the text in a You are expected to weigh the importance of meaningful way. The reader aims to the texts. As an intelligent reader, you need to ANSWER questions and FIGURE determine the worth of what you are reading something out. so as not to waste your time. WHY DO WE NEED TO BE CRITICAL? ○ Is the analysis of facts, ideas, and ANALYZING KEY INFORMATION information you have gathered to To be an active reader, follow the SQRRR form a judgment. method. It does not only teach you to “feel” the text by inspecting its preliminary RAMAGE, BEAN, AND JOHNSON (2006) parts; it also trains you to retain useful IDENTIFIED THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS information.” IN CRITICAL THINKING 1. The ability to pose questions 2. The ability to analyze a problem in all its dimensions – to define its key terms, determine its causes, understand its history, appreciate its human dimension and its connection to one’s own personal  experience, and appreciate what makes it FORMALITY complex 3. The ability to find, gather, and interpret Reflects the dignified stance in writing as data, facts, and other information relevant a member of the academic community. to the problem The language you use requires precision to 4. The ability to analyze competing make it a “legitimate” piece of academic approaches and answers, to construct writing. arguments for and against alternatives, and to choose the best solution in the light FORMALITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY: of values, objectives, and other criteria 1. Choosing EXPANDED MODAL FORMS over that you determine and articulate contracted forms, such as using cannot 5. The ability to write an effective argument instead of can’t , you are instead of you’re, justifying your choice while acknowledging use going to instead of gonna. counter arguments 2. Choosing ONE-WORD VERB FORM over two-word verbs, such as damage instead READING STRATEGIES of mess-up. (Also put -off, bring up, go up) 3. Choosing EXPANDED TERMS over their Reading strategies are solely for the abbreviated equivalents, such as ‘as soon purpose of boosting comprehension of as possible’ instead of ASAP. the text. 4. AVOIDING It is important because learning to read is COLLOQUIAL/SLANG/IDIOMATIC NOT a natural process. It helps you show EXPRESSIONS, such as ‘kind of, ’ ‘like, ’ ‘a how good readers read. lot of, ’ ‘wrong, ’ & ‘top notch’ SUGGESTED WAYS TO HELP YOU BECOME A CRITICAL READER Annotate Outline Summarize Evaluate FEATURES OF ACADEMIC LANGUAGE Academic writing in English is LINEAR, which means it has one central point or theme with every part contributing to the main line of argument, without digressions or repetitions.  SPECIFIC DETAILS and EVIDENCE TO ILLUSTRATE A POINT. Poor example: The investigators were very shocked to see the outcome of the tests. Improved version: The investigators did not expect the results. 4. AVOID PERSONAL JUDGMENT such as using phrases “I think, ” “In my opinion, ” OBJECTIVITY or “I believe” instead, USE NEUTRAL PHRASES THAT REFER TO THE Academic Writing requires special EVIDENCE rather than your personal knowledge and use of more complex feelings. language and general objectives. BASED ON FACTS AND EVIDENCES Poor example: As such, I feel there is a UNBIASED style of writing (There is no need for government intervention. need to appeal to the reader’s feelings) Improved version: These findings suggest the need for government intervention. OBJECTIVITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY: 1. AVOIDING THE USE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS such as “YOU, ” “I, ” and “WE” as these are often associated with subjective views that are influenced by personal preferences or biases. Poor example: You need to conduct the experiment. Improved version: The researchers need to conduct the experiment. 2. AVOIDING RHETORICAL QUESTIONS as it EXPLICITNESS marks “CLOSENESS” WITH THE READER, & constantly seeks his/her attention. Academic writing demands the USE OF SIGNPOSTS & SIGNALS that allow readers Poor example: How can these problems to trace the relationships in the various be solved? parts of a text. Improved version: Certain measures must Make use of TRANSITIONAL MARKERS be discovered to solve the problems. (signaling words) to guide the readers in understanding one idea to another. 3. AVOIDING EMOTIVE LANGUAGE that shows BIASES AND LESSENS EXPLICITNESS CAN BE ACHIEVED BY: OBJECTIVITY. You should PROVIDE 1. If you want to tell your reader that YOUR LINE OF ARGUMENT IS GOING TO  CHANGE, make it clear by using: but, administration’s way of avoiding the despite, in spite of, even so, however, in NBN-ZTE scandal. contrast, nevertheless, in spite of this, on the contrary, on the other hand, still, whereas, yet EX. It is apparent that the government hopes to provide assistance to the poor. However, giving dole outs to the “poorest of the poor” does not work in the long term. 2. When TWO IDEAS SEEM THE SAME, express each one clearly by writing “in comparison,” “in the same way, ” “similarly” EX. Every baby's face is different from every other’s. In the same way, every baby's pattern of development is different from every other's. 3. If you intend TO GIVE EXTRA INFORMATION in your sentence, make it CAUTION clear by writing “in addition, ” “apart from this, ” “as well as, ” “not only...but also,” Academic writing requires care since “besides, ” “furthermore, ” “moreover, ” knowledge is built from proven theories “nor” and concepts. EX. MERALCO has been operating as a CAUTION CAN BE ACHIEVED BY: business conglomerate involving foreign stakeholders and independent power 1. Therefore, caution is needed to AVOID producers or IPP. In addition ,MERALCO SWEEPING GENERALIZATIONS that may owns major IPPs operating in the region. be easily disproven. 4. If you are GIVING EXAMPLES, do so Caution needs to be observed in paper explicitly by writing “for example, ” “for when: instance, ” “such as, ” “thus, ” “as follows” 1. Testing a hypothesis 2. Drawing conclusions or predictions EX. The MERALCO issue has led to disputes from your findings that between opposition and administration 3. May generalize certain matters or senators. For example, those who have may not be conclusive. been labeled as against the president 4. Referencing others work to build on considered the issue as the your own paper.  STRUCTURE CAN BE ACHIEVED BY: 1. COMBINATION OF IDEAS EFFECTIVELY AVOID redundancy and OBSERVE parallelism Ex. The earthquake caused loss of life. The earthquake caused massive property damage. The earthquake changed the landscape of the village. Rewritten: The earthquake was a disaster that caused loss of life, property damage and permanent changes in the landscape. 2. NOMINALIZATION Transform verbs into nouns to help readers FOCUS ON THE ACTION and not the doer STRUCTURE of the action. Sentences need to be constructed in such Ex. The company created software to a way that they show a level of complexity manage the transactions successfully. that reflects the sophistication of an academic writer: Rewritten: The creation of software to ○ COMBINING IDEAS EFFECTIVELY manage transactions was a success. ○ NOMINALIZATION ○ PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION 3. PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION WRITING PROCESS A passive construction occurs when you make the object of an action into the PREWRITING subject of a sentence. HIGHLIGHT RESULTS of actions Most difficult stage in the process of (which are the products of the writer) writing To generate ideas Ex. The researcher conducted experiments Purpose, audience, topic, and thesis to validate the hypothesis. statement Passivation: Experiments were conducted ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS to validate the hypothesis. WHAT IS MY PURPOSE FOR WRITING? (Is it to inform, to persuade, or to express?)  FOR WHOM AM I WRITING? (Who is my REVISING AND EDITING intended audience/readers?) WHAT MESSAGE DO I WANT TO SUPPORT - The details provided in the paper is COMMUNICATE? (What is the content or sufficient to support the argument. substance of my text?) WHAT IS THE BEST PATTERN OF WRITING UNITY - This refers to the relevance of the FOR THE MESSAGE THAT I AM SENDING? thesis statement to the supporting details , and (Is it narrative, descriptive, comparison/contrast, or definition?) the relevance of the supporting details to all HOW DO I WANT TO SOUND TO MY other sub-details used to develop them. AUDIENCE/READERS? (What should my tone be?) COHERENCE - Coherence in writing means the effective sticking together of the writer’s ideas. FREEWRITING - In this method, the writer After checking the paper for unity, check the flow writes continuously–words, phrases, or of the ideas. It must be smooth and clear by sentences. The goal here is to produce many using transitional words accordingly. ideas, and not pay attention yet to the substance. GRAMMAR AND WRITING MECHANICS - The CLUSTERING - After generating ideas, the writer writer checks the sentence structures and is now ready to cluster, and group them makes sure that the sentences have variations according to their relevance with each other. in structure. Also, checks the grammar, accuracy Then, the writer chooses the ideas that would in spelling, appropriateness of vocabulary words, provide the strongest support to the argument and effectiveness of punctuation marks. presented. REVISING OUTLINING - An outline serves as a skeleton of an essay. This will help the writer to visually Helps looking for larger issues such as clarify the major and minor points to be changes to your arguments or structure. developed on paper by choosing the relevant It clarifies the consistency of point of view, ideas from the cluster. accuracy of facts, and adequacy and balance of details and evidence. DRAFTING CHECK IF THERE ARE THINGS TO IMPROVE ON: The main focus of this stage is CONTENT, FORM, & SUBSTANCE. The INTRODUCTION must be strong enough to grab the reader’s attention and must include the thesis statement The BODY develops the idea and presents the details. The CONCLUSION restates the thesis and summarizes the most important concepts.  REVISING – Review your essay and check if you EDITING have achieved your goal in writing. Focuses on local concerns like grammar, EDITING – Check your writing style and usage, mechanics, and sentence accuracy. structures. Read the text closely to remove typos and ensure stylistic PUBLISHING – Presenting your final work. consistency, clarity, and conciseness. PROPERTIES OF A WELL-WRITTEN TEXT WHEN PROOFREADING, FIRST LOOK OUT FOR TYPOS IN YOUR TEXT: ORGANIZATION A well-organized paper has a clearly recognizable plan, that is the ideas FEEDBACK - refers to a RESPONSE to the writer move from sentence in a logical way and and his/her written output. It is important to from paragraph to paragraph in an receive feedback to know the things that one appropriate organizational plan. needs to revise or rewrite. COHERENCE PUBLISHING A piece of writing is focused and coherent Publishing is producing a final copy of a if it keeps to the topic and is clear and piece of writing and presenting it to an supported by connected details. audience. Coherence is about having a unified Accomplishing an academic paper makes argument and could clearly be you a contributor to the academic understood by the reader. community. Some features that help create a sense of coherence: ○ The paragraph starts with a very clear topic sentence. SUMMARY OF WRITING PROCESS ○ Key terms are repeated for emphasis. PREWRITING – Browse through different ○ Terms are defined for readers to be reference well-informed materials, brainstorm with a group, interview ○ Clear transitions help the readers knowledgeable persons, write reflections, jot follow the line of logic down whatever. DRAFTING – After writing an outline, write your first draft. Let your ideas lead you in developing your topic and turn it into an essay.  LANGUAGE USED PARTS OF SENTENCES In order to choose the most effective Knowing the parts of sentences such as language, the writer must consider the subjects, objects, phrases, and clauses objective of the document, the context in helps to give your sentences cohesion. which it is being written, and who will be reading it. SENTENCE ERRORS ○ concrete & specific, not vague and abstract Run-on sentences, fragments, dangling ○ concise, not verbose (not too participles, and faulty parallelism among wordy) others, are easy to miss if you aren’t ○ familiar, not obscure (not familiar with them. incomprehensible) ○ precise clear, not inaccurate or ambiguous SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT ○ constructive, not destructive ○ appropriately formal The subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number. If the subject is singular, MECHANICS the verb must be singular. This refers to the correct use of all CAPITALIZATION spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar usage, and sentence structure Capitalization signals to a reader the rules. important details in a sentence. Following Are the established rules that should be capitalization rules helps to maintain order followed when writing sentences. in written text. RULES ON GRAMMAR AND WRITING PUNCTUATION MECHANICS Using the correct punctuation gives you PARTS OF SPEECH the ability to convey your ideas to the reader exactly as you intended. These are The classifications of parts of speech such used to clarify relationships between as nouns, verbs, and adjectives among words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence. others is one of the most important things to know if you’re a writer. It’s not really SPELLING necessary to be familiar with the definitions of each but knowing how to use When a word is misspelled or is mistakenly them properly is. substituted for a word with a meaning that is inconsistent with the ideas surrounding it, the inaccuracy can create confusion in the mind of the reader.  ABBREVIATIONS Never use abbreviations that aren’t familiar to your readers unless you’re trying to hide the meaning intentionally. HOMONYMS, HOMOGRAPHS, AND HOMOPHONES A lot of words sound alike or are spelled BODY alike but have different meanings and Main idea spellings. Supporting Details Concluding statement ELIMINATING REDUNDANCY CONCLUSION Restated thesis statement If you must repeat words, try to space Summarized main points them out so that they don’t seem too A challenge or a question jarring. If you run out of synonyms, you could always use the negative of an antonym to convey the same idea. COMPONENTS OF AN ESSAY ESSAY Is a short piece of writing that aims to provide information about a certain topic from a limited or personal point-of-view COMPONENTS OF AN ESSAY INTRODUCTION Hook Background Information Thesis Statement