Lesson 04 Aspects of Professional Writing.pdf

Naga College Foundation Inc. English for Academic an Professional Purposes ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC WRITING  Formality Today's Objectivity Topic Explicitness Caution Structure  The language you use requires Formality prec...

Naga College Foundation Inc. English for Academic an Professional Purposes ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC WRITING  Formality Today's Objectivity Topic Explicitness Caution Structure  The language you use requires Formality precision to make it a legitimate piece of academic writing Formality can be achived by: Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms, such as using "cannot" instead of "can't", "do not" instead of "don't" Formality can be achived by: Choosing "one verb form" "over two-word verbs" such as damage instead of mess up.  Example: 1. The meeting will carry on in your absence. continue 2. The order was to call off the strike immediately. Cancel 3. The literature review aims to find out what has been said on the topic. discover Formality can be achived by: Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated equivalents, such as “as soon as possible” instead of ASAP. Example: P. S =Post Script E.T.A = Estimated Time of Arrival D.I.Y. = Do It Yourself Formality can be achived by: Avoiding colloquial/idiomatic expressions Objectivity Academic writing requires special knowledge and the use of more complex language and objectivity. Objectivity Writing must be impersonal and maintains a certain level of social distance. Objectivity This means that the main emphasis should be on the information that you want to give and the arguments you want to make, rather than you. In general, avoid words like "I", "me", "myself". A reader will normally assume that any idea not referenced is your own. It is therefore unnecessary to make this explicit. Don't write:" In my opinion, this is a very interesting study." Write: "This is a very interesting study."  Avoid "you" to refer to the reader or people in general. Don't write: "You can easily forget how different life was 50 years ago." Write: "It is easy to forget how difficult life was 50 years ago." EXPLICITNESS  Academic writing demands the use of signposts that allow readers to trace the relationship in the parts of the study. If you intend to show a change in your line of argument, make it clear by using however  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.  The following phrases may be useful in making ideas explicit: This is due to the....... This resulted in......... example: A number of MERALCO consumers trooped to the City Hall to claim a PHP 500 cash incentive. This is due to the Supreme Court ruling that overarches must be returned to the end users whose electric consumption for the April-May period was below 100 kw/hr. CAUTION  Academic writing requires care since knowledge is built from proven theories and concepts. Therefore, caution is needed to avoid sweeping generalizations.  MODAL VERB a type of verb that is used to indicate modality – that is likelihood, ability, permission obligation, and advice. Examples include the English verbs can/could, may/might, must, will/would and shall/should.  ADVERB a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, (gently, quite, then, there ). Government officials are corrupt.  Example Some government officials may be corrupt. (Modal Verb) Corruption is commonly linked to some key government officials. (adverb) A number of government officials tend to be linked with cases of corruption (verb) STRUCTURE  Sentences need to be constructed in such a way that they show a level of complexity that reflects the sophistication of an academic writer  In combining ideas effectively, we need to avoid redundancy and at the same time, make sure that ideas are packed effectively. The earthquake caused loss of life. The earthquake caused massive property damage. The earthquake changed the landscape of the village.  REVISE The earthquake was a disaster that caused loss of life, property damage, and permanent changes in the landscape. Combining ideas effectively, nominalization, and passivization are some of the ways to achieve structure fit for academic writing. In nominalization, the verbs are made central as they denote action. Transforming verbs into nouns helps readers focus on the action and not on the doer of the action.  example: The company created software to manage transactions successfully. nominalization: The creation of software to manage transactions was a success.  example: The mall distributed several free items to consumers in the hope to boost sales. Nominalization: Distribution of free items for consumers was done in the hope to boost sales.  In passive construction, the results of actions are highlighted. In academic writing, since the writer of the paper is presumed to have done the collection and analysis of data, it is understood that all results of the action are a product of the writer's work  example: The researcher conducted experiments to validate the hypothesis. passivization: Experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!