Academic Writing

• Starts with a question and ends in answering the questions

• Has specific and clear purpose
• Addresses specific audience
• Follows set of rules and practices
• Appropriate and formal language (jargons or use of words)
• Consider the knowledge and background of audience
• Has strong and valid evidence
• Requires deliberate, thorough, and careful thought
Elements of Writing Academic Text
• Content – defines as clarity of the purpose and thesis statement
• Structure – coherence and logical sequence of ideas
• Language and Style – word choice, sentence construction
• Mechanics – Grammar, punctuations, capitalization, formatting, documentation
Unit 1: Reading Textbooks Across Disciplines
Lesson 1: Reading Textbooks in the Natural and Social Sciences
• Features of a Textbook in the Natural Science
• Chapter opener
• Heading
• Sidebar
• Picture
• Lesson Opener
• Lesson opener
• Pictures
• Caption
• Lesson Proper
• Section Heading
• Illustration
• Body
• Label
• Caption
• Assessment Tools
• Guide questions
• Features of a Textbook in the Social Science
• Unit Opener
• Pictures
• Unit Number
• First Paragraph
• Chapter Opener
• Picture
• Lesson Objectives
• Lesson Proper
• Maps
• Citation
• Guide questions
• Lesson Synthesis
• Valuing questions
• Activities
 • Assessment
• Discussion questions
• Concept map or graphic organizer
Lesson 2: Preparing Outlines and Bibliographies
Outlines
• Distinguish main points from supporting points
• Reflection of an essay’s thesis statement
• Helps the writer establish unity and coherence in his presentation of ideas
• It is used in determining the structure of an academic paper
• Main headings – roman numerals
• The supporting arguments or details are marked by capital letters (A, B, C,….)
• Crucial in essay writing since it will determine the shape
• Usually in the form of a list
• Two Types of Outlines
• Topic outline which makes use of key words and phrases
• Sentence outline which makes use of complete sentences
• Bibliography list: Traditional and Annotated
• Bibliography is a list of materials that were used or will be used in the compositions of an
academic or professional piece. It is normally found at the end of the text and is arranged
alphabetically.
• Natural and Social Sciences (American Psychological Association - APA)
• Humanities (Modern Language Association - MLA)
Lesson 3: Reading Texts in Mathematics and the Humanities
• Features of a Textbook in Mathematics
• Review
• Heading
• Diagnostic Test
• Lesson Opener
• Lesson number and title
• Pictures
• Real-life situations
• Lesson
• Workzone
• Heading
• Tables
• Examples and illustrations
• Assessment
• Features of a Textbook in Humanities
• Lesson Opener
• Lesson number and title
• Focusing question
• Historical Background
• Lesson Opener: Author’s Background
• Prepare to read
• Unveil what you know
• Vocabulary building
• Pre-reading question
• Picture or biography
 • Lesson Proper: The Literary Itself
• Picture
• Title of the Text
• Learning objective
• Reading text
• Assessment
• Remembering questions
• Main Idea
• Analyzing
• Evaluating
• Creating question
Lesson 4: Paraphrasing and Summarizing
• Paraphrasing is a process in which a writer restates the insights found in a reference using his or
her own words.
• Process of Paraphrasing
• Repeatedly read the passage to be paraphrased until you have completely
understood what it says.
• Do not look at the passage while you are writing your paraphrase. Doing so will
influence your choice of words in your paraphrase.
Common types of plagiarism
• Word-for-Word (Verbatim) – also known as cut-and-paste plagiarism. This
happens when a researcher copies the work of another writer word-for-
word or verbatim and claims it as his or her own.
• Word order Plagiarism – This happens when a writer changes some of the
words of another author to make the words look as if it were his or her own.
• Idea Plagiarism – This happens when a writer paraphrases a work and
includes it into his or her own article without proper attribution. Thus, it is
important to cite the sources of all the borrowed ideas found in a paper.
• After writing your paraphrase, read the original passage once again to check if
you were able to accurately capture its meaning.
• Check whether your paraphrase has errors in grammar or mechanics: Always
assume that your academic paper will be read by an international audience.
• Always cite your source: This may vary depending on the nature of the paper
you are working on. If you are working on an academic paper, the use a citation
style recognized by academics. These include citation formats such as APA
(American Psychological Association, for the Humanities), and Turabian. If you
are simply working on a magazine article or a manual, merely mentioning where
you your ideal will do.
Unit 3: The Concept Paper
Concept Paper
• Defines an idea or concept and explains its essence in order to clarify the “what-mess” of
that idea or concept
• It starts with a definition, either formal or informal of the term or the concept and proceeds
with an expanded definition and analytic description of the aspect or concept
• *Proposal – In writing concept paper, you must connect from a theory and experience
• Theory – from numerous academic articles
• Experience – from day to day observation
• The purpose is to explain, clarify, or theorize a particular concept
 • Some observations on the concept paper
• Deductive reasoning – examine real-life persona (general – specific)
• Inductive reasoning – produce a theory from bits and pieces of information (specific
to general)
• You need to define one strategy in a concept paper
Definition – is a mode of paragraph development that answers the questions: What is it? ; What does it
mean? ; What are its special features?
Definition is important because it clarifies the meaning of a concept and it also limits the scope of that
particular word or concept.
*Inductive (specifc article then come up with a conclusion)
TECHNIQUES IN DEFINING
• Formal Definition – the most common in which you are given a term to be identified and you
define the term by giving class where the word/ term belong (genus) and the characteristics that
distinguish the term from other terms, known as differentiation.
• Extended Definition – needed to define abstract concepts (love, equality, democracy). It allows
you to broaden your definition by using analogy, metaphors, comparison.
• Etymology – defining the term by its origin. The root word of ‘English’ which came from an
ancient Germanic tribe, the Anglos.
• Definition by Contrast – defining the term by using its opposites.
• Definition by Example – defining the term by giving examples