Features of Academic Writing Dr. Sarwet Rasul

Review of previous session What is a preposition? What are prepositional phrases English prepositions enlisted Detailed rules of prepositions Time, location and position prepositions Exercises and activities

Current Session Features of academic writing What is academic writing Importance of learning academic writing

What is Academic Writing?

Importance of learning academic writing

Features of academic writing There are eight main features of academic writing . 1. complex 2. formal 3. objective 4. explicit 5. precise 6. accurate 7. hedged 8. responsible

1: Complexity Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language. Written language has longer words, it is lexically more dense and it has a more varied vocabulary. It uses more noun-based phrases than verb-based phrases. Written texts are shorter and the language has more grammatical complexity, including more subordinate clauses and more passives.

Lexical Density  Lexical density is a useful measure of the difference between texts (for example, between a person’s written language and their speech). To calculate this we must distinguish between content words and function words. Lexical density is shown to be a useful measure of how much information is contained within a text.

Content word A word, such as a noun, verb, or adjective, that has a statable lexical meaning, rather than indicating a syntactic function, as a function word does. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Function word A word, such as a preposition, a conjunction, or an article, that has little semantic content of its own and chiefly indicates a grammatical relationship. Also called form word, functor. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Content words include: nouns (e.g. dog, Susan, oil) adjectives (e.g. red, happy, cold) adverbs (e.g. very, carefully, yesterday) lexical verbs (e.g. run, walk, sit) Function words, therefore include the remaining: auxiliary verbs (e.g. can, will, have) prepositions (e.g. in, to, after) conjunctions (e.g. and, but, if) numerals (e.g. two, three, first) determiners (e.g. the, those, my) pronouns (e.g. she, yourself, who)

Lexical Density of Written Language: An Example In 1918, when the chemical industry was first established in the area, Billingham was a village inhabited by a few hundred people but grew rapidly as ICI’s operations expanded, helped by the company’s reputation for providing secure employment. The wages, conditions and benefits offered by ICI were attractive and the company quickly gained a reputation as a good employer. Many of those we interviewed claimed this was their main reason for applying for a job. Our interviews also highlight the influence of family when making decisions about employment and ICI was certainly happy to recruit  the sons and daughters of existing workers.

Examples Spoken: You can control the trains this way and if you do that you can be quite sure that they'll be able to run more safely and more quickly than they would otherwise, no matter how bad the weather gets. Written: The use of this method of control unquestionably leads to safer and faster train running in the most adverse weather conditions.

Spoken: Whenever I'd visited there before, I'd ended up feeling that it would be futile if I tried to do anything more. Written: Every previous visit had left me with a sense of the futility of further action on my part.

Spoken: Because the technology has improved its less risky than it used to be when you install them at the same time, and it doesn't cost so much either. Written: Improvements in technology have reduced the risks and high costs associated with simultaneous installation.

2: Formality Academic writing is relatively formal. In general this means that in a formal piece of writing you should avoid colloquial words and expressions such as "stuff", "a lot of", "thing", "sort of",

Avoid slang words and phrases Compare the following: ‘The individual was sentenced for nicking a bike.’ ‘The doctor looked kind of worried when he reviewed the case notes.’ ‘The individual was sentenced for stealing a bike’ ‘The doctor looked slightly worried when he reviewed the case notes.’

Avoid abbreviations and contractions Abbreviations and contractions are informal, and are best avoided in academic writing. For example: ‘Department’ should be used instead of the abbreviation ‘dept’. ‘Is not’ should be used in place of the contraction ‘isn’t’. Can you think of further examples? 18

Identify the informal expressions and rewrite with a more formal equivalent. With women especially, there is a lot of social pressure to conform to a certain physical shape. Significantly, even at this late date, David was considered a bit conservative by his peers. It focused on a subject that loads of upper-class exhibition-going public regarded as anti-social and anti-establishment.

1. With women especially, there is a great deal of social pressure to conform to a certain physical shape. 2. Significantly, even at this late date, David was considered somewhat conservative by his peers. 3. It focused on a subject that much of the bourgeois and upper-class exhibition-going public regarded as anti-social and anti-establishment.

3: Objectivity Academic written language is in general objective rather than personal. It therefore has fewer words that refer to the writer or the reader. 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. For that reason,  academic writing tends to use nouns (and adjectives), rather than verbs (and adverbs). Nobody really wants to know what you "think" or "believe". They want to know what you have studied and learned and how this has led you to your various conclusions.

Personal or impersonal style? An impersonal style uses: the passive voice the third person rather than the first person ( it rather than I or we) things rather than people as subjects of sentences. Examples of active and passive sentences Active: I observed the patient to be… Passive: The patient was observed to be… Active: The authors suggest… Passive: It is suggested… Active: We used a standard graphical representation to… Passive: A standard graphical representation was used to…

Cont… Personal or impersonal style? Examples of the first and third person pronouns First person: I found… Third person: It was found that… First person: I assumed that… Third person: It was assumed that… Examples of persons or things as subjects Person as subject: I noticed… Thing as subject: Analysis of the raw data indicated… Person as subject: In this report I show… Thing as subject: This report presents…

In general, avoid words like "I", "me", "myself". 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."

Here is a piece of writing that is subjective Here is a piece of writing that is subjective. Change it into objective style of academic writing I would call Wagner a subjective artist. What I mean is that his art had its source in his personality; his work was virtually independent, I always feel, of the epoch in which he lived. On the other hand, I always consider Bach an objective artist. You can see that he worked only with the forms and ideas that his time proffered him. I do not think he felt any inner compulsion to open out new paths.

Here is a sample! Wagner was what might be called a subjective artist in that his art had its source in his personality. His work seems virtually independent of the epoch in which he lived. On the other hand, Bach can be considered an objective artist. He seems to have worked only with the forms and ideas that his time proffered him, feeling no inner compulsion to open out new paths.

4: Explicitness Academic writing is explicit about the relationships in the text. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the writer to make it clear to the reader how the various parts of the text are related. These connections can be made explicit by the use of different signaling words. If you think that one sentence gives reasons for something in another sentence, make it explicit. If you think two ideas are almost the same, say so. If you intend your sentence to give extra information, make it clear. If you are giving examples, do it explicitly.

Use parallel construction Lists of ideas (and number lists of ideas) should be written in parallel form. Not Parallel: If you want to be a good doctor, you must study hard, critically think about the medical literature, and you should be a good listener. Parallel: If you want to be a good doctor you must study hard, listen well, and think critically about the medical literature. (imperative, imperative, imperative) If you want to be a good doctor, you must be a good student, a good listener, and a critical thinker about the medical literature. (noun, noun, noun)

Activity: Here is something that is not written in parallel; write it in a way that it adheres to the rule of parallel formation: This research follows four distinct phases: (1) establishing measurement instruments (2) pattern measurement (3) developing interventions and (4) the dissemination of successful interventions to other settings and institutions.

Parallel: This research follows four distinct phases: (1) establishing measurement instruments (2) measuring patterns (3) developing interventions and (4) disseminating successful interventions to other settings and institutions.

Another activity?

Review of this session Features of academic writing What is academic writing Importance of learning academic writing (Following eight main features of academic writing) 1. complex 2. formal 3. objective 4. explicit 5. precise 6. accurate 7. hedged 8. responsible

Thank you very much!