1. Academic Writing and Presentations
CA Sri Lanka
Academic Writing and Presentations

2. Objectives of the session
To introduce the basic Active and Passive voice constructions
To introduce cohesion in academic texts
To introduce the structure of a basic academic essay

3. What are Active voice and Passive voice?
In Active voice dominant place is given to the subject
In Passive voice dominant place is given to the object
In other words, Active structure is S+V+O
passive structure is O+V+S

4. Which one is more academic?
Passive is more academic as it gives prominence to the object and verb not to the person
Passive voice expresses an unbiased tone/register

5. Activity Let’s convert the following into passive
The council of directors declined the salary increment policy proposal (Simple Past)
The supervisor will compensate the minor staff member (Simple Future)
A stenographer enters incorrect data to the system (Simple Present)

6. What mistakes do you notice?
She have completed the accounts journal
A felicitation were organised by the junior executives
The bench of lawyers are probing into the new scheme of legal work

7. Cohesion
Fill in the blanks of the passage using appropriate cohesive devices ………… several private sector companies in USA, have been gradually curtailing employment opportunities. …………… temporary employees have been instructed to find new places within a stipulated timeframe. ………… countries like New Zealand encourage more skilled workers to apply. ……….. Such countries show a conspicuous economic growth.

8. Writing an academic essay
Starting with the introduction
STATE YOUR FOCUS (This includes key words, phrases and concise definitions)
FORMULATE YOUR THESIS (Mention the focus, argument and stance)

9. Writing a topic sentence
First list out the key words of the topic
Now see whether there is an argument
Select your stance (agree/disagree/neutral)
Now write one sentence indicating all that
This is your topic sentence!

10. Writing a thesis statement
Read the topic sentence again
Extract the key words and your stance
Make the topic sentence more specific
Do not use a lot of conjunctions and connectives
Be direct and don’t have ambiguous ideas

11. Basics in PPP 10 – Slides 20 – Minutes 30 – Points
Printed copies of the PPP
Formal greeting
If it’s a group presentation introduce the members
As the initial point state your focus
Don’t have paragraphs in slides. Only bullets
Don’t have too many visuals. It’s distractive