What is academic writing? How to proceed from start to finish? What should any piece of writing contain?

1. “No tears in the writer, no tears in the
reader. No surprise in the writer, no
surprise in the reader.”
― Robert Frost
Academic Writing – An overview of writing

3. Introduction
Academic writing:
• Is a social practice
• Has a clear purpose and obvious audience
• Is earned by observation, study and experiment
• Has a process
• Includes research
• Is Organized
• Has rhetoric functions (different voices)
• Is clearly structured
• Avoids Plagiarism
• Is reporting people’s / your own ideas
• Comprises different genres
• Includes list of references
• Follows grammar rules
• Requires a spelling system
• Is formal and linear
• Can include a check-list
• May leave the reader with a thought or an exercise
• Should include references

4. Social practice
Writing with a readership in mind

5. Purpose and Audience
• Students
• Lecturers
• Examiners
Explain
Inform
Persuade
Guide

6. Observation, Study and Experiment
You can’t write, if you can’t relate

7. Process
Writing Procedure for an Assignment
Task Skills Result
1 Read- Question
Understand- Need
Think – Subject,
purpose, audience
Thinking academically- Not
practical/ directly useful,
Areas of study, confirming to
rules, traditions, conventional
Subject
2 Think and jot down
what is known
Brainstorming Notes, figures
3 Library or internet Research Reading list
4 Books to read Skim, Scan List of materials
5 Identify relevant
content
Note-making Content
6 Organise ideas/
thoughts
Order Plan
7 First draft Share and revise Changes
8 Proof read Spellings, punctuation,
structure, style, vocabulary,
organisation, ref, plagiarism
Edit
Second
draft
Rewrite

8. Research
Understand the question / problem
Identify the topic – restricted or can be expanded
Analyze the question / problem
Analyze the title
- Compare from audience point of view
- Consider thoughts
- Describe
- Evaluate
- Explore
- Illustrate
- Justify
Plan a solution

9. Organised
Preliminaries
Main Text
End Matter
Connectivity
Flow
Transition

10. Rhetoric Functions
Based on: Werlich (1976) and Lackstrom, Selinker & Trimble (1973), are:
Descriptive
1.Describing objects, location, structure and direction
2.Reporting and narrating
3.Defining
4.Writing instructions
5.Describing function
6.Describing processes, developments and operations
7.Classifying / categorising
8.Giving examples
9.Including tables and charts
Critical
Writing critically
Arguing and discussing
Evaluating other points of view
Comparing and contrasting: similarities and differences
Generalising
Expressing degrees of certainty
Expressing reasons and explanations / cause and effect
Reflective
Writing reflectively

11. Structured
Meaningful Paragraphs
One idea per paragraph
Woven around a central theme
Use signalling words -
• Time/order
• Compare/contrast
• Cause/effect
Examples - Support
Explanations/ Generalisations
Emphasis - Solution
Conclusion

12. Plagiarism

13. Reporting
Continue
writing in
your own
style
Understand
source content
List out ideas
in your own
words after
jotting or
highlighting
them
Acknowledge
other’s work
Express
relationship
with your
topic –
signalling

14. Genres
What does texts in genres do?
Communicate, explain, present, argue, inform, describe, narrate etc.
Essays –
Descriptive
Narrative
Expository
Persuasive
Reports
Case Studies
Research proposals
Book reviews
Brief research reports
Literature reviews
Reflective writing
Introductions
Research methods
Research results
Research discussions
Writing conclusions
Research abstracts
Others:
Journal writing
Letter writing
Biographical writing
Poetry writing
Story writing
Novels
Creative assignments
Lab reports

15. Features
Complexity
Objectivity
Precision
Formality
Hedging
Accuracy
Responsibility

16. Citation
Two ways to refer /cite another person's work:
a) by reporting
b) by direct quotation

17. Grammar

18. Spellings

19. Check-list
Here are some useful questions to ask yourself about your
writing:
1.Does your writing deal with the topic that was set?
2.Does it answer the question/deal with the brief that was set?
3.Is the the correct genre? i.e is it a report or an essay or a
review?
4.Does it cover all the main aspects and in sufficient depth?
5.Is the content accurate and relevant?
6.Is everything relevant to the topic?
7.Is the material logically arranged?
8.Is each main point well supported by examples and
argument?
9.Is there a clear distinction between your ideas and those of
other authors?
10.Is your voice clear throughout?
11.Have you acknowledged all the sources you have used?
12.Is the length of the text right for its purpose?
13.Is it written in a suitable style?
14.Is it written plainly and simply, without clumsy or obscure
phrasing?
15.Is the grammar, punctuation and spelling acceptable?
16.Is it neat and legibly written?

20. References
Mention references:
• Books
• Authors – one, two, many
• Edited collection – edition/ revised edition / translation
Articles
• Book reviews
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article
• Letter to editor
• Journal article
Electronic sources
• Blogs
• Wikipedia
• Online journals
• You-tube / videos
• E-mails

21. Exercise

22. Thank-you