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Academic Writing Whether you’re a student, teacher, or businessperson, academic writing skills are necessary in today’s world. Essays, reports, presentations.

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Presentation on theme: "Academic Writing Whether you’re a student, teacher, or businessperson, academic writing skills are necessary in today’s world. Essays, reports, presentations."— Presentation transcript:

1 Academic Writing Whether you’re a student, teacher, or businessperson, academic writing skills are necessary in today’s world. Essays, reports, presentations and research papers are just some examples of documents written in the academic style. Academic writing, when used appropriately, presents a polished and professional image

2 Definition of Academic Writing
A simple definition ofacademic writing is hard to come by because it refers to writing done for several reasons. Also, academic writing is used in many different forms.

3 Writing for Education A broad definition of academic writing is any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or university. Academic writing is also used for publications that are read by teacher and researchers or presented at conferences. A very broad definition of academic writing could include any writing assignment given in an academic setting.

4 a list of documents where academic writing is used
Books and book reports Translations Essays Research paper or research article Conference paper Academic journal Dissertation and Thesis - These are written to obtaining an advanced degree at a college or university. Abstract - This is a short summary of a long document. Explication - This is a work which explains part of a particular work.

5 What Is Academic Writing?
Academic writing refers to a particular style of expression. Characteristics of academic writing include: A formal tone Use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective Clear focus on the issue or topic rather than the author’s opinion Precise word choice Writers employing the formal academic style avoid jargon, slang, and abbreviations.

6 Academic Writing Skills
Writers seeking to improve their academic writing skills should focus their efforts on three key areas: 1. Strong writing: Thinking precedes writing. Good writers spend time distilling information from their sources and reviewing major points before creating their work. Writing detailed outlines helps many authors organize their thoughts. Strong academic writing begins with solid planning.

7 Academic Writing Skills
2. Excellent grammar: Learn the major and minor points of grammar. Spend time practicing writing and seek detailed feedback from teachers, professors or writers you respect. English grammar can be detailed and complex, but strong writers command the major points after many years of study and practice. Using a good writing reference, such as YourDictionary, can provide advice on the more troublesome points of grammar. Proper punctuation use and good proofreading skills improve academic writing as well.

8 Academic Writing Skills
3. Consistent stylistic approach: Whether your school or employer requires use of the MLA, APA or Chicago Manual of Style, choose one style and stick to it. Each of these style sheets provide guidance on how to write out numbers, references, citations, and more. All are available at your local bookseller in hard copy or online. The MLA is commonly used in English classes, while APA is for psychology and science. Chicago Manual of Style is often the choice in the workplace.

9 What Is Effective Writing
Know your goal and state it clearly. Do you want the reader to do something for you or are you merely passing along information?  Do you want a response from the reader or do you want him to take action? Your purpose needs to be stated in the communication. Avoid information that is not relevant. Clarity is key.

10 Effective Writing Tone can help your writing be more effective. Certain forms of communication, like memorandums and proposals need a formal tone. Writing to someone you know well would need a more informal tone. The kind of tone depends on the audience and purpose of the writing. Explain in clear terms what you want the reader to do. They can not oblige if they do not understand. Also, they may not even want to try to help if the communication is vague and sloppily written. It is good to include why it is beneficial to them to do what you ask or to help you.

11 Effective Writing Language needs to be simple. Do not overuse clichés, jargon, and expressions or try to impress with big words. Keep sentences and paragraphs short and concise. Less is more when it comes to length. Leave out words that do not contribute to the main focus of the communication. This can make the reader work harder to know why you wrote

12 Effective Writing Using an active voice will strengthen your writing. Sentences that are written in the active voice will flow better and are easier to understand.  Long, complicated sentences will slow the reader down, even more so if they are written in the passive voice. An active example is “I caught the ball.” and a passive example is “The ball was caught by me.” Active voice will engage the reader and keep his attention.  Good grammar and punctuation are very important. It is a good idea to have someone else proofread your writing before you send it. If you cannot do that, then try reading it out loud.  

13 Characteristics of Academic Writing
Planning - There is a certain amount of planning before you start writing the paper; so, it will be analytical and organized. Outline - A proper outline is a must for academic writing. An outline will not only help you formulate your thoughts, but will sometimes make you aware of certain relationships between topics. It will help you determine the pertinent information to be included in your paper. Tone - A formal tone is used. You do not use slang words, jargon, abbreviations, or many clichés. Language - The language in your paper needs to be clear and words need to be chosen for their precision. A thesaurus is a good tool to help you pick just the right words to explain the issues.

14 Characteristics of Academic Writing
Point-of-view - The point of view in the third person, as the focus of academic writing is to educate on the facts, not support an opinion. Approach - Deductive reasoning is a big part of academic writing as your readers have to follow the path that brought you to your conclusion.  Deductive reasoning and an analytical approach are important in academic writing. Much planning and forethought are needed to have a well organized paper. Always check to see if the school you are writing for has a preferred format and style Characteristics of Academic Writing

15 Academic Writing Structure
An academic paper has three distinct sections introduction, body , conclusion In the introduction, you must grab the reader’s attention and identify the thesis of the paper. You can do this by starting with: Several questions A quote from a famous work or person Some interesting facts or information A definition of an important term related to the work

16 BODY This is the main part of the work and the paragraphs must be clearly written and be arranged in a logical order, like chronologically or in order of importance. Each initial sentence links the preceding paragraph and the whole section flows smoothly. Within each paragraph, the sentences need to flow and refer back to the topic. Cohesion is achieved by repeating important words, using synonyms for the main subject, and using transitional words like: however, such as, therefore, and for example

17 CONCLUSION : In the conclusion, you re-emphasize the thesis and summarize all the main points. The conclusion consists of one paragraph which shows the final conclusion to the reader. Whether you are writing a research paper, a thesis, or a paper for a conference, these tips should help your paper be authoritative and coherent. Your thesis will be substantiated and explanations clear. Readers of your paper will follow your reasoning and understand your conclusion

18 What Is an Abstract? An abstract is basically a short summary that is used for research surveys or large papers, such as a thesis or dissertation. As the majority of theses and dissertations are quite lengthy, an abstract is used to provide a very complete, but concise, summary of the entire academic writing. The abstract is vitally important because it is a short representation of the entire findings or thesis. The abstract is what a person will read in order to determine if the overall material will be of interest to them. In many ways it can be considered the selling point for your entire work, and it should be treating as such by presenting the topic of your research or dissertation in a way that will make others interested in reading it thoroughly. In order to write an abstract that will capture the attention of readers while summarizing the entire paper.

19 Helpful Tips for Writing an Abstract
Knowing how to write an effective abstract is very important for anyone who is required to write a formal paper. If you are a student you may have to write an abstract as part of a larger paper to summarize the paper in a single paragraph. The abstract is used by many people as a way to determine whether or not they want to read the entire work or listen to the entire speech at a conference. When researching material for a dissertation or thesis, the abstracts of research and academic papers are read to determine whether or not the information is worth reading in detail. Understanding what an abstract is and the purpose it serves can be of great assistance in helping you write an abstract effectively


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