Handout # 1

Department of Education
Region III
Division of City Schools
BONIFACIO V. ROMERO HIGH SCHOOL
(Formerly EPZA Resettlement High School)
Pulung Cacutud, Angeles City

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

SY 2016-2017

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

Nature of Academic Texts

Academic Writing

A process that starts with posing a question, problematizing a concept, evaluating an

opinion, and ends in answering the question or questions posed, clarifying the problem,
and/or arguing for a stand.
It addresses a specific audience; the audience is your teacher (for the most part), your
peers who will read and evaluate your work, and the academic community that may also
read your work, and the academic community that may also read your work.
The knowledge of the writer is assumed to be greater than that of the readers.
Is thinking. It abides by the set of rules and practices in writing.
Requires deliberate, thorough, and careful thought and that is why it involves research.

Language use: Appropriate and formal but not too pretentious.

Considers the knowledge and background of your audience.
Back up the statements with a strong and valid evidence.
Engages the readers in a conversation by giving them clear ideas and points to
evaluate and question.
The audience will determine the language to be used.

Purpose: To communicate, to inform, to argue a specific point, and to persuade. It must

be clear.
For you, as a student, your writing is the marker's only window to your thoughts.
Therefore, it is important that you learn how best to write in a way which will
convince the marker that you understand what you are talking about.

Informal vs Formal Writing

Informal Writing

Short, simple sentences

Phrasal verbs (to carry out), colloquial and slang expressions.
Simple linking words (and, or, so, but)
Informal punctuation (!. ?? )
Contractions used (its, doesnt)
Active voice (people say)
Personal tone, use of first person (I think)
May not be clearly or logically organized (oh, by the way, I forgot to mention)
Use of abbreviations (asap, fyi, etc)

Formal Writing

Long, complex sentences (use relative clauses, embedded sentences inversion)

One-word verb of Greek or Latin origin (to conduct)
More sophisticated use of linking words and phrases (in addition to, alternatively, as a
result, however, etc.)
Formal punctuation.
Full forms (does not, it is)
Passive voice (it is said)
Impersonal tone (in my opinion)

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Handout # 1

Clear organization of ideas

Words written out in full (as soon as possible, for your information)

Reminders!

Academic writing is a complex task.

As a student, you need to learn two processes simultaneously:
o Writing is a process of drafting, writing, and revising.
o Academic writing requires the use of a formal register.
Two models of writing:
o Writing is a linear process of pre-writing, drafting, revising, fine-tuning, editing
and post writing.
o Writing as a recursive process of exploring, structuring, polishing, and publishing,
incubating and unloading.
Organization of an academic paper
o Introduction with a thesis statement, problem statement, research question or
hypothesis.
o Main body with arguments arrange in logical order.
o Conclusion which addresses a statement presented in the introduction.

Activity 1

Ponder on this:

Others say that Our English is Bad. Filipino college students encounter problems in
grammar when they write papers. It would be interesting to find out if the same scenario applies
to you and your classmates, so why dont you pair up with a classmate and do a quick random
survey on how your classmates write their essays? Use the following question as a guide.

1. What do you think are some problems that you and/or your classmates encounter when
you write academic papers?
2. What language do they use at home? Is it English or Filipino or any other language
(Chinese, Cebuano, Bikolano, etc.)?
3. Do you think they find it difficult to express their ideas in English if they do not speak the
English language at home? How does this affect their language and style?
4. Can you identify some words that are direct translation from Filipino which may affect the
meaning of sentences? For example, saying result to instead of result in or saying
open the lights instead of turn on the light.