EAPP

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE TERMINOLOGIES

 Academic language refers to the oral, written, auditory, and visual language proficiency
required to learn effectively in schools and academic programs
 Academic writing sounds different to more casual writing because it:
 is usually impersonal and unemotional
 uses precise vocabulary and complicated nouns
 uses passive voice more often than informal writing does
 often has longer sentences than informal writing does
 OUTLINE is an effective way of ensuring the logical flow of your ideas.

 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE is a way of seeing, understanding, and communicating about the world.
 CLUSTERING provides a graphic representation of your ideas, allowing you to visualize the

connections and/or relationships of your ideas.

 SKIMMING is fast-reading technique when looking for the general idea in academic paragraph.

 STYLE the academic writer’s distinct manner of writing an academic text.

 BOOK REPORT is more formal, more descriptive, and often uses the rhetorical devices of

description and narration in order to prove a point.

 COMPLEXITY when Academic Writing calls for variation of sentence structure
 RESPONSIBILITY Academic Writing should contain necessary proofs and justification to show

integrity and honesty

 OBJECTIVITY an Academic Writing feature which emphasizes that academic writing is chiefly

concerned with the information and content that an academic writer conveys
 ANNOTATING to underline, circle, or highlight words, phrases, or sentences that contain
important details
 EVALUATE THE TEXT if the arguments are supported by evidence and if the evidence are valid
 CONTENT It refers to the clarity of the purpose and the thesis statement, relevance of the
supporting points to the thesis statement ,and knowledge on the subject matter.
 FORMALITY to avoid colloquial and slang expressions in writing academic texts.
 STRUCTURE You have to abide by the set rules and practices in writing.
 CONCLUSION It brings together the points made in your paper and emphasize your final point.

 PLAGIARISM Copying of somebody else’s work and claiming that work to be his/her own

 ACCURACY to use the appropriate vocabulary and to properly structure

 CUBING look at your subject from six different points of view
 CONCEPT PAPER It defines an idea or a concept and explains its essence in order to clarify the
“whatness” of that idea or concept.
 MECHANICS the grammar punctuations, capitalization, and formatting documentation
 REGISTER Refers to several different language styles, which vary according to the setting, the

speakers, and the goal of communication

 PARAPHRASING It is rendering the essential ideas in a text using your own words.
 BRAINSTORMING When you responded with ideas and concepts related to the broad concept

 BODY have to support your main points and include the other details that would support your
Thesis statement.
 BOOK REPORT It is more formal, more descriptive, and often uses the rhetorical devices of

description and narration in order to prove a point.

 INTRODUCTION It provides a background of your topic and poses a question regarding the
topic.

Academic language has a unique set of rules: it should be explicit, formal and
factual as well as objective and analytical in nature.

FORMAL - Formal writing requires considerable effort to construct meaningful sentences,

paragraphs, and arguments that make the text easy to comprehend.

ANALYTICAL – In academic writing, the complexity of the subject matter is acknowledged

through critical analysis. This can be done through asking questions and examining and
evaluating evidence.

OBJECTIVE - Academic writing is based on research and not on the writer’s own opinion
about a given topic. When you write objectively you are concerned about facts and not
influenced by personal feelings or biases.

EXPLICIT - Academic writing is explicit in several ways. First and foremost, it means that
there is a clear presentation of ideas in the paper. The text should have a well -organized
structure and be easy for the reader to follow.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ACADEMIC WRITING

Vocabulary choice - you can develop a broader academic vocabulary by focussing on

vocabulary as you read:
 when you come across a word you’re not sure of, google it or use a dictionary to find out
its meaning and use
 think how you would use that word in speaking or if you were explaining it to someone
 notice how often that word or phrase is used in academic texts you are reading. If you
come across it frequently, it’s worth making sure you know how to use it.
Caution – writers are careful not to make claims that are too strong. Words like “may” and
“might” are often used to make claims less strong. Writers are also very precise about the
circumstances in which a claim is valid.

Impersonality – with the exception of reflective writing, write in the 3rd person – do not use “I”
and “you”.

Relevance – you should only include information that is relevant to the question. A common
mistake is to give too much unnecessary descriptive detail, which uses up too many words,
while not demonstrating critical understanding of the issue. You need to decide:
 What is relevant?
 How much detail do I need to give?
Precision – this relates to formality. Words and terms have very specific meanings and it is
important that you use them correctly. If you are not sure what a word means, do not use it
without checking that it makes sense, both in meaning and grammatical use. It is usually
obvious to the reader when a writer has not understood a word or an idea

Conciseness – in order to write within the word count, you have to write concisely.
 Avoid repeating yourself – do not repeat an idea because you think that will show its
importance.
 Use as few words as you can without losing meaning or complexity. We use more words in
spoken than written English, so writing often involves finding alternative words to the
words we use in everyday speech.
 Edit your work carefully to find ways you can reduce word count