Academic Writing

Lessons-Nature of Academic Texts

Reading Texts Critically
Writing Academic Texts
 Academic Writing
Academic writing is 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 has a specific purpose which is to
perform, to inform, to argue specific points, and
to persuade. It also addresses a specific
audience who will read and evaluate the text. It
is assumed that the writer possesses greater
knowledge than that of the readers.
Nature of Academic Texts
1. Subject or focus
-What is the text about?
2. Purpose
-What is the writer’s goal in writing the text?
3. Writer’s knowledge
-How much does the writer know of the subject
4. Format
-What is the point of view of the writer? (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person)
-How did the writer organized the text? (style)
-What is the tone of the text? (formal or informal manner)
-How did the writer choose the words and organize the
sentences? (formal, informal, or casual language)
 Critical Reading
Critical Reading is an active process of
discovery. It involves scrutinizing any
information that you read or hear. Critical
reading means not easily believing information
offered to you by a text
“Read not to contradict and confute; nor
believe and take for granted; nor find talk and
discourse; but to weigh and consider”- Francis
Bacon
 Critical Reading
• Girls most likely do well in academics during
high school years but boys get ahead of them
in college.
• Female teenagers are more concerned with
their physical appearance than male
teenagers
Agree or disagree?
Correct or incorrect?
Valid or invalid?
 Critical Reading
Ways to becoming a critical reader
1. Annotating
2. Outlining
3. Summarizing
4. Evaluating
 Critical Reading
Annotating- it is one of the ways to
interact with the writer that is to write
on the text. You can underline, circle or
highlight words, phrases, or sentences
that contain important details, or you
can write marginal notes asking
questions or commenting on ideas of
the writer
 Critical Reading
Outlining- it is identifying the main
points of the writer and listing them
down to identify ideas that the writer
has raised to support his/her stand so
as to fully engage in a dialogue with
the text or with the writer of the text
 Critical Reading
Summarizing- it is another way of
getting the main points of the text you
are reading by writing its gist in your
own words. It will tell how much you
understood the text and will help you
evaluate critically. It is usually one
paragraph long
 Critical Reading
Evaluating- it is the most challenging part
in critical reading. This is the point where
the other three techniques will be
helpful. In doing this, you question the
author’s purpose and intentions, as well
as his/her assumptions in the claims. You
also check if the arguments are
supported by evidence and if the
evidence are valid and are from credible
sources
 Writing Academic Texts
The Pre-writing Process
1. Jot down the different terms or ideas. Write
two paragraphs using those ideas. Do not
worry about coherence and clarity, just
write anything you can think of.
2. Reread what you have written and decide
which of the ideas are connected to each
other. Group similar ideas into one category.
You may use a graphic representation
(chart, map, arrows, or tables) to show the
 Writing Academic Texts
3. Examine the ideas that you mapped out and identify
which ideas are broad and/or general in which ideas
are specific. Separate the broad topics from the specific
ones
4. Understand why you are writing the paper. Are you
writing to inform, to describe, to persuade, or to
entertain?
5. Think of the people who will possibly read your
paper. Try to envision who they are, what they know
about your topic, what they need to know about your
topic, what their attitudes are toward your topic, and
what would be the reasons they would read your paper
 Writing Academic Texts
PLAGIARISM- copying a paragraph from a
document and incorporate it in your paper. It
can be any of the following:
• Deliberate copying of somebody else work
and claiming that work to be his/her own
• Using somebody else’s work or ideas
without proper acknowledgement or
citation
• Copying the text without paraphrasing it
 Writing Academic Texts
Avoiding Plagiarism
Paraphrasing is one of the ways to avoid
plagiarism. It is rendering the essential ideas
in a text (sentence or paragraph) using your
own words. The text materials become
shorter than the original text. It is more
detailed than a summary
Direct Quoting is another way of
avoiding plagiarism by writing the original
text and recognizing the author of the idea
 Writing Academic Texts
The Writing Process
1. Developing your thesis statement
THESIS STATEMENT- is the statement or stand that you
develop as your thesis statement
2. Organizing your paper
ORGANIZING IDEAS- means finding the connections of
one point to another and establishing a link from one
idea to another
OUTLINING- is an effective way of ensuring logical flow
of your ideas. You may opt to use standard outline
complete with roman numerals and indentions or you
may use lists, diagrams or maps
 Writing Academic Texts
Parts of Academic Texts
1. Introduction- provides background of your topic, poses a
question regarding the topic,, explains how the question is
problematic and significant, and gives the writer’s thesis
statement (1-2 paragraph)
2. Body- this is where the bulk of the essay is found and
where you develop an answer or propose a solution to the
thesis statement that you have given in the introduction
3. Conclusion- should bring together the points made in your
paper and emphasize your final point. It may also leave a
thought provoking idea that you wish your audience to
consider. Synthesize your main points and emphasize your
thesis statement. Remember not to open new topic I the
conclusion
 Writing Academic Texts
The Post-writing Process
RE-WRITING PROCESS- it is like cleaning the
house, getting rid of all the junk, getting things in
the right order and tightening up
2 PROCESSES
1. Revising- is re-seeing the entire draft so that
the writer can deal with large issues that must
be resolved before he/she deals with editing
2. Editing- deals with the line-by-line, word-by-
word issues
 Love is a Fallacy
• Fallacies are errors or mistakes of
reasoning.
• The word “fallacy” may derive from the
Latin word fallere meaning, “to deceive,
to trip, to lead into error or to trick.”
The word may also derive from the
Greek phelos, meaning “deceitful.”
 Love is a Fallacy
1. How would you describe the narrator of the story?
2. How was Petey Bellows described in the story?
How about Polly? Do you think they were really as
dumb as they were described?
3. What was narrator’s reason for wanting Polly?
4. What fallacies did the narrator committed that
Polly has mentioned?
5. If you were Polly, would you fall for the narrator or
for Petey?
6. Do you agree that love is a fallacy? Why or why
not?
 Understanding Calories
1. Where could we find
these kind of data or
information?
2. Can you interpret
the data shown in
the picture?
3. What is meant by
energy shown in the
picture?
4. How does energy
differ with calorie?
5. Why is it important
to understand
calories?
 Wrigley’s Chewing Gum
Have you tasted a chewing gum?
Is this product popular?
What are the different part of an academic text?
Prepare a chronology of how Wrigley’s chewing
gum came to be.
Do you think that chewing gum is a good
premium that can still be used to sell other
products?
Should chewing gum be banned in the
Philippines?