University of Education Lahore

Department of English

Course Title: Advanced Academic Reading and Writing

Programme: BBA / BFA

Course Code: ENGL2116

Instructor Name: Adeela Qayyum

 Academic Writing

“No thoughtful person will undertake a work of great importance

without first making due preparation for its successful completion. If a
house is to be built, a canal constructed, or scene painted, it requires
preparation. The artist first forms his ideal, secures his materials and
then portrays on the canvas the wonderful image by harmoniously
mingling the various colors with lights and shades. Without preparation
and a well conceived plan he could have accomplished nothing”.
J.V. Coombs
 Academic Writing

Examples of Academic Writing

• Literary Analysis
• Research Paper
• Dissertation
 Elements of Academic Writing

• Unity
• Tone
• Clear organization
• Citation
• Argument developed by evidence
• Argument stated in thesis statement
• Structure of argument
 Academic Writing

Structure

• Introduction
• Main Body
• Conclusion
 Academic Writing

Structure

• Analyzing the task

• Readers logic
• Research and mapping
• Start writing engaging and
drafting process
Characteristics of Academic Writing

• Precision • Coherence
• Complexity • Relevance
• Formality • Organization
• Objectivity • Planning
• Accuracy • Responsibility
• Vocabulary choice • Impersonality
• Explicitness • Caution
• Hedging
 Academic Writing

Precision

• Language to avoid
• Voice
• Vague description
• Avoiding first person
singular
 Academic Writing

Complexity Formality

• Explain simple • Clear tone

• Challenged ideas • Legible writing
• Sentence length • Element of intelligibility
• Nominalisation • Good writing skills
 Academic Writing

Objectivity Accuracy

• Explicit ideas • Document accuracy

• Critical sensibility • Stylistic accuracy
• Evaluative • Technical accuracy
 Academic Writing

Vocabulary choice

• Broader
• Meaning and usage
• Frequency
 Academic Writing

Explicitness Hedging

• however
• minimizing difference
• because
• writing style
• similarly
• acknowledging flaws
• in addition
• for example
 Academic Writing

Coherence Relevance

• Flow of ideas
• Difference • Descriptive detail
• Understandings • Quality and quantity
 Academic Writing

Organization

• Flow
• Genre
• Text type
 Academic Writing

Planning Responsibility
• Subject
• Audience
• Paraphrasing
• Prior knowledge
• Summarizing
• Read exclusively
• Citation
• Drafting
• reviewing
 Academic Writing

Impersonality Caution

• writers are careful not to make

• With the exception of reflective
writing, write in 3rd person and
do not use “I” and “you”
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.
 Academic Writing
NOs
• No Idiomatic/Colloquial (slang)
Kids / boss / gonna / stuff
• No Phrasal verbs
Go up / look up (limit use)
• No Personal pronoun
I, we, In my opinion (limit use)
• No Contractions
It’ll = it will / It’s = it is
• No Questions
So why did the project fail?
• No Personal adverbs
Surprisingly / fortunately
• No number / bullet points
• No vague language
And so on.. / etc
• No Repetition
Constant repeating same words
• No basic language
Like – for example
Thing – factor
Lots of – significant amount
 Academic Writing
YESs
• Yes Academic Vocabulary
See A.W.L • Yes Caution – tentative language
• Yes Passive structures Possibly / seems / appears / could /
We analysed the data / may / tends to / likely to / suggests
The data was analysed • Yes Accurate vocabulary
• Yes Complex Grammar structures Difference between law / rule
Nominalisation / noun structures • Yes Precise facts / figures
An analysis of the data showed.. A few years ago / in 2014
• Yes Referencing systems
APA / Harvard
 Academic Writing
Use synonyms for informal words
• Another thing to think about is the chance of crime
getting worse.

• thing = area / aspect / feature/ point

• think about = consider/ note /understand/
acknowledge
• chance = possibility / probability /situation
• getting = becoming
 Academic Writing
Rewrite the sentence
• thing = area / aspect / feature/ point
• think about = consider/ note /understand/ acknowledge
• chance = possibility / probability /situation
• getting = becoming

• Another aspect to consider is the possibility of crime

becoming worse.
 Noun phrase/nominalisation structure
• Another aspect to consider is the
possibility if crime becoming
worse.
• Regrettably these days lots of
people don’t have jobs.
• Sometimes soon they will find a
vaccine for Malaria.
• A few years ago the price of
property went down a lot.
• Another aspect of consideration is
the possibility of crime becoming
worse.
• Currently the rate of unemployment
is at an unprecedented level.
• It has been proposed that by 2017 a
vaccine for Malaria will have
possibly been discovered.
• Since 2013, the price of property fell
dramatically.
 Common mistakes to avoid

• Wordiness
• A vague or missing thesis statement
• Informal language
• Description without analysis
• Not citing sources
 References

• https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www
.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4223&context=etd
• https://www.gcu.ac.uk/gsbs/ldc/academicwriting/improveyouracade
micwriting/characteristicsofacademicwriting/
• https://www.york.ac.uk/media/schools-and-colleges/sixth-form-
resources/features-of-academic-writing.pdf
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyTLosz6aHA&t=3s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3_VoWd_Ai0