APP 002 - REVIEWER 1

Structure of Academic Texts

Text structure” refers to how information is organized in a passage.

7 commonly used patterns of organization

Cause and Effect - The results of something are explained.

Chronological - Information in the passage is organized based on time.

Compare and Contrast - Two or more things are described. Their similarities and
differences are discussed.

Order of Importance - Information is expressed as a hierarchy or in priority.

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Problem and Solution - A problem is described and a response or solution is proposed or

explained.

Sequence/ Process Writing - Information is organized in steps or a process is

explained in the order in which it occurs.

Spatial / Descriptive Writing - Information is organized in order of space (top to

bottom, left to right).

What is the importance of different patterns of organization in a text structure?

- Patterns of organization show the relationships between supporting details in
paragraphs, essays, and chapters. The organization of the supporting details helps you
understand how an author thinks and helps you remember what you read.
1. What is the importance of the structure of a specific academic text?
- The important feature of academic texts is that they are organized in a specific way;
they have a clear structure. This structure makes it easier for your reader to navigate
your text and understand the material better. It also makes it easier for you to
organize your material.
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Summarizing and Paraphrasing Academic Texts

Summary is a short or abbreviated version of a longer text (about a quarter of its
original length).
Purpose of summary:
- to help you understand the main points and structure of the author's argument,
- to convey understanding to others,
- to present background information quickly, and
- to refer to another writer's ideas in the course of making your own original statement.
3 important summarization techniques:
1. Selection - select major idea, key words and phrases, special terms and
interpretations presented in the original text
2. Rejection- remove unnecessary data or the specifics.
3. Substitution - replace long sentences/phrases with shorter ones. Combine
several sentences into one.
Paraphrase is a restatement and restructuring of ideas for the purpose of clarifying the
meaning of a text. Restatement means that you rephrase the original using your own words.
However, you do not just change some words in the material; you also need to change the
flow of ideas in the effort to make the original meaning clearer.
Steps in paraphrasing:
1. Read the original passage several times until you understand it fully. Look for
synonyms for unfamiliar words.
2. Take note of the important details.
3. Write your paraphrase referring only to your notes.
4. Check your paraphrase against the original to make sure you have not copied vocabulary
or the sentence structure too closely.
1. What is the importance of summarizing text?
- Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text, how to
ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way.
Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is read. Summarization
strategies can be used in almost every content area.
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2. What is the importance of paraphrasing a text?

- Paraphrasing is important because it shows you understand the source well enough to
write it in your own words. It also gives you a powerful alternative to using direct
quotes, which should be used infrequently.

Stating the Thesis Statement and Textual Evidence

Thesis statements
– It is a sentence or two that tell/s the reader your topic and what you say about it
e.g. Biological need, social environment, and psychological satisfaction are three
reasons why people take risks.
Textual evidence
– It is an evidence from a text that you can use to illustrate your ideas and support
your arguments. All textual evidence should:
 Support a specific point.
 Be cited with a page number at the end of the sentence.
 Be followed by an “ connection ” that explains the relationship of the evidence to
your main point.

Types of Thesis Statement

Direct (stated) Thesis Statement
- Outline the main idea and the organization of the essay for the reader
Ex. The main problems facing South American countries are a lack of job opportunities
Indirect (Implied) Thesis Statement
- Introduce the topic, but they do not outline the supporting ideas
Ex. The important problems facing South American countries today require immediate
attention.

Components of Thesis Statement

Topic - The general subject of the essay
Ex. Teenage Smokers
Controlling idea - Your opinion/belief/view/feeling about the topic
Ex. Public health departments need aggressive promotional campaigns
Sub-topics - The areas you will focus on to support your idea
Ex. Damages the lungs, increases the risk of cancer, raises the chance of heart
disease
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Thesis statement – Public health departments need to target teenage smokers with
aggressive promotional campaigns in order to combat lung damage, cancer, and heart
disease among this Group.

Forming Opinions Based on Facts

Opinions
- Subjective statements based on a person’s beliefs or attitudes.
- Opinions are not acceptable as support
- You must support it with facts if you wish to express it
Examples:
Men are better driver than women.
The house was painted yesterday.
English is an easy language to learn.
Facts
- Objective statements of truths
- Piece of information used as evidence or as support to an opinion
- You must use supporting details (proof) if you wish to strengthen the validity of the
facts presented
Examples:
The world is a sphere.
There are many variations of English.
Cigarettes are addictive.
A fact is a statement that can be proven true or false. An opinion is an expression of a
person’s feelings that cannot be proven. Opinions can be based on facts or emotions and
sometimes they are meant to deliberately mislead others. Therefore, it is important to be
aware of the author’s purpose and choice of language. Sometimes, the author lets the
facts speak for themselves.

Content and Structure of the Critique/Reaction Paper

Critique Paper
- A formal analysis and evaluation of a text, production, or performance, etc.--
either one's own (a self-critique) or someone else's.
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Content of the Critique/Reaction Paper

1. ACCURATE - It provides an accurate description of the work being evaluated by
giving its summary and/or background details, like answers to basic reporter questions
of who, what, when, where, and why.
2. EVALUATIVE - It gives the writer’s overall judgement of the work. It makes this
judgement convincing by giving three or more (depending on the length of the paper)
supporting evaluations of selected analytical elements of the work being evaluated.
3. BALANCED - The writer shows balance by pointing out weaknesses of a work, if the
overall judgement is positive, or the other way around, by recognizing strong points
of a work for which the overall judgement is negative.
Parts of a Critique Paper:
Introduction
Typically, the introduction is short (less than 10% of the word length) and you should:
 Name the work being reviewed, the date it was created and the name of the
author/creator.
 Describe the main argument or purpose of the work.
 Explain the context in which the work was created.
 Have a concluding sentence that clues what your evaluation of the work will be.
For instance, it may indicate whether it is a positive, negative, or mixed
evaluation.
Summary
Briefly summarize the main points and objectively describe how the creator portrays these
by using techniques, styles, media, characters or symbols.
Critical evaluation
This section should give a systematic and detailed assessment of the different elements
of the work, evaluating how well the creator was able to achieve the purpose through
these.
For example: you would assess the plot structure, characterization and setting of a novel.
A critical evaluation does not simply highlight negative impressions. It should
deconstruct the work and identify both strengths and weaknesses. It should examine the
work and evaluate its success, in light of its purpose.
Examples of key critical questions that could help your assessment include:
 Who is the creator? Is the work presented objectively or subjectively?
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 What are the aims of the work? Were the aims achieved?
 What techniques, styles, media were used in the work? Are they effective in
portraying the purpose?
 What assumptions underlie the work? Do they affect its validity?
 What types of evidence or persuasion are used? Has evidence been interpreted
fairly?
 How is the work structured? Does it favour a particular interpretation or point of
view? Is it effective?
 Does the work enhance understanding of key ideas or theories? Does the work engage
(or fail to engage) with key concepts or other works in its discipline?
Conclusion
This is usually a very brief paragraph, which includes:
 A statement indicating the overall evaluation of the work
 A summary of the key reasons, identified during the critical evaluation, why
this evaluation was formed.
 In some circumstances, recommendations for improvement on the work may be
appropriate.
1. What is the purpose of a critique paper?
The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work (a book, an essay,
a movie, a painting...) in order to increase the reader's understanding of it. A critical
analysis is subjective writing because it expresses the writer's opinion or evaluation of
a text.

Using Appropriate Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique

Critical Approaches
1. Formalism
Formalist Criticism emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning,
focusing on literary elements and how they work to create meaning.
2. Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalytic Criticism emphasizes the process of introspection, or looking into
the past experiences and latent desires, in order to understand the rationale of human
behavior. He identified three sections of the human psyche, namely id, or the place of
deepest secret desires of humans, the ego, which informs human on how to act in a
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socially acceptable manner, and the superego, which represents people’s unselfish
tendencies. Thus, when a text is examined using the psychoanalytic approach, we try to
look into either the author’s psychological state and his or her possible motivation, or
the possible reasons why the characters in a story behave the way they do.
3. Feminism
Feminist Criticism is concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in
a literary text. It asserts that most“literature” throughout time has been written by
men, for men. Examines the way that the female consciousness is depicted by both male and
female writers.
Four Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism:
 Western civilization is patriarchal.
 The concepts of gender are mainly cultural ideas created by patriarchal societies.
 Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature.”
 Most “literature” through time has been gender-biased.
4. Lesbian/Gay/Queer Criticism
Queer Criticism examines how certain works display fear of the unknown, especially
homophobia, of the fear of the LGBTQ community, which leads to repression. For instance,
a particular text may show certain homoerotic tendencies, or a strong sexual desire for a
member of the same sex, but is repressed because such ideas is deemed as taboo by the
society in general. Also, it promulgates the idea that gender is performance. That gender
is not something that is innate in us, but is something that we constantly do. To borrow
Simone de Beauvoir’s words: One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.
5. Marxism
Marxist Criticism emphasizes economic and social conditions. It examines literature
to see how it reflects the way in which dominant groups (typically, the majority) exploit
the subordinate groups (typically, the minority); or the way in which people become
alienated from one another through power, money, and politics.
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Nature of Concept Paper

Concept paper
- It is an in-depth analysis of any idea, situation, or practice. It can be on
anything that you find significant: it can be a feeling (What is self-esteem?), a
cultural practice (What is Filipino Time?), a belief (What is transmigration?), a
situation (What is same-sex marriage?)
- it examines the ‘what-ness’ or nature of something
- it is important to connect theory (can be found in many academic papers) and
experience (day-to-day observation) in making a concept paper
Purpose of writing a concept paper
 provide in-depth discussion of a topic
 can be used in obtaining funding for a project
 act as an instructional tool from an existing project
 provide guidance for implementing a program
 discuss best practices, philosophies and other related issues

Comprehending the Various Kinds of Concept Paper

Two kinds or the Dual Nature of a Concept Paper
- Explains, clarifies, or theorizes a particular concept
1. Extended Definition Project Proposal
- Explains the nature of things by providing an extended definition
- Informs the audience of an unknown/unexplored concept
- Introduces new information that gives new perspective to a concept
2. Project Proposal
- Presents an idea for consideration by others, possibly for funding or support
- involves persuasive intent
- Convinces reader to implement or support a concept