Cabatuan National Comprehensive High School

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

english for academic and professional purposes
First Semester, S.Y. 2023-2024

NATURE OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

Academic texts are typically formal. They include information from credible sources which are, in turn, properly cited.
They also include a list of references used in developing the academic paper.
Academic texts include concepts and theories that are related to the speci�ic discipline they explore. They usually exhibit
all the properties of a well-written text (i.e., organization, unity, coherence, and cohesion, as well as strict adherence to rules of
language use and mechanics.)

 DIFFERENCE OF ACADEMIC AND NON-ACADEMIC TEXTS

Difference in… Academic Texts
Written for and used by college
Author
instructors and students
Use preciseness and formal words;
Use impersonal and objective type
Language used
when writing
Author’s name will be present;
References and Authors
There is a list of references.
Long period of time to be done;
Span of Time and Purposes For learning purposes only
Non-Academic Texts
Can be written by anyone
Use informal and casual words;
Can be personal, emotional,
impressionistic, subjective in
nature
Author may not be provided;
No reference list
Quickly to be published;
Written for mass public and for
entertainment

 EXAMPLES OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

1. Articles - Published in scholarly journals, this type of text offers results of research and development that can either
impact the academic community or provide relevance to nation-building.
2. Conference Papers - These are papers presented in scholastic conferences and may be revised as articles for possible
publication in scholarly journals.
3. Reviews - These provide evaluation or reviews of works published in scholarly journals.
4. Theses/Dissertations - These are personal researches written by a candidate for a college or university degree.

 ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
Academic language is the language needed by students to do the work in schools. It includes, for example, discipline-
speci�ic vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, and applications of rhetorical conventions and devices that are typical for a
content area (e.g., essays, lab reports, discussions of a controversial issue.)
 ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
1. Formality 2. Objectiveness 3. Explicitness 4. Caution

1. FORMALITY re�lects your digni�ied stance in writing as a member of the academic community. This means that since
your audience are fellow members of the academic community, the language you use requires precision to make it a
“legitimate” piece of academic writing.

Formality can be achieved through the following ways:

a. Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms

It is recommended to use expanded terms, not contractions. Contractions are mostly used to simplify common
modal-negation and pronoun-verb combinations. Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs). It is
generally considered too informal for academic writing. In this context, always write out the full words instead such as
using cannot instead of can’t, do not instead of don’t.
Generally speaking, avoid contractions in formal writing, such as business letters, essays, technical papers, and
research papers or in any professional writing that is meant for an audience of your peers. Contractions lessen the
impact of your words and may lead to your ideas/research not being taken seriously.

b. Choosing one verb form over two-word verbs

Choose one verb form over two-word verbs such as damage instead of mess up.

c. Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated equivalents

Choose expanded terms over their abbreviated equivalents such as as soon as possible instead of ASAP.

d. Avoiding colloquial/trite/idiomatic expressions

Colloquialism is the use of informal words, phrases, or even slang in a piece of writing. Also avoid
conversational language such as cliches and idioms. Example, a colloquial phrase easier said than done should be
changed to formal alternative word “more dif�icult to practice.”
 Trite is a word that is overused and consequently of little import, lacking originality or freshness. It is
considered boring, not fresh, or original. It is also lacking in effectiveness because of constant use or excessive repetition.
Examples of colloquial and trite phrases:
 kind of like, crystal clear, as a matter of fact, in this day and age, believe it or not, better late than never

2. OBJECTIVITY
Academic writing requires special knowledge and use of more complex language and objectivity. This means that the
writing must be impersonal and maintains a certain level of social distance.
Objectivity can be achieved through the following ways:
a. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as you, I, and we.
A personal pronoun is a short word we use as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person. Each of the
English personal pronouns shows us the grammatical person, gender, number, and case of the noun it replaces. I, you,
he, she, it, we they, me, him, her, us, and them are all personal pronouns.
Poor Example: You need to conduct the experiment.
Improved Example: The researchers need to conduct the experiment.

b. Avoiding rhetorical questions as it marks “closeness” with the reader, and constantly seeks his/her
attention.
A rhetorical question is a question for which no answer is expected. Such questions are inappropriate for
academic writing. Make your point clear and up front.
Poor Example: How can these problems be solved?
Improved Example: Certain measures must be discovered to solve the problems.

c. Avoiding emotive language that shows biases and lessens objectivity.

Emotive language is a word or phrase meant to evoke an emotional response to a subject. This kind of
language often aims to persuade the reader to share the writer’s point of view, using language chosen
speci�ically to stimulate an emotional reaction.
For example, the word 'hot,' which, like 'cool,' lexically denotes a level of thermal energy. However, this same
term can take on a wide variety of connotations - from measures of attractiveness to identifying something as stolen,
popular, or even pushed to its limit. Also, hearing words like “savagery” or “tyranny” are likely to pull us in because we
react to them so quickly due to their emotional baggage, as well as the fact that we don't hear them that often in common
conversation.
Poor Example: The investigators were very shocked to see the outcome of the tests.
Improved Example: The investigators did not expect the results.

3. EXPLICITNESS
Academic writing demands the use of signposts that make authors’ message explicit and allow readers to trace the
relationships in the parts of a study.
 However  This resulted in  In addition
 This is due to the  Similarly  For example

a. If you intend to show a change in your line of argument, make it clear by using However.
It is apparent that the government hopes to provide assistance to the poor. However, giving dole outs to
the “poorest of the poor” does not work in the long term.

b. By using This is due to the, the cause-and-effect relationship of ideas become explicit.
A number of MERALCO consumers trooped to the City Hall to claim a PhP 500 cash incentive. This is due
to the Supreme Court ruling that overcharges must be returned to the end users whose electric consumption
for the April-May period was below 100 kw/hr.

c. The cause-and-effect relationship of ideas also become explicit when using This resulted in.
With the Supreme Court ordering MERALCO to return overcharges to the end users, government of�ices
have been tapped to operate as claim centers. This resulted in a number of MERALCO consumers trooping to
the City Hall to claim the PhP 500 cash incentive.

d. When two ideas seem the same, express each one clearly and connect them using Similarly.
The study showed that eighty percent of the 200 participants involved in the study were dissatis�ied with
the operations of MERALCO. Similarly, the data revealed that majority of the participants were not aware of
the charges imposed on them by MERALCO.

e. If you intend to give extra information in your sentence, make it clear by writing In addition.
MERALCO has been operating as a business conglomerate involving foreign stakeholders and independent
power producers or IPP. In addition, MERALCO owns major IPPs operating in the region.

f. If you are giving examples, do so explicitly by writing For example.

The MERALCO issue has led to disputes between opposition and administration senators. For example,
those who have been labeled as against the president considered the issue as the administration’s way of
avoiding the NBN-ZTE scandal.
4. CAUTION
An important feature of academic writing is the concept of cautious language, often called “hedging”
or “vague language.” Academic writing requires care since knowledge is built from proven theories and
concepts. Therefore, caution is needed to avoid sweeping generalization.
In academic writing, caution needs to be observed in the following parts of your paper:
 When a hypothesis needs to be tested
 Drawing conclusions or predictions from your �indings that may generalize certain matters or may not
be conclusive
 Referencing other’s work to build your own paper

Consider the following example:

Government of�icials are corrupt.
The statement is not completely true and the rhetorical impact of the statement may be misleading.
The statement can be improved through the use of devices such as modal verbs, adverbs, or verbs.
Improved versions:
(modal verb)- Some government of�icials may be corrupt.
(adverb) - Corruption is commonly linked to some key government of�icials.
(verb) - A number of government of�icials tend to be linked with cases of corruption.

Since academic writing draws on previous writings done related to your topic (in the case of research
writing), it is important that creating knowledge is expressed through means that do not lead to sweeping
generalizations that may directly attack other writer’s point of view.
If your results show something different from another author’s ideas, there are possible ways in writing
these points:

1. The results contradict Meyer’s �indings.

2. The results appear to be different from Meyer’s �indings.

While both sentences essentially mean the same thing, sentence 1 expresses an explicit difference
between your �indings and of Meyer’s.
On the other hand, sentence 2 shows that you are distancing yourself from your work (basing
conclusions on what is observed) and comparing it to previous works done by other researchers relating your
contributions to other ideas in the discipline.

Below are some forms that you may use in observing caution in writing.
a. Hedging Verbs
 tend, suggest, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, indicate, seem, look like
Example:
The �indings of the survey suggest that students who use social networking in their academic work
tend to be more updated on recent developments in their respective subjects.

b. Modal Verbs
 will, would, must, may, might, can, could
Example:
The observations of students’ use of social networking sites may lead to the different behaviors that
manifest in real-life communication.

c. Adverbs of Frequency
 usually, generally, often, frequently, sometimes, rarely
Example:
The essays that were given scores were usually high.