Academic English

Module 2. Concise writing and visual

information

José María Díaz Lage

Academic English. Module 2

► Parts of a dissertation
► Concise writing
► Writing abstracts
► Proposing titles
► Visual information

Academic English – José María Díaz Lage 2

Parts of a dissertation

Preliminaries Main text End matter

• Title • Introduction • References
• Abstract • Literature review • Appendices
• Acknowledgement • Methods
• Table of contents • Results
• List of figures, • Discussion
tables • Conclusions

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 Scholars

Research in
MD

Attract the audience

Powerful sentences in Appealing abstracts and

introduction and attractive titles to
conclusions sections manuscripts

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Concise writing

Concise writing

▪ Reducing subordinate clauses.

▪ Reducing prepositional phrases.
▪ Avoiding circumloquious and redundant phrases.
▪ Reducing passive voice.
▪ Avoding nominalizations.

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Concise writing
Reducing subordinate clauses

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Concise writing
Reducing prepositional phrases

Efficacy of experiments
The opinion of the expert
The results of the test

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Concise writing
Avoiding circumloquious and redundant phrases

Elevated language Improved version

Without delay Immediately

With regard to Concerning / regarding /about

At the same time Simultaneously

In a situation in which When

12 midnight Midnight

Each and every Each

Exactly the same The same

Free gift Gift

New innovations Innovations

Repeat again Repeat

3 am in the morning 3 am

Absolutely spectacular Spectacular

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Concise writing
Reducing passive voice

Passive Active
It is believed by the candidate that a ceiling must The candidate believes that Congress must
be placed on the budget by Congress. place a ceiling on the budget.

It was earlier demonstrated that heart attacks Researches earlier showed that high stress can
can be caused by high stress. cause heart attacks.

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Concise writing
Avoiding nominalization (action verbs)

Bad nominalization Action verb

An evaluation of the guidelines must be done. We must evaluate the guidelines.

We conducted an investigation… We investigated…

We performed a review of… We reviewed

It is necessary for us to give… We need to give…

It is my belief that there should be consultation by the

administrators with the student body before changes in rules
are made.
We believe that administrators should consult with the
student body before they make changes in rules.

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Practice 1

This methodology aims at being applied by both second language teachers

and CLIL teachers.
This methodology aims at being applied not only by second language
teachers but also by CLIL teachers, since it is considered a tool…

[…]More concretely, I am going to implement this methodology…

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 Writing abstracts

Introduction Purpose Methods Results Conclusion

Note: Please see the specific guidelines of your university.

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Practice 2
Compare the following abstracts

Thomson (2007)

Sewell (2006)

Moritoshi (2002)

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 Proposing titles

Title
page

Student’s Study, Supervisor’s

Dissertation
name & Department Date name &
title
surname(s) & university surname(s)

Note: Please see the specific guidelines of your university.

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Proposing titles

Titles

Attract the Be Connect

audience informative key terms

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Practice 3

▪ CLIL in Physical Education

▪ CLIL and the use of internet resources in the bilingual classroom
▪ Application of social networks in CLIL: didactic proposals with
Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest
▪ Application of mind maps into CLIL methodology in Information
Technologies subject
▪ Ethical-civic education: critical thinking development, practice to
the active and democratic citizenship using the English language:
current situation, challenges and proposals
▪ Using Disney movies in the CLIL framework: an innovative
proposal based on Frozen
▪ Teaching Science in Primary Education following a CLIL approach:
The teaching practice in the 3rd cycle

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Visual information

Extralinguistic
elements

Tables Bar charts

Pie charts Line graphs

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Visual information

Extralinguistic
elements

List of figures,
tables

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References
González Guisasola, A. (2013). Vocabulary teaching improvement for the technology subject through the task-

based learning methodology (TBL). (Master’s dissertation). Oviedo: Universidad de Oviedo. Retrieved from:

http://digibuo.uniovi.es/dspace/handle/10651/17826

Moritoshi, T.P. (2002). Validation of the test of English conversation proficiency. (Master’s dissertation).

Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/2cpriQM

Ranalli, J.M. (2003). The treatment of key vocabulary learning strategies in current ELT coursebooks: repetition,

resource use, recording. (Master’s dissertation). Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Retrieved from:

http://bit.ly/2cLcNmA

Sewell, H.D. (2006). Using learner education to increase students’ expectancy of, and motivation to learn English.

(Master’s dissertation). Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/2ccbD5P

Thomson, S. (2007). How is a ‘good teacher’ defined in a communicative, learner-centered EFL classroom?.

(Master’s dissertation). Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Retrieved from: http://bit.ly/2cHaIK2

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 Academic English
Module 2. Concise writing and visual
information

José María Díaz Lage

Academic English – José María Díaz Lage