Differentiating

Language Used in
Academic Text From
Various Disciplines
Let us Pray
 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:
1. define academic writing;
2. differentiate language in academic text from various
discipline;
3. identify the purpose, language, audience and style of
academic text; and
4. write a specific academic text with correct usage of
language
What is your idea about academic
writing?
• Share your ideas to us…
• Directions: Check the kind/s of writing you are
familiar with.
___1. Essay ___6. science writing
___2. Journal ___7. fiction stories
___3. Diary ___8. biography
___4. reaction paper ___9. bibliography
___5. invitation letter ___10. research paper
• Directions: Unscramble the letters to form
new words. Write your answer on the board.

___1. adecacim ingwtri ___6. deiuance

___2. cubjset ___7. niopt fo weiv
___3. neto ___8. lesty
___4. ruppeos ___9. nowlekged
___5. gageuanla ___10. pliexcit
• Writing is one of the four
Macro Skills that a student
should possess. It is one of the
media of communication in
order for us to pass
information to people. One of
these writing is Academic
Writing
• Writing is one of the four
Macro Skills that a student
should possess. It is one of the
media of communication in
order for us to pass
information to people. One of
these writing is Academic
Writing
• Academic Writing - is a kind of
writing that can be used in academia
or school.
• 1. Subject – pertains to the topic of
the text.
• 2. Tone – pertains to the attitude of
the writer about the text. It can be
• distinguished through the words
used by the author.
• 3. Purpose – is information that an
author wants to imply to the reader.
• 4. Language – are the words used by the
author in writing an academic text.
• Academic writing requires formal
language.
• 5. Audience –pertains to the reader in
writing.
• 6. Point of View – refers to how the
writer tells the information in the
reading text.
• An academic text is always in the
third person point of view.
• 7. Style – refers to how the author
arranges his or her writing.
• 8. Knowledge – is the amount of
information that an author knows about
his or her topic. The reader is the one
who can distinguish how much
knowledge an author has in the topic he
or she is writing.
• 9. Explicit – means that the information
should be precise and clear.
Academic Writing is a process..

Posing Conceptualizing Evaluating an

question a problem opinion

Clarifying a Ends in
problem/arguing answering a
for a stand question posed
 FORMAL NO
LANGUAGE COLLOQUIAL
OR JARGONS

ACADEMIC USES AVOIDS

WRITING LAYMAN’S HIFALUTIN
TERM WORDS
 Academic Writing is all about
thinking..
• It
Follows certain rules and standards.

All
Language information
Audience
should be should have
first..
formal. valid
evidence.
Specific Purposes of Academic Writing

To inform

To persuade

To argue
• To inform means supplementing a lot of
information about the topic.
• To persuade means having the credibility
to make your audience or readers believe
in you.
• To argue means making your readers or
audience respond on the information you
are telling them.
 Formality

Caution Four Features Objectivity

of Language

Explicitness
• Transform the following contraction
into a formal one.
• A. can’t
• B. isn’t
• C. couldn’t
cannot
is not
could not
• Make the following sentences into a formal
one.
• Informal Sentences
• A. Hey how’s it going?
• Good morning. How are you?
• B. They’ll attend the meeting tomorrow
• They will be attending the meeting tomorrow.
• C. Sorry!
• I would like to apologize to any inconvenience
caused.
 Four Features of Language

• 1. Formality – This means

that in writing you should
avoid colloquial words and
expressions.
 Formality can be achieved through
the following ways:
• A. Choosing expanded modal forms over
contracted. Cannot instead of can’t.
• Choosing one verb forms over two-word
verbs. Damage instead of mess up.
 Formality can be achieved through
the following ways:
• Choosing expanded terms over their
abbreviated equivalents. As soon as
possible instead of ASAP.
• Avoiding colloquial/idiomatic
expressions, such as kind of like, as a
matter of fact, sort of.
Other examples of one verb over two-
word verbs:
• Calculated- James added up the number
of attendees in his party.
• Purchased (someone’s assets) - The
large company bought out the smaller
ones.
• Cancels - The teacher was to call off the
noisy students immediately.
Other examples of one verb over two-
word verbs:
• Continue - The meeting will carry on
even without your presence.

• Discover- The purpose of this meeting is

to find out what would be your idea
about our new project.
 Let us Practice!!!
Identify the one word counterpart of
the bolded two-word verbs in the
following sentences.
1.The meeting will carry on in your absence.
2. The purpose of the literature review is to find
out what has been said on the topic.
3. The outnumbered forces would not give up.
4. The witness left out a number of important
details.
5. Hendriks (2010) points out that such a study
might be useful.
 2. Objectivity
• Means that the focus of the information is on
the topic rather on the writer itself. Written
language should not be personal but rather in
general objective.
 2. Objectivity
It can be achieved by:
a. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such
as you, I, my, and we.
Poor example: You need to follow instructions.
Improved version: The researchers need to
follow instructions.
 2. Objectivity
It can be achieved by:
b. Avoiding rhetorical questions because
academic writing should not assume that the
readers know the answer in the statement and
the author should express the information
strongly and clearly.
Poor example: How can these problems be
solved?
Improved version: Certain procedures must be
discovered to solve problems.
 2. Objectivity
It can be achieved by:
c. Avoiding emotive language that shows biases.
Giving an overly favorable opinion of someone
can eliminate objectivity.
Poor example: The police investigators were
shocked to see the outcome of the tests.
Improved version: The police investigators did
not expect the results.
 3. Explicitness
• academic writing demands the use of
signposts that allow readers to trace the
relationships in the parts of the study. If you
intend to show a change in your line of
argument, make it clear by using however.
• Examples of sign posts are: this is due to the,
this resulted in, in addition, however, for
example.
 3. Explicitness
Example
A number of MERALCO consumers trooped to
the City Hall to claim a P500 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 100kw/hr.
 4. Caution
• Academic writing requires care since knowledge
is built on proven theories and concepts. Caution
is needed to avoid sweeping generalizations.
• Government officials are corrupt. This statement
may be misleading, to avoid this it can be
• Some Government officials may be corrupt or
• Corruption is commonly link to some key
government officials.
 Types of Writing Styles
• There are four main types of writing:
expository, descriptive, persuasive
and narrative. Each of these writing
styles is used for a specific purpose.
A single text may include more than
one writing styles.
 Expository

• This means that the author is trying to

explain a concept, imparting information
to the audience. It is not subjective but
rather focuses on facts that are
supported by evidence.
 Examples of Expository Writing:

• • textbooks
• • articles
• • recipes
• • news stories (not editorials or op-eds)
• • business, technical or scientific writing
 Descriptive Writing
• Descriptive style means painting a picture of a
person, place, or thing through words. It is
often found in fiction, though it can make an
appearance to non-fiction as well as Memoirs,
first-hand accounts, and events or travel
guides are examples of descriptive writing.
The author might employ metaphor or other
literary devices in order to describe the
author’s impressions using their five senses.
 Persuasive Writing
• It is the main style of writing you will use in
academic papers. When an author writes in a
persuasive style, he/she is trying to convince
the audience of a position or belief. Persuasive
writing contains the author’s opinions and
biases, as well as justifications or reasons
given by the author as evidence of the
correctness of their position
 Persuasive Writing
• . Any “argumentative” essay you write in
school should be in the persuasive style of
writing. The examples of persuasive writing
include cover letters, op-eds and editorial
newspaper articles, reviews of items, letters of
complaint, advertisements, and letters of
recommendation.
 Narrative Writing
• Narrative writing is used in almost every
longer piece of writing, whether fiction or
non-fiction. When an author writes in a
narrative style, he/she is not just trying to
convey information, rather tries to construct
and communicate a story, complete with
characters, conflict and settings.
 Narrative Writing
• The examples of narrative writing include oral
histories, novels/novellas, poetry (specifically,
epic sagas or poems), short stories, and
anecdotes.
THANK YOU!!!