ACADEMIC WRITING 2
The Unit for Academic Language
Open Lecture
April 20th 2016
JENNY MATTSSON
English Language Support
http://uf.gu.se/ask
Available to all students who want
to improve their written and oral
language skills.
UNIT FOR ACADEMIC LANGUAGE (ASK)
Open lectures at
the Faculty of Social Sciences
Spring 2016
In English 16.15-17.45
February 3, Oral presentation skills Room D138
February 10, Academic Writing I Room D138
February 17, Academic Writing II Room D138
UNIT FOR ACADEMIC LANGUAGE (ASK)
Individual tutorials
Once or continuously throughout your studies.
We discuss your texts/questions, and give you guidance
on how you can develop your language skills.
E-mail us to book an appointment!
[email protected]
[email protected]
Overview of the open lectures
LECTURE I:
– Textual level
LECTURE 2:
– Short repetition
– Formal writing
– Grammar
– Punctuation & sentence structure
Why write?
• Learning a subject matter
• Verbalising/visualising
• Reflecting
• Discovering
• Communicating
Organizing your thoughts
Communication of thoughts
Two major kinds of writing
• Writer-oriented
Audience:
Self
• Reader-oriented
Audience:
Others
Purpose:
personal, exploration of ideas
Purpose:
Communication, explain,
be clear
Language:
Informal, can be ”messy”
Language:
Formal, guiding the reader
Forms:
journals, notes, rough drafts
Forms:
essays, papers, theses,
Work, work, work, work = Paper
UNIT FOR ACADEMIC LANGUAGE (ASK)
What is Academic Writing?
• Communicates knowledge
• Demonstrates familiarity and command of the topic and
discipline
• Analytic and critical
• Develops a central problem area and draws conclusions
• Presents independent thinking
• Argues in relation to what others have said/written
• Objective
• Formal in style
• Logically structured
Formal writing
Writing in a style that your audience expects and that fits
your purpose is key to successful writing.
• In-Group Jargon/Specialized language Only use in-group
jargon when you are writing for members of that group. Always
explain your use of jargon for a general audience.
Quantifier.
Voiceless
labiodental
fricative.
Intensifier.
Minimal pair.
Metonymy.
• Slang and idiomatic expressions: Avoid using slang or
idiomatic expressions in general academic writing.
• Biased language: Avoid using any biased language including
language with a racial, ethnic group, or gender bias or language
that is stereotypical.
Adapted from owl.english.purdue.edu
Some common features of formal writing
• minimizing the use of the personal pronoun I in the text: avoid writing “I don't think
this is an acceptable approach”
• using formal verbs, and fewer verb phrases (verb + preposition): use ‘consider’
rather than ‘look at’
• using more nouns than verbs: ‘judgement’ rather than ‘judge’; ‘development’
rather than ‘develop’, etc.
“this information enables the formulation of precise questions”
instead of
“this information enables us to formulate precise questions”
• aiming for concise, often abstract expression: gender, rather than male or female.
Formal vs. informal vocabulary
Informal
Formal
about
approximately
often
frequently
big
main, major, significant
get better/well/going
improve/recover/begin
get
receive, be, etc
take part in
participate
don’t
do not
English Language Support
(dep. on context)
4/27/2016
Grammar check
4/27/2016
Subject – verb agreement (concord)
• Singular subject requires singular verb:
– My son plays the violin.
• Plural subject requires plural verb:
– My sons play the violin.
English Language Support
4/27/2016
Subject – verb agreement, cont.
On the other hand, the claims that the department has never
violated the rules related to this distinction makes/make me
suspicious.
The head in the noun phrase decides whether it is singular
or plural:
– [The change in male attitudes] is most obvious in the
industry.
– [The changes in male attitude] are most obvious in the
industry.
English Language Support
4/27/2016
Subject – verb agreement, cont.
• Collective nouns are treated either as singular or plural depending on
the notion of the noun in BrE, and normally as singular in AmE
The audience were enjoying the concert. (= a collection of individuals)
The audience was enjoying the concert. (= an undivided unit)
The audience was enormous. (= an undivided unit)
Cf. The audience were enormous. (= an audience of enormous people)
English Language Support
4/27/2016
Unexpected prepositions
They are doing research ___elections.
→ research on/research into
The value has increased ___more than 20%.
→ increased by
Is this opinion representative ___all workers?
→ representative of
English Language Support
4/27/2016
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Countable and uncountable nouns
Countable
Uncountable
• book
• information/advice/sugar
• books
• a book
• two books
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4/27/2016
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Countable and uncountable nouns, cont:
Quantifiers
• A book/s/
• Little information
• One
• Less
• A few
• Much
• Many
• A great amount of
• A lot of
• A lot of
• Some
• Some
• Any
• Any
• no
• no
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Avoid faulty parallelism!
*The students learned a lot from writing several drafts of the paper
and to read their final version aloud to the rest of the class.
The children learned a lot from writing several drafts of the paper
and reading their final version aloud to the rest of the class.
Clauses joined by and, but and or require the same grammatical construction!
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The s-genitive
The s-genitive is chiefly used when the noun refers to
people, animals, etc.
Singular
The cat’s toys
My sister’s house
Plural
The cats’ toys
My sisters’ house
Not to be confused with plural-s as in:
My sisters are over there
No possession!
The cats are so cute
Punctuation
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Punctuation
• The comma is mainly used:
– To separate words in a list
Our company owns facilities in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
– To separate phrases or clauses
Who is the manager, and where can I reach her?
– Before and after adverbs/adverbials
The manager, however, had no part in it.
In the summer of 1995, I went to London.
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Main (Independent)
and Subordinate (Dependent) clauses
They decided to go inside because the rain never stopped.
Main clause
They decided to go inside.
because the rain the never stopped
Subordinte clause
A complete thought
Needs a main clause to
make a complete thought
Punctuation, cont.
The comma is also used:
Before (and after) non-restrictive (non-defining) subordinate
clauses:
My sister, who lives in Birmingham, is coming to see me this
weekend
NOT before (and after) restrictive (defining) subordinate
clauses:
My sister who lives in Birmingham is coming to see me this
weekend
English Language Support
4/27/2016
* Men, who are bald, often wear hats in winter.
= All men are bald and often wear hats in winter
Men who are bald often wear hats in winter.
=Only bald men often wear hats in winter
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Punctuation, cont.
The semicolon is mainly used
– To separate two main clauses without conjunction:
The cost was too high; the purchase had to be canceled.
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Run-ons and comma splices
A run-on sentence is incorrect and occurs when two main clauses run
together without proper punctuation or appropriate conjunctions.
Ex run-on: It was raining he brought his umbrella
A comma-splice is incorrect and occurs when two main clauses are
connected by only a comma. When you use a comma to connect two
independent clauses, it must be accompanied by a conjunction (and,
but, for, nor, yet, or, so).
Ex comma-splice: It was raining, he brought his umbrella
Correct: It was raining, so he brought his umbrella
It was raining; he brought his umbrella
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Run-ons: What is wrong here?
1. They weren't dangerous criminals they were detectives in disguise.
They weren't dangerous criminals, but they were detectives in disguise.
They weren't dangerous criminals; they were detectives in disguise.
2. The sun is high put on some sunscreen.
The sun is high so put on some sunscreen.
The sun is high; put on some sunscreen.
Comma-splices: What is wrong here?
1.
Hot summer weather is nice, high temperatures are dangerous for certain
people.
Hot summer weather is nice, but high temperatures are dangerous for certain
people.
2. Jarod had an interview with a television company, I might get a job as his
assistant.
Jarod had an interview with a television company, and I might get a job as his
assistant.
3. When a student likes his class, he is more likely to achieve good grades.
NOTHING IS WRONG HERE!
Sentence fragments
A sentence fragment is an unfinished sentence. A common form is
a dependent/subordinated clause
Having in mind the necessity and significance of changes from one
side, potential problems they might provoke from the other, and
constant demand for low cost. It is very hard to approach the quality
issues in a good and systematic way.
Having in mind the necessity and significance of changes from one
side, potential problems they might provoke from the other, and
constant demand for low cost, it is very hard to approach the
quality issues in a good and systematic way.
Sentence fragments: What is wrong here?
1. Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour.
My old rowboat with its three-horsepower motor seemed like a
high-speed job to me.
Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour, my
old rowboat with its three-horsepower motor seemed like a high-speed
job to me.
2. Jim ordered two dozen red roses for his wife. Hoping she would
accept his apology.
Jim ordered two dozen red roses for his wife, hoping she would accept
his apology.
Rambling sentences
A rambling sentence contains many clauses, which are often connected by
conjunctions like “and”, “or” and “so”.
Although the blue whale has been protected for over 30 years and its numbers are
increasing, especially in the North Pacific, where whale hunting has been banned, it
is still at risk of extinction as its habitat is being polluted by waste from oil tankers and
its main food, the plankton, is being killed off by harmful rays from the sun, which can
penetrate the earth's atmosphere because there is a huge hole in the ozone layer
over Antarctica.
Note: rambling sentences are not grammatically incorrect. However, they tend
to wear your reader down and often become difficult to follow.
(Example taken from http://esl.fis.edu/learners/advice/syntax.htm)
What punctuation marks are needed and where?
Some people never use the semicolon;others find it very useful.
As far as I know, the article has not been published.
If necessary,steps should be taken to protect the public.
However expensive it is, he will buy it.
However,it is too expensive for him.
My sister who lives in Brighton is a teacher.
(,)
(,)
(if commas, only one sister)
Summary
• Short repetition
• Formal writing
• Grammar
Concord
Prepositions
Countable/Uncountable nouns
The genitive
Etc
• Punctuation
Commas, semi-colons
Run-ons
Comma-splices
Etc
Good luck with
your writing!
[email protected]
Unit for Academic Language (ASK)
http://www.uf.gu.se/ask/