Lesson 1

Academic Text – reading material that provides information which includes concepts and theories.
critical, objective, specialized texts written by experts or professionals in a given field using formal language

- or students Specifically - Written for mass public/can

written for college instructors, be written by anyone
written by professionals - Published Quickly
- Takes years to publish - No reference list
- There are list of references - Author may not be
used provided
- Author’s name is presented - Personal, emotional
- Impersonal, Objective - Language is informal,
- Language is formal, precise casual.

Academic Discipline - Field of Study

- Branch of knowledge, taught and researched as part of higher education

Business Accounting, economics, finance, management,

marketing

Humanities Art, history, languages, literature, music, philosophy,

religion, theater
Natural and applied sciences Biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering,
geology, mathematics, physics, medicine

Social Sciences Anthropology, education, geography, law, political

science, psychology, sociology

In using formal language, the following must be avoided

COLLOQUIAL WORDS
 Idiomatic Expression
 Contracted Words
 Two-word verbs
 Abbreviated equivalents over expanded terms
Considerations to write effectively
 Be specific
 Do not use opinionated, prejudiced, or exclusive language
 Avoid using first person
 Don’t over exaggerate your writing

 Be careful about the meaning of technical terms

 Make sure to understand and use the key categories and relationships in your discipline.

 Persuasive Purpose
 Analytical Purpose
 Informative Purpose

Lesson 2

The Writing Process

1. Prewriting –
- what you want to say, create plan to organize your ideas. Select key words and questions
to get you started
2. Drafting –
- Write your ideas in order and divide topics or points into different paragraphs
- Use your choices to develop a main idea, supporting details, and the body of your writing
3. Revising –
- Rearrange words and sentences
- Add descriptive words and details
- Feedback
4. Editing –
- Check for correct sentences, proper spelling, and correct grammar
- Reread
- Should be interesting and make sense
5. Publishing –
- Final edited draft
- Choose a form in which to present your writing, and share it with others
 - Process of using Symbols (letters of the alphabet, punctuations and spaces) to communicate thoughts
and ideas in a readable form and understandable manner.

Introduction Body
 Identifying the topic/purpose  Several paragraphs
 Orientate the reader  More detailed information
 Thesis Statement  Include examples, statistics, graphs, tables, charts
 Analyse the evidence
Conclusion  TEEL - Topic sentence, explanation, evidence,
link
 Restate Thesis statement
 Summarise main points
 Include final insights and recommendations

1. Focused and not too broad

2. Centered on a debatable topic
3. Picks a side
4. Makes claims that will be supported later in the paper

Lesson 3

Plagiarism - presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without the author’s consent, by
incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement.

 Put citations - a way of giving credit for someone’s thinking, writing, or

 Do Referencing research.
 Use paraphrasing In-text Citation
- insertion of citation within the text itself
- Author’s last name and year of publication. (Cook-
- Used to tell the reader Gumperz, 1986)
where ideas from
other sources have Narrative Citation Parenthetical Citation
been used in an - Patterson (2009) - (Petterson, 2009)
assignment - Information as part - Information at the end
Of the sentence of the sentence.
Format –
When to cite?
Last name, Initials. (Year,
month, day). Article title. - Paraphrase - Direct quote
Site name. URL - Summarize
Paraphrasing – using your own words to express someone else’s message or ideas but keeping the same meaning
Use paraphrasing
- As another option to quoting - To express someone else’s ideas in your own words
- To rewrite someone else’s ideas without - To support claims in your writing
Changing the meaning

Synonyms – Use words and phrases with a similar meaning

 More than half – Majority
 Attended – went
 Meeting – conference
 Spouses – Husbands
Voice – Change the sentence from active voice to passive
 A tsunami killed thousands of people – Thousands of people were killed by the
tsunami
Nominalization – Change nouns to verbs
 Decision – Decide
Conjunctions - Combine two sentence with conjunctions
 So
 Because
Definitions – Replace a word with its meaning
 Verdict – Final answer
Lesson 3.2

Outline – Plan for your writing that contains main ideas and portrays good organization of the overall structure
It is often used for essays, in which case it will include elements of the introduction such as the thesis
statement, an overview of each paragraph including the topic sentences and supporting ideas, and elements
Of the conclusion, for instances the summary.

- The key to any successful paper is outlining the topics you wish to discuss before you begin writing
- Outlining will help construct and organize ideas in a sequential manner and thoughtful flow. Doing so
allows you to pick relevant information or quotes from sources early on, giving writers steady
foundation and groundwork when beginning the writing process.
- Developing this ideas will help create your thesis.

1. Read and understand the text

2. Annotate the text
3. Start writing your summary
4. Check, revise, and Rewrite
Annotating – Highlighting or underlining key words or ideas in the text and writing short explanations or
comments along the margins on the page.
Skimming – Reading a text quickly to get a general idea of meaning.
Scanning – Reading a text quickly in order to find specific information e.g Figure or names

Brief statement or account of the main points of a Rewording of a text to clarify the content
text
Shorter than a paraphrase Longer than a summary
Can be selective Has to be specific
Condenses the text Clarifies the text

The use of borrowed ideas, works, phrases, and sometimes sentences as they appear in the original source
Reasons to Direct Quote:
- Accuracy – when the precise language of the original is important
- Authority – when the exact words of a writer of speaker carry more weight than a summary
- Conciseness’ – when a quotation states an idea in fewer words than a summary would require
- Vividness – when the language of the source is more colorful or more descriptive than a summary
would be

Lesson 4

Critique – is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically evaluates a work or
concepts.

an understanding of the work’s

A knowledge of the work’s A recognition of the strengths purpose, intended audience,
subject area or related works and weaknesses of the work development of argument,
structure of evidence or
creative style

Formalism – mainly have to with structural purposes of a text/work. Form and Structure
- The key understanding of a work is through a form itself.
  What is the theme and symbols used in the commercial?
 How does the commercial try to persuade the audience?
 The commercial uses to try to persuade the audience
Feminism – The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.
- Presents women as subjects of socio-political, psychological, and economic oppression.
- Women and Equality

 How is woman presented in the commercial?

 What are the attitudes toward women held by the male characters?
 How do female character/s perceive themselves in the commercial?
 How are men and women typically presented?
 Do any stereotypical characterizations of women appear?

Marxism - Critiques the economic structure behind all social conditions and historical changes in the work.
- Concerned with the material conditions that affect the lives of the characters, authors and readers.
- Class and Materialism

 How do issues of social class and economic status affect the characters and events in this
advertisement?

 Are characters aware of the economic and political forces that are acting on them?
 What ideological assumptions about class and economic statues does this work make?
Reader’s Response - Asserts that a great deal of meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to.
- It focuses on the reader (or “audience” and their experience.
- Reader’s Interpretation

 What were the important things you have noticed in the commercial?
 What did you remember most about the commercial
 Why do you think the commercial was made for?

1. Introduction
- Name of the product
- Main assessment to commercial
- Details of the commercial
2. Summary
- Description of the commercial
- Should not be the focus of the critique
3. Critical Evaluation
- Discussion and analysis of the work (critical approaches).
- Does not simply highlight negative impressions.
- Systematic and Detailed assessment
4. Conclusion
- Overall evaluation
- Comparison
- Recommendations for improvement