Language

Used in
Academic
Texts
Quarter 3-Module 1

Prepared by: Ms. Joe Ann D. Solamillo

 Objectives:
• differentiate academic Text from non-academic
texts;
• Recognize the characteristics of language used in
academic
text;
• show the importance of academic writing through
evaluating the academic texts based on its use of
language.
Task 1 Direction: Write T if the statement is true and write F if the statement
is incorrect.
___1. Academic writing is intended for a scholarly audience.
___2. The main aim of academic writing is to entertain the
audience.
___3. The tone of academic writing is objective and formal.
___4. Contractions are discouraged in an academic text.
___5. Newspaper articles are some examples of non-academic
writing.
___6. Like academic writing, non-academic writing often does not
have a rigid structure.
___7. Academic writing may not be based on research.
ANSWER KEY:
1. T
2. F
3. T
4. T
5. T
6. F
7. F
 ANSWER KEY:
ACADEMIC TEXT NON-ACADEMIC TEXT

RESEARCH PAPERS PERSONAL OPINION

VALIDATE IDEA NO FIXED STRUCTURE

OBJECTIVES SUBJECTIVE

SCHOLARLY AUDIENCE INFORMAL ESSAY

FORMAL DIARIES
What is
Academic
Writing?
 Academic writing
is a formal and rather
impersonal mode of writing
that is intended for a scholarly
audience. It tends to depend
heavily on research, factual
evidence, opinions of educated
researchers and scholars.
 Academic writing

•Scholarly essays, research papers,

dissertations, etc. are some examples of
academic writing. All these types of
writings have rigid structure and layout,
which include an introduction, thesis, an
overview of topics discussed, and a well-
written conclusion.
 Academic writing
• The main aim of academic writing is to inform
the audience while providing non-biased
information and backing up the writer’s claims
with solid evidence. Moreover, academic
writing heavily contains vocabulary typical to a
specific field. Citations and a list of references
or sources are another important feature in
academic writing.
Some Tips for Academic Writing
 Always use formal language.
 Avoid using colloquialism or slang.
 Don’t use contractions (shortened verb forms).
 Use the third-person point of view and avoid the first-person
point of view.
 Don’t pose questions; convert the questions into statements.
 Avoid exaggerations or hyperbole.
 Don’t make sweeping generalizations Be clear and concise
and avoid repeating.
What is Non-Academic
Writing?
 Non-academic
• is writing that is not intended for an
academic audience. They are written
for a lay audience or the mass public.
This type of writing may be personal,
impressionistic, emotional, or
subjective in nature.
 Non-academic
• The language in non-academic writing is informal or
casual. Some types of non- academic writing may even
contain slang. Newspaper articles, memoirs, magazine
articles, personal or business letters, novels, websites,
text messages, etc. are some examples of non-academic
writing. The content of these writings is often a general
topic, unlike academic writing, which mainly focuses on a
specific field. Furthermore, the main aim of a piece of
non-academic writing is to inform, entertain or persuade
the readers.
 Non-academic
• Most non-academic writings do not include
references, citations or a list of sources. Nor
are they extensively well-researched as
academic writing. Moreover, non-academic
writing often does not have a rigid structure as
academic writing. It is often free-flowing and
reflects the style and personality of the writer.
Examples of non-academic texts are
the following:
1.Email messages
2. Personal opinions
3. Newspapers
4. Magazine
5. Blog article
Point of view of non-academic text
• Subjective and personal – It is based on personal
opinions and feeling rather than on facts that
comes from reliable sources.
• Asking rhetorical questions – It is a self-evident,
and used for style as an impressive persuasive
device. It may have an obvious answer, but the
questioner asks it to lay emphasis to the point.
What is academic language?
 Academic language

•is the language used in the classroom

and workplace, the language of text, the
language assessments, the language of
academic success and the language of
power.
 Academic language

•may be used to refer to formal English

rules, structure, and content for
academic dialogue and text, and the
communicative conventions that allow
students to meet the demands of school
environments.
• “Academic English is the language of the
classroom, of academic disciplines (science,
history, literary analysis), of texts and literature,
and of extended, reasoned discourse. It is more
abstract and decontextualized than
conversational English” (Gersten, Baker,
Shanahan, Linan-Thompson, Collins, & Scarcella,
2007, p. 16).
Features of Academic Language
• has a unique set of rules: it should be explicit, formal and
factual as well as objective and analytical in nature. Students
often think that academic language should sound complex
and be difficult to write and understand but that is not
necessarily the case. Instead, academic writing should be
clear and concise in order to communicate its contents in the
best way. It is important to remember that academic texts
are written with an academic audience in mind and your
writing style needs to conform to the conventions of the field
you are studying.
 Academic Language

• The language used at university has various

features which distinguish it from the
language styles used in other contexts.
Consider the language used in novels,
conversation, newspapers or law courts.
Each has its own style, with varying degrees
of formality and objectivity
 Academic language is:
• formal
• objective
• impersonal
• precise
These features ensure that ideas and arguments
are communicated in a clear, convincing and
professional manner.
 Formal

• Formal writing requires considerable effort

to construct meaningful sentences,
paragraphs, and arguments that make the
text easy to comprehend. Choose words
precisely and carefully so that the reader
can accurately understand the concepts
within the text.
• The tone used in academic writing is usually
formal, meaning that it should not sound
conversational or casual. You should
particularly avoid colloquial, idiomatic,
slang, or journalistic expressions in favor of
precise vocabulary. Informal and colloquial
language is often imprecise, so is open to
misinterpretation, and can be inaccessible
to non-native English speakers.
•Academic writing requires that you use
full forms rather than contractions. For
example, write ‘do not’ instead of
‘don't’, ‘it is’ instead of ‘it's’, ‘they have’
instead of ‘they've’ and ‘we will’ instead
of ‘we'll’.
 Objective
• Academic writing is based on research and not
on the writer’s own opinion about a given topic.
When you write objectively, you are concerned
about facts and not influenced by personal
feelings or biases. When presenting an
argument to the reader, try to show both sides
if you can and avoid making value judgments.
• At the same time, you will probably have to
do an analysis or a discussion. In order to
convey attitude without using for example “I
think”, you may use words such as
“apparently,” “arguably,” “ideally,”
“strangely” and “unexpectedly.” Note that
the attitude you are expressing should not
be based on personal preferences but rather
on the evidence that you are presenting.
 Impersonal

• Academic language is impersonal in that you

generally do not refer to yourself as the
performer of actions. This involves avoiding
the personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘we’. For
example, instead of writing ‘I will show’, you
might write ‘this report will show’. The
second person, ‘you’, is also to be avoided.
Avoiding personal pronouns
• If you need to avoid using the first or second person, in your
writing, here are some ways of doing it:
• Using passive voice: ‘We administered the questionnaire...’
(active voice) ‘The questionnaire was administered...’
(passive voice)
• Using third person: ‘I discovered that…’ becomes ‘Research
reveals that…’ ‘We can see that….’ becomes ‘It is evident
that…’
• Making things rather than people the subject of sentences: ‘I
show...’ becomes ‘The report shows...’ ‘I interpret the results
as...’ becomes ‘The results indicate...’
 PRECISE

•The facts are presented

accurately. The choice of words
is appropriate. The use of
technical terms to achieve
precision is applied.
• Directions: Read the articles below. Evaluate
these two texts and answer the following
questions. Write your answers on your
notebook.
• 1. In your opinion, which of the texts is an
academic text?
• 2. Why do you consider it as an academic text?
A. The Impact of COVID-19 on Drug Testing
Brian P. Feeley
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has created hesitation as far as
workplace drug testing is concerned, it can still be done in a safe and
effective manner. The COVID-19 pandemic is responsible for what could be
the greatest economic collapse of all time. Since March 1, 2020, thousands
of businesses have been forced to close their doors—at least temporarily
—causing literally millions of Americans to become unemployed. Now,
over half a year later, employers are anxious to reopen their businesses
and those who lost jobs are eager to find employment and get back to
work. While states are taking plans to reopen at different speeds, one
constant remains— the question of workplace drug testing and safety
during the pandemic. This article will give an overview of the general
impact of COVID-19 on the industry, alternative testing methods during
the pandemic and best practices for returning to work.
Thu, 27 May 2021 12:00:00 AM – Sun, 30 May 2021 11:59:59 PM
We are excited to announce the theme of the 2021 Annual
Meeting that will take place in Chicago from May 27-30! Please
keep an eye out for the official Call for Papers later this fall The
2021 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting will be held, we
hope, in Chicago, a city that embodies inequality and violence but
also has a long history of reform and re-imagination. In this
setting, we invite scholars in the law and society tradition to
submit panels and papers that speak to the themes of law and
justice in crises and disasters, but also in healing and reparations,
in building sustainable systems, in reshaping social practices and
imaginaries, and in creating new possibilities.
A conference focused on crisis foregrounds the present, but
it also looks to the past and to the future with the themes of
healing and re-imagining. As scholars, we have a special role
in re-imagining law and legal institutions to make our
societies and institutions more resilient and just. We can
also contribute to a multi-faceted understanding of healing,
which opens new and different entry points to old problems.
These themes cut across disciplines and invite creative
thinking beyond law and beyond social science, to
encompass the humanities, the arts, medicine, and the
natural sciences.
Questions include, but are not
limited to:
•Health: How has law contributed to the
COVID-19 pandemic response and to the
racial and economic inequities in exposure
and morbidity? What might be the role
for law and justice in creating a
sustainable system for access to health in
its wake?
Democracy: What is the role of law and legal institutions
in facilitating or retarding the global erosion of
democracy?
▪ Race: The mass demonstrations against police brutality
that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020 spread
around the world. Can policing and the carceral state be
re-imagined in response to what many now refer to as
the pandemic of violence against racialized minorities?
What might defunding look like in practice?
Environment: Climate change has caused
many to question whether we are
reaching the limits of the planet’s ability
to sustain human society in its current
form. What role has law played in getting
us here, and what role might it play in
creating an economic system that is
resilient and sustainable?
Economy: The set of legal institutions that
governed the expansion of trade over the past
decades are being rapidly undermined. What
role will law play in an economic downturn
and recovery?
▪ Law: How has law contributed to the various
crises we find ourselves in? How might legal
institutions themselves be re-imagined?
Directions: Read each statement carefully and identify whether
each statement is true or false. Write T if the statement is true
and F if it is false.
1. Non-academic text is based on personal opinions and
feeling.
2. Academic texts are written for a lay audience or the mass
public.
3. Academic texts can use first person point-of-view and include
one’s emotional attachment to the topic.
4. The tone used in academic writing is usually formal, meaning
that it should not sound conversational or casual.
5. Academic writing is based on research and not on the writer’s own
opinion about a given topic.
6. Scholarly essays, research papers, dissertations, etc. are
some examples of non-academic writing.
7. The features of Academic language are informal, objective,
precise, and impersonal.
8. Both academic and non-academic texts employ the use of
informal language.
9. Academic language is impersonal in that you generally
don’t refer to yourself as the performer of actions.
10. The main aim of academic writing is to inform the
audience while providing non-biased information and backing
up the writer’s claims with solid evidence.
ANSWER KEY:
1. T
2. F
3. F
4. T
5. T
6. F
7. F
8. F
9. T
10. T