UNIT A understanding academic convention


grammatical structures There are particular grammatical forms which appear more frequently in academic writing than other writing. For example: the paSSive voice, noun phraSeS and, as below, relative clauSeS.


Academic writing: A specific set of sub-skills which are required for successful performance.


density of language In the passage on page 11, the average number of letters per word of the e-mail is 4.8, whereas it is 5.4 for the sample of academic writing. This ‘density’ can be achieved through a greater use of content WordS (such as verbs and nouns) rather than Structure WordS (such as prepositions and conjunctions). In the example below, the adjective form found in general writing is substituted with a verb form in academic writing.


Standard writing: Academic English and general English are different … Academic writing: ‘Academic English’ is differentiated from ‘general English’ …


academic writing has a more formal structure


All writing has some kind of structure. The structure of academic writing is more formal than other types of writing. The following characteristics may be observed:


The text as a whole has a specific, formalized structure – the introduction, main body and concluSion.


The text must have coheSion and coherence – it must link together clearly so that it is possible to follow the writer’s argument.


Paragraphs should be roughly the same length throughout, so there is a good overall balance.


Paragraphs often follow a similar structure – topic sentence, outline of argument, supporting evidence, short conclusion and transition to the next paragraph (see Step 18 for more detail).


academic writing uses more referencing


Building on the ideas of other people is one of the central features of academic writing. In order to show where these ideas come from (and to avoid plagiariSm), a reference system is used (note: the reference system used throughout this book is the Harvard referencing style).


Standard writing: I believe academic English and general English are different for the main reason that they have very different goals.


Academic writing: ‘Academic English’ is differentiated from ‘general English’ in its focus on ‘those communication skills in English which are required for study purposes in formal education systems’ (Jordan, 1997: 1).


Step 2


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