This document provides guidance on academic writing. It discusses the importance of accurately interpreting assignment instructions and generating initial ideas. Various academic writing task words like analyze, discuss, and critique are defined, which imply breaking down ideas and examining parts in detail or presenting different perspectives. Common postgraduate writing assignments are also outlined, including argumentative papers, literature reviews, and research reports. Key purposes of academic writing are described as providing accurate, dense, correct, and detached information for all reader types through precise language.

1. ACADEMIC WRITING
(SCLE6014)

2. ACADEMIC PAPERS
 Writing academic papers require accurate
interpretation of assignment instructions
 Reading instructions in the English language might be
tricky sometimes
 Academic papers require planning writing tasks and
generating initial ideas
 Academic papers require interpreting assignment
instructions and taking desired actions to achieve the set
objective(s).

3. Understanding Instructions
 There are various task swords in academic writing
which require specific actions.
 Understanding and interpreting instructions is
essential for effective academic writing for research
 The specific actions performed would help you to
satisfy the academic writing requirements
 Task words in academic writing may include examples
such as;

4. Academic Writing Task Words
Analyse/Explore/Critique/Discuss/Review
 Any of the above task words in the instructions would
imply;
 a) Breaking down a problem and examining the parts
in detail
 b) Presenting perspectives of good and weak aspects,
limitations and contributions, arguments for and
against

5. Specific task words in the instructions and implications;
Criticise
 Challenging ideas or raising questions of quality and
correctness
Problematize
 Highlighting problems or inconsistencies in arguments
/positions
Academic Writing Task Words

6. Specific task words in the instructions and implications;
Compare
 Identify and emphasize similarities in characteristics,
findings, problems, data, etc
 Differences may also be mentioned.
 Contrast
 Emphasize differences
Academic Writing Task Words

7. Assess / Evaluate
 Any of the above task words in the instructions would
imply;
 Examine something critically from different
perspectives, and make a judgement about its value,
justifying how you arrived at the judgement concerned
Academic Writing Task Words

8. Elaborate / Interpret
 Any of the above task words in the instructions would
imply;
 Expand on the matter concerned; define meanings and
clarify ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘why’, or ‘what’in greater detail
Academic Writing Task Words

9. Justify
 Provide valid reasons and evidence for a view point,
decision or statement
 Integrate/Synthesize
 Gather and combine information or perspectives from
various sources and draw relationships among them in
order to form new perspectives or describe the bigger
picture
Academic Writing Task Words

10. Reflect
 Consider a situation from a personal perspective, based
on past experience or from knowledge recently gained
Argue
 Take or support a position on an issue, and provide
reasons and justifications for the position
Academic Writing Task Words

11. Summarize
 Condense to main points, leaving out examples and
details.
Trace
 Describe the progression or development of a
sequence of events, using facts and inferences.
Academic Writing Task Words

12.  Support / Substantiate
 Strengthen arguments or points with evidence from
authoritative sources
 The actions required for the various task words show
that for postgraduate papers, one should demonstrate a
strong grasp of the topic.
 It requires going beyond merely describing and
reporting what others have said
Academic Writing Task Words

13. Argumentative paper
 Atype of library research paper which addresses a specific issue
or controversy in the field.
 It requires taking a clear position or side
 Information from multiple references are evaluated and
incorporated to shape arguments and convince readers to accept
a particular position
Types of postgraduate writing assignments

14. Tasks include;
 Discuss, review, evaluate, synthesize, argue, interpret, explain,
substantiate
Book / article review or critique
 It includes a summary and evaluation of the merits and demerits of an
academic book or journal article
 It incorporates evidences to support opinions
Tasks Include;
 Summarize, critique, assess, elaborate, synthesize, justify, reflect
Types of postgraduate writing assignments

15. Literature review paper
 It includes surveying existing published literature on a topic to
answer a specific question or to critique current developments
in the field
Tasks include;
 Analyse, interpret, summarize, discuss, critique, compare and
contrast, evaluate
Types of postgraduate writing assignments

16. Case study
 It includes a description and an in-depth analysis of a given
scenario or problem, followed by recommended solutions and
decisions.
Tasks include;
 Analyse, problematize, evaluate, discuss, compare-contrast,
trace, integrate, substantiate
Types of postgraduate writing assignments

17. Research project report
 It includes a description, in a prescribed format, of a project or
experiment, usually small scale and undertaken by a group.
Tasks include;
 Explain, compare, contrast, interpret, discuss, summarize,
integrate
Types of postgraduate writing assignments

18. Research proposal
 It includes a research plan, justifying the need to conduct
research and proposing how the research will be undertaken.
Tasks include;
 Discuss, review, evaluate, summarize, synthesize, argue,
interpret, explain, critique
Types of postgraduate writing assignments

19. Purpose and audience
 There are several purposes of academic writing
 Main purpose is to provide information with a clear, appropriate
and thoughtful image of that specific topic
 There are many types of academic writing and each one serves a
specific purpose.
 However the overall purposes are as follows;

20. Accuracy
 Writing with facts and figures is considered more
accurate and authentic
 Unclear word combinations like “many people say” or
“once a person said” are not considered accurate in
academic writing
 Hence statistics are given more value in academic
writing and considered authentic
Purpose and audience

21. Density
 In academic writing we use a more sophisticated language
unlike the one we use in our daily conversations
 Attention should be paid to grammar, phrases, clauses,
qualifying adjectives etc.. with verbal variations
 Hence academic writing aims to provide information for all
types of readers regardless of their academic background
Purpose and audience

22. Correctness
 In academic writing informal language is avoided
 Also abbreviations and phrasal verbs are avoided in
academic writing
 The purpose is to provide the reader all information
with proper understanding
 The purpose of academic writing is to avoid using
short forms and slang words in your writing.
Purpose and audience

23. Detachment
 In academic writing the focus is on the objectives of the
topic rather than focusing on what the student thinks or
believes
 Academic writing is about objectivity or the central idea or
main theme of the research topic
 The focus is on authentic information and backup
arguments. Words like I, me, are not encouraged in
academic writing
Purpose and audience

24.  Precision
 Accuracy in terms of vocabulary usage is very
essential.
 For instance, in our daily conversations we may use
words like; money or cash to mean the same thing
 In academic writing each vocabulary is used for a
specific and accurate meaning based on the specific
topic or context.
Purpose and audience