The Art of Academic Writing

The Art of Academic Writing
Bikash Chandra Taly
bikashchandrataly@gmail.com
ʤ
Ə
Ɛ
ʃ
θ
æ
ᴧ

ʤ
Ə
Outline of presentation
Academicwriting
Characteristics of academic writing
Topic sentence
Flow and connectivity
WEED Model
Paraphrasing and summarizing
Signposting sentences
Coherence and cohesion
Revision

Problems with writing
Source:
http://www.library.dmu.ac.uk/S
upport/Heat/index.php?page=
484

• Academic writing is a form of language used by people who communicate within an academic
context using a written means.
• It differs from other kinds of writing, such as personal, literary, journalistic, or business writing.
• Consider the specific audience.
• Consider the tone of writing, style or manner of expression but it is not complex and does not require
the use of long sentences and complicated vocabulary
• Revealed by the choice of words and grammaticalstructures and even the length of sentences.
• Determines its organizational pattern.
• Each subject discipline has specific writing conventions, vocabulary and types of discourse
Steps
-Create ideas.
-Organize the ideas.
-Write a rough draft.
-Polish the rough draft by editing it and making revisions.
The Process of Academic Writing

• Be as concise as possible – remove any unnecessary
words. (avoid words that do not add value to the idea)
• Changing word forms and word order in a sentence can
help you to be more concise.
• Break down very long sentences into shorter ones.
• To convey knowledge and understanding of a topic in a
persuasive, formal, and objective (emphasis should be
on the information) manner rather than subjective.
• Show the opinions accurately without making
unsupported statements
It shows MORE skill to
express a complex idea
in a simple way than to
express it in a complex
way.

Characteristics of Academic Writing
• Formal
• Explicit
• Precise
• Structured
• Unbiased
• Responsible
• Supported

Formal
- Academic writing is formal in terms of vocabulary used.
-Colloquial expressions, abbreviated forms of verbs, contractions, sexist or racial terms, idioms,
repetition, redundancy and emotional language should be generally avoided.
Explicit
- Sentences must be connected in a clear way by means of signal words and phrases that show
the logical organization of texts.
Precise
Sentences, terms, dates, figures, and data must be precise and texts must be focused.
-Be sure of the meaning of a word before using it.
-Be sure of having a clear focus for each paragraph

Structured
Essays, reports, and thesis have specific structures.
-Data is presented in a logical way and that ideas can be developed clearly and function as a unit.
Unbiased
-Academic writing Intends to inform or to produce reasonably persuasive arguments.
-Using arguments that can be evaluated.
-To achieve such a goal, need to use language and arguments that express neutrality.
Responsible
To make it clear to the reader how various parts of the text are related by the use of different signaling words
• providing evidence to support your claims
• managing information ethically
• understanding sources deeply
Supported
Academic writing is characterized by acknowledging sources used to develop own views or ideas.
-Plagiarism is considered a severe academic crime.

Essay Structure and Planning
✓ Understanding the question
✓ Planning your answer
Academic writing requires a clear overall structure:
Introduction
Body
Summary
Conclusion
➢ This will allow the reader to follow the argument effectively.
➢ Different types of assignment have their own structural rules.
Academic writing uses clear, effective sentence structure:
➢ Interrogate every word in a sentence
➢ Use a mix of simple and complex sentences
➢ Break independent clauses into two sentences with a full stop, use a semi colon or
a conjunction (e.g. because, for, since, but).
-A paragraph is a textual
unit
-consisting of a number
of sentences which deal
with one main idea

What the introduction may do:
✓ Give an overview of what the piece will be about.
✓ Present the central idea of the assignment.
✓ Give reasons for writing this piece.
✓ Explain how the title will be interpreted.
✓ Give reasons for answering a question in a particular way.
✓ Introduce the questions the essay will be addressing.
✓ Give the background to the main topic of the essay.
✓ Make a bold statement that the rest of the essay will fill out and justify.
✓ Quote from somewhere else in order to interest the reader and give a feel for what
the whole essay is about.
Academic Paragraph

Academic Paragraph (Cont’d)
-
What the conclusion may do:
✓ Summarize the ‘answers’ to the questions the assignment set out to address, signaled
in the introduction.
✓ Refer back to the question posed in the title and show that it has been answered.
✓ Give a sense of ‘the ending’.
✓ Point out what the assignment has and has not answered.
✓ Show that the writer has done what they proposed to do.
✓ Put forward the writer’s point of view in the light of the evidence they have presented.
✓ Allow the writer to be positive about the ideas in the assignment.

• Every good paragraph has a topic sentence, which clearly states the topic
and the controlling idea of the paragraph.
• It briefly indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss. For this reason,
the topic sentence is a helpful guide to both the writer and the reader.
Writing Topic Sentence
• A topic sentence must be a complete sentence, with a subject and a verb.
• A topic sentence should neither too general nor too specific. If it is too
general, the reader can not understand exactly what the paragraph is
going to discuss. If it is too specific, the writer will not able to write
argument points in the rest of paragraph.
• A topic sentence should not have unrelated controlling ideas.
Topic sentence of Paragraph
-The topic sentence of a
paragraph tells what the
paragraph is about.

▪ It is very first sentence or a catch line of a paragraph which determines the direction of the paragraph.
Example:
➢ File- sharing websites are another great example that modern technology creates new type of crimes
➢ A person living in poverty becomes unable to meet the basic needs which affects a person and his social life
badly
➢ Thesis writing has become a challenge among EFL graduate students as it does not just require in-depth
knowledge, but strong skills in writing such as analyzing writing topics, using writing to construct social
identities; ability to research and apply knowledge in EAP context, and sufficient knowledge in rhetorical
moves and the knowledge of metadiscourse features.
➢ Bill Gates was a boy of middle class family of Washington and at his adult age he was interested in computer
programming and he changed the course of human being on the basis of his passion and zest
➢ There is nothing more isolating than being alone in a foreign country, with no cell phone, no money and no
ability to speak the language.
➢ With several mass shootings occurring every year, the gun violence in the United States needs to be stopped
Topic sentence of Paragraph (Cont’d)

Don’t Expel Them
In the U.S. students are taught not to copy other students’ homework or to look at another student’s test. If they do get caught in these
acts of cheating, they will most definitely fail the assignment. In worse cases, students can be kicked out of school for cheating.
Students who cheat on assignments or tests should not be expelled from school.
First, students who cheat should be given a chance to learn from their mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Humans are not perfect and
go through their whole lives making mistakes. Even the Pope has to apologize sometimes. School is a place for learning. Teachers are
not only responsible for teaching their subject material. They are also responsible for teaching students how to be good people. It’s
important that they teach life lessons because students spend most of their day in the classroom. If students learn a lesson, they won’t
repeat the mistake. Expelling students without teaching them a lesson makes it likely that they will cheat again. They have developed a
bad habit and have not learned any other way of getting by. It would be better to teach them a lesson.
Another reason is that getting expelled will ruin the student’s life. He may have trouble getting into another school. This could result in
his not being able to graduate or get a degree since other schools will not want to accept him. The student could also have trouble
getting a job. If a person isn’t able to get a degree, he can’t get a good-paying job. If he continues cheating throughout life because he
didn’t learn the lesson not to, he may cheat in his work too, making employers not want to hire him. A person who is expelled from
school will probably have other problems too. His self-worth will suffer, and he will see himself as a failure. As a result, he may have
trouble in relationships or have emotional problems. It is not worth ruining someone’s life for making a mistake.
Finally, the seriousness of cheating is not the same in all cultures. Americans value individualism and honesty. Children are taught from
a young age to work hard and do their own work. Even though some American children still cheat in school, it’s a very embarrassing
and shameful thing to be caught cheating. That makes most American students not interested in cheating. Not all cultures share this
attitude about cheating. In some countries, students are taught to help each other and not to be too proud. It’s common for classmates
to share answers with each other and not get in trouble for it. It’s not fair to punish students from other countries when they cheat in
American classrooms. They may not know the American value of doing one’s own work, or they may not even be aware of it. Because
there are different views on cheating, students should not be expelled for making this mistake.
In conclusion, expelling a student for making a mistake in class doesn’t help the student learn. It only leads to more problems
in the student’s life. Instead of expulsion, students should be taught the correct way to do their assignments and encouraged
to value the reward of doing their own work.
Thesis statement, Topic sentences, Supporting Ideas, Details and examples, Conclusion sentence, Conclusion

Understand the Question
Lectures often complain that students don’t answer the question ……make sure you
take time to understand the question!
✓ Is the question open-ended or closed? If it is open-ended you will need to
narrow it down. Explain how and why you have decided to limit it in the
introduction.
✓ If it is a closed question, your answer must refer to and stay within the limits of
the question ( specific dates, texts, countries, place and specific situation)
✓ What can you infer from the title about the structure of the essay?
Compare and contrast…..what factors determine….Discuss critically
Brainstorm for ideas
- What you already know about the topic- from lectures, reading etc.
- What you don’t know about the topic, but need to find out to answer the
question
- Possible responses or answers to the question- any ideas about your
conclusion
- Consider using a mind map organize your thoughts..

Make a plan
• Planning your essay helps to make your argument more coherent and goes hand-in-hand
with developing a clear structure.
• Planning your essay makes it more likely that you have a coherent argument
• It enables you to work out a logical structure and an end point for your argument before
you start writing
Planning strategies
• Use the title to structure the essay (description, comparison, analysis?)
• What structure is most appropriate for the topic?
• Introduction: Address the question, show why it’s interesting and how the essay will
answer it.
• Main body: Build your argument. Put the ideas in a sequence to make a persuasive
argument.
• One main point in each paragraph: Make sure the progression of ideas is logical
• Use the WEED model
• Conclusion: Summaries arguments and evidence , and show how they answer the
original question

• Linking and connections between sentences
• Opening sentence of a paragraph shouldoutline main idea-
the topic sentence
• Every supporting sentence should directly explain or relate
back to the main idea.
• Unity within paragraphs
The WEED paragraph writing model
• In writing, how easy is it to follow ideas from one sentence
to the next? Or from one paragraph to the next?
• Make sure you have good links and connections between
ideas
• What linking words and phrases can you think of?
• Which join sentences and which join paragraphs?

WEED Model
An easy model for writing paragraph is the WEED model (Godwin,2014)
➢ W is for what: The first sentence of paragraph should make it clear what subject
you are covering- the topic sentence.
➢ E is for Evidence: Need to support the views with quality research, and then
reference it
➢ E is for Example: Should consider whether need to provide examples, to illustrate
subject
➢ D is for Do: A summing up, or stating the implications of your evidence, e.g. why
the subject supports your argument. if you have been asked to critically analyses.
- These findings suggest several courses of action ....
- An implication of these findings is that …
- The evidence from this research suggests …
- In general, therefore, it seems that ....
Note: students often miss this last part out, but this shows that student’s
understanding the topic and often gains extra marks!
(REF: https://dissc.tees.ac.uk Learning HUB)

Activity:
Weed Model
Identify the ‘What, ‘evidence,‘example and do’
Firstly, it is very significant that the government should pay more attention to
climate change, because it can use the power to take strong measures to solve
this problem. For instance, the government can make some rules to punish people
who damaged the environment, such as the regulations against water
contamination passed in 2003, which make it an offence to release phytotoxins into
water bodies (NCBI2010). Furthermore, the state could distribute some
advertisement to inform the public/ to spread awareness that protecting
environment is necessary. Moreover, there is a good way for government to use
tax to make the environment better. All of these points demonstrate that the state
has considerable influence in changing public behavior.

Logical Connectors
Linking words and phrases which establish the logical relationship
between ideas within a sentence or between sentences.
• improve the flow of writing that is a smooth movement from one
idea or piece of information in a text to the next.
• Guideposts for readers that help them to better follow the text. As
transitional expressions show various kinds of logical relations, they
may be grouped according to their meaning and function.

Some Suggestions……..
Today, the issue of climate change attracts increasing public attention. Concerns over global
temperature rises have become the focus of scientist and media. Some environmental activities argue
that the government should be expected to solve this problem (Greenpeace, 2011). Others, however,
hold the opinion that individual also have the responsibility to reduce the damage (George Monbiot
2013). A growing body of evidence suggests that both parties have responsibility to solve this problem.
Firstly, the government is in a powerful position to impact on climate change, because it can take
measures to address the problem. For instance, the government can institute new laws to punish
people who damage the environment. Furthermore, the state can produce and distribute
advertisements to inform the public that protecting environment is necessary. In addition, changes to
tax regulations can have a positive impact on the environment. All these points demonstrates that the
state has considerable influence in changing behavior around environmental issues.
Secondly, the environment is heavily impacted by people’s lifestyle choices, therefore, public action can
have a major impact on the situation. For example, if a greater proportion of journeys were made by
bus instead of private cars, air pollution would be reduced (Sennheiser, 2005). Another impact can
emerge through the recycling of everyday refuse, such as paper, bottles, which are used for glass, and
so on. In conclusion, cooperation between the government and the public can have the greatest
impact of all; a combination of effective government measures and public compliance has the potential
to address the issue of climate change.

Concise and precise
Have a look at sample paragraph and try to find out problems with it, thinking about:
✓ Sentence structure
✓ Sentence length
✓ Being specific
✓ Use of quotations
✓ How would you go about resolving these issues?
Because the environment is heavily impacted by people’s lifestyle choices, they have the greatest ability to
improve the situation. If most of people choose buses instead of private cars, air pollution can be reduced.
According to Sennheiser( 2005), ”the explosion in availability of the personal car has resulted in the greatest
threat to the environment in the 20th century, and has caused incalculable harm to public health. Buses emit 70%
fewer emissions than cars, per head of population”. It is better for people to recycle things in their daily life. Such
as paper, bottles which are used for glass, and so on. The most important thing is the government and the
individual cooperating with each other. One takes the measures and the other obeys. I think this is the best way
to solve this climate change problem.
Some suggestions……
The environment is heavily impacted by people’s lifestyle choices, therefore public action can have a major impact
on the situation. For example, if a greater proportion of journeys were made by bus instead of private cars, air
pollution would be reduced (Sennheiser, 2005). Another impact can image through the recycling of everyday
refuse, such as paper, bottles etc. However, cooperation between the government and the public can have the
greatest impact: a combination of effective government measures and public compliance has the potential to
address the issue of climate change

Appears Objective
✓ Academic writing avoids personal pronouns (Usually)
✓ Evidence suggests instead of I think
✓ A sample was taken instead of I took a sample
✓ Are there exceptions? What have you been told about this?
Using Evidence
All facts and theories should be referenced using a standard system:
✓ Harvard, MHRA, APA< Chicago
✓ Author-date, footnotes
✓ Include a bibliography of EVERYTHING you have READ!

Nowadays, the issue about climate change attracts more and more eyeballs of
people. The issue about climate change has become the focus of scientists and
media. Surprisingly, some people say that the government can not be expected
to solve this problem. Others, hold the opinion that individuals have the
responsibility to reduce the damage. In my opinion, I think both of them have
responsibility to solve this problem.
Some suggestions
Today, the issue about climate change attracts increasing public attention.
Concerns over global temperature rises have become the focus of scientists
and media. Some environmental activists argue that the government should be
expected to solve this problem (Greenpeace, 2011). Others hold the opinion
that individuals also have the responsibility to reduce the damage (George
Monbiot, 2013). A growing body of evidence suggests that both parties have
responsibility to solve this problem.

Genres and Writing
✓ Aim is to achieve specific communicative purposes.
✓ Develops knowledge of the rules of organization the texts.
✓ Each genre is a category of writing for a specific purpose and audience, with its
own recognizable set of stable features for style, structure, and document design.
➢ What genre (type of writing) requirement for assignment (paragraph, essay, report,
descriptive , causes & effect, compering, thesis, dissertation writing)?
➢ What are the expectations and conventions of the assignedgenre? For instance,
what type of evidence is typically used in the genre?
➢ Does the genre require a specific design format or method of organization?
➢ If the genre is not assigned, what genre is appropriate for your subject, purpose and
audience?
➢ What specializedvocabulary need to follow?
➢ Does the genre require or benefit from visuals, such as photos, drawingsor graphs?
Genre
-Academic essay
-Lab report
-Research proposal
-Medical report
-Police report
--Business letter

Paraphrasing
• Rewriting an author's ideas in your own words. This still means that you have to cite
the original text.
• Do not add your own opinion or use the original wording.
• The purpose of paraphrasing is to express the ideas of others in your own words.
• May be Shorter than the original passage, taking a larger section of the source and
condensing it slightly.
• Not necessarily presenting the original text in an elaborate way, but in a way that
flows with your expression.
• Must cite the original source. Page numbers should be given, to assist in locating the
relevant passages within the source material, unless you are referring to the ideas of a
whole work in general.
Dr. Sridevi Sriniwass for PGRSS Citation skills

Dr. Sridevi Sriniwass for PGRSS Citation skills
Summarizing
•Involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, which include the main
point(s) only.
•Significantly shorter than the original and give a broad overview of the source
material.
• It is necessary to cite the original source.
•You are encouraged to include page or chapter numbers when summarizing,
particularly it will help the reader to locate the relevant passage within a longer
work.

Paraphrasing Summarising
• does not match the source word for
word
• does not match the source word for
word
• involves putting a passage from a source
into your own words
• involves putting the main idea(s) into your
own words, but including only the main
point(s)
• changes the words or phrasing of a
passage, but retains and fully
• presents a broad overview, so is usually
much shorter than the original text
• communicates the original
meaning
• retaining the meaning, in general, but in a
condensed manner
• must be attributed to the original source. • must be attributed to the original source.

Summarize long sections of work, like a long paragraph, page or chapter.
▪ To outline the main points of someone else's work in your own words, without
the details or examples.
▪ To include an author's ideas using fewer words than the original text.
▪ To briefly give examples of several differing points of view on a topic.
▪ To support claims in, or provide evidence for your writing.
When to summarize (cont’d)

Tips for paraphrasing
• Read the text several times to understand the meaning.
• Extract the main idea from the sentence and think about it on its own.
• Rewrite the idea in your own words and maintain the same relationship between main ideas
and supporting points.
• Return to the original and make sure that the meaning is still the same and that nothing has been
misinterpreted.
• Remember to cite your source using a recognized referencing format.
• Use synonyms (words or expression which have a similar meaning) where appropriate.
Key words that are specialized subject vocabulary do not need to be changed.
• If you want to retain unique or specialist phrases, use quotation marks (“ “).

Tips for paraphrasing (Cont’d)
▪ Write the paraphrase in your own style. Consider each point; how could you rephrase it?
▪ Change the grammar and sentence structure.
▪ Break up a long sentence into two shorter ones or combine two short sentences into
one.
▪ Change the voice (active/passive) or change word forms (e.g. nouns, adjectives).
▪ Change the order in which information/ideas are presented, as long as they still make
sense in a different order.
▪ Identify the attitude of the authors to their subject (i.e. certain, uncertain, critical, etc) &
make sure your paraphrase reflects this.
▪ Use appropriate reporting words or phrases.
http://studyskills.curtin.edu.au/wp-
content/uploads/2014/12/Section5
-Paraph-Summ-text-version.pdf

Tips for Summarizing
• Skim the original text and think about the author's purpose and main idea of the
text.
• Try to divide the text into sections, think about the idea and important information
that each section contains.3
• Try to write a one-sentence summary of each section/part of the outline in your own
words
• Decide what key details may be added to support the main point of the text.
• Logical connectors to show the logical relationship of the ideas and to improve the
flow of the summary.

A good summary satisfies the following requirements:
• Need to write own words.
• It does not evaluate the source text and need to write the way of neutral manner.
• Correctly interpret the original
• Do not include your own opinion or add extra information
• The first sentence of the summary contains the name of the author of a summarized
text, its title, and the main idea.
• Need enough supporting detail and transition device that show the logical
relationship of the ideas.
• Should be one-third and one-fourth of length

Example phrases to signal the summary
-Now that we have examined
-The discussion above has focused on
-Thus, we have now surveyed
-Up to this point, we have been looking at
-After having discussed this
Example phrases to signal new discussion
-Now that we have examined
-The discussion above has focused on
-Thus, we have now surveyed
-Up to this point, we have been looking at
-After having discussed this
-It is also necessary to discuss
-It remains for us to examine
-Let us now look at
-We should now turn our attention to
-It is only appropriate next to cover

Helpful words that convey critical thinking
ADDING
Also, and, as well as, on top of that, another point is, and then, another, next, nor, other, then, too, additionally, again, besides, equally
important, finally, last, first, second, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover
COMPARING
Similarly, likewise, as with, like, equally, in the same way, just as . . . so too comparable, in the same way, likewise, similarly
CONTRASTING
and yet, but, but another, or, otherwise, rather, still, though, yet, alternatively, at the same time, conversely, even so, for all that, however, in
contrast, instead, nevertheless, nonetheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, still, though this may be, having
said that
EMPHASIZING
Above all, in particular, especially, significantly, indeed, notably
CAUSES AND EFFECT
Because, as a result of, therefore, thus, owing to, due to, unless, except, apart from, as long as
SEQUENCING
First, firstly, first of all, second, third, next, meanwhile, now, subsequently
ILLUSTRATING
For example, such as, for instance, in the case of, as shown by, illustratedby, one example is
TIME
After, afterward, before, earlier, first, second, third, later, next, now, recently, shortly, soon, then, today, tomorrow, at last, at length, at that
time, currently, eventually, finally, immediately, meanwhile, presently, subsequently, thereafter
PURPOSE
Because of this, to do this for that reason, for this purpose, to this end, with this object
PLACE
Beyond here, nearby, there, adjacentto, at that point, in the back, in the front, on the other side, opposite to
SUMMARY
And so , then accordingly, as a result, consequently, hence, in consequence, therefore, thereupon, thus

TIME:
In late December 2019, reports emanated from Wuhan, China, of a novel coronavirus, subsequently
named 2019-nCOV and giving rise to COVID-19 (i.e., CoronavirusDisease2019).
By January 8, 2020, 59 cases were suspected, with two deaths reported within the following week.
By mid-to late-March, most U.S. states had gone beyond mitigation to lockdown (Wikipedia 2020).
SPACE:
In the United States, the first case was reported on January 20th, and, by the end of the month, 9,976
cases had been reported across 21 countries (Holshueet al. 2020).
CONDITION:
Under these shelter-in-place orders, citizens were urged to remain at home except for essential
travel, to wear masks when entering public spaces, to wash and sanitize hands frequently, and to
practice social distancing (maintaining at least six feet of space from one another).
MANNER (COMPARISON):
In line with the narrative, pandemic humor acted as a defense, a “mental armor,” people used to cope
with the threats and restrictions posed by COVID-19.
Nathan Miczo* The ethics of news media reporting on coronavirus
humorhttps://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2021-0011

Comparison and contrast
On the one hand, the idea that humor is good for something, especially medical somethings (e.g.,
the Norman Cousins phenomenon), has permeated the popular consciousness. On the other
hand, it is interesting to note how news reporting on COVID-19 humor fits the pandemic
narrative. In this case, however, the viral threat cannot be easily separated from the social
disruption caused by Media reporting on coronavirus humor15 lockdown orders.
•The notion that people should stay away from making humor about the sick, and the vulnerable,
was articulated and reinforced in virtually all the articles. Similarly, individuals were presented
with the notion that they should create humor from out of their own lockdown experiences.
Exemplification
For example, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health created a music video “Jealous Coronavirus” to
help prevent the infection’s spread. Another example was a public service announcement (PSA)
from Round Rock, Texas, reading: “Wash your hands like you just got done slicing jalapeños for a
batch of nachos and you need to take your contacts out.
Adversative
In the pandemic narrative (Gerlach 2016), people can only cope with the omnipresent threat of
global viral outbreaks. Yet, what it means to cope and the consequences of coping behaviors are
varied.
Dr. Sridevi Sriniwassfor PGRSS Citation skills

Time:
After reviewing work on humor ethics, a qualitative content analysis of 20 news media articles is presented.
Elaboration:
Three issues from the news stories are identified, allowing comparison of the media’s claims against the
ethical principles articulated.
Cause:
Since our sense of humor often gives rise to our laughter (to what we find funny), we can be held
responsible for being the kind of person who possesses a sense of humor that produces harmful laughter
directed at others.
Result:
Answers to such questions should then be disseminated to the news media so that they can provide more
balanced coverage to the public.
Purpose:
In order to do so, however, it is necessary to articulate ethical principles and then apply those principles to
particular cases.
Nathan Miczo* The ethics of news media reporting on coronavirus
humorhttps://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2021-0011

Signposting sentences
• Signposting sentences explainthe logic of your argument. They tell
the reader what you are going to do at key points in your paragraph.
• In the introduction
• At the beginning of a paragraph which develops a new idea
• At the beginning of a paragraph which expands on a previous idea
• At the beginning of a paragraph which offers a contrasting viewpoint
• At the end of a paragraph to sum up an idea
• In the conclusion

Signposting stems for an introduction
To understand the role of ... (your topic*) this essay aims to provide a
discussion of ... (the ideas you will develop)
This essay seeks to investigate/evaluate/illustrate/discuss the impact
of ... (your topic) in relation to ... (the ideas you will develop)
Firstly, this assignment examines ... (your topic) and its links with ...
(your first idea) Next, it closely examines ... in relation to ... (your next
idea) Finally, it focuses on ... and how this affects ...(your next idea)
One aspect which illustrates ... (your topic) can be identified as ... (the idea
you want to develop)
The current debate about ... (your topic) identifies an interesting viewpoint on
...(the idea you want to develop)
This first/next/ final section provides a general discussion of ...(the idea you
want to develop)

Signposting stems for a paragraph which expands upon a
previous idea
Building on from the idea that ... (mention previous idea), this section
illustrates that ... (introduce your new idea).
There is general agreement that ... (sum up your idea)
Another line of thought on ... (your topic or your previous idea)
demonstrates that ... (introduce your new idea)
Signposting stems for a paragraph which offers a contrasting view
However, another angle on this debate suggests that ... (introduce your
contrasting idea)
In contrast to evidence which presents the view that ... (mention your
previous idea) an alternative perspective illustrates that ... (introduce your
contrasting idea)
However, not all research shows that ... (mention your previous
idea). Some evidence agrees that ... (introduce your contrasting
idea)

Signposting stems to sum up an idea in a paragraph
This evidence highlights that ... (sum up your idea)
There is general agreement that ... (sum up your idea)
The strength of such an approach is that ...(sum up your idea)
Signposting stems for a conclusion
Clearly, this chapter has shown that the main factors which impact upon ...
(your topic) are ...(summarise your main ideas)
The evidence presented in this thesis has shown that ... (mention the
conclusions you have drawn)
To conclude, this thesis has addressed a number of significant issues
which show that ... (mention the conclusions you have drawn)

Coherence Cohesion
Logical bridge and appropriate organization of the
sentences to form meaningful and understandable
content.
Focuses more on lexical syntax and grammar in
sentence formation.
Is more sort of a pattern in the collected parts of
writings.
The individual parts that are collected together and are
stick together for representation.
The attribute that is decided by the end-user or reader,
which determines whether the content seems
meaningful, understanding and useful.
The writer’s attribute and which is brought by using
different techniques like repeated words/ideas,
reference words, transition signals, substitution, etc.
Is not a measurable property and very hard to achieve. A measurable property that can be measured by
checking the lexical syntaxes and grammar rules.
It is abstract as it deals with the total ideas. It is observable as it is dealt with the actual written
content.
The understandability of the article and whether the
idea is being conveyed to the reader appropriately. It
determines the quality of the content.
A subset of coherence. Hence, whenever cohesion is
achieved, we can’t say the coherence is achieved or not,
but if coherence is achieved, then the content is
cohesive too for sure. https://www.educba.com/
coherence-vs-cohesion/

Passage A
First of all, travel will enable people to take a break. People always have a lot of work to do. Hard work and pressure make you feel
tired and uncomfortable. We are not working machines. They need time to take breaks. Travel will enable you to relax. Also, travel
will energize people to work better, especially computer programmers. They use their brains a lot every day. After a long time, they
may become slow-witted. Under such a condition, you cannot work effectively. We need to find a place for a vacation. You need to
see natural phenomena, instead of looking at computers all day. They will get energy from nature and then come back to work much
more efficiently than before. I have experience with this. I have been to Buffalo. I saw a wonderful sight there. I saw Niagara Falls. I
looked up at it. It seemed to fall from the sky. It was very beautiful. You could feel the power coming from the falls. You were
inspired to do your work. [173 words]
Passage B
First of all, travel will enable people to take a break. Because people always have a lot of work to do, sometimes hard work and
pressure make them feel tired and uncomfortable. People are not working machines. Therefore, they need time to take breaks, and
travel will enable them to relax. Also, travel will energize people to work better, especially computer programmers, who use their
brains a lot every day. After a long time, they may become slow-witted. Under such a condition, they cannot work effectively, so they
need to find a place for a vacation where they can see natural phenomena instead of looking at computers all day. They will get
energy from nature and then come back to work much more efficiently than before. For example, travel helped me overcome
burnout. To relax from my stressful job as a computer programmer, I went to Buffalo, where I saw a wonderful sight, Niagara Falls.
When I looked up at the falls, the gushing water seemed to fall from the sky, and I could feel its power. The sight was so beautiful
that I was more inspired to do my work. [191 words] (Adapted with permission, Yunhai Yang, Taiwanese)
Coherence & cohesion (cont’d)

Analyze the Coherence
Upon comparing the above two passages, you probably discovered that you preferred
the second passage because it sounded smoother; that is, the ideas seemed to flow
together well. The first passage has a very good progression from general to specific,
yet there is only one idea in many of the sentences, causing the passage to sound
choppy. Moreover, the control of point of view and pronouns is weak, causing
confusion about who the audience is. The revision, however, shows more complexity
in that the ideas are organized into complex and compound-complex sentences,
creating a smoother flow of ideas from one sentence to another.
As a result, the second passage is easier to understand at both the general and
specific levels. Moreover, the relevance of the example is enhanced with
improvement in vocabulary use. The control of pronouns and point of view and the
repetition of key content words reinforce the writer's opinion about travel, making
the example more relevant.
Coherence & cohesion (cont’d)

REvision
✓ Re-seeing a new way
✓ Adding, delating and rewriting sentences in a clearer, more effectively and more interesting way
✓ Check for repetitive phrases, passive voice, improve use of verb tenses and break long sentences
into shorter ones
✓ Part of the learning and discovery process
✓ Find out weakness in argument that need strengthening
✓ check it for content and organization, including unity, coherence
✓ Does the paragraph contain claims that need support?
✓ Provide evidence- specific examples, to help readers understand the ideas persuasively?
✓ Improve a process of step-wise revising, starting with content and finishing with language & style.
✓ Classmates, friends are great resources for getting a fresh comments of the writing
✓ Print out clean copy because errors can be noticed easily on paper than on a screen.

References
• Alice Oshima & Ann Hogue (2006) Writing Academic English
• Diana Hacker & Nancy Sommers ( 2016) The Bedford Handbook
• Godfrey, J. (2016) Writing for university. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Paterson, K. and Wedge, R. (2013) Oxford grammar for EAP: English grammar and practice for academic purposes with answers.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Academic writing, DeMonfortUniversity Leicester
• https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/accessability/study-skills/study-guides/writing-skills
• http://libguides.tees.ac.uk/workshops
• https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/14011/writing/106/academic_writing
• One-to-one tutorials http://libguides.tees.ac.uk/lrs/tutorials
• Peter Woods (2006) Successful Writing for Qualitative Researchers
• Kinsella, P.L. (1968). The techniques of writing. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World,
• Godwin, J. (2014) Planning your essay. 2ndedn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (808.02/GOD)
• University of Manchester (2019) Academic phrasebank. Available at: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk(Accessed: 05
September 2019).
• Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education http://www.uefap.com
• Gillett, A., Hammond, A. And Martala, M. (2009) Inside Track to Successful Academic Writing. Pearson Education Limited.

”
❖ “The best way to become a good writer is to become a good reader.
The more you take from a reading, the more you have to give as a
writer.” —Carolyn Cremona, student, Austin Community College
❖ Reading and writing can not be separated. Reading is breathing in;
writing is breathing out.
❖ Writing well involves more than merely putting one word after
another. Good writing has structure and balance that make it easy to
read and understand.
❖ The single, most important goal of writing is to be clear—without
being boring. —Aristotle
❖ Choose your words carefully and place them strategically so that
even ordinary words will sparkle.
—Horace

The Art of Academic Writing

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to The Art of Academic Writing

Similar to The Art of Academic Writing (20)

More from bikashtaly

More from bikashtaly (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The Art of Academic Writing