English for Academic and Professional Purposes

grammatical conventions

involve correctness of sentence formation, usage and mechanics

body

meat of the paper and where the essay's arguments, ideas and results are developed and discussed

thesis statement

presents the main idea/central idea of an essay

summarizing

provides only the main points and eliminates extra details

lowercase letters

represent the details with subdivisions

Roman numerals

represent the main idea/category

Arabic numbers

represent the subdivision or details within subtopics

uppercase letters

represent the subtopics within each main idea

delete non-essential ideas in a text, erase redundant information, substitute general terms into specific terms, identify the topic sentence

rules in summarizing

Roman numerals, uppercase letters, Arabic numbers, lowercase letters

standard format of an outline

identify the topic, identify the main category, create first category, create sub-categories

steps in making an outline

use of synonyms, use different sentence patterns, change in the order of ideas

steps in paraphrasing a text

read the title, first few paragraphs, conclusion

strategies in locating a thesis statement • ____ of the text • if the text has no abstract or executive summary, read the ___ as the thesis statement is usually located here • in other cases, you may also check the ___ where authors dum up and review their main points

introduction, body, conclusion

structure of an academic text

conclusion

the closing statement of the paper

style

the control of the language that is appropriate to the purpose, audience and context of the writing task

academic language

the language used by the students in working on academic tasks

academic writing

the process of writing analytically - breaking down of ideas with the purpose of presenting information

organization

the progression, relatedness and completeness of ideas

introduction

the thesis statement of the paper that describes the main idea of the whole essay

focus

the topic/thesis/subject established by the writer

support and elaboration

the writer provides sufficient elaboration to present the ideas and events clearly

factual thesis statement, reporting a topic, influence someone

tips in formulating a thesis statement formulate a ____if you are ____ to the reader but if you have the intention to ____, write a thesis statement that has a proposition that urges him/her to examine the whole composition

paraphrasing

to rewrite a phrase by employing your own words but has the same meaning from the original text

topic outline, sentence outline

two kinds of outline

thesis statement

usually one to two sentences that appears in the end of the first paragraph which offers an exact summary of and article, text, research paper and others

vague or ambiguous, too specific

weaknesses in writing thesis statement • some claim that if the thesis statement is ___, it is considered as broad thesis statement • another is when the thesis statement is ___ to be developed into an academic paper which is called narrow thesis statement

complexity, formality, precision, accuracy, hedging, objectivity, explicitness, responsibility

8 main features of academic writing

conclusion

a brief restatement of the main arguments and facts that have been treated in the essay

summarizing

a condensed verisoon of an original passage or writing

outlining

a format used to organize a list of topics

academic text

a reading material that provides information which includes concepts that are related to the specific discipline

topic outline

composed of short phrases and it is used if the topics are easy and simple

summary

considerably shorter that the original work

sentence outline

done in complete sentences and it is useful in dealing with difficult topics/details

conference papers, dissertations, essay, article, textbooks

examples of academic text

paraphrasing, summarizing, outlining, thesis statement

examples of academic writing

focus, organization, support and elaboration, grammatical conventions, style

features of effective writing

thesis statement

found in the introductory part of a write-up

to expose the topic of a paper, to provide the reader with a blueprint for what is to come, increase your speed in reading by finding the thesis statement of the paragraphs

functions and purpose of a thesis statement

true

if the writer discussed the topic too broadly, the focus is weak. true or false?