Academic writing is a particular style of writing that is characteristic of academic institutions. In other words, it is the style that is used by undergraduates, graduates and lecturers when they explore particular academic questions in essays, dissertations, and other academic papers. Although it shares many similarities with other styles of writing, it also has its own features.
Activity 2-1: Recognizing academic style
Look at the following two sentences. Identify at least three features of sentence 1 that you think are academic and three features of sentence 2 that you think are non-academic.
1.Linguists were and remain convinced by Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who discovered that however disparate human languages seem, all share a common, basic structure, seemingly hardwired into the brain.
2.The way you speak says a lot about you.
Activity 2-2: Recognizing levels of formality
Read the sentences and tick “√ ” either F (formal) or I (informal) after each sentence. Make notes that helped you reach your decision.
Activity 2-3: Rewriting for formality
The following text is written in an informal style. Work in pairs and rewrite it as a more formal text by making changes to the grammar and vocabulary.
The literature review means you have to look critically at all the research that is relevant to your research. Some people think that the review is just a summary but I don’t agree. A summary is necessary, but you also need to judge the work, show how it holds together, and show how it relates to your work. What I mean is, you just can’t describe a whole paper, you have to select which parts of the research you are going to talk about, show how it fits with other people’s research, and how it fits with your work.
Activity 2-4: Recognizing objective style
Compare the following two paragraphs. Which is more objective and why?
1. The question of what constitutes “language proficiency” and the nature of its crosslingual dimensions is also at the core of many hotly debated issues in the areas of bilingual education and second language pedagogy and testing. Researchers have suggested ways of making second language teaching and testing more “communicative” (e.g., Canale and Swain, 1980; Oller, 1979b) on the grounds that a communicative approach better reflects the nature of language proficiency than one which emphasizes the acquisition of discrete language skills.