Academic Writing for Graduate Students – Book Review WFED English Writing Group 2014 Fall
Unit One: An approach to academic writing
1. The vocabulary Shift
- Often in lectures and other instances of everyday spoken English, the verb + preposition is used; however, for written academic style, there is a tendency for academic writers to use a single verb wherever possible.
ex) According to some biologists, coming up with/ offering clear proof of the decreasing numbers of frogs has been difficult.
- For nouns and other parts of speech, you should use a more formal form if one exists and seems to be more precise than its less formal alternatives.
1)Crash test dummies are really important/ an integral part of automotive crash tests.
2)There has been a lot of/ considerable interest in how background sounds affect an individual.
3)We got/ obtained encouraging results using structural bamboo rather than timber.
4)Consumer interest in electronic billing and payment is getting bigger and bigger/increasing.
2. Formal Grammar Style
Some nonvocabulary-related recommendations for maintaining a formal academic writing style
- Generally avoid contractions
ex) Export figures won’t/will not improve until the economy is stronger
- Use the more appropriate formal negative forms
ex) The analysis didn’t yield any new results The analysis yielded no new result
The government didn’t allocate much funding The government allocated little funding
This problem doesn’t have many viable solutions This problem has few viable solutions
- Limit the use of “run-on” expressions, such as and so forth and etc.
ex) These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD players, etc/ and other electronic devices.
- Avoid addressing the reader as you
ex) You can see the results in Table 1. The results can be seen in Table 1.
You can classify individuals as Morning types and Evening types Individuals can be classified as Morning type and Evening type.
- Be careful about using direct questions. In some fields they are common, while in others they are not.
ex) What can be done to lower costs? It is necessary to consider how costs may be lowered, or We now need to consider how costs may be lowered.
- Place adverbs within the verb
ex) Actually, very little is known about the general nature. very little is actually known about the general nature.
- Consider whether you should split infinitives (placing an adverbial modifier between to and the infinitive as in to sharply rise)
ex) We need to adequately meet the needs of those enrolled in the program.
Neural networks have the ability to correctly classify new patterns.
- Aim for an efficient use of words: use as many words as you need to express your points; try to use no more than you really need.
ex) It may be difficult to make a decision about the method that we should use: Choosing the proper method may be difficult.
3. Linking Words and Phrases
Subordinators(Introduce a dependent clause that must be joined to a complete sentence) / Sentence Connectors
(Introduce a complete sentence) / Phrase Linkers
(Introduce a noun phrase)
Addition / Furthermore
In addition
Moreover / In addition to
Adversativity / Although
Even though / However
Nevertheless / Despite
In spite of
Cause and Effect / Because
Since / Therefore
As a result
Consequently
Hence
Thus / Because of
Due to
As a result of
Clarification / In other words
That is
Contrast / While
Whereas / In contrast
However
On the other hand
Conversely / Unlike
Illustration / For example
For instance
Intensification / As the contrary
As a matter of fact
In fact
4. This + Summary Word
ex) ESL lectures know that students need to understand the differences between formal and informal language. However, this understanding cannot usually be acquired quickly.