Transcript ACADEMIC WRITING - UNESCO-IHE

ACADEMIC WRITING
English for Water Managers
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Activity 1
• When did you first start writing?
• Looking back through your school years,
can you think of a specific writing task
that challenged, frustrated or made you
satisfied with the writing task given.
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Activity 2
• Can you verbalise what goes on in your
mind as you write….
• Verbalise your thoughts in whatever
language you wish…
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Activity 3
• How difficult was it to speak aloud while
writing?
• Have you ever thought about what you do
when you are composing a piece of
writing?
• What did you think about before you
started writing this time?
• What do you think you were doing when
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Activity 3 cont.
when not speaking?
• Do you think it helpful to know what sort
of things you do when you compose a
piece of writing?
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Aims of this unit
• To give an insight into what is involved in
the writing process
• To help reconstruct the train of thoughts
which underlie the text one is to write.
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REASONS FOR WRITING
Through writing we are able to :
• Share ideas
• Arouse feelings
• Persuade and convince other people
• Discover and articulate ideas in ways that
only writing makes possible – it becomes a
permanent record, as a form of expression
and as means of communication.
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Observations:
• Writing is a complex process; it is a
learned craft which requires a lot of
practice, and no formula can guarantee a
good essay; especially in the medium of
the written word, the communication of
complex ideas is a process--a process that
requires thinking and rethinking, working
and reworking.
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Writing cont.
Writing is a form of problem solving which
involves processes such as :
• Generating ideas;
• Discovering a “voice” with which to write
• Planning
• Goal setting
• Monitoring and Evaluation what is going to be
written as well as what has been written
• Searching for language with which to express
exact meanings.
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WRITING AS A PROCESS
• The great Chinese writer, Lu Chi, reflected in his
essay Wen Fu (The Art of Letters) upon the
process of writing and being a writer,
acknowledged the power of the written word:
“Behold now the utility of letters…
It extends over a thousand miles and nothing can
stop its course;
It penetrates a million years, the ferry from one to
the other…”
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Writing Process Model
Generating Ideas
Focusing
Re-viewing
Structuring
Evaluating
Drafting
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GENERATING IDEAS
Writing primarily is about organising
information and communicating ideas, generating
ideas is a crucial part of the writing process :
generating ideas involves drawing upon longterm memory which consists of 3 main kinds of
memory:
• Episodic : which is devoted to events,
experiences and visual and auditory images
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Generating ideas cont:
• Semantic memory : which is devoted to
information, ideas, attitudes and values
• Unconscious memory : which includes
emotions and feelings.
For example:
Imaginative writing will tap episodic and
unconscious memory as part of the
process of creating an imaginary world.
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Cont.
• Discursive writing will tend to call upon semantic
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memory in which logically interconnected ides
will be important.
Authors of reports, proposals where one has to
focus on facts and information might tap into
semantic memory.
One of the techniques one might use is to brain
storm with colleagues to get ideas on intended
research topic.
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FOCUSING
• Is the ability by a writer to choose and decide
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what is will be the focal point of their essay or
research.
To communicate their message effectively,
writers need to focus upon a central idea,
viewpoint which will unify and inform the text
they produce.
The focal idea or thesis should address a key
question from the reader which is “what are
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Focusing cont.
you trying to tell me?
• Readers expect the writers to have certain
attitude towards their subject matter – that the
writer will make their viewpoint clear. Their
attitude could be one of approval, disapproval,
belief, doubt, support, or favour.
Note
It is important for writers to establish this their
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Focusing cont.
attitude to their writing because uncertainty
confuses the reader who will be left at a loss
as to how to respond to the text presented.
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Lack of focus or thesis statement…
• Consequence is that the writer will find it
difficult to organise ideas coherently, since
there will be no central idea around which
to structure them;
• The reader will find it difficult to grasp
what it is the writer is trying to get across
and may react to the text with a variety of
negative responses such as : boredom,
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cont.
• Disdain, rejection, frustration, anger and
even hostility.
• ACTIVITY 1 : COW FREAKS.
• ACTIVITIY 2 : Choose controversial issue
or event – in groups students do the
following:
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Focus cont.
• What is the focal (central) idea in the text?
• What information does the writer highlight or
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make prominent?
How is the information made prominent?
Where does it appear in the text?
How much space is given to it?
Does the writer choose words with powerful
emotive associations?
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SELECTING/REJECTING IDEAS
Sometimes writers fear that they haven’t
enough ideas to write about – therefore
selecting useful ideas and rejecting
irrelevant ones is therefore an important
part of the writing process.
ACTIVITY
In pairs students write down ideas on Role
played by traditional leaders in allocation
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Ideas cont.
of resources.
• Pool suggestions together, students
compile a list of ideas from the “bank” of
ideas produced
• Select ideas most useful for their purpose,
groups report back to class on ideas they
consider most useful for their purpose
• Discuss reasons for inclusion / exclusion of
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ideas cont.
of information and ideas where there are
any controversial choices
• Decide on what purpose the selected
ideas would be useful to the essay.
• How we use data depends upon the
purpose we have in mind for our next
text. For example;
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ideas cont.
• Do you want to persuade your reader of a
certain viewpoint?
• Do you want to give
positive/optimistic/pessimistic impression
of the situation
• Are you going to focus on one aspect of
your situation, if so, which one and why?
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Establishing a viewpoint
• If communication through writing is to
take place, writers need to be able to
convey their viewpoint to the reader –
purpose to enable the reader to see things
from the writer’s angle, even if in the end
the writer does not agree with their
viewpoint or find it strange and absurd
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Considering Audience
• Effective writers are critical readers of
what they write – they have to see their
text through someone’s eyes and
anticipate places where the message
might not be clear, readers attitudes and
expectations will be different from their
own, or things they take for granted will
have to be explained to the reader.
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Audience cont.
(i) What audience is the text aimed at?
(ii)What is the purpose of the text?
(iii)What ideas and persuasive points are
used?
(iv)Which ideas are most effective?
(v)Which language features help to
influence reader’s reactions to the text?
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Structuring
• Conveying a message through writing is
essentially a matter of selecting
information, both linguistic and factual
and arranging it or structuring it
• It entails grouping ideas together and
deciding how to sequence them.
• As we start writing, new ideas are
constantly generated, writer has to readjust
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Structuring cont.
original plan – writing should not be thought
of as a process where organisation of
ideas is a preliminary and finite stage, but
rather where on-going re-organisation is
the key.
For example, in an analytical or
argumentative text, readers expect to be
given a clear understanding of at least the
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Structuring cont.
(i) The general background to the
discussion or argument
(ii)The specific issue or case being
considered or argued
(iii)The problems related to it, and possible
solutions
(iv)The writer’s evaluation of these
problems.
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Drafting
• Concerns of the reader should now begin
to assume more significance – how to
attract the attention of their audience,
how to continue appealing to them, how
to lead them through the text to a
conclusion.
• Introduction to essay:
(i) Is the opening interesting
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Drafting
• Is the opening interesting? What form
does it take – e.g. quotation, statement,
generalisation
• How is the opening related to the rest of
the text?
• How is the ending linked to the opening?
• How is the ending linked to the rest of the
text?
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Evaluating
• Focuses on the notion that the writer
should be one’s own critic – do not
assume that it is the role of the
teacher/supervisor to evaluate your work
– have to get a sense of what is wrong
with a text and have to put it right.
• What you write will be read by many
people – this should give you capacity for
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Evaluating cont.
self-assessment, become an observant
reader of your own work.
Remember:
• Once completed a written record is
permanent
• Readers have plenty of opportunity to
notice and remember any places where
language, presentation are found
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Evaluating cont.
to be inadequate
• Readers can choose not to read what the
writer offers them should they find it
uninteresting, pointless or
incomprehensible.
• Writers to consider the following questions
as they assess how coherently they have
presented the information and ideas:
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Evaluating…
1. Type of writing – what type of writing is
this text intended to be for example:
The Expository Essay
The function of the expository essay is to
explain, or to acquaint your reader with a
body of knowledge. By explaining a topic to
the reader, you are demonstrating your own
knowledge.
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Evaluating cont…
• The Persuasive Essay
• In the persuasive essay, you must
defend your side of an argument. You are
no longer merely showing, you are
convincing.
• The persuasive essay must choose a side,
make a case for it, consider and refute
alternative arguments, and prove to the
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Evaluating….
• undecided reader that the opinion it
presents is the best one. You must be
aware of other sides and be fair to them;
dismissing them completely will weaken
your own argument. It is always best to
take a side that you believe in, preferably
with the most supporting evidence. It can
often be educational to adopt a different
position from what you might normally
choose (debating requires this kind of
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Evaluating cont…
• The informal essay is written mainly for
enjoyment. This is not to say that it
cannot be informative or persuasive;
however, it is less a formal statement than
a relaxed expression of opinion,
observation, humour or pleasure. A good
informal essay has a relaxed style but
retains a strong structure, though that
structure may be less rigid than in a
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formal paper.
Evaluating cont…..
• A review may be either formal or
informal, depending on the context. Its
goal is to evaluate a work, which implies
that the reviewer's personal opinion plays
a significant role in the process. However,
a certain objective standard needs to be
maintained and, as in a persuasive essay,
your assertions need to be proved.
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Evaluating cont…..
• The formality of the review will be
determined by how much of the essay is
analysis, how much is summary, and how
much is your reaction to the work you are
reviewing. A more formal review will not
only discuss the work on its own merits
but also place it in context. A good review
will discuss both the qualities and the
importance of a given work.
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Evaluating
• The research essay leads you into the
works of others and asks you to compare
their thoughts with your own. Writing a
research paper involves going to source
material and synthesizing what you learn
from it with your own ideas. You must find
texts on the subject and use them to
support the topic you have been given to
explore
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Evaluating cont.
• Because it is easy to become lost in a
wilderness of outside material, you must
take particular care to narrow your topic.
• A research paper should demonstrate
what you have learned, but it should also
show that you have a perspective of your
own on the subject.
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Evaluating
• In the literary essay, you are exploring
the meaning and construction of a piece
of literature. This task is more complicated
than reviewing, though the two are
similarly evaluative. In a review you are
discussing the overall effect and validity of
written work, while in a literary essay you
are paying more attention to specifics.
and work to support your viewpoint.
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Evaluating…
• A literary essay focuses on such elements
as structure, character, theme, style, tone,
and subtext. You are taking a piece of
writing and trying to discover how and
why it is put together the way it is. You
must adopt a viewpoint on the work in
question and show how the details of the
work support your view
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Evaluating cont.
• Purpose and ideas :
• Is the writer’s purpose clear?
• Do we as readers understand the main
ideas
• Is it easy to follow to follow
END OF PART 1
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