Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

likewise advised to think of their readers as

LESSON 1: The Nature of Academic Texts researchers in a related field who know the
ACADEMIC TEXT- Academic text/writing basics of the discipline, but are not that familiar
is clear, concise, focused, structured and backed with the more technical topics.
up by evidence. Its purpose is to aid the reader's - “Audience” means the people who will read
your paper. Some academic writing, such as a
understanding. It has a formal tone and style, but
term paper or a thesis, is written for an instructor
it is not complex and does not require the use of or a committee of professors. More commonly, a
long sentences and complicated vocabulary. paper is written for colleagues in your field, other
people who study some of the same things you
do. Sometimes academic writing can also be
*Components of Academic Texts addressed to an audience outside your field. In
1. PURPOSE- “Purpose” means why you are every case, thinking about who will read the
writing, and what effect you hope to have. The paper changes what you write and how you write
it.
most common purpose in academic writing is
to explain some idea or research finding and 3. TEXT TYPE
to persuade readers that your explanation or - ESSAY- A fairly short, self-contained argument,
theory is the correct one. Most academic writing often using sources from a class in response to a
shares certain key principles intended to help question provided by an instructor.
convey information as effectively as possible. - RESEARCH PAPER- A more in-dept
investigation based on independent research,
2. WRITER AND TARGET AUDIENCE- A
often in response to a question chosen by the
“writer” of an academic text must be an expert student.
in a certain discipline to be certain that they will
- THESIS/DISSERTATION- The large final
produce a credible academic text. It is expected
research project undertaken at the end of a
that technical terms will be present in the text as degree, usually on a topic of the student’s choice.
the writer is communicating more specialized
-RESEARCH PROPOSAL- An outline of a potential
content and is expecting their readers --- other
topic and plan for a future dissertation or
specialists --- to share a similar level of expertise research project.
and interest towards the topic.
-LITERATURE REVIEW- A critical synthesis of
- A student can also be a writer of an academic existing research on a topic, usually written in
text as he already learned at least the basic order to inform the approach of a new piece of
concept of whatever field he is writing about. It research.
may be less complex in comparison to an -LAB REPORT- A write-up of the aims, methods,
expert’s work, nevertheless, student writers are results and conclusions of a lab experiment.

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 Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

-ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY- A list of source

references with a short description or evaluation Common Text Structures
of each source. A. CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER- It is also known
Examples of Non-academic Texts as time order. This structure is organized from
• Personal journal entries. one point in time to another.
• Memoirs. B. SEQUENCE - Steps described in the order
• Autobiographical writing. they occur. It does not take place in a specific
• Letters. point in time.
• E-mails. C. CAUSE-EFFECT- This structure shows how
• Text messages. one or more causes led to one or more effects.
D. PROBLEM-SOLUTION- The text structure
4. STYLE-Generally, academic texts use formal presents a problem, and shows how it can be (or
language. has been) solved.
-Academic texts generally sound more E. COMPARE-CONTRAST- This text structure
impersonal; thus, writers usually use the third shows how two or more ideas or items are
person point of view and the passive voice. similar or different
F1. EXEMPLIFICATION- An exemplification
Academic Writing is…
paragraph develops a general statement--the
• Formal and unbiased
• Clear and precise topic sentence--with one or more specific
• Focused and well structured examples.
• Well sourced
F2. CLASSIFICATION- A classification
• Correct and consistent
paragraph divides ideas into groups, classes, or
Academic Writing is not… categories. It also organizes ideas into divisions
• Personal based on criteria or standards.
• Long-winded
• Emotive and grandiose G. PERSUASION- This text structure convinces
readers to agree to an argument or claim about a
particular topic.
LESSON 2: Text Structures
LESSON 3: EFFECTIVE THESIS STATEMENT
TEXT STRUCTURES- A text structure refers to
the internal organization of a text. According to THESIS STATEMENT- A sentence that sums up
Meyer (1985), as authors write a text a text to the central point of your paper or essay. The
communicate an idea, they will use a structure thesis statement should always clearly state the
that goes along with the idea. main idea you want to get across. Everything
else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

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 Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

-A controlling idea about the topic that the -A good thesis statement is unified and
writer is attempting to prove. It is usually found expresses one main idea.
at the beginning of the text or at the end of it. -A good thesis statement does not simply state a
-The central idea of a multiple-paragraph fact but sets the stage for analysis of a topic.
composition. A one-sentence summary that -A strong thesis statement is unified, and
guides, controls, and unifies ideas when writing expresses one main idea.
a paper. In simple terms, all other ideas present a. Although some people believe that George
in a text revolve around the thesis statement. Washington was the best president,
-The thesis statement may be expressed or Abraham Lincoln was much better.
implied. b. Abraham Lincoln was the best president
because he fought to keep the country
Why do we have to write a thesis statement? together and fought for the elimination of
-to summarize your ideas by narrowing them slavery.
into a sentence or two A strong thesis statement does not simply state a
-to better organize and develop argument fact, but sets the stage for analysis of a topic.
-to provide the reader with “guide” to the a. The Civil War took place between 1861-
argument 1865.
b. The Civil War, which took place between
What are the characteristics of a good thesis 1861-1865, was the most devastating war
statement? in United States history.
-A good thesis statement takes a stand on the
prompt. How to write an effective thesis statement:
-A good thesis statement is specific. 1. IT SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN A COMPLETE
-A strong thesis statement takes a stand on the SENTENCE WITH CLEARLY STATED SUBJECT.
prompt.
a. There are some negative and positive
aspects to industrialization.
b. Because industrialization damaged the
environment and exploited workers, its
effects were more negative than positive.
A strong thesis statement is specific.
a. The Crusades were fought because of 2. IT SHOULD NOT BE TOO NARROW NOR
religion. TOO BROAD, AND IT SHOULD CONTAIN AT
b. b. The Crusades were fought due to LEAST TWO DETAILS. If the details you
religious fanaticism and a struggle for generate are already definite examples, then
power in the Holy Land. your thesis statement is too specific. If you can
only write general statements because there are

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 Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

too many details, then it should be broad. You Supporting Details to develop a Thesis
can also try to list ideas to check the scope of Statement:
your topic. If you cannot list at least two details, -These details are pieces of information
it is too narrow; if you list too many information necessary to better understand the main idea.
to be able to discuss it well your topic is too -They can be facts, reasons, testimonies,
broad. statistics, and experiments that support the
3. AVOID AN AWKWARD THESIS STATEMENT topic sentence.
WHICH STATES THE OBVIOUS. These -Major Details directly support the topic
statements usually start with the phrase “I will sentence
tell you…” or “I will talk about…” -Minor Details directly support the major details

LESSON 4: Summarizing and Paraphrasing

SUMMARIZING- It is a condensed form of the

written text in your own words with only the
highlights of the text.

How to Summarize?
4. ENUMERATED DETAILS SHOULD HAVE 1. Read and annotate the text.
THE SAME LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE. If one of 2. Locate the thesis statement.
the details can be classified under another (A thesis statement is a sentence that states the topic
detail, you can just omit it. and purpose of your paper.)
3. Prepare a reading outline.

OUTLINING- An outline is a map of your essay. It

shows what information each section or paragraph
will contain and in what order.

5. IT SHOULD NOT STATE AN ABSOLUTE

FACT, because it will not present any central
idea that can developed further. It should have a
point.

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 Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

SOMEBODY WANTED BUT SO THEN- Each word 2. Take note of the keywords and check if they can be
represents a key question related to a text’s expressed using a different word or phrase.
essential elements: 3. Make sure that you understand the content or what
the material means. On a scratch paper, write some
notes to show the relationship of ideas among the
thought groups.
4. Once you have confirmed that your reduced version
of ideas agrees with the original material, set aside the
original passage and use only your notes to come up
with a paraphrase. Avoid the same grammatical
structures used in the thought groups to avoid
5W’s, 1 H- This technique relies on six crucial following the writer’s line of thinking.
questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How.
5. Check if the paraphrased version carries the same
These questions make it easy to identify the main
idea as the original source. You may change words or
character, important details and main idea. Your
phrases that do not capture the essence of the
summary may not necessarily follow this order as
keywords, or completely revise if you deem it
long as it contains all of these information.
necessary.
FIRST THEN FINALLY- This technique helps
summarize events or steps in chronological order or
The Strategy for Effective Paraphrasing
in sequence.

4. WRITE THE SUMMARY.

PARAPHRASING- It is like grabbing the idea

about a topic from another writer’s work then Techniques for Paraphrasing:
transforming it into your own method of thoughts 1. USING SYNONYMS (WORDS THAT MEAN
and words. THE SAME)

How to Paraphrase?
1. Break down the selected materials into thought
groups, or simply, phrases or clauses that are
formed when speakers naturally pause at specific
points in the sentence.

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 Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

2. CHANGING THE FORM OF WORDS LESSON 5: Outlining Reading Texts

What is an outline?
-It is a tool we use in the writing process to help
organize our ideas, visualize our paper’s
potential structure, and to further flesh out and
develop points.

Steps in creating a Reading Outline:

1. Read the entire text first. Skim the text
3. CHANGING THE GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE afterward.
2. Locate the thesis statement of the whole text.
3. Look for key phrases in each paragraph of the
text
4. Locate the topic sentence of each paragraph.
5. Look at the topic sentences and group these
with related ideas together.
6. Arrange the contents according to levels.
7. Evaluate the supporting details.
8. Go back to the text to check whether you have
followed the sequence closely and you have not
4. USING SEVERAL TECHNIQUES
missed any important information.

NOTE: Successful paraphrasing requires the use of

multiple techniques each time. It is not sufficient to
simply replace the keywords with synonyms and in fact
this is a common mistake among students learning to Types of Outlines According to Structure:
paraphrase. Changing the structure of the sentence is 1. TOPIC OUTLINE- An outline that consists of a
also important to fit the sentence into your paragraph short phrase. It provides a quick overview of topics to
effectively. be included in an essay. After each heading in a topic
outline for an essay, a maximum of several words is

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 Guiyab, Nicole Jade M.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND

PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES
Ma’am, Margery G. Valdez

used to identify the topic or idea that will be discussed

under the given heading.

2. SENTENCE OUTLINE- An outline that is done in

full sentence. Each sentence in a sentence outline is
the first sentence of a paragraph as it will appear in
the paper, and it shows exactly what the author will
say.

“When you feel like giving up,

remember why you started”