English for Academic and Professional Purposes: Academic Text and Structure

This flashcard set covers the definitions, characteristics, writing styles, and common structures of academic texts as presented in the lecture.

Academic Text

A formal way to present words and terms typical for a field, commonly used for textbooks, tests, and within classrooms or specific academic disciplines.

Academic Writing

A process that starts with posing a question or problematizing a concept and ends in answering the question or arguing for a stand.

Formal Writing

A style achieved by choosing formal vocabulary instead of informal, avoiding contractions, and omitting emotional language.

Objective Writing

A style that is impersonal and emphasizes things and ideas instead of people and feelings, often using modality to show caution.

Modality

The use of language to show caution about your views or to allow room for others to disagree, such as writing there is evidence to support the possibility rather than stating a thought as absolute.

Technical Writing

Writing that utilizes a large vocabulary for concepts specific to a particular discipline or specialization, such as using the term discourse in multiple fields with different meanings.

Literary Analysis

A type of academic text that examines, evaluates, and makes an argument about a literary work, focusing on specific characteristics, themes, or motifs.

Research Paper

An academic paper that uses outside information to support a thesis or make an argument, which may be evaluative, analytical, or critical.

Dissertation

A book-length summarization of a doctoral candidate’s research submitted at the conclusion of a $Ph.D.$ program.

Three-Part Essay Structure

A basic structure consisting of an introduction, body, and conclusion, where the introduction and conclusion are typically shorter than the body.

IMRAD Structure

An organizational format for academic papers consisting of Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion.

Introduction (IMRAD)

The section that depicts the background of the topic, its central focus, the aims of the study, and an overview of the paper.

Method (IMRAD)

The section describing how the study was conducted, presenting materials, data collection methods, research instruments, and sample size.

Results (IMRAD)

The section where the findings of the research are reported without active discussion or analysis to avoid misunderstandings.

Discussion (IMRAD)

The most substantial section where the writer interprets and analyzes results, as well as compares and contrasts them to previous research.

Halliday ($1973$)

An author cited as an authoritative source to support the view that language is intrinsically social.