Considerations and Features of Academic Language

Considerations in Writing and Academic Writing Style

• The writing process involves four fundamental considerations: Topic, Role/Persona, Purpose, and Audience.

• Topic

  • For writing to be perceived as reliable and convincing, the author should write about a subject they are knowledgeable about or an expert on.
  • Writing quality can be significantly improved when supported by external references such as newspapers, magazines, books, and articles.

• Role/Persona

  • How readers interpret the text is entirely dependent on how the writer expresses themselves.
  • Persona refers to the personality revealed in the writing or the specific personality the author chooses to assume for the piece.

• Purpose

  • The author's purpose influences how data is laid out and how an issue is approached or "attacked."
  • Common reasons for writing include:
  • a) To inform.
  • b) To express or describe.
  • c) To persuade or convince.

• Audience

  • Identifying specific readers is crucial for a writer to determine the appropriate tone, ranging from formal to informal.

Aspects of Professional and Academic Language

• Academic language is characterized by four vital features:
  1. Formality
  2. Objectivity
  3. Explicitness
  4. Caution

Formality

• Formality reflects the dignified stance expected of members within the academic community. Techniques to maintain formality include:

• Choosing Expanded Modal Forms

  • Writers should use expanded forms rather than contractions.
  • Example: Use "Cannot" instead of "can't."
  • Example: Use "Do not" instead of "don't."

• Choosing One-Word Verbs

  • Single verbs should be used instead of two-word (phrasal) verbs.
  • Example: Use "Damage" instead of "mess up."
  • Example: Use "Search" instead of "look up."

• Choosing Expanded Terms

  • Full terms should be used instead of their abbreviated equivalents.
  • Example: Use "As soon as possible" instead of "ASAP."
  • Example: Use "For your information" instead of "FYI."

• Avoiding Colloquialisms and Idioms

  • Trite, idiomatic, or colloquial expressions should be removed.
  • Example: Avoid phrases like "Kind of like" or "as a matter of fact."

Objectivity

• Objectivity requires that knowledge be presented with a status equal to or higher than that of the readers. It is achieved through the following methods:

• Avoiding Personal Pronouns

  • Pronouns such as "You," "I," and "We" should be avoided as they indicate a level of closeness with the reader that is inappropriate for academic writing.
  • Subjective example: "You need to conduct the experiment."
  • Improved version: "The researchers need to conduct the experiment."

• Avoiding Rhetorical Questions

  • Rhetorical questions are avoided because they constantly seek the attention of the reader and mark inappropriate closeness.
  • Poor example: "How can these problem be solved?"
  • Improved version: "Certain measures can be discover to solve the problem."

• Avoiding Emotive Language

  • Language that displays bias or intense emotion reduces objectivity.
  • Poor example: "The investigators were very shocked to see the outcome of the tests."
  • Improved version: "The investigators did not expect the results."

Explicitness

• Explicitness demands the use of signposting strategies that allow readers to trace the logical relationships between various parts of the text.

• Showing Changes in Argument

  • Use "however" to indicate a shift in the line of reasoning.
  • Example: "It is apparent that the government hopes to provide assistance to the poor. However, making dole-outs available to 'the poorest of the poor' seems to work not in the long term."

• Providing Reasons

  • Use phrases like "this is due to the" to explicitly link a situation to its cause.
  • Example: "A number of MERALCO consumers trooped to the city hall to claim the $Php\,500.00$ cash incentive. This is due to the Supreme Court ruling that overcharges must be returned to the end users whose electric consumption for $April-May$ period was below $100\,kw/hr$."

• Providing Results

  • Use phrases like "this resulted in" to show the outcome of an event.
  • Example: "With the Supreme Court ordering MERALCO to return overcharges to the end users, government offices have been tapped to operate as claim centers. This resulted in a number of MERALCO consumers trooping to the city hall to claim the $Php\,500.00$ cash incentive."

• Providing Extra Information

  • Use "in addition" to signal the inclusion of further details.
  • Example: "MERALCO has been operating as a business conglomerate involving foreign stakeholders and independent power producers or IPP. In addition, MERALCO owns major IPPS operating in the region."

• Providing Examples

  • Examples must be introduced explicitly.
  • Example: "The MERALCO issue has led to disputes between opposition and administration senators. For example, those who have been labeled as working against the president consider the issue as administration's way of avoiding the NBN-ZTE scandal."

Caution

• Academic writing requires tact because it deals with knowledge built from established theories and concepts. Caution is necessary to avoid sweeping generalizations.

• Language Strategies for Caution

  • Poor example: "Government officials are corrupt."
  • Improved versions:
  • "Some government officials may be corrupt" (Utilizing a modal verb).
  • "Corruption is commonly linked to some key government officials" (Utilizing an adverb).
  • "A number of government officials tend to be linked with cases of corruption" (Utilizing a verb).

• Forms for Observing Caution

  • Verbs indicating caution: tends, suggests, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, indicate.
  • Modal verbs: will, would, may, might, can, could, shall, should, must.
  • Adverbs of frequency: often, sometimes, usually.
  • Modifiers: quite, rather, fairly.

• Specific Applications for Caution

  • Caution must be observed in the following sections of a paper:
  • 1. When testing a hypothesis.
  • 2. When drawing conclusions or predictions from findings, as these may generalize certain groups or may not be conclusive.
  • 3. When referencing the work of others to build one's own paper.
  • Poor example: "The results contradict Meyer's findings."
  • Improved version: "The results appear to be different from Meyer's findings."