ACADEMIC WRITING
Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout life. For instance, you can write an email to a friend or reflect on what happened during the day in your personal diary. In these kinds of interpersonal settings (or intrapersonal in the case of a diary record), the aim may be to communicate the events that have happened in your life to someone close to you, or to yourself.
It is expected that in writing about these life events, you will include your personal judgements and evaluations, which may be measured by your feelings and thoughts. The personal stories you write in a diary or email to friends can be written down at the moment they enter your mind. There is no need to follow a structure. It is typically informal, so there is no need to adhere to structures of punctuation or grammar (although your reader may be quite appreciative if you do so). In these settings, it is acceptable to deploy colloquialisms, casual expressions, and abbreviations, like “that’s cool”, “by the way…”, “slacker”, “Palmy”, “b4”, and “thru”.
In contrast, academic writing does many of the things that personal writing does not. Firstly, some kind of structure is required, such as a beginning, middle, and end. In the case of an essay, for example, the introductory paragraph informs the reader about the nature of the topic, which is discussed and evaluated in the middle of the essay, also referred to as the body.
Another type of structure, common in university assignments is that of a report, often organised around the identification of problems or difficulties and corresponding solutions. Unlike most essays, a report is divided according to clearly labelled sections, such as “Introduction”, “Discussion”, “Conclusions”, and “Recommendations”.
A second difference between academic writing and other writing genres is based on the citation of published authors. If you make judgements about something in academic writing, there is an expectation that you will support your opinion by linking it to what a published author has previously written about the issue. Indeed, citing the work of other authors is central to academic writing because it shows you have read the literature, understood the ideas, and have integrated these issues and varying perspectives into the assignment task.
Thirdly, in academic writing you should always follow rules of punctuation and grammar, especially as the end-user or consumer of your writing, unlike a friend, is likely to be very different from you and will not always know to what you are referring.
To summarize this, academic writing is a special genre of writing that prescribes its own set of rules and practices.
1. These rules and practices may be organized around a formal order or structure in which to present ideas, in addition to ensuring that ideas are supported by author citations in the literature.
2. Further, academic writing adheres to traditional conventions of punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
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3. Finally, in contrast to many other personal writing contexts, academic writing is different because it deals with the underlying theories and causes governing processes and practices in everyday life, as well as exploring alternative explanations for these events.
The types of academic documents are the following: book, conference paper, dissertation (usually between 6,000 and 20,000 words in length), essay (between 1,500 and 6,000 words in length), research article, technical report, translation, journal article, literature review (a summary and careful comparison of previous academic work published on a specific topic), monograph, film script, newspaper article, public speech or lecture, review of a book, film, exhibition, event, abstract, summary, etc. For students - exam question, essay, presentation, report.
Scientists have to work with different types of literature; they often use originals in their everyday work. Sometimes they have to come across the secondary sources of information. The secondary sources are worked up according to the contents of scientific information and the aims of using the original literature.
The main secondary sources of foreign literature are: bibliographical descriptions; summaries; reports; surveys.
Each of the sources has a certain degree of information compression. The shortest source of the secondary documents is a bibliographical description. It contains the smallest quantity of information. A bibliographical description is a combination of pieces of information about the original work or its part which gives a general impression of the original.
It includes different parts. The first one is a title of the original. The second one is some information about the author or a group of them. The next one is a date of publishing. It includes a place of publishing and the name of publishing house given in a full form. The last one is a year of publication. Sometimes there are some additional elements such as the number of figures and pages.
The main function of making bibliographical descriptions is to notify readers of a new source of information.
ASSINGMENT
1. Answer the questions: What is writing? What is the difference between personal and academic writing? What types of academic documents do you know? What secondary sources of information do you know? In what way do they differ? What is the shortest source? What parts does it include? What is its function?
2. Give all types of questions: A bibliographical description contains the smallest quantity of information.
3. Translate into Russian: a skill, throughout life, for instance, a personal diary, an aim, events, personal judgements and evaluations, feelings and thoughts, to follow a structure, informal, to adhere punctuation or grammar, to appreciative, to deploy colloquialisms, casual expressions, and abbreviations, to be required, the citation of published authors, to make judgements, to follow rules of punctuation, film script, an exhibition, the smallest quantity of information.
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4. Match
writing
through
for
personal
life
feelings and
casual
by
introductory
the citation of
academic
the rules of
original
secondary
bibliographical
information
punctuation
life
expressions
the way
sources
thoughts
events
skill
descriptions
paragraph
literature
instance
writing
compression
diary
published authors
Группа свершенных времен Present Perfect Tense
| have/has + IIIя форма глагола |
Present Perfect выражает законченное действие, совершившееся до момента речи, но имеющее с ним непосредственную связь. Present Perfect никогда не употребляется, если есть точное указание времени в прошлом. I have never been to London. I was in London two years ago.
Наречия и обстоятельственные слова, с которыми обычно употребляется Present Perfect: already – уже, just – только что, never –никогда, ever – когда-либо, always – всегда, often – часто, today – сегодня, this month – в этом месяце, this week – на этой неделе. this year – в этом году, since – с тех пор как, yet – еще (в отриц. предложениях), yet – уже (в вопрос.предложениях), lately – недавно, в последнее время (дни, недели). recently – недавно, в последнее время (месяцы).
1. Откройте скобки: 1. I (to do) already my work. 2. We (to see) already this film. 3. They (to come) back today. 4. My sister (to leave) just for Moscow. 5. I (to get) just this letter. 6 We (to be) never to England. 7. I (to see) not him since summer. 8. I (to finish) not my work yet. 9. I (to watch) not TV since Sunday. 10. Sorry, I (to forget) to bring you the book. 11. I (be) to Paris. 12. I think the director (leave) the town. 13. I (forget) your name. 14. He (close) the door? 15. She just (come); she will speak to you in a minute.
2. Ответьте на вопросы: 1. What books have you read lately? 2. Have you read any English books in the original? 3. Have you attended all lectures this month? 4. Have you written down the grammar rule? 5. What film have you seen lately? 6. Have you had dinner today?