Academic Discourse Practices

ACADEMIC DISCOURSE PRACTICES
(HOW TO WRITE A BA PROJECT)

SESSION ONE
COURSE OUTLINE; TOPIC OF THE BA PROJECT; WORK DONE SO FAR;
SUPERVISION AND SUPERVISORS; PROBLEMS/QUESTIONS
1.
Topic of the BA Project and work done so far

If you have done your homework, get in your group of four and, together, find
answers to the following questions. Appoint a speaker to report on the work of your
group:
a.
What is the topic of your project? How did you choose it? Have you made any
changes?
b.
What/how much have you done so far?
2.
3.
a)
b)
To help you think and discuss you might want to look at what Bell (1996: 15-16) says
about selecting a topic:
1.
The topic may be given to you. Did this happen in your case? By whom? What
was your reaction?
You may have an idea or a particular area of interest that you would like to
explore.
You may have several ideas, all equally interesting. If so, write them down and
try to decide which one is the most feasible (remember there are time and space
constraints for a BA project!). To explore feasibility:
consult the library catalogue to see how much has been written;
talk to fellow students, teachers, possible supervisor. Their views
may differ from or even conflict with your own and may suggest alternative ways of
inquiry.
2. Supervision and supervisors
Use the space below to make notes about such issues as how you got your supervisor,
how you communicate with him/her, how he/she helped at the initial stage of your
project, things that go/went well, things that do not/did not work in your common
endeavour.
Then discuss your notes with the other members of your group and see what you have
in common and what is different in this matter. Next appoint a speaker to report on your
discussion.
a)
b)
c)
d)
To help you here is an adapted version of what Phillips and Pugh (1996: 82-99) have to
say in the matter of what supervisors expect of their supervisees:
Supervisors expect their supervisees to be independent. This is not as
straightforward as it may first appear. Despite the emphasis put on independence
throughout the whole period of your undergraduate studies and that of working on your
BA project, there are still very important aspects of the process that demand conformity:
conformity to accepted methodologies, to departmental and university policies, to style
of presentation, and to those things which your supervisor considers to be important.
Your supervisor is in a powerful position with regard to your work and your progress
through the system. For these matters it is no simple matter to balance the required
degree of conformity with the need to be independent.
Supervisors expect their supervisees to produce legible written work.
There is nothing more irritating to a busy academic than to be expected to read through
pages and pages of illegible handwritten script. Not only does it slow down the task
intolerably but it detracts from concentrating on the line of the argument being
developed, as the concentration is needed to decipher words and phrases. Sometimes
illegible parts are skipped, so the supervisor can miss completely a major point that the
student is attempting to justify. To add insult to injury from the supervisors point of
view the student will probably complain subsequently that the supervisor merely
made a cursory and superficial reading of the document. To prevent all these problems,
any written work submitted to the supervisor needs to be legible. It can be either
handwritten (legibly!) with wide margins and space between paragraphs to allow space
for comments, or word processed with the same spaces.
Supervisors expect to have regular meetings with their supervisees. The
more frequent the meetings, the more casual they are likely to be , helping to create a
climate for discussion.
Supervisors expect their supervisees to follow the advice that they give,
when it was given at the request of the student. This really seems to be a most
reasonable expectation, yet it is surprising how often it is contravened.
And finally, some tips for those of you who find it hard to manage their supervisors
(again adapted from Phillips and Pugh (1996)):
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Discuss your expectations and hopes for the working relationship

between the two of you.
Deadlines are very important: agree with your supervisor on the dates of
your meetings and the amount of work you are supposed to do before each meeting. Get
your supervisor to mark the dates in his/her diary and sometimes remind them (politely)
that you have given them things to read.
On the occasion of your meetings ask for clarification on your
supervisors comments on your work if you think they are not clear enough. Do not go
away with things that you cannot understand and cannot therefore improve.
3.
Problems? Questions/
Is there any thing you would like to clarify/ask?
HOMEWORK FOR SESSION TWO:
In your groups examine the BA projects you have been given and prepare to speak
about: their font and font size, justification, bold and italic, margins, spacing, page
numbers, notes, appendices, and referencing.

SESSION TWO
TECHNICALITIES OF WRITING A BA PROJECT
STYLESHEET; PLANNING THE PROJECT
1.
2.
3.
4.
The main points of this session are:

Stylesheet
Starting out: list of first thoughts/research questions
Contents [page(s)]
Title/Working title of the project
1. Stylesheet
In writing a BA project the main aims are that you get some practice in and demonstrate
knowledge of writing scholarly/academic pieces of non-fiction, from a stylistic, content
and technical point of view.
The emphasis in this session is on the technical aspects of the project and on your
looking at existing BA projects for purposes of comparison. Mention need to be made
that the stylesheet you will be introduced to in this session, and therefore advised to use
in your project, has been agreed upon by members of the department staff (your
supervisors being among them). There are at least two reasons for which the department
has made such a decision: first, there seems to be a need for standardisation of all BA
projects and second, (but not less important, for that matter), reader friendliness should
be the concept which underlies all your efforts to produce a good project.
All the information about the technical aspects of writing your BA project starts from
the assumption that you are able to use a computer or that you can instruct the person
who will do the word processing for you, which is going to make your task somewhat
harder.
1.1
Font and font size.

You are advised to use Times New Roman in your choice of font and 12 for font size.
For reasons of comparison you may want to look at the materials in this course which
are written with Times New Roman 12 points.
1.2
Justification
Full justification, blocked paragraphs (not indented) and a blank line between
paragraphs are recommended. Again, if you want an example, these materials abide by
these instructions.
Justification for: Chapter titles = centred
4
e.g.:
CHAPTER ONE
1.0
a)
b)
-
Introduction
1.7 Conclusion
Section/subsection titles = left
1.3 Bold and Italic
Bold
Use it for: - the front page of your project
the contents page of your project
chapter, section and subsection titles
names of authors in the reference list
bold italic may be used in the text for special emphasis
Italic
Use it for: - unassimilated borrowings, and for Latin, French, German formulae (e.g.
status quo, ad hoc, comme il faut, Zeitgeist)
isolated Romanian words in otherwise English sentences
for emphasis, i.e. when you are especially attracting your readers
attention to one or several words. If these words belong to a quotation and they are not
in italics in the original text, do not forget to put: (my emphasis/emphasis
added/emphasis in the original)
e.g.: The pronunciation may also be heard, [], from natives of Southern England
[]. (Jones, 1974: xvii) (my emphasis)
- titles of books in the reference list
Margins
Leave a wider left margin because your project needs to be bound. Wider means 3
centimetres or 3.5 if your computer says otherwise.
1.4
Line spacing
Use 1,5 line spacing. Reader friendliness is what makes this spacing important; less than
1,5 spacing makes your text uncomfortable to read and more than that makes the reader
suspicious that you are just trying to fill the required number of pages.
1.5
Page numbers
Number each page of your project. The position of the page numbers must be at the
bottom of the page and their alignment at the centre of the page. It is however,
advisable to keep your document without page numbers while you are working on it and
give it page numbers when you think (and your supervisor agrees!) it is ready for
submission.
1.6
Notes
5
Use end of chapter notes or footnotes with numbers in the text and a numbered list at
the end of each chapter or at the bottom of the page. Do not forget to check the
existence of the numbers in the text, they tend to disappear in the process of writing and
give the reader a hard time making sense of your work.
1.7
Other bits and pieces

a). Headed sections must be numbered, thus 4. 3. Analysis. One, two, three or four
decimal numbers for sub-section numbers may be used if desired (e.g.
4.1./4.1.2/4.1.2.1.). but not more.
b). For short items listed after bullets or numbers use the bullets/numbers icon
and no punctuation at line ends. Use either capitals or low case after bullets.
c). Appendices (if any) must be placed at the end of the project, after the list of
references (see below), with Appendix One and (after a blank line) the appendix
heading, if applicable.
d) Chapter numbers must be written as letters, e.g. Chapter One; section numbers must
be figures, e.g. 1.1.
e) Use full-stops after: etc. and e.g. i.e. (do not use suspension points = three dots)
f) Use single spaces between sentences, i.e. do not double space after a full-stop,
question mark, etc.
ACTIVITY:
Look at the BA project you have been given and in groups of three or four, discuss
whether it meets the aforementioned requirements. Assign a speaker for the group to
report to the class.
1.8
Referencing
One of the things you have to do in academic writing is to show how your ideas relate
to the ideas of other writers whose work you have read. Exactly which other writers to
refer to and how to do it is the most difficult part of this kind of writing. In this last
section of session two we will just deal with the practicalities: how to physically present
the evidence of your reading in your writing. Once you know what you are expected to
put in your project and in the reference list at the end of it, you will be able to see what
sorts of things you need to keep a record of as you read.
We will here look at two aspects of referencing:

a)
References in the text
There are several ways an authority can be cited in a paper. Most people use the
following system:
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direct quotation: e.g. Valdman (1973: 15) suggests that () perfectly

controlled research that answers significant and relevant questions in second-language
learning is an illusion.
paraphrase of the authors words: e.g.: Valdman claims that it is highly
difficult to do research that answers relevant questions in the area of second-language
learning for reasons which (etc.) (1973: 15)
in both cases it is useful to give the year of publication and the page
number of the book/journal you got your information from. It is in the reference list that
the reader can trace the title and all the other details.
references in the body of your text should be ordered either
alphabetically or chronologically, e.g.:
Faerch and Kasper (1981), Godfrey (1980), Schachter (1974) and Schachter and CelceMurcia (1977) have all pointed to avoidance strategies as another form of covert
grammatical error.
Schachter (1974), Schachter and Celce-Murcia (1977), Godfrey (1980) and Faerch and
Kasper (1981) have all pointed to avoidance strategies as anther form of covert
grammatical error.
if you take a quotation from a source other than the original, (secondary
quotation) show where you got it from, e.g.
According to Skehan (1978) (quoted/cited in Ellis, 1994) ..
It is however somewhat dangerous to quote something that is already quoted where you
quote it from and, in such cases, it is advisable to go after the original source. The
practice is yet, not unknown. Do not use it excessively and always indicate the fact that
you are not quoting the original. Views vary whether in this case Skehan (1978) (in the
example above) has to go in the reference list. To make sure you do not get criticised for
that, you should put such secondary references in the list at the end of your project.
b)
Reference list
A BA project ends with a reference list, not a bibliography (see materials for the
Academic Writing course - IInd year). When doing library research, it is useful to make
notes about the content of the work you read but it is highly important for you not to
forget to write down the bibliographical details of the works which will have to go in
your reference list. This will save you the time and effort of chasing after your sources
again at the end of your work on your project and will spare you the readers doubt
about whether you have actually read and used the books and papers you refer to.
In the reference list therefore, you have to give the following information about:
- a book: (one author)- authors family name (in bold)
authors first name (initials) (in bold)
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2.
-
the year of publication (in brackets)

the title of the book, the edition you have used (if it is not the first/only
edition) (in italic)
the city of publication and the publisher. (Many publishers have offices
in more than one city (like London and New York: Longman) In your reference list give
only the first. (In the case of smaller US cities, the state is also given.))
Here is an example:
Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP
- a book: (two authors)- authors family name (bold)
first authors first name (initials); when you write the second author
start with the initial
the title of the book, the edition you have used (if it is not the first/only
edition) (in italics)
the city of publication and the publisher.
Here is an example:
Schumann, J., and N. Stenson. (eds.) (1974). New Frontiers in
Second Language Learning. Rowley Mass: Newbury
House.
NB: 1. If the author(s) of the book is/are the editor(s), write (ed(s.)) after the names.
If an item in the reference list takes up more than one line, indent the second
line (one tab)
- an article in a journal:
- authors family name (in bold)
the title of the article, NOT in italics
name and volume number of journal (in italics)
page references
Here is an example:
Schumann, J. (1993). Some problems with falsification: an
illustration from SLA research. Applied Linguistics 14: 295-306. (pp. 295-306)
- an article in an edited book: - authors family name (in bold)
the title of the article, NOT in italics
name(s) of editor(s)of the book in which it appears (NOT in bold)
year of publication
title of the book (in italics)
page references
place of publication
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name of publisher
Here is an example:
Lightbown, P. (1983). Exploring relationships between
developmental and instructional sequences in L2
acquisition. In Seliger, H. and M. Long. (eds.) Classroomoriented Research in Second Language Acquisition.
Rowley Mass: Newbury House.
ACTIVITY:
Look at the BA project you have been given and in groups of three or four, discuss
whether it meets the requirements about referencing. Assign a speaker for the group to
report to the class.
1.9
FRONT PAGE
Your project will have to have a cover (information written in ROMANIAN) and a
front/first page (information written in English). The next two pages are examples of
what your cover and first page should look like.
UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA DIN BRAOV

FACULTATEA DE LITERE
DEPARTAMENTUL DE LINGVISTIC TEORETIC I APLICAT
(size: 18 points)
LUCRARE DE DIPLOM
(size: 20 points)
Absolvent
Ioana Ionescu
(size: 18 points)
Coordonator
Lector universitar Paula Popescu
(size: 18 points)
Braov
2014 (size: 18 points)
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TRANSILVANIA UNIVERSITY OF BRAOV

FACULTY OF LETTERS
DEPARTMENT OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS
(size: 18 points)
BA PROJECT
(size: 24 points)
THE SYMBOL OF THE SEA IN
E. M. HEMINGWAYS NOVEL
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
(size: 18 points)
Candidate
Ioana Ionescu
(size: 18 points)
Supervisor
Senior lecturer Paula Popescu
(size:18 points)
Braov
2014 (size: 18 points)
HOMEWORK FOR SESSION THREE
1. Think and make notes about the way you have planned your project. Did you need
any help? Did you get it?
2. Come to class with a copy of your contents page at this stage of your writing. If you
do not have one, write one before the session.
2.
Starting out: list of first thoughts/research questions

In a short project, the size of a BA project, it is not possible to do everything, so what
you have to do is consider your priorities. Planning the project is one of these priorities.
In the process of planning your project you need to start from choosing a topic (see
Session ONE) and draw up a first thoughts list of questions (Bell, 1996:17) or a list
of research questions. The idea of research and research questions may be a little
overwhelming for you as undergraduates writing a BA project. Even if such a project is
meant to show your ability to mainly do bibliographical research and prove
understanding of the literature (here read non-fiction) when you write, it is highly
11
unlikely that anyone would write about any topic without asking themselves all sorts of
why, what, how etc. questions before and while writing.
What this course is trying to demonstrate is that it necessary for you to be able to
formulate such questions and, more importantly, it is necessary to tell the reader of your
project about them and spell them out properly.
At the beginning stage of planning your project the order and wording of your questions
are not important. Your aim is to write down all possible questions, no matter how
vague. You will refine and order them later on.
In research however, in order to obtain reasonable answers, scholars need to ask the
right sort of questions. Nunan (1992: 213) discusses the issue of research questions and
gives highly illuminating examples. He maintains that:
The [research] questions need to be:
1.
worth asking in the first place
2.
capable of being answered.
There are many questions or issues which are eminently capable of being researched,
but which may not be worth asking. For example, it would be technically feasible to
determine the number of Spanish interpreters who wear designer jeans, or the
relationship between the wearing of rubber thongs (AmE = a type of shoes that you hold
on with your toes; BrE = flipflops) and academic achievement. However, it is highly
dubious whether these questions are worth asking. Unfortunately, often the questions
which are the easiest to answer are not worth asking.
a)
1.
2.
3.
b)
For the purposes of this session, in order to give you examples of possible research
questions, two of your project topics have been chosen (the choice may not have been a
happy one and the course tutor does not claim any authority in any of the two
domains). Of these two topics, the former is Relationships in D. H. Lawrences novels:
Sons and Lovers and The Rainbow and the latter, New methods of teaching a
foreign language. Your list of first thoughts or research questions might be on the
following lines:
1. What is meant by relationship in this investigation?
Is there a relationship between the two novels?
What barriers to relationships are there in the two novels?
etc.
1. What is meant by new methods in language teaching?
2.What is the difference between older and new language teaching methods?
3. What is the role of the teacher in implementing the new language teaching methods?
4.etc.
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ACTIVITY:
Now that you have some idea about what questions you could try to answer in your
project, take some time and think about it. Then write at least three questions that you
might want to answer in your project, (your questions must be either wh- or yes/no
questions) discuss them in your groups, see if your partners can give you any feed-back
and finally appoint a speaker to summarise the activity to the class.
2.1 First thoughts/research questions where in the project? (if at all !)

ACTIVITY:
This is an activity where you are required to discuss about and decide, as a group, if the
questions we have been talking about are worth asking, if they are worth being
mentioned in your project and where. Again, a speaker for the group will have to report
to the class.
The important thing is to discuss the issue of these questions with your supervisor
and abide by her/his advice.
3.
Contents [page(s)]
The Contents Page is an important element of your BA project. It therefore needs a lot
of thinking and the stage at which you are planning your project is the time when you
have to think about and write down a first version of the contents page of your project.
ACTIVITY:
If you havent thought about the contents page of your project so far, its high time you
did! If you have already got one, (good for you!) a discussion about it will certainly
help. But, at this moment of the session, take some time to think of the chapters,
subchapters/sections, subsections, appendices, tables, and reference list you have
planned, write down a version of the contents page and then discuss it in your group. In
your discussion of your own contents page, give arguments for your decisions. Of
course, one of you needs to report to the class at the end of your discussions.
4.
Title/Working title of the project

13
The title of your project is of course very much related to the topic you have all looked
at in Session One. You will have certainly understood that that is only a working title
which usually changes several times before you can finally print it on the front page of
your project.
The final version of the title should tell the reader what your project is about so you will
only be ready to devise a final title when you are clear about the focus of your study.
Relationships in D. H. Lawrences novels etc., for example, will serve for the time
being but, later on, a refined version or even a subtitle will no doubt clarify the nature of
the topic and give the reader a clue about what she/he will look at.
QUESTION:
Has anyone gone through several versions of their title? If so, can they share their
experience with everyone else?
HOMEWORK FOR SESSION FOUR:
Bring with you a (ONE) book that you have read (or are currently reading for your
project) and any piece of paper on which you have made notes while reading and
which you have used or intend to use in writing your paper.
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SESSION THREE
READING THE LITERATURE KEEPING RECORDS AND MAKING NOTES
1.
Reading the literature for your BA project.
2.
Keeping records and making notes
1.
Reading the literature

Once you have established the topic of your BA project, planned it and did all this with
some books or journal articles in front of you or at least in your mind you are ready to
start reading.
Reading is, of course, a very complex process, but it is not the main focus of this course.
What we are interested in here is how we read what we read and how we make notes of
what we find relevant in our reading. The way these notes are used in the actual writing
of the project is the focus of a future session.
ACTIVITY:
In your groups tell one another about the way you have read the sources of your project.
You may want these guidelines in your discussion:
what do you do first when you have a new (?) and highly relevant book
in front of you?
how do you know the books/articles you have gathered in view of
reading and using them for your project are relevant for your topic?
demonstrate the relevance of the book you have brought to your group
mates
Do not forget: one of you has to report to the class about your activity.
COMMENTS:
Use this space to note any interesting things coming out of the discussion:
ACTIVITY:
15
In your groups again look at the pieces of paper with your reading notes and discuss
about the way you make notes when you read. Appoint a speaker to report to the class.
2. Keeping records and making notes
a)
Keeping records by using index cards

The virtues of index cards (which you can buy at any stationary or you can make
yourselves) have often been pointed out:
they are neat, easy to handle and give you a nice physical feeling of
something achieved
they are useful as a record of everything youve read because they will
contain: bibliographical details (name of author, date, title of article or book, place of
publication, publisher, page numbers if it is an article)
on the same card you can put: page references to the original and/or to
your own paper and some key words
some people like to keep their favourite quotations in a separate index
card system
some people keep a card index system for issues, e.g. feminine
characters in 19th century novel then notes on what they have found out about that in
various places
Here are some examples of how to record bibliographic information:

a) Source card for a book:
Subject (optional):
SLA
Author: R. Ellis
Year of publication: 1994
Title: The Study of Second Language Acquisition
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Place of publication: Oxford
b)
source card for a journal article:

Subject (optional)
Language Testing
Author: Patricia A. Denham
Title: Tests of aural/oral control of language
Journal: Papua New Guinea Journal of Education
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Volume No; Issue No.: Vol. 16, No. 3

Date of volume/issue: 1969
Page reference: pp. 1-16
c)
source card for an article or chapter in a book:

Subject (optional)
African History
Author: D.H. Jones
Year of publication: 1961
Title of article/chapter: Peoples and kingdoms of the Central Sudan
Editor: in Roland Oliver (ed.)
Title of book: The Dawn of African History
Place of publication: London
Publisher: Oxford University Press
b) Making notes
ACTIVITY:
1.
Read this quotation from Bell (1996: 29) which includes valuable advice about
the way you should make notes when reading:
[] devise a system of note-taking which records the actual evidence obtained from
your sources. Some researchers prefer notebooks, some prefer loose sheets of paper and
others prefer note cards. If you use a notebook, information will be recorded as it is
obtained. Leave a wide margin. At a later stage you may wish to cut up the notebook,
preferably into pieces of uniform size, to enable you to sort material into sections ready
for planning the format of your report.
Whether you use notebooks, loose sheets or note cards will depend on your preference,
but the type of information you record and the method of recording will be the same.
There is some merit in selecting cards. [] Experience has shown that it is best to make
only one point on each card and to use only one side of the paper or card. You will then
have maximum flexibility in sorting out the cards at the writing stage.
2.
In the space below make notes about the relevance of this quotation for your
own note-taking style.
3.
What is the content of the notes you make when you read? Prepare to tell this
to the class.
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Examples of using cards for note taking:

a)
quotation
Heading
(optional)
LANGUAGE: CORRECT USAGE
(use quotation marks to indicate direct quotation)
(use dots in square brackets to indicate something omitted)
Even though the language changes century by century [] we ought to be able to see
it is still an important question for every generation whether it should say this or that,
whether this or that form is correct, and so on, it would be regrettable if those who were
most competent to decide such questions were to leave the decision to the less
competent.
Author/date of publication/page reference:
Jesperson, 1946, pp. 98-99
b) summary
Heading
(optional)
LANGUAGE: CORRECT USAGE
(abbreviation for authors name) J. admits that nothing can stop language from
changing, but insists that linguistic historians (direct quotation) still have a duty to
guide the less well-informed on what is acceptable or not acceptable at a particular time.
Author/date of publication/page reference: Jesperson, 1946, pp. 98-99
A final word about keeping records and making notes in the computer
If you prefer to keep records and make notes directly in the computer, and are obviously
able to use one with this aim, by all means do so. And, if you have experience in doing
this in the computer, can you give everybody some tips?
HOMEWORK FOR SESSION FIVE
In your groups (if possible), inspect (again) the BA projects you have been given. This
time look at how the authors use other peoples ideas in their own writing and prepare to
use your findings in the class discussions.
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19

SESSION FOUR
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN READING AND WRITING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1.

Quotations and quoting (tying loose ends from session two)
Introducing/reporting and commenting on other peoples ideas in your
writing
Plagiarism
writing (follow up)
Identifying the main points of the source materials for your BA projects:
claim(s), argumentation, evidence, conclusion(s)
Quotations and quoting (tying loose ends from session one)
This section will, hopefully, bring more information about the use of quotations in your
own writing.
Two things need be mentioned here: (a) from the point of view of form, in your own
text there has to be a distinction between short quotations (one or two lines) and long
quotations (more than two lines), and (b) any quotation has to be introduced and
possibly followed by your own words of appreciation, agreement, disagreement, etc. In
other (rather joking) words: do not quote and run!
To go back to short quotations here is an example from Ellis (1994:565). It will show
you how this author uses another persons words and how he introduces the quotation
and follows it up:
A second perspective involves going inside the black box of the classroom itself. It
views the classroom as a place where interactions of various kinds take place, affording
learners opportunities to acquire the L2. Allwright (1984:156) sees interaction as the
fundamental fact of classroom pedagogy because everything that happens in the
classroom happens through a process of live person-to-person interaction. This
perspective has drawn heavily on the research and theories dealing with the
relationship between input/interaction and L2 learning.
NB: 1. For the purposes of this session, Elliss words have been put in italics to
demonstrate how he makes the connection between his own line of thought and the
quotation.
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2. The name of the quoted author, the year and the page are in bold italics to show you
that you have to put such reference in your text, but not in bold italics.
In order to demonstrate how a long quotation should appear in your text, here is
another passage from Ellis (1994:575):
The Communicative Orientation in Language Teaching (COLT) (Allen, Frolich and
Spada, 1984) differs from the systems that preceded it in that it was not only informed
by current theories of communicative competence and communicative language
teaching but also by research into L1 and L2 acquisition. The authors comment:
The observational categories are designed (a) to capture significant
features of verbal interaction in L2 classrooms and (b) to provide a
means of comparing some aspects of classroom discourse with natural
language as it is used outside the classroom (1984:232)
The system is in two parts. The first part, A description of classroom activities, is
designed for use in real time coding.
NB: 1. Again, the words in italics are Elliss with bold italic for the words that he
actually uses to introduce the quotation after having commented on the idea(s) that it
includes.
2. As you can see, a long quotation must be indented (two tabs) and in smaller font size
(10 points if the main text is written in 12 points).
Another issue worth looking at when we have quotations in mind is that of secondary
quotations. You are referred to SESSION TWO for information on how to use (in your
text) quotations already quoted. However you must remember that such quotations must
be used sparingly otherwise you may be accused of not making enough effort to trace
the original sources.
ACTIVITY:
With what you have read so far about the use of quotations at the back of your mind,
look at the papers you wrote for the CLL course, find any quotations or paraphrases you
may have used, point them out to your group mates. Prepare to report to the class. Then
do the same thing with the BA projects you have been given.
Use this space to make notes:
2.

writing
21
a)
b)
-
Here are some useful expressions for introducing/reporting and commenting on other
peoples arguments and ideas in your writing.
NB: This list is not exhaustive, however, you may find it useful:
when selecting the reporting verb appropriate to your own stand
for reasons of elegant variation
[The author]:
says/argues/explains/states/notes (that)
holds the view/puts forward the view/maintains/expresses the view
(that)
puts (something) across (very) convincingly/unconvincingly
acknowledges/recognises/admits/(dis)agrees (that)
alleges/claims/suggests/implies/refers to/points out/indicates/shows
(that)
highlights/underlines/emphasises/brings out/points to
wonders (if/why)/asks him/herself (why)/questions (whether)/addresses
the issue/question/problem of
concludes (that/by)/sums up (by)/reaches the conclusion (that)
Comment on other peoples ideas:

e.g.: - As X argues, . (indicates you agree)
X argues, wrongly in my view, that .. (indicates disagreement)
Acknowledge your role in interpreting an author:
e.g.: In my understanding, X means that .
As I understand Xs point, .
My understanding of Xs view is that
Xs view would suggest, in my opinion, that ..
ACTIVITY:
Imagine that you are writing an assignment for this course, and that you have read
among other things, an article by Bartholomae 1985 (see end of session for complete
reference). Read these three extracts from this article:
The student has to appropriate (or to be appropriated by) a specialised
discourse, and he [Bartholomaes generic pronoun] and he has to do this as though he
were easily and comfortably at one with his audience, as though he were a member of
the academy or an historian or an anthropologist or an economist; he has to invent the
university by mimicking its language while finding some compromise between
idiosyncrasy, a personal history, on the other hand, and the requirements of convention,
the history of a discipline, on the other. He must speak our language. Or he must dare to
22
speak it to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writing will most certainly be required
long before the skill is learned . (page 134)
To speak with authority [student writers] have to speak not only in anothers voice but
through anothers code; and they not only have to do this, they have to speak in the
voice and through the codes of those of us with power and wisdom; and they not only
have to do this, they have to do it before they know what they are doing. (page 156)
Their initial progress will be marked by their abilities to take on the role of privilege,
by their abilities to establish authority. (page 162)
1.
2.
3.
4.
3.
Referring to these three extracts, quote or paraphrase them and write:

One or two sentences in which you appeal to Bartholomae as authority for a
point in your own argument.
One or two sentences in which you explain what you understand by one of
Bartholomaes points, and how it is relevant to your argument.
One or two sentences in which you present Bartholomaes contribution to
thinking about academic writing.
One or two sentences in which you show how you disagree with something
Bartholomae says.
Work in groups. Use the list of useful expressions in writing your sentences. Report to
the class. There will be a follow up of this activity in SESSION SIX. You are therefore
required to bring to class your answers to questions 1-4.
Plagiarism
To sum up, you need to understand that it is practically unavoidable and, in fact, very
welcome to discuss what other people have to say about the topic you have chosen for
your BA project. The most faithful way of presenting the views of an author is by
quoting his words verbatim. This, however, must be indicated, actually if you put
something in quotation marks, this acts as a disclaimer stating that you do not
necessarily agree with the view put forward. Between the quotation marks you have to
cite your source as faithfully as possible. If you want to add something put it in square
brackets (see extracts from Bartholomae, 1985), if you delete something replace it by
dots (). Even italicisation for emphasis must be noted if not present in the original,
therefore you must write italics mine/my emphasis after the reference data.
Any other practice in the use of other peoples words and ideas in ones own writing, i.e.
failure to observe the above-mentioned rules constitutes plagiarism.
To end this session, here is what Joan Leib writes about the issue of plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the theft and presentation of anothers words or ideas as ones
23
own, the unacknowledged use of material from another source. Of course facts and
ideas which are common knowledge are not the property of any writer, even though he
or she has written about them, and thus you may present material that is common
knowledge (e.g. that the French revolution began in 1789) without worrying about
documentation. But you must give credit (through formal or informal documentation)
for any idea not considered common knowledge which you take from a source even
though you have developed the idea on your own such that it is no longer recognisable
as the idea of another. Also, you must acknowledge you indebtedness to an author if
have borrowed any wording or phraseology, regardless of the idea being treated (e.g.
you would need a footnote if you used all or part of an authors sentence such as the
following: The summer of 1789 precipitated that frightening and cacophonous tumult
called the French Revolution.).
Blatant plagiarism is viewed as a serious breach of academic ethics, on a par with
cheating on examinations. Sometimes students get into trouble by using ideas from a
book or article to bolster their own discussion because they dont have to do a good job
by themselves or because they feel insecure about their ideas. And it is easy to brush
aside the seriousness of the infraction because many people do not equate copying some
words from a book with stealing. But even a limited, casual borrowing constitutes
plagiarism and is likely to raise doubts in the experienced readers mind as to the
students ability and integrity. More extensive plagiarism could result in a loss of credit
for the paper or even the entire course.
D. Joan Leib, SDL3966@OBERLIN.EDU
http://www.oberlin.edu/-english/writing/html
4.

writing (follow up)
ACTIVITY 1:
At the beginning of this SESSION you worked on three extracts from Bartholomae
(1985) and used them to practice introducing/reporting and commenting on other
peoples ideas in your writing. Now you have a chance to compare your writing with
that of Ivanic (1998) (see complete reference at the end of this session). The two
extracts below demonstrate how Ivanic incorporates Bartholomaes ideas in her writing
and the way she incorporates quotations in her text.
24
Read the two extracts and compare them with your writing. Prepare to report to the
class.
Extract 1
Bartholomae, while not using the term intertextuality, nor referring to Bakhtin, is
referring to the same phenomenon when writing about the way in which student writers
have to invent the university:
The student has to appropriate (or to be appropriated by) a specialised
discourse, and he [Bartholomaes generic pronoun] and he has to do this as though he
were easily and comfortably at one with his audience, as though he were a member of
the academy or an historian or an anthropologist or an economist; he has to invent the
university by mimicking its language while finding some compromise between
idiosyncrasy, a personal history, on the other hand, and the requirements of convention,
the history of a discipline, on the other. He must speak our language. Or he must dare to
speak it to carry off the bluff, since speaking and writing will most certainly be required
long before the skill is learned . (Bartholomae 1985:134)
This is an intuitively appealing explanation for why students write as they do, pointing
out that students have to adopt a voice which they do not yet own. However,
Bartholomae treats the requirements of convention as if they were incontestable, and
does not explore the possibility of students bringing alternative discourses to the
academy which might eventually have an effect on its conventions. In the rest of this
book I explore what this compromise between idiosyncrasy, a personal history, on the
one hand, and the requirements of convention, the history of a discipline, on the other
means not only for my co-researchers, but also for the institution of higher education.
Through studies such as these it is becoming increasingly recognised that learner writers
(like all writers) are not so much learning to be creative as learning to use discourses
which already exist creatively. Intertextuality contributes to a theory of writer identity
in two ways. A writers identity is not individual and new, but constituted by the
discourses s/he adopts. On the other hand, a writers identity is determined not
completely by other discourses, but rather by the unique way in which she draws on and
combines them.
Extract 2
Bartholomae presents intertextuality not only in terms of taking on the words of others,
but also taking on the roles of others. He writes:
To speak with authority [student writers] have to speak not only in anothers voice and
through anothers code; and they not only have to do this, they have to speak in the
25
voice and through the codes of those of us with power and wisdom; and they not only
have to do this, they have to do it before they know what they are doing. (156)
and
Their initial progress will be marked by their abilities to take on the role of privilege,
by their abilities to establish authority. (162)
He is making the point that a writer, when writing with the discourses of the community,
takes on the identity of a member of that community. In the case of writing within the
university, that is the identity of a person with authority. This is a crucial insight,
because the one thing that characterises most of the writers I worked with was a sense
of inferiority, a lack of confidence in themselves, a sense of powerlessness, a view of
themselves as people without knowledge, and hence without authority. For some, this
was the legacy of a working-class background. For others, it was associated with age or
gender; for all, it was associated with previous failure in the education system and an
uncertainty as to whether they had the right to be members of the academic community
at all. On the other hand, there are some who bring authority of different types into the
academic institution from different domains, such as business, local politics or
parenthood: authority which often goes unrecognised by the academic community. I
take these issues up with examples in Chapter 10.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
ACTIVITY 2:
Look at the two extracts again and answer the following questions:
How does Ivanic (an academic writer) present/refer to the work of others (in
this case Bartholomae)?
How does she do it?
quotation/paraphrase/summary?
details about wording, layout, etc.
(You cant always tell exactly what she has done, as you dont have the whole book to
refer to)
Any observations about WHAT is referred to WHERE in the extracts?
Any observations about HOW LONG the quotations/paraphrases are?
What language does she use to refer to the work of others?
5.
Critical reading - identifying the main points of the source materials for
your BA projects: claim(s), argumentation, evidence, conclusion(s)
This section of SESSION FOUR looks at reading as a purposeful activity (i.e. reading
with a critical eye) especially when it is meant to be the support for the writing of your
BA project. The critical reading of source materials will be of help when you use the
ideas of other writers on your topic and in so doing you should look for the following in
your readings:
a)
The major claim(s) made in the book/chapter/article, if any.
26
What you should be interested in here is what the author wants you, as reader, to believe
about the questions addressed, the issues raised as a result of your reading his work. You
may expect to find this in the introduction or conclusion of a book/chapter or in the
abstract of an article or in an opening paragraph. But you need to remember that the
author may make claims at the beginning of his work and then modify them through the
argument so that the conclusions are somewhat (even very) different. Note also that a
sloppy author may make claims that get forgotten thereafter.
b)
The nature and quality of any argumentation used to substantiate
any claim(s) made.
Here you should look at what the author does, in his/her writing, to try to persuade you
to believe in the justice and wisdom of his or her claims. You may already agree with
the author, anyway, of course, but this is not the point here at all. The point is to
analyse the structure (including the logic and evidence) of the authors argument and
then decide whether the author gives you sufficient reason to believe him or her,
whatever you may already think on the issue in question. Note that sloppy authors (i.e.
almost all of us, including ourselves) are likely to fail to take properly into account (and
properly dispose of) possible counter-arguments to their chosen position.
c)
The nature and quality of evidence used as part of any argument to

substantiate any claim(s) made.
Part of the structure of an argument is likely to be evidence brought forward in support
of the authors claim(s). Evidence could take a variety of forms, from experimental
findings to the wisdom of the ages (e.g. quotations from ancient philosophers). What
you, as readers, should look for is whether the author uses evidence in support of any
claim and whether this evidence is convincing. Note also that evidence may well be
entirely consistent with a claim, but not actually any proof of its validity, because it may
also be consistent with quite different claims. It is also quite common for authors to fail
to seriously consider the available counter-evidence.
d)
The validity of the conclusions drawn;
i)
internal: in relationship to the argumentation provided by

the book/chapter/article,
ii)
external: in relationship to anything else you may already

know about the topic.
Note, as above, that it is in the conclusion to the book/chapter/article that you should
have been able to find the definitive statement of the authors major claims in the first
place, but he/she may have stated some claims at the beginning and then modified them
27
in the argument offered throughout the work and thus offer conclusions that do not
match the original claims made
Note that in response to ii) you will not be expected to know everything there is to
know, but there may be things you do already know (without having to do a lot of extra
reading) that you can bring in at this stage.
HOMEWORK:
Go back to one of the materials you have read for your BA project and analyse it in
terms of point 2 in this Session. Prepare to speak about it in SESSION FIVE.
REFERENCES:
Bartholomae, D. (1985). Inventing the University. In M. Rose (ed.), When a Writer
Cant Write. New York. Guilford
Ivanic, R. (1997). Writing and Identity: The Discoursal Construction of Identity in
Academic Writing. Amsterdam. Benjamins
Leib, J. SDL3966@OBERLIN.EDU
http://www.oberlin.edu/-english/writing/html
28

SESSION FIVE
THE LITERATURE REVIEW
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.

What is a literature review?
A critical review characteristics
Making your voice heard
Some academic discourse conventions
What is a literature review?
In SESSION FOUR you focused on the critical reading of the source materials for your
BA project. This activity materialised in reading notes, of course, is the fist stage in the
production of the literature review in your project.
Starting from the assumption that there in no one good way in which a review of
literature should be done we could however attempt to define the concept and look at
how Hart (1998) (see end of session for full reference) views this piece of writing:
Initially we can say that a review of the literature is important because without it you
will not acquire an understanding of your topic, of what has already been done on it,
how it has been researched, and what the key issues are. In your written project you will
be expected to show that you understand previous research on your topic. This amounts
to showing that you have understood the main theories in the subject area and how they
have been applied and developed, as well as the main criticisms that have been made of
work on the topic. The review is therefore part of your academic development of
becoming an expert in the field. (page 1)
The following quotation, also from Hart (1998), looks at the good and bad points in a
literature review:
Undertaking a review of a body of literature is often seen as something obvious and as
a task easily done. In practice, although () students do produce reviews of the
literature, the quality of these varies considerably. Many reviews, in fact, are only
disguised annotated bibliographies [i.e. poor copy and paste jobs]. Quality means
appropriate breadth and depth, rigour and consistency, clarity and brevity, and effective
analysis and synthesis; in other words, the use of the ideas in the literature to justify the
particular approach to the topic, the selection of methods, and demonstration that this
research [i.e. your work] contributes something new. Poor reviews of a topic literature
cannot always be blamed on the student (). It is not necessarily their fault or a failing
in their ability: poor literature reviews can often be the fault of those who provide the
education and training in research. (pages 1-2)
29
ACTIVITY:
Read the two extracts from Hart again and, in groups, discuss and then make notes
under the following headings:
a)
definition of a literature review
b)
2.
dos and donts in a literature review
A critical review characteristics

It is clear that a lot of time and thought need be given to the literature review, in terms
of both content and the demands of academic writing.
Below are some suggestions as to how your reviews could be developed. Obviously, not
all these will apply to everyone, but they are things that might be helpful to several
people, at least:
a)
describe the book/chapter/article you are reviewing, in terms of
concepts or theory, research questions, approach, methodology, analysis, findings and
interpretation o findings. There is no escaping this need to be reader-friendly the
impact of any judgements you make will be lost if it is unclear what they refer to.
b)
give credit where credit is due: you may not like the
book/chapter/article you are reviewing, but presumable someone in the field thought
there was worthwhile about it. Any criticisms you have are likely to more validity if you
are seen to be able to recognise positive points too. Even if you have many reservations
about what you are reviewing, you may still agree with the writer, for example that the
topic is important: perhaps because it partly fills a gap in the literature, or that the study
is important since it is trying to replicate another in a different context, to see if the
findings are comparable.
c)
be constructively critical: even if you are unfamiliar with the research
area and the methodology, you are still in a position to evaluate (i) the major claims in
the book/chapter/article, if any, (ii) the nature and quality of the argumentation, (iii) the
nature and quality of the evidence and (iv) the conclusion (s) the author draws.
If what you read at first seems altogether unobjectionable, consider not just what you
think is important but also what has not been said, and also emphasis: has something
been included but its importance exaggerated, or underplayed, for example?
30
The main crafting skill in writing a critical review is to integrate these three. In
order to do b) and c) successfully, you need to engage in the academic discourse
practice of making your voice heard.
3.
Making your voice heard

Clearly, giving credit where credit is due and constructively criticising, mean putting
yourself into the text. This discourse practice is likely to be something done more in
some contexts than others; it is also something individuals within the same context will
vary in as regards the extent they feel comfortable with it and we shall be discussing
this soon. If you accept that your voice is a legitimately academic one and, to my
mind, as experienced university undergraduates, with a wealth of reading and writing
experience to draw on, you have every right to do this then the use of I is
correspondingly not only appropriate, but important. I would suggest that a reader is
likely to want to know not only where you stand, but also to see you take responsibility
for your stance.
4.
(a)
Some academic discourse conventions, or Tips for academic writers

In your literature review, make clear where all the ideas and claims came
from:
e.g. Hutchinson and Torres (1975) claim that .

As Ellis (1994) says in
In my own experience as a
Do not leave the reader feeling that an idea has simply fallen from the sky.
(b)
Make sure that it is clear how each paragraph relates to the whole of a section,
how each section relates to the whole of a chapter and how the chapters relate to the
topic of your BA project. And again, make sure that all the components of the project
has a role to play in the ensemble. Always ask yourselves: How is this
sentence/paragraph/section/chapter relevant? And, be prepared to use the Delete key
(c)
If you can, do not simply introduce a quotation, (most of you do very well),
but comment on it too.
(d)
When you are evaluating negatively something the writer has said, quote the
writers actual words otherwise you run the risk of the reader thinking you might be
exaggerating, or being selective, or simply have misinterpreted the writer. This will lend
your criticism mo0re conviction and interest. It will also allow the reader to evaluate
your evaluation. And, perhaps most importantly, it will make you think particularly
carefully about the validity of your criticism.
31
(e)
In relation to the above, the more specific examples and specific quotations
you can give, the better (within limits, of course); these make your writing vivid and
interesting.
ACTIVITY:
With sections 3 and 4 in mind, work in groups and tell your partners which of the above
you have done/are currently doing. Prepare to report to the class.
REFERENCE:
Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review. London: Sage Publications
32

SESSION SIX
WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW
After having looked at general points about the literature review, this session introduces
you to its actual writing.
The main points of this session are;
1.
Organising and expressing ideas
2.
Writing the review
3.
Video session
1.
Organising and expressing ideas

Once you have identified, read and made notes from the most relevant items of
literature for your own topic you are in a position to write your literature review. Such
tools as analysis, synthesis and comparison might be the ones you need in order to write
a successful literature review.
(a)
Analysis and synthesis

ACTIVITY:
The following extracts from Hart (1998) define, in general terms, what he understands
by analysis and synthesis as basic procedures for the writing of a review of literature as
part of a project similar to the one you are supposed to write. Read them carefully and
then think of your own work in terms of his ideas. Make notes about how you have
used/are using these two tools in your writing and prepare to report to the class.
Extract 1
Analysis is the job of systematically breaking down something into its constituent parts
and describing how they relate to each other it is not a random dissection but a
methodological examination. There is a degree of exploration in analysis. You can play
around with the parts, rearranging them in various configurations to explore possible
leads. You should not be afraid to try things out purely to see how they fit together.
Nevertheless, when it comes to analysing several items, such as a batch of articles, you
should attempt to be systematic, rigorous and consistent. If a range of arguments is
being analysed, you will need to explicate the claim, data and warrant for each
argument. In this way, the identification of the individual and similar elements in a
range of items can be compared and contrasted.(page 110)
33
Extract 2
Synthesis, (), is the act of making connections between the parts identified in the
analysis. It is not simply a matter of reassembling the parts back into the original order,
but looking for a new order. It is about recasting the information into a new or different
arrangement. That arrangement should show connections and patterns that have not
been produced previously. (ibid.)
(b)
Comparison
ACTIVITY:
In these two extracts from Hart (1998) you will find his view on the use of comparison
in the review of literature. Read it carefully and prepare to speak about if and how you
have used comparison in your writing, if at all.
Extract 1
A common practice in the social sciences is to make comparisons between the works
and ideas of different authors. This usually involves finding common points of interest
between, say, definitions of main concepts, kinds of data collected and the interpretation
of findings. The practice can be useful in identifying common areas of interest and
differing positions on similar topic areas. () The point to note, however, is that
comparing theorists has inherent difficulties, mainly to do with the selection of criteria
or points of reference that are valid and comparable. (page 131)
Extract 2
Not all things can be compared with other things. Any number of phenomena
belonging to the same family of things () can usually be analysed in comparative
framework, but rarely can all the elements in one phenomenon be compared to those of
another with equivalent degrees of similarity and difference. There will be certain
elements in one phenomenon not present in others and vice versa. Selectivity, therefore,
is essential to any successful comparative analysis.
One of the requirements of selection is that choices made need to be clear, explicit and
justified, because the choice of which elements to compare might affect the degree to
which the reader agrees with the analysis. The detail required for a justification (i.e.
argument) depends on the audience and the degree of novelty of the comparison. Taking
account of, and writing for, a particular hypothetical readership is important. When
setting out on the analysis you need to have in mind just what type of person will read
the research report. Try to think about the level of knowledge you can reasonably expect
from your potential readers. Similarly, the more novel or radical the comparison, the
greater the need for detailed explication. Conversely, the more familiar the comparison,
the less will be the need for explication. (page 132)
34
2.
(a)
(i)
Writing the review

Making a plan
We talked about planning in SESSION ONE, in this session we look at such issues as (i)
defining your purpose and (ii) choosing an appropriate structure for your argument.
Defining your purpose
This is when you clarify your purpose in terms of what you are aiming to achieve. This
needs to be a clear statement that is expressed in no more than a few short sentences. It
can help if you write down the aims of the review and include them in the introduction
to the review chapter. The aims are therefore the main reference point for the review.
The content of the review should realise those aims in a way that is clear, systematic and
direct. To do this you need to think about the arrangement of the chapter, and in a
moment we look at three possible arrangements. At this stage, however, remember that
your notes need to be organised in a way that addresses your aims. Try to arrange your
materials into three basic blocks (each with as many subsections as you feel are
necessary):
Summary of existing work on the topic. This includes the different ways in
which the topic has been studied and the issues different authors have highlighted as a
result of their work. Identify the different ways key terms and concepts have been
defined or used.
Critical evaluation of previous work. Assess the methodologies and methods
that have been employed previously to study the topic and evaluate the relative
strengths and weaknesses of the literature. The key thing in this block is to make visible
the map of methodological assumptions in the literature.
Some general and specific conclusions about work done to date on the topic.
General conclusions can be about the overall direction of work on the topic in relation
to earlier more foundational work. Specific conclusions are about identifying gaps,
fallacies (weakness in someones arguments or ideas) and failures in previous work in
order to show the legitimacy of your own work.
(ii) Choosing an appropriate structure for your argument
If you have a structure that you can work with, then you have a starting point to
begin writing. There are a number of possible structures that you can use. The table
below shows three of them. Elements can be taken from each of these structures.
However, if, for instance, you are making recommendations then in all cases you need
to explain the benefits of those recommendations. This is the most popular arrangement
for writing a recommendation:
describe what is wrong; what the problem is;
make a proposal to solve the problem;
examine the benefits that would result if the proposal were adopted;
acknowledge and refute (prove that a statement or idea is not correct) any
possible objection to the proposal.
35
Possible structures for your argument

Problem-awareness
Cause
pattern
and
effectPossible
pattern solution
pattern
(summative evaluation) (analytical evaluation) (formative evaluation)
Describe the nature of the
Establish the existence Consider
of
definitions and
problem; give examples
the of
problem
the (problem solutions
awareness):
already tried: give relevant
problem showing its extent;
proposeoffer
possible causes
examples
of the
of solutions tried; show
evidence that the problem
problem;
exists;show the main
why they
factors
failed or were inadequate;
develop a definition of theunderpinning
problem. the proposed
show
causes.
factors causing failure; provide
evidence
of factors.
Show the relevance of the
Clarify any confusing
areas:
Consider
possible
problem to the reader:
eliminate
provide
any improbable, irrelevant
specific evidence /argument
causes/definitions;
of
provide
alternatives:
evidence distinguish between
negative effects.
for causes/definitions eliminated.
alternatives; provide summary of
effects of alternatives; make
Explain the consequencesFocus
if attention possible
on proposed
choice from alternatives by
nothing is done or if current
cause/definition:
state
providea evidence
elimination; provide evidence for
continues: provide evidence
for
proposed
of
cause/definition;
effects/current practice; summarise
summarisethe argument. elimination and choice.
Summarise the problem,
the problem situation.
Suggest
course
solutions
tried and why they failed
Outline the parameters
of
(recommendations)
of action
to deal
and give recommendations for
the problem (definitional with
argument)
the problem.
alternative approaches.
Outline
an
approach
(recommendations) for tackling the
problem situation.
36
(b)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Thinking about the needs of the reader

A useful technique here is to ask yourselves a number of questions, called the writers
questions. The idea is that if you are aware of who will read your work and what they
will need to know then you can work towards producing work that is suited to your
reader. The kinds of questions to think about are:
How much knowledge can we assume the reader will have?
What will the reader want to know?
How will they read my project:
What kinds of answers to possible questions will I need to provide?
(c) Editing your draft
The list below will help you to do some editing a necessary task that will improve
what you have written, helping to make it clear, simple and consistent.
Identify unclear or excessively long sentences and rewrite into shorter
ones.
Examine each paragraph to ensure it covers only one topic.
See if any paragraphs can be rewritten to be more effective
List the topics for each paragraph to ensure that you have links between
them that are sequential.
Replace jargon with either an everyday word or explain the meaning of
the jargon.
Look for unnecessary adjectives and delete vague qualifications such as
very.
Look at the analogies and metaphors you have used and check that they
are appropriate
Look for pompous and unnecessarily long words and replace them with
simpler , more sensible words.
There are a number of presentational devices that may help and some which you should
avoid, in order to give more coherence to your work; examples are shown in the list
below:
Sentences
Express one idea in a sentence. Ensure that all your
sentences have a subject, verb and object.
Paragraphs
Group sentences that express and develop one aspect of your
topic. When another aspect of the topic or another topic is introduced use a new
paragraph.
Consistent grammar Use sentences and paragraphs with appropriate use of
commas, colons and semi-colons. This is something difficult to achieve, but look out for
incorrect uses of punctuation that affect the meaning.
37
Transition words
Use words that link paragraphs and which show
contrast and development in your argument, such as, hence, therefore, as a result,
but, thus, etc.
3. VIDEO SESSION
This part of SESSION SIX focuses on a discussion of several aspects of the writing of
the literature review in a PhD dissertation/thesis. This may be a little too much for you
as undergraduates writing a BA project. However, the problems approached by the
speakers seem to quite similar to the ones you are/may be facing.
The people who take part in this discussion are:
Jay Banerjee the moderator of the discussion, a research student at the time the video
was made.
Inez a research student.
Karen a research student.
Dr. Caroline Clapham - Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and modern
English Language field of research: testing
Dr Roz Ivanic - Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and modern English
Language field of research: literacy, writing, academic writing
Dr Gerg Meyers - Lancaster University, Department of Linguistics and modern English
Language field of research: discourse analysis, pragmatics
At the beginning of the discussion Jay announces the two perspectives from which the
literature review is to be looked at:
1.
doing it i.e., the perspective of the writer
2.
receiving it i.e., the perspective of the supervisor/examiner/reader of a
PhD thesis
The other framework of the discussion is that of the following four areas:
1.
the writer reader relationship
2.
the issue of how to survey the field/topic one is interested in
3.
organising and presenting the literature review
4.
the affective dimension: what goes on when you are in the process of
actually doing it?
ACTIVITY:
In order for you to be active listeners, you have to solve a task while watching the
video and take part in the discussion towards the end of the session. The main areas of
the discussion (in the video) and most of the questions asked by the moderator have
been listed in the next part of this handout. This is what your activity will be (a) while
watching the video and (b) after having watched it:
(a)
use the space provided after each question, under the name of each
speaker
38
to make notes about what these people say

prepare to speak about what you have seen
(b)
Area 1: writer reader relationship

Karen:
Greg:
Inez:
Roz:
Caroline:
Karen:
Jay: Question 1: To what extent should you come through as vulnerable in your
literature review?
Roz:
Inez:
Jay: Question 2: How explicit about your social and background should you be in the
literature review or anywhere else in your writing?
Inez:
Roz:
Jay: Question 3: Do you have to make decisions about the extent to which you
comment on other peoples writing in the literature review?
39
Caroline:
Greg:
Karen:
Area 2: the issue of how to survey the field
Jay: Question 4: How do you make decisions about what you survey?
Greg:
Area 3: organising and presenting the literature review
Jay: Question 5: How do you organise the literature review:
Ines:
Caroline:
Karen:
Jay: Question 6: How do you decide what needs to be in and what needs to be let out
of the literature review?
Roz:
Greg:
Caroline:
Inez:
40
Roz:
Jay: Question 7: The literature review where?

in a single chapter?
in different chapters?
Roz:
Karen:
Inez:
Caroline: Question 8: can you mention something new (new reading!) towards the
end of the thesis, e.g., in the conclusion?
Roz:
Greg:
Jay: Question 9: can/should new information/new reading be woven back in the
thesis?
Roz:
Greg:
Jay: Question 10: what if new reading takes your thinking in a rather different
direction? How do you go on from here?
Greg:
Roz:
41
Area 4: the affective dimension

Jay: Question 11: how do you deal with the ups and downs in your writing of the
literature review?
Caroline:
Roz:
Karen:
Inez:
Caroline:
Jay: Question 12: How does a learning diary fit in with the writing of the literature
review?
Inez:
Roz:
Jay:
Inez:
Karen:
Here is one last question for you:
Roz says she once asked some people a question about writing. What was her question
and what did those people answer?
REFERENCE:
42
Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review. London: Sage Publications
43

SESSION SEVEN
WRITER IDENTITY: THE SELF AS AUTHOR; WRITING THE ABSTRACT THE
INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION
This session is based mainly on Clark and Ivanic (1997) and Ivanic (1997) (see end of
session for references) and aims at helping you focus on the issue of your identity as
writers and the way in which you should make it evident in your writing. The final
sections of this last session of the course will hopefully help you to clarify problems
related to the writing of the Abstract, the Introduction and the Conclusion of your BA
project.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Writer identity
Academic writing characteristics
Abstract: main points and length
Introduction and Conclusion: the process and the product
What examiners expect to read in Introductions and Conclusion
1. Writer identity
ACTIVITY:
In this first activity you should first read the extract from the aforementioned writers
book individually and then, in groups, discuss and make notes on the main points in the
extract and the way in which these ideas can be traced in your writing, if at all. In your
discussion you may want to follow these points:
1.
Voice of the writer. Do you think your voice can be seen in your
writing? What makes it evident?
2.
Viewing yourselves as authors. Do/did/have/ you feel/felt the need to
exert a presence in your text? How do you usually go about it?
3.
To what extent and where in your text do you use the first person: I, me,
my?
Extract
This aspect of writer identity [the self as author] is more to do with writers having their
own voice in the sense of its content than its form. The writers voice in this sense
means expressing their own ideas and beliefs. This is what people usually first think of
as writer identity: whether the writer is present in the writing with a strong authorial
voice or not: whether s/he is saying something.
One component of the self as author is the issue of how authoritative writers feel as they
write. Many writers approach writing, particularly academic writing, without a sense
44
that the have anything worth saying. They do not see it as their place to have a position
to argue or an experience or idea worth communicating to others. Viewing oneself as an
author- feeling authoritative, and feeling the right to exert a presence in the text, is
often related to the sense of power and status writers bring with them from their lifehistory ().
The other component of the self as author is how, and how far, writers appear
authoritative by establishing an authorial presence in their texts. () Some writers, in
some types of writing, make their voice in this sense heard more than others. Writers
may put themselves at the centre of the writing, exerting control over it and establishing
a presence within it. At the other extreme writers may relinquish control of the situation
to other, named authorities, or to some abstract, impersonal source, or perhaps to the
reader. Authoritativeness is sometimes condoned [accept and forgive behaviour that
most people think is morally wrong] by the currently dominant discourse conventions,
and sometimes not. Writers can accommodate to or resist the degree of authoritativeness
that is sanctioned by the conventions for a particular type of writing.
The most obvious type of authorial presence, especially in academic writing, is the
use of the first person: I, me, my. But it has other manifestations too (). The
overarching idea is that writers differ in how much they feel, and appear to be in control
of the act of writing: how much they feel themselves to be not just writers but also
authors with the authority to say something. (pages 152-153)
2. Academic writing characteristics
This section is based on a piece of research and examples from Ivanic (1997) (see end
of session for complete reference). It is meant to show you some of the features of
academic writing in order for you to be able to take them into account in your own
writing.
a)
Lexical density
Lexical density is introduced by Ivanic (1997) in terms of Hallidays (1989) definition.
It is the
average number of lexical words [meaning-carrying words such as verbs and nouns]
per clause. This involves counting (a) the number of lexical words in an extract, and (b)
the number of clauses in it, then dividing (a) by (b). An average of 5 or above counts as
high lexical density, as one might expect in many academic and bureaucratic texts.
(page 260)
The example below, again form Ivanic (1997:257), is an extract from a paper written by
John, a student of Medical Ethics and in it she has found 36 lexical items in 3 clauses
with a lexical density of 12. (the extract is in italics as in the original)
45
The argument that this would be encouraging people to take drugs is strongly
outweighed by the fact that if we dont give people the chance to come into the health
service without chastising them in some way Aids will just carry on to spread. If health
carers actually had to think about funding for supplying users with drugs as well as
needles they might actually start to make some progress in the fight against Aids in the
drug user community.
b)
Verbs (process types)

The verbs generally used by academic writers are, in Ivanics opinion (1997:264), of
two types: (a) verbs which express states of affairs [relational processes- in
Hallidays terms] and (b) verbs which suggest action (what Halliday calls material
processes).
In the extract from Johns writing, Ivanic identifies the following verbs suggesting
action: is outweighed, might start to make. The construction had to think (in the same
extract) is thought to represent a mental process.
To end this subsection, it is important to mention that Ivanic considers that academic
writers define themselves as members of the academic discourse community by
their choice of verbs [which] is identifying them with the academic
communitys interest in the relationships among entities and ideas, and
in intellectual activity. Although these interests may be based in the
lived reality of peoples day-to-day lives and actions, they are
abstracted from them, and expressed in terms of states of affairs and
universal truths. (1997:265)
c)
Nouns, nominalization and nominal groups

Academic writing is characterised by the preponderent use of abstract and inanimate
nouns which, Ivanic (1997: 266) posits, gives writing () its character of being about
abstract, generalised content, one or more steps removed from actual events in peoples
lives.
Here are the examples from Johns writing: argument, fact, health carers, funding, they
(= health carers), progress
Nominalisations are nouny ways of expressing an idea where a verby way would
be possible (ibid.). They allow the writer to cram ideas together, to pack them into
each other (page 267). And here are the examples from Johns paper: argument,
chastising, funding, supplying, progress, fight, user.
As for the nominal groups, here is what Ivanic (1997: 267) states:
Another discourse characteristic which is associated with knowledge46
compacting is long nominal groups. Nominal groups are groups of

words which function as subject or object, consisting of a head noun () and all its
associated words: the adjectives, prepositional phrases and, in some cases, embedded
clauses which modify it.
Here a long nominal group from Johns text (Ivanic counted 29 words in it, of which
41% are lexical words): the fact that if we dont give people the chance to come into the
health service without chastising them in some way Aids will just carry on to spread.
d)
Tense, mood and modality

When it comes to the verb tense most academic texts are written in present tenses
which, in Ivanics words function to express timeless truths, and position their writers
as interested in such truths. (page 269)
The mood that characterises academic writing is the declarative mood. Academic texts
contain few interrogatives and negatives.
The term modality has to do with the use modal verbs and modal equivalents in order
to refrain from expressing complete certainty in academic texts. This has to do with
both the modesty that urges the academic writer to doubt that s/he is totally right about
whatever issue s/he discusses and with the possibility of ones arguments being
challenged by other champions of universal truth.
To exemplify, Ivanic presents Johns would be encouraging () [as] not his own voice,
but that of the unnamed person or people who put forward this argument. (ibid) And on
page 270 she treats Johns might () [as] () [a] modal representing the writers own
tentativeness, suggesting uncertainty rather than being in control of facts and truths.
The way Ivanic concludes the section on modality is highly relevant for the meaning of
this term:
the patterns of modality are positioning the writers as relatively
certain and knowledgeable. I suggest that this is a fairly pervasive characteristic of
members of the academic community, or at any rate a characteristic which new
members of the community think they should be displaying. This is often, however, a
site of misunderstanding between students and tutors, sine tutors often expect more
provisionality in student writing, but do not make this requirement explicit. (page 270)
e)
Lexis
In the matter of the use of words in academic texts one of the observations that Ivanic
(1997:270-271) makes is that the language of the academic community includes, among
others, Graeco-Latin words, technical words in the sense that they belong to particular
disciplines, words associated with argumentation, defining, evaluating, and/or
47
classifying and that such words convey an impression that [writers] know what they
mean , and that they belong to the community of those who use them comfortably.
Here are some words of Graeco-Latin origin in Johns text: argument, fact, chastising,
progress.
3. Abstract: main points and length
ACTIVITY:
This section of Session Seven involves your examining of some abstracts (see
appendix) and then the presentation of your findings along these lines:
(a)
Identify the main points in the 6 abstracts in the appendix. How many are they
(on an average basis) and what exactly are they?
(b)
Similarities and differences between the 6 abstracts
(c)
Think of the abstract you will write for your BA project, what do you consider
it should include. Do not forget to take into account the READER of your abstract.
Make notes here:
4.
a)
b)
1.
2.
YOUR ABSTRACT SHOULD BE BETWEEN 200 AND 250 WORDS IN

LENGTH
Introduction and Conclusion: the process and the product
the process
Tips: - have a draft Introduction and add to it as write your project;
write the Introduction proper at the end;
make sure your project delivers what your Introduction promises;
compare your Introduction and your Conclusion. Do they tie up? It
would make sense if there was some sort of symmetry between your Introduction and
your Conclusion
compare the Introduction and the Conclusion with the rest of the
project. Have you done everything in full and in detail?
the product
ACTIVITY:
Individually think and make notes about the things you think you will include
in your introduction and your conclusion. Make a list for each.
Discuss with you partner and find out what s/he is considering in her/his
introduction and Conclusion.
48
3.
5.
a)
b)
-
Report to the class. Any surprises?

What examiners expect to read in Introductions and Conclusion
Here are some hints at what examiners usually look for when they read Introductions
and Conclusions of various projects;
Introduction
A clear statement of why the candidate undertook to tackle the chosen
topic, and of what to expect in the project.
The reasons for the study , the topic of research and perhaps some
background. Introductions vary hugely, and there is not any one best way of writing it.
Some indication of whether the project is going to be primarily
focused on a concept, a particular site, or a particular research method.
Some indication of the main issue(s) and the sorts of conclusions aimed
at.
Some indication of the structure of the project, as a readers guide to
what follows.
Definition or description of the topic, the main questions/hypotheses
being researched, the scope of the project. Brief contextualisation of the project in terms
of where it fits into what other people have done and published.
Conclusion
A statement that the expectations of the Introduction have been
achieved.
It may be boring to reiterate your findings from the study, its certainly
boring to repeat findings in great detail. An interesting Conclusion would talk perhaps
about things not covered in the project, and the way forward. So it could contain general
conclusions and a discussion of further research needed, but again, conclusions come in
many forms; there is no perfect way of writing one.
Retrospective summary of what the project has achieved.
REFERENCES:
Clark, R. and Ivanic, R. (1997). The Politics of Writing. London: Routledge
Ivanic, R. (1997). Writing and Identity: The Discoursal Construction of Identity in
Academic Writing. Amsterdam: Benjamins
Halliday, M.A.K. (1989). Spoken and Written Language. London: Edward Arnold
49
APPENDIX: ABSTRACTS
LANGUAGE AS AN ELEMENT OF CULTURE
M.A. DISSERTATION
ABSTRACT
This study is based on the assumption that there is a certain influence exerted on the
degree of attachment one has to the language by the system of values that person holds.
The stronger the system of values is, the less likely they will be more attached to the
language they speak. The concept of system of values has been preferred as a more
specific term than culture which seems to be a familiar term that could encompass
traditions, rituals, customs etc.
This paper presents an exploratory study examining the length to which this correlation
between the system of values and the degree of attachment to language seems to apply
to native speakers of Romanian in Brasov of various ages, both genders and different
backgrounds. The study was designed to bring new insights into the way in which
native speakers of Romanian feel about their mother tongue and whether this is
dependent or not on age and gender of the respondents or on their level of education.
The data came from 38 adults, 19 females and 19 males of over 18, pupils, students,
teachers, other employees or retirees, living and working in Brasov, native speakers of
Romanian who agreed to answer the questionnaire presented. The data were then
analysed through the theoretical framework presented in the beginning both horizontally
(within each age group) and vertically (comparing the results of the groups).
The data gathered thus suggested that there is a direct correlation between a strong
system of values and a seemingly strong attachment to language regardless of age,
education or gender even if some expected variety occurs in the results.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF COCKNEY ENGLISH
ABSTRACT
This paper presents some of the main characteristics of Cockney English and compares
it with the standard variety of the language. Moreover, the research chapter discusses
the ways in which English peoples attitudes regarding this dialect and its speakers have
changed throughout time. To this end, I designed two types of questionnaires, namely
one for speakers and the other for non-speakers of Cockney. These were sent over the
Internet to several native speakers of English. Furthermore, the findings of the present
study were contrasted with both the theory and an older similar study.
50
There are several conclusions that can be drawn about the implications of Cockney
English in the British society. Firstly, the way a person speaks appears to be less
important nowadays in determining that persons social status, but at the same time, it
can influence the perception of others regarding the position occupied by someone in
society. Secondly, young British people seem to be more aware of the stereotypes
surrounding various dialects, including Cockney. Thirdly, this dialect appears to have
undergone various changes throughout time, the most obvious of which having occurred
in its rhyming slang.
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

LEARNING
Abstract
This paper aims at analyzing some of the aspects that contributed to the evolution of a
business writing course with Romanian participants, learners of English as a foreign
language. The method I intend to use in my study is mainly qualitative but the analysis
will also employ quantitative methodology and a few of the techniques of discourse
analysis. First of all, I attempt to delineate the theoretical background of the field of
business writing as an emerging study subject. The next step is setting the basic
principles and regulations of business writing. Further on, I want to define the three
species of business writing present in the case study that constitutes the analytical part
of this paper and at the same time to describe the data comprise the object of this
analysis. Then, I identify the three factors contributing to the learners evolution as their
level of mastery of the English language, their previous experience in the field of
business communication and their ability to understand the role of presentation in
business writing. Furthermore, I identify the categories that will help demonstrate the
role of these three factors and I present the findings and interpretation of the data based
on these categories. The conclusion of my study is that these three factors play a
deciding role in the learners progress in the business writing course and that once
having identified these aspects they can be used as guidelines for future activities and
testing methods for participants in this type of course.
51
52
HIP-HOP LANGUAGE IN
AMERICA AND ROMANIA
-A SOCIOLINGUISTIC APPROACHABSTRACT
Hip-hop is not only a world-wide social phenomenon, but also a phenomenon in
Academia. In many foreign countries, hip-hop is analysed in detail, whether focusing on
its social representations or on its social influence, or on both. This paper is focused on
the main idea that hip-hop transfers from America, where it first appeared, to different
countries around the world, where it adapts to the social context. However, being a
subject of great dimensions, my study lays accent on the transfer between American and
Romanian hip-hop. In order to be more precisely, the transfer is analysed considering
three topics: cultural transfer at the thematic level, femcees' response to the gendered
language of male rappers and their gendered language, and power and resistance in hiphop. The method used to analyse the cultural transfer is using available data. The data
was selected from the both countries considering the criteria of diversity, as in the case
of the analysis of gender, and mainstream-underground classification. In analysing the
data, three different analytical frameworks were used. By applying them to the data, it
can be showed that the gender problem is not one-sided, but also contradictions are to
be found in some of the representations of femcees. Correspondingly, the problem of
power in hip-hop is not one-sided either, namely there exist rappers that developed a
discourse of resistance towards the dominant discourse. This paper takes into account a
range of disciplines as anthropology, sociolinguistics, rhetoric and stylistics in order to
offer a better understanding of this complex phenomenon, that is hip-hop.
53
THE PHENOMENON OF CODESWITCHING IN THE ROMANIAN

MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY
ABSTRACT
Codeswitching is a common linguistic phenomenon that mainly occurs in multilingual
societies. It refers to the tendency of the language users to combine the languages they
know during their discourse. The present study focuses on the multilingual society in
Romania. It is based on data collected in thirty-three questionnaires, four natural
conversations and thirteen Internet messenger conversations gathered form several
Romanian, Saxon and Hungarian subjects living in Romania. For the analysis proper of
the data, two theories were brought into discussion: the formal and functional constraint
and the genetic connection developed by Rajeshwari V. Pandharipande that were
applied on the Marathi society. Also, another focus of the paper is to show how the
interacting languages influence each other and whether there are local borrowings that
particularise them compared to the standard languages spoken in the source countries.
According to the findings, the functional constraint is easily applicable to the data
collected from the participants and that the languages are indeed chosen most of the
time according to the communicative needs and the social contexts of the language
users. Also, according to the data collected, the interference between the languages has
led to borrowings and structural influences among the languages in discussion. As there
are very few studies made in this field in the Romanian society, it is impossible to cover
a large amount of information in only one research but it is meant to open the way to a
more extensive study in this field, because the Romanian multilingual society has the
ability to provide valuable data in the field of codeswitching.
54
LANGUAGE IN OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

ABSTRACT
In a period when official interaction between the authorities in Romania and the ones
from the European Union is of major interest both to the media and to the general
public, revealing the mechanism behind the encoded message comes in aid for those
who wish to decipher official documents. This particular domain of expertise has been
challenged also by Roz Ivanic (1997) who based her theory regarding the high lexical
density that exists in an academic text on another researchers definition, Halliday
(1989). She puts forward a really interesting and highly productive method of analyzing
data in this field of interest, namely counting the words containing lexical meaning, a
method I myself use in my research. This project focuses on the academic
characteristics of writing used especially in official letters and invitations, such as: the
use of specific vocabulary and of special connectors, methods of addressing and of
controlling the way the message is conveyed according to a given situation. The second
part of the project presents the patterns found in each given situation and will connect
the particular situation with the instances of communication, for example a successful or
unsuccessful act of communication will have as a result a negative or a positive reply.
Another important finding is that the lexical density Roz Ivanic (1997) proposed applies
to the materials used in this research and the result was a density above an average of 5,
which proves the letters belong to the official register. The conclusions indicate that the
decoding of the message at a deeper level provides the necessary information so that
almost any speaker of English would be able to write a very good official letter using
the given pattern.
55

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ACADEMIC DISCOURSE PRACTICES

(HOW TO WRITE A BA PROJECT)

Topic of the BA Project and work done so far

Discuss your expectations and hopes for the working relationship