An Introduction to

Writing Skills
C O U R S E T U T O R : M S . S I D R A A WA N
Focus
•What is Writing?
• What is Academic Writing?
• What are the general characteristics of Academic Writing?
• What is the importance of Academic Writing?
• What is the process of writing?
What do you write?
• Assignments
• Reports
• Letters
• Applications
• Research Articles
• Essays
• Emails
• Descriptions
What problems do you face while
writing?
•Lack of arguments
• Lack of evidences
• Spellings
• Appropriate vocabulary
• Link between ideas
• A positive response
What is Writing?
According to Nunan (2003)
• Writing is a physical and mental act. Its about discovering ideas and thinking
about how to communicate them by developing them into statements and
paragraphs that is comprehensible to a reader.
• It’s a process and a product. The writer creates, plans, writes various drafts,
revises, edits and then publishes. On the other hand, the audience reads the
product.
What is Academic Writing?
• Academic writing is the process of presenting ideas in rational, organized,
systematic, reasonable and logical way.
• It is the process of writing analytically by breaking down ideas with the purpose
of presenting information that depicts a clear understanding of a subject.
• It is formal writing which follows specific standards such as formal language,
referencing where sources are given credit, specific grammatical patterns and
organization of the text.
• It is different from other types of writing, such as creative writing and
journalistic writing due to its distinct content, format, purpose and tone.
Importance of Academic Writing
• Any student in a high level institution is usually required to write a variety of
papers, dissertations and essays throughout the whole period of their studies.
These writing tasks have different goals, objectives and purposes.
• Sometimes such assignments can be written on the basis of personal
experiences and previously acquired knowledge.
• Other times they require extra efforts, use of external sources and additional
research.
• The rules and regulations in academic writing are very complicated and there is
no appropriate definition but you can still recognize the difference between
formal and informal writing.
Where are we supposed to use academic
writing?
•Book Reviews
• Essays
• Research proposals
• Research Reports
• Scientific Papers
• All official and written communication
• Dissertation and thesis
 Basic Difference between Academic and
Non-academic writing
• Academic and non-academic writing usually differ in the following ways:
S. No. Academic Writing Non-academic Writing
1. Format: follows a sequence-introduction, Does not need to cohere to any layout and format.
body, conclusion.
2. Purpose: informing readers through Entertain or please the audience.
unbiased facts and evidences.
3. Tone: formal and professional, using No coherence, may include humor and opinions.
passive voice and eliminating contraction,
biasness and personal opinions.

4. Reader: Academics and Professionals Family and friends

5. Content: Serious Conversational

6. Vocabulary: Technical and academic Short forms, idioms and slangs
Recognize!
Read the following sentence:
Linguists were and remained convinced by Noam Chomsky, at the Massachusetts
Institute of technology, who discovered that however all human languages are
different from each other but they share a common and basic structure
seemingly hardwired in the brain.

Task: Identify three features in the above mention sentence which are academic in nature.
Discuss with your classmates.
Recognize!

•Read the following sentence.

The way you speak says a lot about you.

• Task: Identify three features of the above mentioned sentence that seems non-academic to you.
Discuss with your classmate.
Identified Features:
Sentence 1:
• Complex sentence
• Serious subject
• Reference to academics
• Use of passive voice
Sentence 2
• Vague vocabulary: ‘way’, ‘say’, ‘a lot’.
• Simple sentence structure
• Directly addressing the reader- you
Features of Academic Writing
1. Complexity:
• lexical density
• Grammatically complex
• Passive voice

e.g.
Obviously the government is frightened of union reaction to its move to impose proper
behaviour on unions.
Obviously the government is frightened how the unions will react if it tries to make them
behave properly.
 Like all other forms of life, we human beings are the product of evolution.
 Like all other forms of life, we human beings are the product of how we have evolved
Features of Academic Writing
2. Formality:
• Avoid colloquial words and expressions

In general this means in an essay that you should avoid:

a. colloquial words and expressions; ""stuff", "a lot of", "thing", "sort of",

b. abbreviated forms: "can't", "doesn't", "shouldn't"

c. two word verbs: "put off", "bring up"

d. sub-headings, numbering and bullet-points in formal essays - but use them in reports.
Features of Academic Writing
3. Precision:
• Facts and figures are given precisely

e.g.

Do not use "a lot of people" when you can say "50 million people".
The volatile oily liquid beta-chloro-beta-ethyl sulphide was first synthesized in 1854, and in
1887…
It is approximately eight inches in length…
 Features of Academic Writing
4. Objectivity:
• Focus on information rather than reader or writer
In general, avoid words like "I", "me", "myself".

A reader will normally assume that any idea not referenced is your own. It is therefore unnecessary
to make this explicit.

Don't write:" In my opinion, this a very interesting study."

Write: "This is a very interesting study."

Avoid "you" to refer to the reader or people in general.

Don't write: "You can easily forget how different life was 50 years ago."
Write: "It is easy to forget how difficult life was 50 years ago."
 Features of Academic Writing
4. Objectivity
Compare these two paragraphs:

The question of what constitutes "language proficiency" and the nature of its cross-lingual dimensions is also at the
core of many hotly debated issues in the areas of bilingual education and second language pedagogy and testing.
Researchers have suggested ways of making second language teaching and testing more "communicative“
(e.g., Canale and Swain, 1980; Oller, 1979b) on the grounds that a communicative approach better reflects the
nature of language proficiency than one which emphasizes the acquisition of discrete language skills.

We don't really know what language proficiency is but many people have talked about it for a long time. Some
researchers have tried to find ways for us to make teaching and testing more communicative because that is how
language works. I think that language is something we use for communicating, not an object for us to study and
we remember that when
we teach and test it.
 Features of Academic Writing
5. Explicitness:
As a writer of academic English, it is your responsibility to make it clear to your reader how various parts
of the text are related. These connections can be made explicit by the use of different signalling words.

For example, if you want to tell your reader that your line of argument is going to change, make it clear.

The Bristol 167 was to be Britain's great new advance on American types such as the Lockheed Constellation
and Douglas DC-6, which did not have the range to fly the Atlantic non-stop. It was also to be the largest aircraft
ever built in Britain. However, even by the end of the war, the design had run into serious difficulties.

If you think that one sentence gives reasons for something in another sentence, make it explicit.

While an earlier generation of writers had noted this feature of the period, it was not until the recent work of
Cairncross that the significance of this outflow was realized. Partly this was because the current account deficit
appears much smaller in current (1980s) data than it was thought to be by contemporaries.
Features of Academic Writing
6. Accuracy

Use accurate vocabulary, grammar and other features.

e.g. Choose the correct word, for example, "meeting", "assembly" , "gathering" or "conference".
Or from: "money", "cash", "currency" or "funds".
 Features of Academic Writing
7. Hedging- use cautious language
1. Certain lexical verbs e.g. believe, assume, suggest
2. Certain modal verbs: e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could

3. Adverbs of frequency e.g. often, sometimes, usually

4. Modal adverbs e.g. certainly, definitely, clearly, probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably,

5. Modal adjectives e.g. certain, definite, clear, probable, possible

6. Modal nouns e.g. assumption, possibility, probability

Features of Academic Writing
8. Responsibility
Writer is responsible to acknowledge the sources
Paraphrase or summarize by giving an accurate reference
Use citation system
9. Organization:
Well organized
Logical
According to the genre
10. Planning:
• it takes place after research and evaluation.
• it is always according to the specific purpose.