Metodichka_writing

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЙ ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ «МИСиС»

Кафедра русского и иностранных языков и литературы

Е.В. Вардашкина П.В. Ермакова

INSIGHT INTO ACADEMIC WRITING

Учебное пособие

Рекомендовано редакционно-издательским советом Ассоциации преподавателей иностранных языков нелингвистических вузов в качестве учебного пособия для студентов всех специальностей и направлений подготовки высших технических учебных заведений по дисциплине «Практика иностранного языка»

Москва 2013

УДК 811.111 В18

Р е ц е н з е н т ы :

д-р филол. наук, проф. В.В. Ощепкова (МГОУ); канд. филол. наук И.Э. Коротаева (МАИ)

Вардашкина, Е.В.

В18 Insight into Academic Writing : учеб. пособие / Е.В. Вардашкина,

П.В. Ермакова. – М. : Изд. Дом МИСиС, 2013. – 119 с. – Текст англ. ISBN 978-5-87623-728-6

Целью пособия является формирование иноязычной коммуникативной компетенции через развитие навыков и умений в области академического письма на английском языке.

Данное пособие предназначено для студентов-бакалавров технических специальностей и соответствует учебной программе по дисциплине «Практика иностранного языка» на среднем этапе обучения (уровень В1–В2 по шкале Общеевропейских компетенций).

УДК 811.111

The main objective of the course book is to develop a foreign language communicative competence through the development of Academic Writing Skills in English.

The course book is for technical bachelor students and corresponds to the study programme of “The Practice of the English Language” at the intermediate and upper-inter mediate level (B1–B2 level by the scale of Common European Framework).

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INTRODUCTION

The key concept of the course is to raise awareness of a foreign language communicative competence in the field of academic writing skills.

The course book contains four sections, four appendixes and the reference list.

The first section familiarizes students with such notions as “English for Academic Purposes”, “Academic Writing” in the English language. The second and the third sections examine in detail the structure of a paragraph and the structure of an essay. The forth section develops writing skills in different types of essays (discursive essay, problem– solution essay, comparison and contrast essay) and writing reports based on the description of graphs and charts.

Each section includes a wide number of exercises supported by theoretical material.

The Appendixes contain materials on grammar, punctuation, common linking words and phrases in Academic Writing and Academic Word List.

This book can be used with a teacher in the classroom, or it can be used for self-study.

The authors are grateful to the Head of the Department of Russian and Foreign Languages and Literature, NUST “MISiS”, L.V. Bondareva and their colleagues for useful advice and considerable assistance while working with the course book.

Special thanks to the reviewers – V.V. Oschepkova, I.E. Korotaeva, the Assosiation of ESP teachers on behalf of A.K. Krupchenko, editor Tony Hull, an expert in EAP, for detailed recommendations and valuable guidance.

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WHAT IS ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES?

English for Academic Purposes or EAP refers to the language that people need in order to undertake study or work in English–medium and higher education. The objective of an EAP course is mainly to help students raise awareness of different genres of essay writing, develop students’ critical thinking skills, and enlarge their academic vocabulary in order to make academic writing practice integral to their literacy development.

What is Academic Writing?

Writing is an important form of communication in life, but it is significantly more important in university*. Academic writing is particularly difficult to master in any language. There are academic genres such as essays, reports, reviews, abstracts, and research papers. However, it is important to distinguish classroom assignments done to master the art of academic writing (e.g. essays of various kinds, thesis statements, conclusions, data descriptions) from professional academic writing, such as case studies, research proposals and results for publication.

Good writing in English is quite different from good writing in other languages. The difference is the way writers organize and express their ideas. Academic writing is direct: writers state their thoughts in a straightforward and forceful manner. The ideas are not presented delicately or subtly. English writing is linear: ideas flow in a straight line. For example, it is rather typical for essay writing to stay on one topic from beginning to end without making any “detours” or adding new ideas, even if they are interesting and somehow related to the main topic. However, if the subject is complex there may be possibilities for variations especially in the social sciences and humanities.

In English academic writing, introductory paragraphs are expected to include a clear thesis statement and subsequent paragraphs should begin with topic sentences where each paragraph discusses a single idea. Information is typically given in chronological order or other explicitly defined sequential order. This particular feature makes English academic writing transparent in terms of generating and developing ideas. Academic writing should be presented in the appropriate style. The main features of academic writing are as follows:

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* For further reading about EAP see Bailey, 2006; Chin, Reid, Wray, & Yamazaki, 2012; Hogue, 2003; Jordan, 2012; Pallant, 2012.

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•formal, impersonal or objective style (the use of impersonal pronouns, passive verb forms);

•cautious language in reporting research and making claims;

•precise vocabulary for particular academic topic areas;

•complex sentences showing considerable variety in construction;

• clear, well–planned organization (the use of connectors or transition al signals);

•full forms.

Genres in Academic Writing

The table below shows how writing genres for Bachelor’s and Master’s degree differ.

This course book is aimed at studying most common genres for Bachelor’s degree: different types of essays and reports summarizing statistics and explaining visuals.

The Stages of the Writing Process

The degree of preparation before doing a writing assignment influences how effective the final writing product will be. There are three stages in the writing process: pre–writing, writing and rewriting.

Pre–writing can be thought of as the stage during which students plan and organize what will be written.

Writing is the stage when students create and compose their ideas. Rewriting involves reshaping, editing and revising the ideas and

grammar in the text.

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Writing is supposed to be a connected circle: each stage during the writing process is connected to the others.

The writing process includes the following steps:

1)creating (choosing a topic, generating ideas, free writing, listing, mapping, brainstorming);

2)planning (answering the question: “What does the reader want (or need) to know? Who is the audience?);

3)organizing and outlining (grouping all related ideas together; paragraph outline, essay outline);

4)ordering (arranging material from general to specific or from abstract to concrete);

5)writing (first draft, second draft, final draft);

6)polishing (revising content, organization, coherence, format and editing sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, spelling, word choice);

7)peer interviewing (exchanging ideas with fellow students about the writing assignment).

Practice time

Ex. 1. Select the five most important points from the list below that you think will help to improve your academic writing. Discuss with your group.

1.Think carefully about the topic.

2.Write an outline using appropriate headings and sub–headings.

3.Organize the writing carefully: introduction, main body, and conclusion.

4.Ensure that you use relevant material and ideas.

5.Write precisely: clearly, accurately and explicitly.

6.Use correct language: grammar, vocabulary, and spelling.

7.Write legibly: handwriting should be easy to read.

8.Write in an academic style: impersonally, without using colloquial and emotive language.

9.Adopt appropriate attitudes: be rational, critical, honest and objective.

10.Carefully paragraph the writing.

11.Include variety in the writing: avoid too much repetition.

12.Ensure that the opening paragraph is not too long and that it creates a good impression.

13.Pay as much attention to the conclusion as to the introduction.

14.Check details carefully, both of content and of language.

15.Ensure that ideas are arranged and connected logically.

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Ex. 2. It is very important to understand the meaning of key words in tasks of academic writing. Key words include ‘instruction’ verbs which indicate how the task should be done. Match the following verbs to their definitions.

Ex. 3. Read the sentences given below and distinguish between General and Academic contexts. Decide which of the words in italics would be more suitable for an academic paper.

1.The government has made considerable/good progress in solving environmental problems.

2.We got/obtained encouraging results.

3.The results of numerous/a lot of different projects have been pretty good/encouraging.

4.The issue was raised/brought up during the investigation.

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5.A loss of jobs is one of the things /consequences that will happen if the process is automated.

6.Expert Systems can assist/ help out the user in the diagnosis of problems.

7.Building a nuclear power plant will not get rid of/eliminate the energy problem completely.

8. Researchers have been investigating/looking into this problem for 15 years now.

9.The emission levels have been going up and down/fluctuating.

10.The reaction of the officials was slightly/sort of negative.

11.Germany’s major automakers are planning to get together/meet on the research needed for more fuel efficient cars.

12.Plans are being made to invent/come up with a database containing detailed environmental information for the region.

Ex. 4. Make the following sentences formal and impersonal using passive constructions.

1.Everybody knows that the Internet is the information channel of the future. (It is ...).

2.They proved that direct mailing gets a less than 1 % response rate. (It ...).

3.They are suggesting that so–called smart drugs can increase intelligence. (It ...).

4.Almost everyone agrees that the number of new cases of AIDS is falling. (It ...).

the correct column. Add four more words to each column. Then discuss with a partner which words can be used to describe people, objects, ideas or plans.

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THE STRUCTURE OF A PARAGRAPH

What is a Sentence?

A sentence in English needs two elements: a subject and a predicate. The subject is a person, a thing or an idea. It is generally expressed by a noun, noun phrase or a pronoun. In a statement, it usually comes before the verb. The predicate tells what the subject does. It is expressed by the verb.

What is a Paragraph?

A paragraph is a group of related sentences that develops one main idea. Every sentence in a strong paragraph is about one topic. A paragraph can give information, tell an opinion, explain something, or even tell a short story. The sentences are arranged logically, so the reader can easily understand the writer’s idea. The structure of a paragraph is as follows:

1)introduction (the subject or topic, a statement of the problem, comments on the way it is to be treated);

2)development (presentation, analysis and discussion, including comments on advantages and disadvantages (main idea(s) + examples, details);

3)conclusion (a summary of the main points, author’s own views, opinions and decisions).

A paragraph is made up of three components: the topic sentence;

the supporting sentences (body);

the concluding sentence (not all paragraphs have a concluding sentence). The topic sentence, which is usually presented in the first sentence, directly tells the reader the main or central idea of a paragraph. It is the most general sentence of the paragraph. The other sentences (the main part) of the paragraph, called supporting sentences, give more information about the topic, and provide examples, statistics, and quotations as specific supporting details.

Supporting sentences explain or prove the topic sentence.

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