English for Academic and Professional Purposes

SHS Handouts and Learning Activities

Cherry Love Bañaga – Tañamor

Reading Academic Texts

Chapter 1 - Lesson 1
 English for Academic and Professional Purposes
SHS Handouts and Learning Activities
Cherry Love Bañaga - Tañamor

Reading Academic Texts

Chapter 1 - Lesson 1

Four Major Types of Academic and Professional Papers

1. Reaction Paper
 Objectively and subjectively reacting and evaluating concepts or phenomena
 Is a type of written assignment, which requires personal opinion and conclusions on a given
article or abstract

2. Concept Paper
 Extensively detailing the meaning and aspects of specific topic
 Is a brief document. It explain the importance of a particular research project

3. Position Paper
 Advocating for a stand regarding an often-divisive issue
 Is an essay that presents an arguable opinion about an issue – typically that of the author or
some
specified entity

4. Report
 Narrating technically observed phenomena
 Is a document that presents information in an organized format for a specific audience and
purpose

Reaction Paper Concept Paper

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 Position Paper Report

Basic Structure of Academic Writing

1. Introduction. The central and main ideas and arguments are previewed.
2. Body. The main ideas are explained and developed.
3. Conclusion. The main ideas are recapped, and the central idea or argument is reiterated.

A summary of the key features of each of the parts is presented in the table:

Introduction Body Conclusion

 Introduces the main goal or  The “meat” of your paper  Summarizes the main ideas
objective of the text  Extensively discusses and  Reemphasizes the central
 Usually contains the thesis develops the writer’s main idea
statement or the claim ideas and arguments  Should not include new
 Provides the reader a information
thorough background of the
topic
 States the significance of the
work
 For researches, provides the
readers a literature review
and theoretical and
conceptual frameworks

Academic writing

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 Is a process that starts with posing a question, problematizing a concept, evaluating an opinion, and
ends on answering the question or questions posed, clarifying the problem and/or arguing for a
stand
 Usually begins with a question—a problem that the researcher needs to answer. The research
question will determine the direction of the paper, its objectives, the methods and design, and the
subsequent analysis. While researches and academic writing usually conducted using either a
quantitative or qualitative approach, Sarantakos (2005, pg. 10-11).

Specific Purpose of Academic Writing

1. To inform
2. To argue a specific point
3. To persuade

Specific Audience
1. Teacher
2. Your Peers
3. Academic Community

Audience
 Is composed of people who are knowledgeable on the subject that you are writing about.
 Will determine the language of your paper

Consider the following areas in academic writing

1. Content: clarity of purpose and the thesis statement, relevance of the supporting points to the
thesis statement, knowledge on the subject matter
2. Structure: coherence and logical sequence of the ideas
3. Language and Style: and word choice, sentence construction
4. Mechanics: grammar, punctuations, capitalization, formulating, documentation

Types of research that fall under the purview of academic writing:

1. Basic research is concerned with the production of new knowledge and with the increase of
scientific understanding of the world.
2. Applied research places a strong emphasis on application and problem solving.
3. Longitudinal research studies social issues on more than one occasion using the same or
different samples.
4. Descriptive research aims to describe social systems, relations or social events.
5. Classification research aims to categorize research units into group to demonstrate differences,
explain .relationships and clarify social events or relationships.
6. Comparative research aims to identify similarities and/or differences between research units.
7. Explanatory research aims to establish the most criteria of the research topic.
8. Explanatory research aims to explain social relationship between variables.
9. Causal research aims to establish a causal relationships between variables.
10. Theory-testing research aims to test the validity of a theory.
11. Theory-building research is employed to establish and formulate theories.
12. Action research is the application of fact finding to practical problem solving social situation
with a view to improve the quality of action within it.
13. Participatory action research is characterized by the strong involvement and degree of
participation of members of the public in the research process.
14. Evaluation research is employed to assess the suitability, relevance, and effectiveness of
certain .programs.

An Academic Text therefore informs, argues, or persuades. To achieve this one must be familiar
with the language used in academic writing.

English for Academic Professional Purposes 4

Guidelines in Using Language in Academic Writing
1. Use complex sentences and sentence structures. When writing academic and professional
papers, we .must use complex and compound sentences and the use of short, simple sentences
must be avoided. Use .strategies for combining sentences such as the use of coordinating
conjunctions.

2. Maintain formality. When writing for academe and profession, one must observe a certain level
of .formality in his or her writing style. The passive voice generally preferred, contraction are
avoided, and .colloquial words and expressions are avoided. Especially when writing for the
sciences, the third person .is employed.

3. Always be accurate. When we say accurate, you need to be careful with the words and terms
you use. .Not because two words are considered synonymous doesn’t mean that they can be used
.interchangeably. Use jargons, or terms specific to a particular field, when writing for a
specialized, .homogenous audience.

4. Remain objective. Objectively is important in academic paper. There is a need to give emphasis
on .the facts and information presented.

Types of Citation
1. The Chicago Manual of Style (business, history, and fine arts)
2. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Paper (humanities)
3. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) (education, social
sciences, and sciences)

Thesis Statement
 A statement that “makes a definitive point about your topic” (Beebe, Beebe,& Ivy, 2007).
 Expresses the entire point of your paper. Speech coach Judith Humprey says that one should “be
able to state that message in a single clear sentence. Everything else will support the single
argument.”
 Is usually stated in the opening paragraphs of an academic text.
 Sets the focus of your academic paper. It helps your reader understand your intent better.

Guidelines to Consider when Writing Thesis Statement (Beebe, Beebe, and Ivy (2007)
1. It should contain a single topic.
2. It should be stated in a complete, declarative sentence.
3. It should use direct, specific language.

Factors to Consider in Academic Writing

1. Outlining
 Dadufalza (2008) says that “An outline provides a rapid grasp of the fundamental aspects or
parts of an entire expository piece. It shows, through its standard format, how these parts
relate to each other as sections of equal importance or units of subordinate rank which merely
support, clarify, or illustrate the main headings under which they are classified” (pg. 303)
 When making the outline of an academic text, the most important thing you need to
remember is understanding the source material. You need to thoroughly understand what the
writer is trying to argue or point out. Hence, correct identification of thesis statement is
crucial.

Once the thesis statement was identified, these are the three questions usually ask to
determine the main ideas:

English for Academic Professional Purposes 5

 1. Does the thesis statement have logical divisions?
2. Does the thesis statement follow a certain order?
3. What are the reasons the thesis statement is true?

Now if any of those question make a sense vis-à-vis your thesis statement, you need to find
out the answers to those questions. Those are your main ideas. In a similar fashion, you need to
identify the points that support the main ideas. They may take the form of:

1. Illustrations 4. Analogies
2. Description or explanations 5. Statistics
3. Definitions 6. Opinions

English for Academic Professional Purposes 6

However, ideas do not stop at supporting materials. There might still be facts as support to the
supporting materials. Therefore, you really need to be critical and carefully analyse which ideas are
subordinate to specific ideas.

Traditional Outline

I. Main Idea 1
A. Supporting Idea 1
1. Supporting Detail 1
a. Particular Detail 1
b. Particular Detail 2
2. Supporting Detail 2
B. Supporting Idea 2
II. Main Idea 2
III. Main Idea 3

The outline given above is an IV-level outline.

Remember that:
 When outlining there should always be at least two items for each level.
 A main idea should always have at least two supporting ideas.
 For highly complex text, a five-level outline may be used. Fifth-level items should be
coded using small Roman numerals (i,ii,iii).

Example:
Thesis Statement: There are four primary levels of communications.

Topic Outline
I. Intrapersonal communication
II. Interpersonal communication
A. Dyadic communication
B. Group communication
III. Public communication

Sentence Outline

I. Intrapersonal communication refers to how you take in stimuli in the environment

or make Main Idea sense of information. It also includes the thoughts and ideas that
you say to yourself. (Main Idea 1)
II. Interpersonal communication, which has two kinds, refers to an exchange of
information between two or more people. (Main idea 2)
A. Dyadic communication is describes as communication occurring between
two
.people who engage in face-to-face interaction for purpose of social
facilitation .or fulfilment, or the exchange of ideas and information.
(Supporting Idea 1)
B. Group communication is the active process of creating meaning among
three to
.fifteen people who share a common purpose, who feel a sense of belonging
to
.the group, and who exert influence on each other. (Supporting Idea 2)
III. Public communication is the process of developing, supporting, organizing, and
presenting ideas orally in a large crowd. (Main idea 3)
2. Précis Writing

English for Academic Professional Purposes 7

  Dadufalza (2008,pg.323) says that “ a précis is a condensation in one’s own words of a longer
piece of writing, following closely the general order and proportion of the original and
keeping in tone as well. The tone of a piece of writing refers to the attitude of the writer
toward his subject matter and audience”
 Similar to Outlining, composing précis requires you to correctly identify the thesis statement
of a text as well as the ideas subordinate to it. Moreover, since you need to reduce the length
of the original text, ideally one-fourth or one-third of its original length, one needs to be able
to distinguish which ideas can be taken out without obscuring the central idea of the text.
Hence, knowing how to transform, join, and compress sentences is an essential skill we need
to develop.

One of the ways you can make an effective précis is by making a sentence outline first.

The online test-prep portal Bull’s Eye outlined some don’ts in writing your précis:
 Do not express your own opinion, wish, remarks or criticism.
 Do not insert any question in your précis. Its significance, if essential, may be
expressed by a statement.
 Do not use abbreviations or contractions.

3. Paraphrasing
 It is essentially a restatement that renders in a more transparent way the full meaning of a
piece of discourse.
 It is a kind of translation from one register of language to another, such as from scientific to
learned discourse to ordinary layman’s terms; from literary or poetic style to common
discourse; from archaic writing to present usage, or from slang to Standard English.
(Dadufalza, 2008, pg. 335)
 The goal of paraphrasing is clarification by using the writer’s own language. We paraphrase
because we want to simplify a certain text. Since we expected to be of the same length or
even longer than the original passage.
 Paraphrasing also has similar elements with précis writing such as the paraphrase should
maintain the tone of the original, despite being written in one’s own words. A paraphrase
should also not contain your own opinions, wish, remarks or criticism. An excellent
paraphrase is one that is more understandable and accessible paraphrasing.

As a young writer of academic papers, you need to know when to use an outine, a précis, and
paraphrase to help us in our writing.

References

Marcial, Cruz, & Malata-Silva. English for Academic Professional Purposes ppg. 1-14

Internet
Position Paper photo retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?
q=position+paper&sxsrf=ACYBGNQxOsI9sXPUrKw2iqYpP_9ysWfIQ:1572612859329&source=ln
ms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2yeW2h8nlAhWjUN4KHVcXB9MQ_AUIESgB&biw=1252
&bih=578#imgrc=momXXu-1y4Eo4M
Reaction Paper photo retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?
q=Reaction+Paper&sxsrf=ACYBGNQBMxvulbbl71YGfpKCWKFGvmVy3Q:1572612734007&sour
ce=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqu4T7hsnlAhXG3mEKHZgbB98Q_AUIESgB&biw=12
52&bih=578#imgrc=kjkGk80mLrx2MM:
Concept Paper photo retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?
q=concept+paper&sxsrf=ACYBGNTufjocMF55jQrSCUWYlPvO68XC8A:1572612818446&source=
lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWk6ajh8nlAhVDPHAKHavpDg0Q_AUIESgB&biw=1252
&bih=578#imgrc=MqeIrEHU6coTFM:
Report Paper photo retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?
tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNSonpBq537peqNAZR0UJnHMwdGq_Q:1572613218416&q=report&chip
s=q:report,g_1:sample:6d9NkfTizXU%3D&usg=AI4_-

English for Academic Professional Purposes 8

kTVVC2v42j6PjGe_T2ua4GjqDErsw&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEtoLiiMnlAhUBHqYKHTOQCWMQ
4lYIKSgA&biw=1252&bih=578&dpr=1.09#imgrc=OCHOv9givwmQtM:

SAILING

Activity 1.

The following is an abstract of a master’s thesis. Read the Abstract and answer the questions that
follow.

This exploratory study described and analyze the rhetoric and leadership of ten student leaders
who served as Student Regents in the University of the Philippines (UP) Board of Regents, the
highest decision-and policy-making body of the university system. The Student Regent is the sole
representative of the roughly 60,000 UP students from the system’s seven constituent universities.

Specifically, this study examined how UP Student Regents, as rhetors and leaders, used rhetoric
to address exigencies in the rhetorical situation during their respective terms of office. Covering ten
years of student representation in the UP Board of Regents, the study identified the exigencies in
the rhetorical situations that led the Student Regents to create and present rhetorical discourse
(speeches, statement, and positions) to a rhetorical audience (board members and UP students). It
also analyzed how the Student Regents’ brand of transformational leadership and ideological
principles acted as constraints and substantially shaped their rhetorical discourses.

From the analyses of the Up Student Regents’ rhetorical discourses, it was found out that three
clusters of persisting and overarching exigencies namely; (1) the neoliberal nature of Philippine
education, (2) sectoral issues within UP, and (3) national multi-sectoral concerns, motivate UP
Students Regents to create rhetorical discourses that reflect both their ideological lines and the
transformational qualities of inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation, and present them
to a rhetorical audience, composed mainly of Up students, with the aim of arousing, organizing,
and mobilizing their constituencies to work towards attaining genuine social change.

Based on the analyses of the Student Regents’ rhetorical discourses and brand of leadership, this
study proposes a conceptual model of what a rhetoric of student leadership in UP ought to be. A UP
student leader should use a rhetoric, a skill in his/her power base, to persuade his/her audience to
move beyond their self- interest and collectively fight for social change. The rhetoric of student
leadership in UP ought to be principled, unwavering, and aimed at social transformation.

1. What can you say about the language used in the abstract?

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2. Identify the thesis statement of the abstract.

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English for Academic Professional Purposes 9

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3. Create a topic Outline for the abstract.

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4. Create a precis of the abstract.

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5. Choose two consecutive paragraphs from the abstract and paraphrase.

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Activity 2.

English for Academic Professional Purposes 10

Choose an abstract of a thesis on a topic of your choice. Then, create a topic outline, a precis, and a
paraphrase of two paragraphs. You may use the boxes below.

Topic Outline

English for Academic Professional Purposes 11

 Precis

Paraphrase

Activity 3

Choose a literature review, and identify sections or portions that contains precis and paraphrases.
Then, based on the lesson in this unit, evaluate whether or not the author used precis and paraphrase
effectively. Write your evaluation on a separate paper.

SOARING

With the approval of your teacher, choose a topic in line with your track. Then, collect three to five
sources. Create a sentence outline for each of the sources you got. Afterwards, integrate the points
made by the authors by writing an essay. You need to include paraphrases and precis in your essay.
Write your sentence outline and essay on separate papers.

PERCHING

How do you think the techniques discussed in this unit help young writers better understand academic
texts? Write a short reflection.

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English for Academic Professional Purposes 12