The Nature of

Academic Texts
English for Academic and Professional
Purposes
Grade 12- SHS
Ms. Danica Ann S. Malapaya
Subject Teacher
ATTENDANCE
 House Rules:
RULE #1: Maintain your work
Ethic and Always try your Best
RULE #2: Listen and Follow
instructions
RULE #3: Respect Teacher and other
Students
RULE #4: Safety First: Keep Hands,
Feet and Objects to Yourself and others
Writing is a form of communication that is
shaped by the following factors:
1. Topic- What is the text about? What details am I imparting to the
readers?
2. Role- Who am I as a writer? Do I write as a sibling? A student? A son/
a daughter? A customer?
3. Purpose Why am I writing this in the first place?
4. Audience- Who is reading this piece? What knowledge does he/she
need to understand in writing?
The Nature of
Academic Texts
English for Academic and Professional
Purposes
Grade 11- SHS
Ms. Danica Ann S. Malapaya
Subject Teacher
At the end of the lessons the
students are expected to:
• Identify the distinct characteristics of an academic
text
• Evaluate the similarities and differences of
academic texts in different discipline
• Analyze am academic text to describe its purpose,
target audience and style
 E M IC N o n- A c a d
AC A D em ic
IT IN G W RI T I N
G
WR
 What is an Academic Writing?
• It is any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or university.
• It also includes any writing assignment given in an academic setting.
 List of documents where academic
writing is used:
• Books and Book Reports
• Translations
• Essays
• Research Paper
• Conference paper
• Academic Journal
• Dissertation and Thesis
• Position paper
 What is Non-Academic Writing?
• focuses on lay audience or the mass public. These types of
articles are mostly personal, impressionistic, emotional, or
subjective in nature.
• Journalism
• Advertising
• Military and technical writing
• Business letter
• Email
• Memorandum
• Press release
• resume writing
 Non-Academic writing people
typically write to:
• Inform- share information with their audience.
• Persuade- build goodwill with or enlist the help of their audience.
• The focus is on giving opinion.
• It is recommended or advisable to focus on the state of action

I recommend or endorse Mr. Juan De la Cruz to be the next CEO

of the company.
On the next following slides, there are three different
texts on different perspective on the power of
language. Let us read the text carefully and analyze
what are the differences and similarities among the
three. Then answer the question afterwards.
Text 1
Text 2
Text 3
 Among the three texts that you have
read, which one do you think is an
academic text? What are your bases for
saying so?
Components of an
Academic Text
Purpose
• Is what the writer wants to achieve in producing text.
• The way the writer organizes ideas and the choice of words in
a text is motivated by this purpose.
• Texts are specifically to inform, argue a point, or persuade
readers.
Writer and Target Audience
• Can be an expert in a certain discipline or can be student like
you who has learned basic concepts in the field.
• Experts- technical terms appeared in the text
• Student- less complex. Think of their readers as researchers.
Text Type
• Can be classified to academic and non academic
• Different academic text types share certain characteristics,
each type has its own significant features and is driven by a
specific purpose
Style
• Refers to how a text is driven
• Describe the writer’s word choice and other techniques in writing
• Academic texts use formal language
• The information shared must be credible. Parenetical citations
(e.g. (Santos, 2018) and narrative in text citations (e.g. According
to Santos 2018)
• List of references placed towards the end of the texts, complete
with other information such as the sources titles and years of
publication.
In writing an academic text:
• In terms of style, it is formal
• used third person point of view
• Used passive voice not active voice

•
 How to distinguish Academic from Non
Academic?
Is the purpose of the text to inform, argue a point, or persuade its
readers?
Is the writer an expert or a student writing in the context of
pursuing knowledge in specific discipline?
Does the writer assume that the readers have basic knowledge of the
discipline?
Does the text mainly use formal language and impersonal tone (or
at least puts more importance on content rather than the writers
identity)?
Is the text founded on research?
 Links that will help you find a good
material:
• Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com)
*retrieves journal articles, books and other academic
texts that are relevant and useful in academics.
• Education Resource Information Center or ERIC (
https://eric.ed.gov)
*sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of
the US Department of Education, this database is rich source of
academic texts. The site allows users to search for peer
reviewed and/or full texts.
 Links that will help you find a good
material:
• CORE (https://core.ac.uk)
*this site holds generous a generous number of open
access materials, which means that the academic texts you will
find here are free of charge.
• Philippine E-Journals (https://ejournals.ph/index.php)
*If your search needs to be limited to the Philippine
context, this site is a good idea since it contains a wide
multidisciplinary range of journals published by experts in the
country.