Day 8: Academic Style

Part I: Warm-up

Today, we are going to look at academic style. We will discuss the major components of academic style, especially when writing for academic purposes. Academic style is something you're likely already familiar with, and the purpose of this lesson is to both review what you already know as well as to introduce you to some concepts you may not have thought of before.

1) To start, discuss in pairs or groups these questions: what are some of the major differences between spoken and written language? What are some distinctive features of academic style?

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Part II: Introductory lecture

2) Open up the Academic Style PowerPoint, and take notes where you see fit. Pay particular attention to the three major components of academic style discussed and focus on why we would talk about this in an academic writing class. Reflect whether you have made or formed similar mistakes/habits in your own writing.

In the presentation, there are a couple of different examples of writing written in a particular style. What are some of the most distinctive differences between these examples? Why do you think these authors chose to write in different ways?

How can you bring this idea back to academic writing? Why would we want to talk about style? Is there a kind of style, you think, is most appropriate for writing for academic purposes?

To conclude this portion of the class, we will reflect upon our own academic writing style by analysis of our diagnostic essay. Here is the handout with student Sentences.https://www.dropbox.com/s/1o07xsor7g3hv70/Student%20Examples.docx An answer key will possible corrections is located here. I have also created a basic handout with student Vocabulary. Please note as well that you can study a comprehensive list of the most common forms of academic words by accessing Coxhead's (2008) Academic Word List.

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Part III: Academic Style in Data Analysis

Now, I would like us to shift gears to focus on writing academically for technical writers, primarily writing that deals with heavy data analysis. We will be looking at how to use different language structures for the purpose of explaining data. Please refer to the handout titled, Writing About Data located under Additional Materials.

Optional Engineering activity

Open Microsoft Word and create a document, calling it Name_academicstyle_FA12. Save it in the Dropbox folder you shared with me.

 

Academic style:

1. Select a paragraph from your diagnostic essay. Copy and paste that paragraph twice into your Word document. Leave a space between the two copies of that paragraph; you want to be able to show the original paragraph as you submitted it for your diagnostic as well as the same paragraph after you've made improvements to it.

2.Then, revise the second copy of the paragraph for academic style. Leave the first paragraph in its original state. As you revise the paragraph, ask yourself:

• Is the language I use complex and precise? If not, how, specifically, could I fix it?
• Is the tone I use formal enough? If not, how, specifically, could I fix it?
• Is there a sense of responsibility in this paragraph? Have I provided enough evidence to support my claims? If not, how, specifically, could I fix it?

3.Lastly, in 3-5 sentences after your revision, discuss the changes you made and why you made them. Explain why you think the changes you made are indicative of good academic style.

4.    Exchange seats with a partner, and have them take a look at your revised paragraph. Write some constructive comments following this format:

P: Say something positive about what your partner did. Be specific!
Q: Ask them a question about something you're unclear about or something you're not sure why they did. Be specific!

P: Make a suggestion to help your partner polish their paper. Be specific!

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Homework:  Your diagnostic analysis draft is due Tuesday BEFORE class. Upload the draft to Dropbox Unit 1 folder titled "Name_Diagnostic1" and please print two copies of your diagnostic analysis before coming to class; we will be doing peer review. Your revised diagnostic analysis is due Wednesday by 11:59 p.m. Save your diagnostic analysis as "Name_diagnostic2". This assignment is worth 10% of your final course grade.