How to write academically: an example in context

Writing is a skill widely practiced by cultures all over the world. At school and university people learn to write academically respecting established conventions and procedures. Consequently when reaching the English lessons the learners have previous writing experiences on their own mother tongue. However, writing academically, in English as a second or foreign language, is not a simple task as some writing conventions differ from those acquired when learning to write formally in the student's native language. As cited in Myles (2002), Kern (2000) states that "[k]nowing how to write a "summary" or "analysis" in Mandarin or Spanish does not necessarily mean that students will be able to do these things in English" (p. 2).

Throughout his article on writing processes Myles (2002) cites different authors. For this purpose she utilizes quotations, omissions and insertion of letters. For example, when making a citation in the first paragraph on page 7 the author composes and ellipsis, though the stops are not placed in brackets, as exemplified in Pintos and Crimi (2010). Following APA (American Psychological Association) formalities, when inserting a letter or showing a change in a word it appears between square brackets. These alterations are made in order to give coherence and cohesion to the text.

Citing authors in academic writings is a way of supporting or exemplifying your views on a specific topic. Thus Myles (2002) makes use of varied in-text citations and introductory phrases. In-text citations include parenthetical citations, for example, on page 1 paragraph 2 we can find the following citation: "a two-way interaction between continuously developing knowledge and continuously developing text" (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987, p.12). Paraphrased citations are also present, on page 2 paragraph 4 we can observe one of these: "[a]lthough L2 writing is strategically, rhetorically, and linguistically different in many ways from L1 writing (Silva, 1993)". Block quotations are used on pages 7 and 12. Regarding the structure most used for introductory phrases they are several as well as the reporting verbs employed. For example, X (year of publication) states/ argues that…, and X's (year of publication) paper on/ model….

All in all, the use of academic conventions make papers proficient, coherent and difficult to refute since each view is adequately supported and/ or exemplified. Respecting conventions helps the writer to avoid plagiarism. Moreover, anyone wanting to corroborate its veracity can do it so by just checking at the listed sources. However, success is not only attained by following APA rules and procedures. "Learners' attitudes, motivation, and goals can explain why some L2 writers perform better than others." (Myles, 2002, p. 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Myles, J. (2002) Second language writing and research: the writing process and error analysis in student texts. Teaching English as a second or foreign language, 6 (2). Retrieved November 2010, from: http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESl-EJ/ej22/a1.html

Pintos, V., & Crimi Y. (2010). Unit 3: Academic writing.
Buenos Aires, Argentina: Retrieved November 2010, from http://caece.campusuniversidad.com.ar/mod/resource/view.php?id=7392