English Academic Writing I: Introduction and Summary

 

Starting from Wednesday August 30 until Friday September 1, 2017, we have an interesting class which is called the English Academic Writing I. This class was conducted by Prof. Rick Lavin from Prefectural University of Kumamoto, belongs to Dept. of English Language & Literature. He came from UK and has been 30 years living in Japan.

INTRODUCTION

A. There are 3 Principles in Writing:

• Write frequently and fluently
• Deal with errors efficiently
• Learn how to transition from everyday to academic writing styles

B. Types of Writing:

• Writing a self-introduction
• everyday style
• Writing book reviews
• transitional style
• Academic writing
• academic style

SUMMARY

A. Use textbooks and other reference works:

• Academic Vocabulary in Use
• Abstracts and the Writing of Abstracts, etc.
• others

B. Use web resources and tools

     1. General web tools: 

• word lists
• phrase banks
• AWL exercises
• etc.

     2. Specific tools that enable us to make our own questions, example sentences

• AWL Highlighter
• AWL Gapmaker
• Compleat Lexical Tutor

C. Read a lot

• Native speakers build their (generally unconscious) knowledge of phrases through leisure reading
• Read papers in our field, fiction, magazines, etc.
• Sometimes shift us focus to form

Source:

• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B02hXKojBPJqTXhtWk83V3lBOUk
• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ydtfo5s3oXT1hUvWX5HuRImstbnVJCdOKsyPKcUn8dE/edit#slide=id.g2488c4437d_0_135

English Academic Writing I: Study and Learning

 

For the last theory, we learned about using the alternative collocations, which are:

A. Alternatives to do and get from the expressions do/get

• do an exam -> I have to sit/take an exam in biology at the end of term.
• do research, do a research project -> Our class carried out / conducted a research project into history of our school.
• do a course -> I decided to enrol on / take  a course in computer programming.
• do a degree/diploma -> She studied for / took  a degree engineering.
• do a subject (e.g law) -> I studied/took history and economics in high school.
• do an essay/assignment -> All students have to write an essay/assignment at the end of term.
• do a lecture/talk -> Professor Parkinson gave a lecture on the American Civil War.
• get a degree/diploma -> He obtained / was awarded a diploma in Town Planning in 1998.
• get a grade -> Her essay received / was given an A-grade.
• get a qualification -> You will need to obtain/acquire a qualification in social work.
• get an education -> The country is poor; only 27% of children receive a basic education.

B. More formal collocations to repeat in the conversations (Question/Answer Examples)

• Q: go to --- the lectures --- do the course 
• A: attend --- the lectures --- complete the course
• Q: class be
• A: class will be held
• Q: give --- our essays 
• A: hand in your essays 
• Q: send in our --- applications 
• A: submit your application
• Q: leave the course
• A: withdraw form the course

C. More collocations connected with study and learning

• keep --- notebook
• first draft --- final draft
• gives --- feedback
• continuous assessment
• provides training
• higher/tertiary education --- further education
• recognise --- qualifications

Source:

English Collocations in Use

English Academic Writing I: Structuring an Argument

 

Academic writing 2: structuring an argument

After learned about how to giving opinions, we learn and practice also how to structuring an argument for organising the context in the academic journals. 

A. Organising the text

• fall into --- categories
• make reference to
• draw a distinction between
• raises --- questions
• touchs on issues
• take into consideration
• makes a case for

B. Reinforcing arguments

• assess the significant
• lays emphasis on
• lend support to
• hold firmly to

C. More collocations for referring to arguments

• draws an analogy -> makes a comparison between things which have similar features, to help explain an idea
• draws parallels -> says that something is very similar to something else
• presents the case for
• puts forward the argument
• takes up / adopts the position
• states --- opinion
• argues convincingly -> argues in a way that makes people believe that something is true or right
• draws attention to --- research --- suggest
• briefly summarises
• disagrees profoundly -> disagrees very strongly or in an extreme way
• draws the conclusion 

Source:

English Collocations in Use

English Academic Writing I: Giving Opinions

 

Academic writing I: giving opinions

In the 3rd day of the class, we learn and practice also how to giving some opinions regarding the context in the academic journals. Some collocations that we could use are:

A. Reviewing the work of academics

• groundbreaking research
• makes a significant contribution
• sets out --- powerful arguments --- shape our thinking -> influence 
• gives an account of --- provides evidence --- support the claim
• concise summary -> short and clear
• strenuously defends --- come under attack
• played a central role --- goes into great detail
• establish a connection --- irrefutable proof (-> absolute proof, impossible to prove wrong) --- significant trends

B. Stating things strongly and less strongly

1. Strong expressions of opinion

• key factor
• perfect example
• clear illustration

2. Less strong expressions of opinion

• tentative explanation
• broadly support

C. Other general academic collocations

• strong tendency
• gather evidence --- carry out a --- study --- play a apart
• supporting evidence
• challenges the theory
• acknowledge your sources
• commit plagiarism

Source:

English Collocations in Use

English Academic Writing I: Citing Other Authors (Literature Review)

 

Literature Review based on Academic Phrasebank

The assignment in the 2nd day of our class, it was about how we could make a literature review from some journal papers. There are many ways to cite other authors and it is best to use a variety techniques such as:

• The Zero Option
• Technique 1: Give the name and year at the beginning of a sentence
• Variation 1A: Vary the verbs that we use 
• Remember that verbs don't have to be simple ones, and they can also be negative
• Variation 1B: Add an adverbial phrase before the author's name
• Variation 1C: Insert an adverbial phrase after the author's name
• We can achieve a minor change in rhythm by inserting an adverbial phrase
• Variation 1D: Precede the author's name with an expression like "Researchers such as..."
• Where several researchers have similar claims, it is easy to change the rhythm of a paragraph by adding "Researchers such as...". This pattern is particularly useful when pointing to a general interest in a topic rather than specific claims. 

• Technique 2: Move the researcher's name into an adverbial phrase
• Technique 3: Use the passive voice to move the researcher out of subject position

Examples:

• Cohen et al. (1997) state that Coastal areas concentrate most of the economic activities and urbanization around the world. 37% of the world population was living in a band of one hundred kilometer width along the coast in 1997.

• United Nations (2010) mentioned that the rate of population growth in coastal areas is accelerating and increasing tourism adds pressure on the environment.

• Duraiappah et al. (2005) noted although coastal ecosystems are among the most productive in the world, they are also highly threatened.

• Nicholls et al. (2007) further explained coastal areas will be exposed to increasing natural hazards in the coming years, such as storms and sea level rise that will cause floods, erosion, ecosystem losses, human, social and economic issues.

• Ablain, Cazenave, Valladeau, and Guinehut (2009) told that radar altimetry is a powerful technique used for the monitoring of the sea surface topography over the open ocean.

• Bouffard et al. (2011) mentioned the study of the ocean circulation, its use is difficult close to the coasts as its spatial and temporal resolutions are inadequate to observe the complex and fast changing dynamics of the ocean close to the shore.

• Lowe et al. (2002); Ruffini, Soulat, Caparrini, Germain, & Martin-Neira (2004); Löfgren, Haas, Scherneck, & Bos (2011); Semmling et al. (2011); Rius et al. (2012) stated that Spatio -and/or temporal- variations of sea levels were recorded with an accuracy of a few cm using such a technique from ground-based or air-borne acquisitions.

Referring to source:
Roussel, Nicolas, et al. "Sea level monitoring and sea state estimate using a single geodetic receiver." Remote sensing of Environment 171 (2015): 261-277.

English Academic Writing I: Dictation Test

 

Title: Changing Attitude to the World Nuclear Power

Before March 11, 2011, many people in Japan consider nuclear power to be safe, clean, and cheap. Despite the accident of Chernobyl in 1996, government around the world continue the develop nuclear power generation since they believe the fault the solely with Soviet technology.

Compared to the damages caused by the burning of the fossil fuel, nuclear is more attractive. In addition, people were told that uranium cheaper than coal gas and oil used in traditional power generation. In Japan, nuclear power plant also brought many benefits to the local community that hosted them. Many of them getting rich.

Source text:

Then and Now: Changing Attitude towards Nuclear Power

Before March 11, 2011, many people in Japan considered nuclear power to be safe, clean, and cheap. Despite the accident in 1986 in Chernobyl, governments around the world continued to develop nuclear power generation because they believe the fault lay solely with Soviet technology. Compared to the damage caused to the environment by the burning of fossil fuels, the nuclear option was an attractive one. In addition, people were told that uranium was cheaper than coal, gas, and oil used in traditional power station. In Japan, nuclear power plants also brought many benefits to the local communities that hosted them, with many of them becoming rich.

English Academic Writing I: Academic Word List (AWL) Examples

 

In the 2nd day of our class, we learn about the Academic Word List (AWL) Exercise from some journal that has already published. These are the examples of the journal that I have taken:

1. access

• GPM gave us permits in accessing to the records from 28 April to 13 May 2013.

• The authors have a direct access to the expertise behind its set-up. 

2. approximate

• We can assume that SNR can thus be approximated by that overall magnitude of the SNR is large and mainly driven by the direct signal.

• This formula was chosen approximately equal to 3 times the maximum variation of sea level observed during the lowest tide period (i.e. ~ 3 ∗ 4 m/6 h). 

3. acquire

• We applied the method presented above to the SNR data acquired with a geodetic antenna set up at ~ 60 meters above the surface of the Atlantic ocean, at Cordouan lighthouse.

• Our method is validated with SNR data for acquiring on an offshore site of 60-meter height.

4. adapt

• As in recent studies (Larson et al., 2013), this dominant frequency is estimated using the LSP which seems to be a well-adapted solution.

• That system adapts for coastal areas and estuaries.

5. affect

• The reflected signal will affect the SNR by producing a high frequency associated with small amplitude perturbation w.r.t the direct signal.

• The larger the size of the smoving window, the more numerous the estimations of h affected by this offset.

Source of text:

Roussel, Nicolas, et al. "Sea level monitoring and sea state estimate using a single geodetic receiver." Remote sensing of Environment 171 (2015): 261-277.