Entry 7 # Writing & Academic writing

WRITING & ACADEMIC WRITING

Steps for writing

• Pre writing tasks→ Build student’s knowledge of grammar points, vocabulary, or discourse. It can be through associagrams, brainstorming, prompts, or interviews. The key is to generate thoughtful and relevant written work.      

• Associagrams → A series of lexical items or ideas that relate to the topic.
• Prompt → It helps to hypothesize about the picture. It can be generated from a brainstorming. 

• During writing →Provide details that make the story interesting and engaging for the reader.

• Post writing→Re-read your story and make sure sentences make sense. It can be through adding phrases, eliminating unnecessary details,  proofing reading spelling or vocabulary, editing the paper, sharing with the audience.  

These key concepts were taken from a series of 5 videos

Source available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=xoPKi23meC8&feature=emb_logo

Notes on Academic Writing

Academic writing is clear, concise, focussed, formal, structured, and backed up by evidence.

The first step to writing academically is to clearly define the purpose of the writing and the audience, it is fundamental

• The introduction outlines the main direction the writing will take, and gives any necessary background information and context.
• In the main body, each point is presented, explored, and developed. These points must be set out in a logical order, to make it easier for the reader to follow and understand.

The conclusion brings together the main points and will highlight the key message or argument you want the reader to take away. It may also identify any gaps or weaknesses in the arguments or ideas presented, and recommend further research or investigation where appropriate.

It may be helpful to arrange ideas initially in the form of a mind-map, which allows you to develop key points with supporting information. Make your point clear in the first or second sentence of the paragraph to help the reader to follow the line of reasoning.

The rest of the paragraph should explain the point in greater detail, and provide relevant evidence and examples where necessary or useful. Your interpretation of this evidence will help to substantiate your thinking and can lead to your argument. At the end of the paragraph, you should show how the point you have made is significant to the overall argument or link to the next paragraph.

In formal academic writing, it is important to be concise. This helps your reader to understand the points you are making.

• Only include one main idea per sentence.
• Keep your sentences to a reasonable length (generally not more than 25 words). Long sentences can be difficult to follow and this may distract from your point.
• Avoid repetition.
• Avoid using redundant words. For example: Use “because” instead of “due to the fact that”.

In academic writing, you can use language that we often refer to as hedges or boosters to show how confident you are about an argument or claim you are discussing. Some useful hedging words and phrases to use in your work are:

• “This suggests...”
• “It is possible that...”
• “A possible explanation...”
• “Usually...”
• “Sometimes...”
• “Somewhat...”

You might want to express a measure of certainty or conviction in your writing and this is when 'booster' language can help. Some useful booster words and phrases to use in your work are:

• “Clearly” (only use if you are certain it is clear)
• “There is a strong correlation...”
• “Results indicate...”

It is important to use the correct tense and voice in your written work. If you are writing about an experiment you carried out or a method you used then use the past tense. If you are writing about

established knowledge then use the present tense.

The most important voice to get across in your writing is your own; it is how you can show the reader (usually your tutor) what you are thinking, what your views are and how you have engaged critically with the topic being discussed. You can do this by building an effective and persuasive argument for your reader.

Source: University of Leeds on Academic Writing (last visited July 2020)

 https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/14011/writing/106/academic_writing/3

Graphic Organizer

Participants: Benitez, Romina

              Romero, Candela

Metacognitive Analysis

First of all these videos are an excellent tool to help not only our steps when we have to write something but to share with our students. Furthermore, this is a visual instrument that helps to remember the keywords and makes this task more dynamic.

Second, by reading the material from the University of Leeds, I could remember the essential things that are involved when we have to write an academic essay. On the one hand, there are techniques before writing such as plan the structure of this writing, re-read it once we have finished taking out unnecessary details. On the other hand, there are grammar rules to follow like the use of hedges or boosters, the appropriate tenses, etc.

Finally, in this opportunity, we were challenged to use a graphic organizer to be able to include the sources we have worked on. We used a kind of organizer named mind map in which a central concept is the starting point to be explored with main ideas and words. It is another visual representation of the information we use and can encourage our students to apply too.