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[Music] hi my name is John karowski I'm an English as a foreign language instructor here at the National University of Science and Technology n missis in this series of videos for the academic Writing Center I will be talking about
John Karowski introduces academic English and academic writing, covering its definition, key characteristics like focus, logic, clarity and coherence, the writing process, and why the skill matters.
Key Takeaways
- Academic writing conveys research through logical, evidence-based arguments.
- Each academic genre has distinct rules that should be identified before writing.
- Clarity and coherence are essential because readers depend entirely on the text.
- Writing is a multi-stage process involving drafting, revision and peer feedback.
- Academic writing skills support research, critical thinking and career prospects.
What the video covers
- The video is the first in an academic writing series from the AWUC at the National University of Science and Technology.
- Academic English is the variety of English used to share research, drawing on Dr Karen Otwell of Cambridge's Language Center.
- Academic English has two varieties: spoken and written academic English.
- Academic writing is the written form of academic English used to convey research across many genres, such as literature reviews, research papers, abstracts and lab reports.
- Each genre has its own rules and conventions, so writers should identify expectations before writing.
- Common characteristics include focused research questions, logical reasoning over emotional appeal, clarity (readers are low-context and depend on the text), and coherence through logical sentence and paragraph connections.
- The writing process involves analyzing the task, planning a main claim with support, researching quality evidence, and drafting, editing and proofreading multiple times, ideally with peer feedback.
- Benefits of mastering academic writing include contributing to academic dialogue, gaining a greater voice, developing research and critical thinking skills, and improving employability.
- Academic writing is a collection of skills, including critical thinking, argument construction and research, beyond simply putting thoughts on the page.
- Questions can be directed to the academic Writing Center.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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different concepts techniques and strategies related to the field of academic writing in English in this first video I'd like to begin the series by providing a brief introduction to the field of academic writing and answer the following questions question one what is academic
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English number two what is academic writing number three what are the general characteristics of academic writing and number four why is academic writing important let's begin by addressing the first question what is academic English according to Dr Karen otwell of
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the Cambridge University Language Center at its most basic academic English is the variety of the English language that we use to share research research refers to the process of answering a research question by creating an argument that is
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supported through critical analysis and the use of evidence we use academic English to reach a wide General academic audience in an attempt to persuade them that the argument we've created to answer our research question is an effective one
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there are two varieties of academic English spoken academic English and written academic English let's take a closer look at this second variety when most people think of academic writing they think of thesis papers composed by graduate students and research articles
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written by professional Scholars while these are two great examples of academic writing the concept can be applied more generally to include a much wider variety of tasks and objectives as I mentioned in part one academic English is the variety of
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English used to convey research so academic writing is the variety of academic English used to convey research in writing that means there are many different kinds of academic writing from literature reviews to research papers to abstracts and lab reports while trying
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to compare and contrast all the many different types of academic writing is a tall order the most important thing to remember is that generally each kind of academic writing has its own rules and conventions as such it's important to
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identify the rules and expectations for a particular genre of writing before starting to write I will discuss the rules and expectations for a few different genres in later videos while the characteristics of a piece of academic writing May differ depending on
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type there are a few traits that are common to most academic writing first there are focus and specific expectations when producing a piece of academic writing academic writing is used to answer research questions these questions are either provided by a
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course instructor or developed by the writer or researcher good academic writing starts with focused and specific questions to be answered second academic writing emphasizes logical reasoning over emotional or sensory perceptions facts are more important than feelings writing clearly means thinking
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clearly and so effective academic writing demonstrates clear critical thinking and the ability to make arguments Stronger by supporting them with evidence third academic writing must be clear English is both a low context and reader responsible Language by this I mean
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readers will depend on what's been written and believe it is the writer's job to make his or her argument as comprehensible as possible fourth academic writing must be coherent this means that there are logical connections between sentences one way to do this is
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to begin sentences with information that relates back to the previous sentence it also means that paragraphs are unified around a single idea and that all the information included in a piece of writing helps to create an effective argument used to answer the research
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question finally the most effective academic writing follows a process while each writer will eventually develop his or her own unique process there are a few steps that most people follow when producing a piece of academic writing these steps include analyzing
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the task this involves clarifying your purpose for writing and identifying your target audience number two planning your argument next you need to develop a main claim and decide how you will support this claim using evidence step three research this is
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necessary in order to gather quality fact-based objective evidence that you need to create the argument you will use to support your main claim number four start and engage in the writing and drafting process no good writing is done overnight it's important
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to produce multiple drafts and to both edit and proofread your writing while it is important to consider things like punctuation and proper spelling it is even more important to see how well you've structured your argument and the information in your writing to do this
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it's a good idea to ask for comments from peers and colleagues finally there are many benefits of investing your time and energy in becoming a proficient academic writer academic writing is an important skill to master for a wide variety of
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professional and personal reasons first it allows writers to make individual contributions to the ongoing dialogues in their fields it allows individuals a greater voice and ability to participate in conversations about topics important to them additionally by mastering the
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skills necessary to become an effective academic writer a person also becomes an effective researcher and critical thinker finally academic writing is a marketable skill that improves one's professional qualifications and makes one a more attractive candidate for potential employers so in the end we see that
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academic writing is about much more than just the active writing which is itself not simply a skill but a collection of skills in addition to putting your thoughts on the page effective academic writing involves critical thinking the ability to create a convincing argument
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and good research skills I hope this video has helped to improve your understanding of what people mean when they talk about academic writing if you have any questions please feel free to bring them to us at the academic Writing
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Center once again I'm John karowski see you next time
Topics:academic writingacademic Englishresearch writingcritical thinkingargumentationEFLwriting processcoherenceclarityacademic genres
