Name of Student: Andrei Y.

Ramos

Name of Parent’s: Marcela Y. Ramos

11-Zara

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

evidence. Its purpose is to aid the reader’s understanding.

It has a formal tone and style, but it is not complex and does not require the
use of long sentences and complicated vocabulary.

Each subject discipline will have certain writing conventions, vocabulary and
types of discourse that you will become familiar with over the course of your
degree. However, there are some general characteristics of academic writing
that are relevant across all disciplines.

Characteristics of academic writing

Academic writing is:
 Planned and focused: answers the question and demonstrates an
understanding of the subject.
 Structured: is coherent, written in a logical order, and brings together
related points and material.
 Evidenced: demonstrates knowledge of the subject area, supports
opinions and arguments with evidence, and is referenced accurately.
 Formal in tone and style: uses appropriate language and tenses, and
is clear, concise and balanced.
The following pages will look at all these characteristics in detail.

Academic writing or scholarly writing is nonfiction writing produced as part

of academic work. Writing that reports on university research, writing produced by university
students, and writing in which scholars analyze culture or propose new theories are all
sometimes described as academic writing.

Academic writing requires well-informed arguments. Statements must be supported by

evidence, whether from scholarly sources (as in a research paper), results of a study or
experiment, or quotations from a primary text (as in a literary analysis essay). The use of
evidence gives credibility to an argument.

In terms of academic writing it has a very big difference to the other forms of
writing because in academic writing you should have a great knowledge, you
should have a critical thinking and it should undergo  on a process..

Most academic texts in the sciences adhere to the model called imrad, which is an acronym for
introduction, methods and materials, results, and discussion. ... The model should, however, be
complemented with sections for aims and research questions, as these make up the very
backbone of an academic text in the sciences.
The Structure of Academic
Texts
An important feature of academic texts is that they are organised in a
specific way; they have a clear structure. This structure makes it
easier for your reader to navigate your text and understand the
material better. It also makes it easier for you to organise your
material. The structure of an academic text should be clear throughout
the text and within each section, paragraph and even sentence. 
The Structure of the Entire Text and of Each Section

Most academic texts in the sciences adhere to the model called imrad, which is an
acronym for introduction, methods and materials, results, and discussion. Imrad is often
illustrated with the following image (see explanation below).

The model should, however, be complemented with sections for aims and research
questions, as these make up the very backbone of an academic text in the sciences.
These often appear towards the end of the introduction, but sometimes also after a
separate heading.
Below is an overview of what should be included in each of the sections of the
academic text, as well as advice on how to structure your text and make it more
coherent. 

Aim

The aim determines the entire academic text and the content found in each section. The
aim captures what you intend to achieve with your study. One example could be that the
aim of the study was “to investigate how effective nursing interventions are for smoking
cessation”. It is crucial that the aim is consistent with every other section of the text. The
title should highlight the same aspects of the study that your aim does, and all the
subsequent sections of the text should respond to the aim. 

Research questions

The aim is often rather general, and may have to be narrowed down with research
questions. In other words, research questions are specific questions that enable you to
reach your aim. In the example given above, research questions could be, “What
nursing interventions exist?” and “How many patients are still smoke free after one
year?”. Remember that there must be a clear link between your aim and your research
questions, but they should not be identical. Only ask questions that will help you fulfil
your aim. 

If you have several research questions, you should consider how to order them. Is there
a logical order, in other words, can some questions only be understood after having
read others? Are some questions more important than others? Place the research
questions in an order that makes sense to you and then maintain that order
throughout the rest of your thesis.

Your aim and your thesis must be delimited and narrow, as you can only research a
small part of the world in your studies. For this reason, the sections that concern what
has been done in the study – methods and results – are narrow in the imrad model
above.

Introduction

In order to make your delimited research interesting to others, however, you must place

it in a larger context. For that reason, the introduction of the text must start with
something much more general than your research questions. It is often said that the
introduction should be shaped like a funnel (as it is in the imrad model
above). This means that you should start in a broad and general manner and then
gradually zoom in on your own, more specific topic. The text needs to start with
something that your reader can relate to, and that shows your reader what field your
research will contribute to, as well as how it will do so. 
The introduction should provide everything the reader needs to know in order to
understand your aim as well as why the aim is important. Convincing your reader that
your aim is important often entails showing that there is something we do not know, but
that we would benefit from knowing – perhaps in order to provide better care or develop
a new drug or new treatment method. It could also entail indicating that there is a
problem with an existing method and that alternative methods are needed. When you
have accounted for the context and pointed to the importance of new knowledge in the
field, your reader will be well prepared when you present your aim and research
questions towards the end of the introduction. (As mentioned above, the aim and
research questions are sometimes placed under a separate heading, which may be
placed right after the introduction.)

Please note that the introduction may also be called a background. Sometimes the two
terms are used to refer to the exact same thing; at other times, they refer to different
things. You may be asked to write a short introduction that raises your reader's interest
and gives a very short introduction to the field, followed by a more extensive
background section. Sometimes your instructions will specify what sections your thesis
or assignment should include, and what should be included in each part; sometimes
they will not. In the latter case, always ask your instructor. If you are writing a thesis you
can also examine previous theses in your field in order to get an idea of what they
usually include. (Just remember that theses may differ from each other significantly,
so never use just one thesis as a template; look at several. Also remember that
instructions and instructor expectations can change). 

Methods and Materials

In the methods section you should show your reader exactly how you have conducted
your research, that is, what you have done to fulfill your aim and answer your research
questions. First, your reader should understand how you got the results you did, and
second, after reading this section, they should be able to duplicate your research. But
what is meant by "exactly" how you conducted your research? Keep in mind the
significant facts; how you got your results, and what the reader would need to do to
duplicate them. Disregard irrelevant details: you do not, for instance, need to tell your
reader that you went to the library or that you talked to Barbro the librarian. Neither do
you need to tell your readers about all the ideas you had or things you wanted to do but
did not do. Focus on what you did, and account for the choices you made, when
necessary. 

It is helpful if you begin your methods section by writing something overarching about
your method, such as mentioning your study design. If you tell your readers right away
that your work is a literature review or that your method consisted of interviewing nurses
using semi-structured interviews, it is easier for the reader to understand the details
that follow the overarching statement. Your reader needs to be able to understand the
purpose of the details before being introduced to them. 
 Results

In the results section you should account for your results in an objective manner,
without interpreting them (interpreting your results is what you do in the discussion part).
If you posed several research questions, you should account for the results in the same
order that you posed your research questions; the consistency will help make the text
coherent and help your reader understand the information you are presenting.  

It may help your readers if you use illustrations such as tables and charts when
presenting your results. The illustrations should be clearly linked to your text, but you
should not repeat all the information provided in the chart. Instead, account for the most
important aspects or trends visible in the tables or charts; in other words, tell your
reader what you want them to observe. Please note that tables and charts should be
understandable without reading the body text, so it is important that you
include captions that indicate what they illustrate.

Discussion

The discussion section of your text is where you interpret your results for your reader.
It is the section of your text that is usually most difficult to write, for here you are
not merely writing about something that you have already done, you have to
write and analyse at the same time. All parts of your discussion should analyse your
results. While you may occasionally need to remind your reader of significant points
accounted for in earlier sections of your text, your discussion should not include too
much repetition from your background or introduction, your methods and materials, or
from your results. Please read the section about the principles of paragraphing and
topic sentences and make sure that each paragraph – except the very first one –
contains some analysis of your topic. A common outline of the discussion is the
following:

The first paragraph reminds your reader about the aim, preferably hinting at how you
will contribute to the field. You may for example write “This is the first study to examine
the correlation between …” Then you briefly account for the most important parts of
your results, perhaps linking them to your hypothesis if you have one. You may say that
the first paragraph makes for a shortcut into the discussion: it should enable your
readers to understand the discussion without reading all the sections of your thesis. 

The rest of the discussion should analyse and discuss your results. It may be helpful to
keep the following questions in mind:

 What do your results mean?

 How do they relate to previous research? What are the reasons for potential
differences between your study and previous research? What do potential similarities indicate?
 How may your method have affected your results?

 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the study? How do they affect your results?

 How are your results important to future developments? What are the clinical
implications, for example?

 What kind of research is needed in the field in the future, and why?

It is also common to divide the discussion into two parts: a results discussion and a
methods discussion. If you do that, you first focus on the results of your study, and then
scrutinise your methods.

Conclusion

In your conclusion you should fulfill your aim and account for what you have found in
your study. When you write your conclusion you have a golden opportunity to make
sure that all the sections of your thesis are connected and that the focus is consistent in
each section.  

Please remember that the conclusion is not merely a brief repetition of your
results. Focus instead on what your results may imply after careful consideration (the
consideration that you outlined in your discussion). 

However, keep in mind that accounting for what you have found in your study does not
mean that you can or even should make absolute claims; these cannot often be drawn
from a small study, if ever. Focus instead on what your results may imply – and it rarely
hurts to note that more research is needed.

The Structure of Paragraphs

Both your entire text and each paragraph that comprises your text should adhere to the
conventions of paragraph structure in academic texts. Each paragraph should begin
with an overarching statement or sentence that introduces the topic the rest of the
paragraph then addresses in greater specificity and detail. Each paragraph should also
be unified: it should address one thing or idea only. Each paragraph should also add
something new not found elsewhere in the text. To achieve a clear structure in each
paragraph, use topic sentences. 

The Structure of Sentences

Sentence structure also affects your text and your reader's ability to understand the
information you are presenting. What comes first in a sentence often appears
more important than what succeeds it. Read more about the structure of sentences. 
Making Your Structure Visible and Indicating How Different Parts Relate to Each
Other

A clear structure also entails that different parts are clearly connected to each other.
Two ways of achieving a clear structure are to use transition words and start sentences
with what your readers have just read about.