I.
Aspects or Features of Language
1. Formality. Academic writing is relatively formal. In general this means that in an essay
you should avoid colloquial words and expressions.
2. Accuracy. Academic writing uses vocabulary accurately. Most subjects have words with
narrow specific meanings. Linguistics distinguishes clearly between "phonetics" and
"phonemics"; general English does not.
3. Objectivity. Written language is in general objective rather than personal. It therefore
has fewer words that refer to the writer or the reader. This means that the main
emphasis should be on the information that you want to give and the arguments you
want to make, rather than you. For that reason, academic writing tends to use nouns
(and adjectives), rather than verbs (and adverbs).
4. Explicitness. Academic writing is explicit about the relationships in the text.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the writer in English to make it clear to the reader
how the various parts of the text are related. These connections can be made explicit by
the use of different signalling words.
II. What is Summarizing?
According to Buckley (2004), in her popular writing text Fit to Print, summarizing is
reducing text to one-third or one-quarter its original size, clearly articulating the author’s
meaning, and retaining main ideas.
According to Diane Hacker (2008), in A Canadian Writer’s Reference, explains that
summarizing involves stating a work’s thesis and main ideas “simply, briefly, and accurately”.
From dictionaries, it is defined as taking a lot of information and creating a condensed version
that covers the main points; and to express the most important facts or ideas about something
or someone in a short and clear form.
Various techniques in summarizing a variety of academic texts
1. Read the work first to understand the author’s intent. This is a crucial step because an
incomplete reading could lead to an inaccurate summary. Note: an inaccurate summary is
plagiarism!
2. One of the summarization techniques you can do is to present information through facts,
skills and concept in visual formats. You can provide the cause and effects charts, time lines, and
Venn diagrams, templates for outlines, use flow charts or infographics.
3. To avoid difficulty, you need first to know the main points and the supporting details. You can
exclude any illustrations, examples or explanations.
4. You need to analyze the text to save time in thinking what you will do.
5. Think what information you will put in your summary. Be sure to cover the main points and
arguments of the document.
6. One of the best things to do in auto summarizing is restating the words into different one.
You should avoid using the original words of the author instead; use your own vocabulary but
be sure to retain the information.
7. You will fully understand what the document is when you organize all ideas.
8. One of the things you can do is to write down all information in a coherent and precise form.
Keep in mind that a summary is a condensed version of the original paper, so avoid making it
long.
9. You can also decide to represent information through using dimensional constructions in
representing concepts, skills or facts.
10. Paraphrasing is one of the skills you can do in writing a summary. With it, do not use the
same words with the author.
III. Organizational Patterns
Organizational patterns can be identified by what transitions or “signal words” the author uses.
Recognizing the type of pattern that academic writing is organized by can help the reader to put
all the facts together and understand what the text is all about. The following tables will help
you to identify different organizational patterns.
1. Definition. Explains the meaning of new words or phrases.
Signal words: is, refers to, can be defined as, means, consists of, involves, is a term that, is
called, is characterized by, occurs when, are those that, entails, corresponds to, is literally
2. Cause and Effect. Describes how one or more things cause or are related to another.
Signal Words: Causes: because, because of, for, since, stems from, one cause is, one reason is,
leads to, causes, creates, yields, produces, due to, breeds, for this reason
Effects: consequently, results in, one result is, therefore, thus, as a result
3. Comparison and Contrast. Discusses similarities and/or differences among ideas, theories,
concepts, objects, or persons.
Signal Words: Similarities: both, also, similarly, like, likewise, too, as well as, resembles,
correspondingly, in the same way, to compare, in comparison, share Differences: unlike, differs
from, in contrast, on the other hand, instead, despite, nevertheless, however, in spite of,
whereas, as opposed to
IV. Thesis Statement
◦ A thesis statement is the main idea of an essay.
◦ It is often a point you want to argue or support in an essay.
◦ The thesis statement explains to a reader the main idea of the essay, and the writer's
opinion on that idea
◦ A thesis statement is usually one sentence.It is often placed in the introductory
paragraph of an essay.
◦ A thesis statement is a claim that could be argued.
◦ The essay will contain evidence and opinions that support the argument.
Thesis statements avoid the following:
◦ the first person (I believe, In my opinion, etc.)
◦ unclear language (It seems, etc.)
◦ attempting two topics at once (even if they seem related). Pick one and stick with it.
just stating a fact - A thesis is something you plan to make an argument about.
A thesis statement should contain a topic (main idea of what you are writing about)
contain an opinion about the topic (what your attitude is toward the topic)
References: https://valenciacollege.edu/students/learning-support/winter-park/
communications/documents/OrganizationalPatternsinAcademicWriting.pdf
https://www.literacymn.org/sites/default/files/curriculum/
routine_4_summarizing_techniques.pdf
https://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/featfram.htm
https://www.slideshare.net/RubenAgacio/thesis-statement-on-various-academic-textpptx
