1st Edition
Guidebook to Academic Writing Communicating in the Disciplines
This innovative guidebook is an accessible and concise introduction to discipline-specific academic language. Using authentic texts written by both novice and expert writers and ‘translating’ current, corpus-based research of academic language into a practical guide, the book gives students the tools to navigate the linguistic features of various disciplines, emphasizing the humanities and sciences, but also discussing example texts from the social sciences.
Organised as 11 self-contained questions that are critical to any discussion of academic language, this guide:
- provides specific information and detail regarding the language ‘demands’ of each discipline
- explains the principles underlying punctuation, the range of choices writers have and the effects of these choices on readers
- includes detailed linguistic guidance on how to construct effective paragraphs
- discusses the multiple ways attitude is expressed in academic texts
- includes information on citation practices
With exercises and additional online resources, this guidebook provides students with a range of tools they can choose from in order to create effective texts that meet discipline and reader expectations. Accessibly written, it is an essential guide for all students in humanities and sciences writing academic texts in English.
Acknowledgements
Question 1: Why and How You Might Want to Use this Handbook?
Question 2: The Evolving Handbook: What Is the Purpose of a Handbook?
Question 3: What is Academic English?
Question 4: What Words are Typical in Academic Writing?
Question 5: How and Why do we Create Longer Sentences?
Question 6: How do we Achieve Economy? What Makes Academic Language Particularly Hard?
Question 7: How and Why do we Add Detail to Nouns and Verbs Using Words and Phrases?
Question 8: How and Why do we Guide Readers with Punctuation?
Question 9: How and Why do we Create Effective Paragraphs?
Question 10: How and Why do Writers Express their Point of View, Guide Readers and Interact with Them?
Question 11: Why and How do we Document our Research?
Appendix A: Grammar Essentials for Writers
Appendix B: Function Words
Index
Biography
Cornelia C. Paraskevas is Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Writing. She taught at Western Oregon University for 32 years. She is the author of Exploring Grammar Through Texts: Reading and Writing the Structure of English (2020) and co-author (with M. E. Sargent) of Conversations about Writing: Eavesdropping, Inkshedding, and Joining In (2004).
Deborah F. Rossen-Knill is a professor in the University of Rochester’s Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program and the program’s founding and executive director. She co-authored with Tatyana Bakhmetyeva Including Students in Academic Conversations: Principles and Strategies for Teaching Theme-Based Writing Courses Across the Disciplines (2011) and co-edited with Craig Hancock the Journal of Teaching Writing William Vande Kopple Memorial Issue (2021)
At last – a book on academic writing which not only shows how to write academically but also explains why these choices are often made. It is a highly-accessible, well-structured book which will support the academic writer in understanding the expectations of this genre, at the same time as retaining agency as an author.
Debra Myhill, University of Exeter, UK
Paraskevas and Rossen-Knill's Guidebook to Academic Writing is like a set of secret language keys: it decodes discipline-specific academic writing. Thanks to their well-chosen, accessible and authentic examples, Guidebook to Academic Writing offers essential reading for instructors and students hoping to make and to support informed choices about writing.
Laura Aull, University of Michigan, USA
