Chapter 4: Communication for Academic Papers
A. Writing an academic paper
1. Identifying the characteristics of ideal topic
2. Taking notes
3. Paraphrasing
4. Summarizing
5. Referencing
6. Citing Sources
Objectives
At the end of the unit, the students must have :
1. Written and presented an academic paper
2. Displayed mastery on documentation and citing sources of information as seen in their academic paper
using appropriate registers.
Academic Writing
Academic writing refers to any writing done to required by a colleges or universities such as essays,
book reports, reaction papers , research and term papers, academic journals, thesis and dissertations. It is
a kind of writing which must be clear, concise, focused, 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. (https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com)
Academic writing involves several steps which may be 1) identifying the characteristics of ideal topic;
2) taking notes; 3) paraphrasing 4) summarizing 5) referencing and 6) citing sources. These are the
things that you are going to do in accomplishing the paper that you are about to do.
Let us take these steps one by one.
1. Identifying the characteristics of ideal topics.
In all types of writing, before starting to write, you must select a good topic to discuss. In
research writing, in order that researching is smooth, the first step to be done must be to select a workable
topic. A researchable topic must have the following characteristics:
1
, a. It must be useful in the society.
Question to answer: What are the fields that are useful in the society?
b. It must be timely.
Question to answer: What are the issues that need to be taken care of?
c. It must have novelty.
Question to answer: What are issues that have not been fully discussed yet?
d. It must be done in the given period of time.
Have in mind
Question to answer: What is the length of time allowed for me to work on the paper?
e. It must not be stereotype.
Question to answer: Is the topic discussed so frequently already?
2. Taking notes.
In academic writing, it is a must to read before writing - read information, facts, observation
of others, read/listen to the testimonies and others about the topic in order to gain knowledge about
it. It is then important to take down notes while reading.
There are many styles of taking down notes. Researches show that students who used pen
and paper in taking notes learn more than those who used computer in doing it. This is so because
while they are writing, they are retaining the concepts in their mind unlike in the computer that they
are just copying, sometimes just copying then pasting.
Taking notes can be done in many ways. It can be through quoting, summarizing and
paraphrasing. These three are all needed, however it is observed that the last two are more effective
in retaining information than the first. The discussion below about these three ways are taken from
Wakat et. al 2018. These can be adopted for note taking and also in writing your final draft to avoid
plagiarism.
Quoting
Quoting is copying the words of the author and intertwining these words to your own.
Quoted statements which are incorporated at the beginning, middle or end part of your paragraph
are enclosed in quotation marks and are identified with the author’s family name, year of publication
and page number of the journal or book where the quoted statement was lifted from.
Following the American Psychological Association (APA), 6th edition format, quoted
statements fewer than 40 words are incorporated in the texts and are enclosed in quotation marks
while statements composed of more than 40 words are set off as block quotations and are not
enclosed in quotation marks.
Examples:
Less than 40 words
2
A. Writing an academic paper
1. Identifying the characteristics of ideal topic
2. Taking notes
3. Paraphrasing
4. Summarizing
5. Referencing
6. Citing Sources
Objectives
At the end of the unit, the students must have :
1. Written and presented an academic paper
2. Displayed mastery on documentation and citing sources of information as seen in their academic paper
using appropriate registers.
Academic Writing
Academic writing refers to any writing done to required by a colleges or universities such as essays,
book reports, reaction papers , research and term papers, academic journals, thesis and dissertations. It is
a kind of writing which must be clear, concise, focused, 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. (https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com)
Academic writing involves several steps which may be 1) identifying the characteristics of ideal topic;
2) taking notes; 3) paraphrasing 4) summarizing 5) referencing and 6) citing sources. These are the
things that you are going to do in accomplishing the paper that you are about to do.
Let us take these steps one by one.
1. Identifying the characteristics of ideal topics.
In all types of writing, before starting to write, you must select a good topic to discuss. In
research writing, in order that researching is smooth, the first step to be done must be to select a workable
topic. A researchable topic must have the following characteristics:
1
, a. It must be useful in the society.
Question to answer: What are the fields that are useful in the society?
b. It must be timely.
Question to answer: What are the issues that need to be taken care of?
c. It must have novelty.
Question to answer: What are issues that have not been fully discussed yet?
d. It must be done in the given period of time.
Have in mind
Question to answer: What is the length of time allowed for me to work on the paper?
e. It must not be stereotype.
Question to answer: Is the topic discussed so frequently already?
2. Taking notes.
In academic writing, it is a must to read before writing - read information, facts, observation
of others, read/listen to the testimonies and others about the topic in order to gain knowledge about
it. It is then important to take down notes while reading.
There are many styles of taking down notes. Researches show that students who used pen
and paper in taking notes learn more than those who used computer in doing it. This is so because
while they are writing, they are retaining the concepts in their mind unlike in the computer that they
are just copying, sometimes just copying then pasting.
Taking notes can be done in many ways. It can be through quoting, summarizing and
paraphrasing. These three are all needed, however it is observed that the last two are more effective
in retaining information than the first. The discussion below about these three ways are taken from
Wakat et. al 2018. These can be adopted for note taking and also in writing your final draft to avoid
plagiarism.
Quoting
Quoting is copying the words of the author and intertwining these words to your own.
Quoted statements which are incorporated at the beginning, middle or end part of your paragraph
are enclosed in quotation marks and are identified with the author’s family name, year of publication
and page number of the journal or book where the quoted statement was lifted from.
Following the American Psychological Association (APA), 6th edition format, quoted
statements fewer than 40 words are incorporated in the texts and are enclosed in quotation marks
while statements composed of more than 40 words are set off as block quotations and are not
enclosed in quotation marks.
Examples:
Less than 40 words
2
