Unit 1. An approach to academic writing : Audience ; Purpose and strategy ; Organization ; Style ; Language focus: The vocabulary shift: verbs ; Language focus: The vocabulary shift: nouns and other parts of speech ; Language focus: Other stylistic features ; Flow ; Language focus: Linking words and phrases ; Presentation ; Positioning
Unit 2. General-specific and specific-general texts : Opening with general statements : Opening with statistics ; Opening with definitions ; Writing a definition ; Some common ways to define in academic writing ; Language focus: Verbs in defining and naming ; A brief look at the elements of formal sentence definitions ; Extended definitions ; Variations in definitions ; Discussions of schools of thought ; Specific-to-general organization
Unit 3. Problem, process, and solution : The structure of problem-solution texts ; Language focus: Mid-position adverbs ; Procedures and processes ; Language focus: -ing clauses to indicate cause and effect ; Language focus: Passive voice ; Flow of ideas in a process description ; Language focus: Indirect questions ; Introducing the solution
Unit 4. Data commentary : Strength of claim ; Structure of data commentary ; Location elements and summaries ; Language focus: Verbs in indicative and informative location statements ; Language focus: Linking as clauses ; Highlighting statements ; Language focus: An introduction to qualifications and strength of claim ; Language focus: Specific ways of moderating or qualifying a claim ; Organization ; Language focus: Comparisons ; Concluding a commentary ; Language focus: Dealing with unexpected outcomes or "problems" ; Dealing with graphs ; Dealing with chronological data ; Language focus: Prepositions of time
Unit 5. Writing summaries : Considerations before writing a summary ; Some notes on plagiarism ; Paraphrasing ; Careful use of synonyms ; Language focus: Identifying the source ; Language focus: Summary reminder phrases ; Syntheses of more than one source ; Language focus: Showing similarities and differences
Unit 6. Writing critiques : Book reviews ; Language focus: Stating opinions ; Language focus: Evaluative language ; Evaluating a published article ; Language focus: Unreal conditionals ; Language focus: Evaluative language revisited ; Critical reading ; Language focus: Beginning the critique ; Language focus: Inversions ; Reaction papers ; Language focus: Non-standard quotation marks (scare quotes) ; A few thoughts on manuscript reviews for a journal
Unit 7. Constructing a research paper I : Types of journal publication ; Short communications (SCs) in disciplines that report fieldwork ; Longer research papers ; Methods sections ; Language focus: Linking phrases in methods sections ; Results sections ; Language focus: Another look at location statements ; Language focus: Special verb agreements ; Language focus: Making comparisons
Unit 8. Constructing a research paper II : Introductions ; Creating a research space ; Language focus: Citation and tense ; Language focus: Negative openings in move 2 ; Language focus: Purpose statements and tense ; Discussion sections ; Language focus: Levels of generalization ; Language focus: Expressions of limitation ; Unfinished business
Appendixes : The grammar of definitions
Articles in academic writing
Academic English and Latin phrases.