Curry Mary Jane - Academic writing in a global context: the politics and practices of publishing in English

• Study the organisation of the following paragraph:

The same ideas could be re-ordered to arrive at a different conclusion:

• Analyse the following paragraph in a similar way:

The following words can be used as synonyms for problem and solution .

• Use the following points to build an argument in one paragraph, using the box below.

• Think of a similar problem in your subject area. Complete the table and write a paragraph that leads to a conclusion.

• How much do you know about academic writing? Find out by doing this fun quiz.

Answers on p. 272.

Although there is no fixed standard of academic writing, it is clearly different from the written style of newspapers or novels. Similarly, it is generally agreed that academic writing attempts to be accurate and objective. What are its other features?

• Working alone or in a group, list your ideas below.

Below are the most common types of written work produced by business students.

• Match the terms on the left to the definitions on the right.

Short essays (including exam answers) generally have this pattern:

Longer essays may include:

• See Writing longer essays

Dissertations and journal articles may have:

• Find the words in the lists above that match the following definitions:

There is considerable variation in the format of academic writing required by different schools and departments. Your teachers may give you guidelines, or you should ask them what they want. But some general features apply to most formats.

• Look at the example below and identify the features underlined, using the words in the box below.

• (a) The Effectiveness of Microcredit
• (b) An evaluation of programmes in India and the Philippines .
• (c) Introduction
• (d) In the last ten years considerable claims have been made about the value of microcredit (also known as microfinance); the provision of unsecured small loans to the poor in
• (e) developing countries. But it has proved surprisingly difficult to accurately measure the effectiveness of these loans, without interference from other non-commercial factors .
• (f) Two recent studies have attempted to compare the effects on randomly-chosen groups of people with access to microcredit, compared to those without. The first (Bannerjee et al ., 2009), based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), looked at slumdwellers in the city of Hyderabad in India, while the second (Karlan and Zinman, 2009) compared borrowers and non-borrowers in the Philippines. Overall, neither study found evidence that microcredit had any effect in reducing poverty, although it may have some other positive aspects such as reducing the consumption of alcohol or tobacco .