OPVK_logoG – kopie




                                      ACADEMIC WRITING COURSE




                                             SESSION 3

                                       (selected activities)



                                 Radomíra Bednářová, Robert Helán

                                        Masaryk University

                            Department of Geography, Faculty of Science

                                       in collaboration with

                                    University Language Centre



1. DISCUSSING AND SUMMARIZING ABSTRACTS / LINKING EXPRESSIONS / SKELETON WRITING

2. STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

3. GUEST SPEAKER MGR. PETR SUDICKÝ on ABSTRACTS WRITING and CORPUS LINGUISTICS – making writing
more independent

4. EVALUATION


Aims:

- to discuss and peer-evaluate student abstracts

- to listen to and evaluate student oral performance

- to make students aware of tools offered by corpus linguistics




PARAGRAPH SKELETON


I.) This excerpt comes from the beginning of an article, where a wide body of research is reviewed
in an economical way so that the author can situate her own approach. Underline those phrases that
you think you could use in your own writing. One example has been done for you.



[1] The study builds on and contributes to work in critical linguistics (Coulthard, 1996; Chilton,
1982; Fairclough, 1989; Seidel, 1985; Van Dijk, 1989, 1991; Wodak, 1989). [2] Although studies in
critical linguistics have examined the discursive construction of past events, there has not been
an extended study of the construction of a projected event. [3] As such, this study provides
additional insight into the constructive processes of language by explicating the linguistic and
rhetorical processes through which a projected—future—event is constructed as a discrete and
autonomous state of affairs. [4] The analytic focus on a projected event enables another
contribution. [5] This study analyzes how the political and social interests underlying accounts of
the Iraq/Saudi Arabia projected event were rhetorically managed in The New York Times (NYT) and
Washington Post (WP). [6] Although numerous studies (Bruck, 1989; Clayman, 1990; Fairclough, 1992c;
Fowler, 1991; Van Dijk, 1988, 1989, 1993; Zelizer, 1989) have identified sourcing (i.e., using
spokespersons representing so-called elite groups and institutions as sources for information) as a
constructive social and ideological practice, little analytic attention has been paid to the
implications of this finding for how texts are linguistically constructed within newspaper
discourse, a discourse context guided by the professional canon of objectivity, balance and
neutrality. [7] I address this issue by demonstrating how assertions about a hypothetical future
event attributed to a specific group of spokespersons were transformed into unmediated and
presupposed information.


II.) Questions:

·        Which sentence locates her analysis within a specific discipline?

·        How and where does she signal a gap?

·        How and where does she signal the contribution her study will make to the field?

III.) These are the phrases forming the skeleton of the article. Can you think of synonyms which
could be used for some of the words? One example has been done for you.


work

research

paper

report

survey

article






1. The study builds on and contributes to work in ____________________.


2. Although studies in _______________ have examined _____________


    there has not been a/an _______________________________________.


3. As such, this study provides additional insight into _________________.


4. The analytic focus on __________________ enables another contribution.


5. This study analyses _________________________________________.


 6. Although numerous studies (                     ) have identified __________


      ________________________________________________________ ,


     little analytic attention has been paid to _________________________ .


7. I address this issue by demonstrating ____________________________


     _________________________________________________________ .


VI. Use the paragraph skeleton and synonyms of your choice to write a short introduction of a
research paper (research you have carried out or have already written about).







HOME ASSIGNMENT – MOVING TOWARDS THE AUTUMN SEMESTER


1)   EDIT YOUR ABSTRACT BASED ON STUDENT IN-CLASS COMMENTARIES, SEND THEM IN BY __________


2)   READING ON INTROS/CONCLUSIONS – SEE THE IS MUNI


3)   FIND AND SEND IN (POSSIBLY SEPTEMBER) AN ARTICLE OF YOUR CHOICE WHICH YOU THINK IS AN EXAMPLE
OF EXCELLENT QUALITY WRITING IN YOUR FIELD.


AS PART OF THE PREPARATION FOR NEXT SEMESTR, EACH STUDENT WILL START DRAFTING/ OUTLINING /
REWORKING THEIR RESEARCH ARTICLE FOR THEIR OWN RESPECTIVE USE / PURPOSE / JOURNAL.