Academic Writing

Writing Research Papers Some of the work in this course involves research. Many handbooks of Standard English provide succinct guides to writing research papers that adhere to the University’s citation requirement. The Center for Writing Excellence The online Center for Writing Excellence, available from your student Web page, offers WritePoint, an automated essay-review system. WritePoint provides feedback on basic grammar, usage, and some formatting issues by inserting comments into the text of your paper. Generally, a paper can be processed within a matter of minutes. The Academic Word List Academic writing is often couched in so-called academese—a form of Standard English that can seem daunting to the uninitiated and tedious even to those accustomed to it. Yet this academic language is not terribly difficult to learn. Researcher Averil Coxhead of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, has compiled a relatively small list of words that identify a piece of writing as academic English. In her teaching, Coxhead helps students master academic writing by mastering the terms in this list, which she calls the Academic Word List (AWL).

Mastering the Terms in the AWL The introductions to the Academic Word List provided by Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/research/awl/awlinfo.html), and by the University of Nottingham (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/) include suggestions on how to master the AWL’s words. The sites http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~alzsh3/acvocab/exercises.htm, http://www.geocities.com/aepmail/awl.htm, and http://www.uefap.co.uk/vocab/exercise/wordsrch/awl/awl.htm, among others, provide useful exercises based on the AWL.

Monitoring the Frequency of AWL Terms Averil Coxhead’s research indicates that about ten percent of the words in a broad sample of academic writing can be found in the AWL. The first paragraph of this handout is a fair example of such academic writing: about ten percent of the words in it come from the AWL. The online utility “Profile a text with the MFWL K1 + K2 and the Academic Word List” at http://www.edict.com.hk/textanalyser/ reports what percentage of a writing sample comes from the Academic Word List: Percentage of words in the sample that come from the AWL

This enables you to know, ahead of time, whether ten percent of the words in an assignment come from the AWL. If you need to, you can edit the assignment before you turn it in and bring the number of AWL terms up to ten percent.

Terms Found in the AWL The Academic Word List consists of 570 key words, along with related terms (for example, appreciation is related to the Academic Word List key word or headword appreciate). The AWL’s 570 key terms are reproduced below, with permission from Averil Coxhead: analyse abandon behalf capable abstract annual benefit capacity academy anticipate bias category access apparent bond cease accommodate append brief challenge accompany appreciate bulk channel accumulate approach chapter accurate appropriate chart achieve approximate chemical acknowledge arbitrary circumstance acquire area cite adapt aspect civil adequate assemble clarify adjacent assess classic adjust assign clause administrate assist code adult assume coherent advocate assure coincide affect attach collapse aggregate attain colleague aid attitude commence albeit attribute comment allocate author commission alter authority commit alternative automate commodity ambiguous available communicate amend aware community analogy compatible compensate consume data diverse compile contact debate document complement contemporary decade domain complex context decline domestic component contract deduce dominate compound contradict define draft comprehensive contrary definite drama comprise contrast demonstrate duration compute contribute denote dynamic conceive controversy deny concentrate convene depress concept converse derive conclude convert design concurrent convince despite conduct cooperate detect confer coordinate deviate confine core device confirm corporate devote conflict correspond differentiate conform couple dimension consent create diminish consequent credit discrete considerable criteria discriminate consist crucial displace constant culture display constitute currency dispose constrain cycle distinct construct distort consult distribute economy evolve facilitate gender edit exceed factor generate element exclude feature generation eliminate exhibit federal globe emerge expand fee goal emphasis expert file grade empirical explicit final grant enable exploit finance guarantee encounter export finite guideline energy expose flexible enforce external fluctuate enhance extract focus enormous format ensure formula entity forthcoming environment foundation equate founded equip framework equivalent function erode fund error fundamental establish furthermore estate estimate ethic ethnic evaluate eventual evident hence identical injure job hierarchy identify innovate journal highlight ideology input justify hypothesis ignorant insert label illustrate insight labour image inspect layer immigrate instance lecture impact institute legal implement instruct legislate implicate integral levy implicit integrate liberal imply integrity licence impose intelligence likewise incentive intense link incidence interact locate incline intermediate logic income internal incorporate interpret index interval indicate intervene individual intrinsic induce invest inevitable investigate infer invoke infrastructure involve inherent isolate inhibit issue initial item initiate maintain negate objective panel major network obtain paradigm manipulate neutral obvious paragraph manual nevertheless occupy parallel margin nonetheless occur parameter mature norm odd participate maximise normal offset partner mechanism notion ongoing passive media notwithstanding option perceive mediate nuclear orient percent medical outcome period medium output persist mental overall perspective method overlap phase migrate overseas phenomenon military philosophy minimal physical minimise plus minimum policy ministry portion minor pose mode positive modify potential monitor practitioner motive precede mutual precise predict predominant preliminary presume radical retain scenario previous random reveal schedule primary range revenue scheme prime ratio reverse scope principal rational revise section principle react revolution sector prior recover rigid secure priority refine role seek proceed regime route select process region sequence professional register series prohibit regulate sex project reinforce shift promote reject significant proportion relax similar prospect release simulate protocol relevant site psychology reluctance so-called publication rely sole publish remove somewhat purchase require source pursue research specific reside specify qualitative resolve sphere quote resource stable respond statistic restore status restrain straightforward restrict strategy stress tape ultimate valid structure target undergo vary style task underlie vehicle submit team undertake version subordinate technical uniform via subsequent technique unify violate subsidy technology unique virtual substitute temporary utilise visible successor tense vision sufficient terminate visual sum text volume summary theme voluntary supplement theory welfare survey thereby whereas survive thesis whereby suspend topic widespread sustain trace symbol tradition transfer transform transit transmit transport trend trigger