Academic Writing Step by Step; A Research-based Approach; Christopher N Candlin; Peter Crompton; Basil Hatim

Contributing Authors

Christopher N Candlin † [+–]

Macquarie University

Christopher N. Candlin † was Senior Research Professor Emeritus in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney. He had been Head of the Department of Linguistics, and was the Foundation Executive Director of the Australian Government’s National Centre for English Language Teaching & Research from 1987-1998, and established the Research Centre in Language in Social Life, also at Macquarie. He held Professorships at Lancaster University, UK, The City University of Hong Kong, the UK Open University, and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Honorary Professorships at the Universities of Lancaster, Nottingham and Cardiff in the UK, and at Beijing Foreign Studies University, together with Adjunct Professorships at Aarhus University, Denmark, The University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and the Hellenic American University in Athens. He was a consultant for research and curriculum development at the ELI at KUIS for over ten years, working closely with colleagues, had acted as Visiting Professor at Giessen University (Germany), University of Hawai’i, University of Toronto (OISE), Jyvaskyla University, Finland, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and held a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Research Professorship at the Centre for Health Communication Research at Cardiff University (UK). His most recent research was in applied linguistics particularly in the field of professional and organizational communication, focusing on foreign language education, healthcare and law. He had over 150 publications in terms of books, book chapters, and papers in international academic journals in his fields of interest, together with commissioned reports, and had successfully supervised 60 doctorate students with a further 12 currently under supervision, many of them internationally. He directed or co-directed over 50 externally funded research projects in his fields of inquiry and had been a plenary or keynote speaker at over 90 international conferences. He had been a member of the Editorial Boards of several international journals, including Applied Linguistics, TEXT & TALK, Journal of Sociolinguistics, Language Awareness, Journal of English for Specific Purposes, and Communication in Medicine, and had co-edited (with Srikant Sarangi) the Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice published by Equinox. He had acted as reviewer for submissions to 16 international journals, had served as external assessor for faculty appraisal in 29 universities (5 in Australia) and for PhD’s in 20 universities (8 in Australia) and had been a member of Research Panels in his fields for research awards in Australia, the UK, and Finland. He also edited or co-edited eight international book series with Pearson (Longman), Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Equinox. From 1996 to 2002 he was elected (for two terms) as President of the International Association of Applied Linguistics.

Peter Crompton [+–]

University of Sharjah

Peter Crompton is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. He previously worked at universities in China, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Lithuania, and the UK. Dr. Crompton has published articles and book chapters on EAP, text analysis, and learner corpora in ESP, Text and Talk, Functions of Language, RELC Journal, and Asian EFL Journal.

Basil Hatim [+–]

University of Sharjah

Basil Hatim is Professor of Translation & Interpreting at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and has worked and lectured widely at universities throughout the world. He has published extensively in applied linguistics, text linguistics translation/interpreting, and academic writing, including Communication Across Cultures (Exeter University Press 1997), Teaching & Researching Translation (Longman 2002; new edition forthcoming), Translation: An Advanced Resource Book (with Jeremy Munday, Routledge 2004), and Arabic Rhetoric: The Pragmatics of Deviation from Linguistic Norms (Lincom 2010).

Academic Writing Step by Step offers a new methodology for teaching academic writing informed by discourse analysis and genre theory and by recent research in text analysis. It focuses on types of texts purposively written for particular contexts, where writers introduce and contextualize research findings and new knowledge while presenting their own points of view in relation to those of others. The book promotes learning by doing, engaging research writers with authentic materials as models of good practice.

The book begins by examining what academic writers do in planning their writing and how they implement these plans in their own writing practice. The book draws on accessible articles presenting popular science topics of current interest to illustrate and practice the processes involved in developing and writing an academic essay or research paper step by step. Each unit in Academic Writing Step by Step involves the user in guided “hands-on” practical analysis of an exemplar text. This analysis forms the basis for a sequence of learning activities directing students to engage with the text, moving from analysis (reading for intent) to composition (writing with intent). In this structured process, students acquire a critical understanding of the components of research and essay writing to underpin their own writing. Support for students’ analysis and writing of texts includes pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities. These activities are linked to practice in the recognition and use of words in context, grammar in context, and distinctive features of text types. Each unit contains many interactive tasks and closes with a substantive writing assignment reinforcing at least one component of academic writing highlighted in the unit.

The book’s research-based, big-picture approach, backed up by textual evidence, is effective in developing students’ practical knowledge of research and essay writing. This approach is also motivational, empowering students to work in their own disciplinary environments and areas of interest as it engages them in academic reading, analysis, research, and writing. The book is designed as a textbook for academic or research writing courses, and its step-by-step approach makes it usable by university undergraduates or senior secondary students, including those for whom English is a second or foreign language. In addition, its authentic readings and focus on academic and research writing makes it also suitable for graduate level writing courses in English-speaking and English as a second or foreign language contexts.

Series: Frameworks for Writing

Prelims

Series Editor’s Preface [+–] ix

Martha C. Pennington

Birkbeck University of London

Martha C Pennington is a Research Fellow in Applied Linguistics and Communication at Birkbeck University of London. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, where she became a tenured Lecturer teaching English to international students while completing her degree. She has also held Professorial and administrative posts at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the City University of Hong Kong, the University of Bedfordshire, Elizabethtown College, and the School for African and Oriental Studies of the University of London. She previously edited a column for Gendai Eigo Kyoiku (Modern English Teaching) and was editor-in-chief of Writing & Pedagogy. She is currently editor of the book series Innovation and Leadership in English Language Teaching (Brill, formerly Elsevier), Frameworks for Writing (Equinox), and Applied Phonology and Pronunciation Teaching (Equinox). Pennington’s books on pronunciation are Phonology in English Language Teaching: An International Approach(Longman), Phonology in Context (Palgrave Macmillan), and (with P Rogerson-Revell) English Pronunciation Teaching and Research: Contemporary Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan). She has published articles on the teaching of pronunciation in edited collections and in TESOL Quarterly, The Modern Language Journal, and RELC Journal, and has guest-edited a special issue (52.1) of RELC Journal on Pronunciation Teaching.

Academic Writing Step by Step offers a new methodology for teaching academic writing informed by discourse analysis and genre theory and by recent research in text analysis. It focuses on types of texts purposively written for particular contexts, where writers introduce and contextualize research findings and new knowledge while presenting their own points of view in relation to those of others. The book promotes learning by doing, engaging research writers with authentic materials as models of good practice. The book begins by examining what academic writers do in planning their writing and how they implement these plans in their own writing practice. The book draws on accessible articles presenting popular science topics of current interest to illustrate and practice the processes involved in developing and writing an academic essay or research paper step by step. Each unit in Academic Writing Step by Step involves the user in guided “hands-on” practical analysis of an exemplar text. This analysis forms the basis for a sequence of learning activities directing students to engage with the text, moving from analysis (reading for intent) to composition (writing with intent). In this structured process, students acquire a critical understanding of the components of research and essay writing to underpin their own writing. Support for students’ analysis and writing of texts includes pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading activities. These activities are linked to practice in the recognition and use of words in context, grammar in context, and distinctive features of text types. Each unit contains many interactive tasks and closes with a substantive writing assignment reinforcing at least one component of academic writing highlighted in the unit. The book’s research-based, big-picture approach, backed up by textual evidence, is effective in developing students’ practical knowledge of research and essay writing. This approach is also motivational, empowering students to work in their own disciplinary environments and areas of interest as it engages them in academic reading, analysis, research, and writing. The book is designed as a textbook for academic or research writing courses, and its step-by-step approach makes it usable by university undergraduates or senior secondary students, including those for whom English is a second or foreign language. In addition, its authentic readings and focus on academic and research writing makes it also suitable for graduate level writing courses in English-speaking and English as a second or foreign language contexts.

How To Use This Book [+–] xi-xiii

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

Unit A

The Popularized Research Article [+–] 1-17

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ What a Popularized Research Article looks like “from above,” that is, its macro-structure on a global level; ■■ How the various components of such an article are put together: • Title and Lead Summary • Overview • Review of commonly held but questionable assumptions – the Given • Presentation of research supporting the new proposal – the New • Conclusion

Unit B

Titles, Lead Summaries, and Overviews [+–] 18-33

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How writers develop Titles, Lead Summaries, and Overviews in popularized research articles; ■■ How these components function and work together in the overall structure of an article; ■■ How the relationship between the Given (a problematic assumption) and the New (the proposed position) is crucial in developing the Title, the Lead Summary, and the Overview in research articles.

Unit C

Article Body and Conclusion [+–] 34-51

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see:■■ How the Body of the Popularized Research Article is developed as a Given–New structure, or more simply, Problem–Solution structure; ■■ How the questionable Given assumptions are presented as background to the New proposals in the research article; ■■ How the Conclusion is presented. The Given and New form the core of what is referred to as a Thesis Statement. This is normally the answer to a Research Question. For example, if your Research Question in an article you plan to write is “Can animals treat themselves?”, the Thesis Statement will be something like “It is possible for animals to treat themselves.” In terms of Given and New, the Given here is “Animals cannot treat themselves,” and the New is “Yes, they can!”

Unit D

Summarizing and Reporting [+–] 52-69

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How writers refer to the work of others (by quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing); ■■ How we can summarize research in different ways: • By a short, “In-text” Summary; • By a longer, “Stand-alone” Summary.

Unit E

The Explanatory Synthesis [+–] 70-87

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How writers string together several Summaries to form an Explanatory Synthesis; ■■ What an Explanatory Synthesis looks like viewed “from above” as a macrostructure; ■■ What your role as a writer is in forming an Explanatory Synthesis.

Unit F

The Critique and the Persuasive Synthesis [+–] 88-108

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How a Counter-argument functions as an element within a Critique; ■■ How several Critiques may be strung together to form a Persuasive Synthesis; ■■ What your role would be as an author in putting together a Critique and writing a Persuasive Synthesis.

Unit G

Logos, Ethos, Pathos, and Logical Fallacies [+–] 109-146

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How the three persuasive strategies of writing logically, writing with credibility, and writing with feeling work in practice when you actually write a text; ■■ How you can learn to recognize logical fallacies in other people’s writing and how you can avoid them when you write yourself.

Unit H

Documentation of Sources [+–] 147-166

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ Why academic writers take great care to document all sources used in their writing; ■■ How to write a references list; ■■ How to cite sources in your own paper.

Unit I

What Goes on Inside the Writer’s Head [+–] 167-179

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How a writer goes about the task of researching and writing up an article; ■■ How important summarizing is in almost all writing activities; ■■ How a writer presents two or more summaries to produce the kind of balance which you will need to produce in your papers; ■■ How writers “orchestrate” the content in different ways to achieve different purposes.

Unit J

What Goes on Inside the Beginner Writer’s Head [+–] 180-203

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

In this Unit, you will be able to see: ■■ How a beginner writer goes about the task of researching and writing up a research paper; ■■ How such a writer might go about seeking and using help from others in editing a paper; ■■ How editors can use the models of good writing demonstrated in this book.

End Matter

Index [+–] 205-207

Christopher N Candlin † ,Peter Crompton,Basil Hatim

Macquarie University

University of Sharjah

Reviews

... the strength of this volume is the useful array of discourse awareness activities that accompany the target texts such as multiple-choice questions, explicit text commentary, and writing practice assignments. Grammar targets have also been well chosen for presenting research.
JALT Journal 39.2

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Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

Academic Writing Step by Step

A Research-based Approach

Christopher N Candlin † [+–]

Macquarie University

Peter Crompton [+–]

University of Sharjah

Basil Hatim [+–]

University of Sharjah

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