TEMPLATES FOR ACADEMIC WRITING

By Dr. Marna Broekhoff

American English InstituteDepartment of Linguistics

University of Oregon in Eugene

marnab@uoregon.edu

OUTLINE

I. PROBLEMS FOR WRITERSII. SOLUTION: TEMPLATESIII. Bottom-Up Sentence-LevelIV. Top-Down “Moves” LevelV. LIMITATIONSVI. APPLICATIONS & VALUES

I. PROBLEMSFOR ACADEMIC WRITERS

Lack of ability to structure or generate the standard parts of a research paper

Lack of awareness of how their argument fits into ongoing academic debate

Especially true for writers from diverse backgrounds (not seasoned professionals)

Non-academic backgrounds NNS (Non-Native Speakers) Ethnically diverse (non-Western discourse models)

Interdisciplinary

Academic writing now seen as collaborative

Current writing pedagogy, both writing center and classroom, and metaphors of the Burkean parlor Garret Storehouse

II. SOLUTION: TEMPLATES

Practical, concrete, hands-on way to analyze & generate a research paper and thus enter an academic dialog

Provide both bottom-up (sentence) skills, and top-down (structuring) skills

Basic paradigm: “They Say, I Say,” but includes other functions of academic discourse

III.Bottom-Up, Sentence Level

Both analytical and generative: helps comprehend sentences as well as create them

See Ellis handout for examples

A. “THEY SAY”

Others’ views Paraphrase

Summarize

Quote

Templates for Paraphrasing & Summarizing

Conventional wisdom has it that… Among X, it is commonly believed that… Many people argue that… In their recent work, X & Y have criticized Z because. In discussions of X, one controversy has been… On

the one hand, __ argues…, but on the other hand… My whole life I’ve assumed that… X acknowledges/believes/emphasizes/refutes

reports/observes/claims/recommends that…

Ellis’s Paraphrases & Summary

¶1 The Hamburg docs. place particular emphasis on the environment in which learning takes place. They recommend that there be awareness-raising campaigns on the need to learn, on promoting learning as "a joy, a tool…”

¶2 The Agenda for the future (1997b) specifically calls for the enhancing of the literacy environment through—

Can you summarize Ellis, Paragraph 3? Which template?

Ellis believes that Namibians have very few reading habits because reading is not required in normal daily business.

Templates for Quoting

X states, “….” As the prominent philosopher, Y, puts it,

“….” X agrees with Y when she writes, “….” This view is echoed by Z, who argues, “….

Basically, X is saying…. X’s point is that…. These words support my own view that…

Ellis’s Quotes

The solution to the lack of a reading culture seems paradoxical, but is in fact quite simple: as one of the foremost authorities on reading, Frank Smith (1978) says,”…people learn to read by reading.” Thus, since practice in reading is what improves one’s ability to read….

QUOTING PRACTICE

Choose a quote from Ellis, and introduce and explain it.

Ellis argues that Namibians should be required to read more because there must be “social pressure…for everyone to become literate.” (¶ 3)

Verb Tenses

Reference to single studies: PAST Reference to areas of inquiry:

PRESENT PERFECT Reference to state of current

knowledge: PRESENT

Which pattern does Ellis use?

B. “I SAY”

Your views

Within the debate context Counter-arguments Significance of your views

Templates for Your Views Within Debate Context Defenders of X can’t have it both ways. Their

assertion that…contradicts their claim that… By focusing on ___, X overlooks the deeper problem.. If X is right, as I think she is, then we need to look… Although I agree with Y up to a point, I can’t accept

his overall conclusion that… Though I concede that…, I still insist that… X is right that…, but he is wrong that… because as I

have shown… X has missed the point! His view does not fit my….

TEMPLATES FOR COUNTER-ARGUMENTS

Some readers may challenge my view because… Some conservatives might object that…, but I… NNS are so diverse that it’s hard to generalize about

them, but some might object on grounds that… One might ask, Is my proposal realistic? Although I agree with X that…, nevertheless I think… Traditional interpretations of this topic do not address

my claim that…because…

“I SAY” and PRACTICE

Your (the writer’s) viewsWithin the debate context

Does Ellis agree with “them,” disagree, or both?

How does he distinguish his views from others?

Ellis’s Views

Thus, only once literacy becomes a way of life, will the social pressure exist for everyone to become literate. (¶3)

Although teachers for some strange reason seem to hate them, there is a very important place for comics, photo-novels, the Reader’s Digest, romantic novels, sensational newspapers and magazines, etc. (¶4)

TEMPLATES for ‘WHO CARES’ (Signif. & Meta-Commentary)

My research corrects the earlier mistaken interpretation that…

These findings challenge dieters’ common assumptions that…

At first glance, teenagers appear to… But on closer inspection….

Ultimately, what’s at stake here is… These findings support the claim that… X is important to everyone concerned about

social justice because… Nearly any TITLE!

TITLES as Meta-Comment.

Titles, esp. with colons (They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter In Academic Writing; Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in Age of Show Biz)

Other templates: In other words… My whole point is that… Ch. 2 explores X, while Ch. 3 explores Y. To summarize… In conclusion…

‘Meta-Commentary’ PRACTICE

Significance of your views Has Ellis answered the question, “Who cares?”

¶6: In summary, what this interna-tional tour de force might mean for Namibia is, firstly, that we should celebrate multilingualism….

Can you add 2 examples of meta-commentary that E. might make?

TITLE Practice

Does Ellis’s title indicate the content?

Can you create a more interesting title with a colon?

C. COHESION Connectors

Transitional words: although, after all, consequently, admittedly, for example (depend on function)

Pointing words: this, that, their, such Key words (depend on subject) &

synonyms (especially repetitions)

COHESION PRACTICE

Connectors In Ellis’s writing, underline all transitional words, key words, and pointing words & synonyms

¶1(1) ¶3(4) ¶4(4) ¶5(1)

IV. Top-down, ‘Moves’ Level

Both analytical and generative

Helps identify and create major sections or functions (‘moves’) of a research paper

Much homogeneity across genres

IMRD Structure of Res. Paper

In pairs, try to do sentence scramble for Introduction to an RP in physics

CARS Model for IntroductionsApplied to Eakins RP

Move 1: Establishing a territory

a) by showing that the general research area is important, central, interesting, problematic, or relevant in some way (optional)

b) by introducing and reviewing items of previous research in the area (obligatory)

(can have author or subject orientation)

Move 2: Establishing a Niche(at least one is obligatory)

a) by indicating a gap in the previous research,

b) by indicating an error, or

c) by extending previous knowledge in some way

Move 3: Occupying the Niche

by outlining purposes or stating the nature of the present research (obligatory)

by listing research questions or hypotheses (PSIF)

by announcing principal findings (PSIF) by stating the value of the present

research (PSIF) by indicating the RP structure (PSIF)

Eakins & “Marsh” Pictures

Divide Sentences 1-7, 8-10, 11-12 into 3 basic moves

Divide Move 1 into 1a, 1b? What kind of Move 2? What kind of Move 3? Underline wds. in Sents. 1-4 used

to establish research territory

Answer Key for Eakins Intro.

Move 1b (research review) begins w/ Sentence 2

Move 2a (gap) begins w/ Sentence 8 Move 3a (nature of present research)

begins w/ Sentence 11 [one of the greatest, over the last thirty years,

many studies, major exhibition devoted…,his best known pictures, compositional brilliance, deep insight into character]

Physics RP Intro. Unscrambled

Adapted from S. Kelham & H.H. Rosenburgh, Journal of Physical Chemistry: Solid State Physics, 14, qtd. in Swales (2004).

7--6--2--4--3--1--5--8

(7) THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY AND SPECIFIC HEAT OF EPOXY RESIN FROM 0.1 TO 80K.

(6) The thermal properties of glassy materials at low temperatures are still not completely understood. [Move 1a]

(2) The thermal conductivity has a plateau which is usually in the range from 5 to 10K, and below this temperature it has a temperature dependence which varies approximately as T2. [1a-General knowledge]

(4) The specific heat below 4K is much larger than that which would be expected from the Debye theory, and it often has an additional term which is proportional to T. [1a-general know.]

(3) Some progress has been made towards understanding the thermal behavior by assuming that there is a cut-off in the photon spectrum at high frequencies (Zaitlin and Anderson, 1995a,b), and that there is an additional system of low-lying two-level states (Anderson et al., 2002; Phillips, 1997). [1b: Previous research]

(1) Nevertheless more experimental data are required, and in particular, it would seem desirable to make experiments on glassy samples whose properties can be varied slightly from one to the other. [2-gap]

(5) The present investigation reports attempts to do this by using various samples of the same epoxy resin which have been subjected to different curing cycles.[3a-purposes]

(8) Measurements of the specific heat (or the diffusivity) and the thermal conductivity have been taken in the temperature range 0.1 to 80K for a set of specimens which covered up to nine different curing cycles. [3e-rpt. struc.]

Analysis of RP Intros.

In pairs, identify the moves and templates (including verb tenses) in the Introductions for two research articles from different fields. Which orientation?

Then exchange your articles with another pair and repeat the process.

Lastly, discuss your findings with your group. Similarities? Differences?

Teaching Applications

Looking at templates from both the bottom-up and top-down perspectives, what problems do they help solve for graduate-level or advanced academic writing classes?

What problems to they not solve? How might you design a course

around templates?

V. LIMITATIONS OF TEMPLATES

Can seem formulaic Do not provide models for

imitation Do not deal with all parts of the

writing process Adequate and valid research

(pre-writing steps) Complexities of logical

argument

Do not automatically generate the all-important and all-difficult thesis statements (main clause + reason why clause is true)

Possible thesis for Ellis article: Sophisticated Euro-centric lit is inappropriate for Namibia be- cause it lacks a ‘reading culture’

VI.APPLICATIONS AND VALUES

Quantitative and qualitative and research papers

Bottom-up, or inductive, and top-down, or deductive teaching approaches

Sentence generation & structural (“moves”) analysis

Strong historical and contemporary supportClassical tradition (topoi)Current RFP’s (Proposals & article submissions)

Booth’s Rhetorical Triangle, Collaboration

Support from current applied linguistics

Popular writing texts WAC (Writing Across the

Curriculum) Genre theory Corpus linguistics

Concordance Data for Sentence-Level Templates

“Word Search” software by Vivana Cortes

“AntConc” software by Anthony Laurence

Concordance Data For ‘Moves’ Level Templates

“AntMover” software by Anthony Laurence

“Moves” window shown in slide. Can also view original & outline of document

“META” VALUES

WritingReadingCritical thinkingWorld peace! TESOL 2010

End of Show—Thank you for your attention!

QUESTIONS?

Marna BroekhoffAmerican English InstituteDepartment of Linguistics

University of Oregon in Eugenemarnab@uoregon.edu

Annotated References: See handout