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EnglishforResearchPaperWriting.Somepracticalaspectsofteaching...
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andEnglishinToday’sResearchWorld(SwalesandFeak,2000).Thisissup-
plementedbymyownmaterials(seeUsefullinksforsomeofthemorehelp-
fulInternetsources)aswellasbymaterialschosenbystudents,2thelatterbeing
mostlyexcerptsfromresearchpaperswhichstudentsarecurrentlyreadingfor
theirotherclassesorforthepurposeofwritingtheirdoctoraldissertations.
Thecoursebeginsbyanalyzingthemostimportantconsiderationsrelatedto
academicwritingingeneral,suchasaudience,purpose,organization,styleand
flow(seeSwalesandFeak,2000:7–43,foradiscussionoftheaboveandforre-
latedtasksforstudents).
Earlyoninthecoursewealsolookateffectivewritingstrategies3andseveral
relativelywell-known4editingtechniques,whichisimportantbecausestudents
willspendonethirdoftheirclassroomtimepeer-editingeachother’swritten
work.Amongthetechniquesweuseare:
•repetitionofkeywords
•useofsynonyms
•clearreference
•themeandrheme(the"oldinformation,newinformation”technique)
•bridgingbetweensentencesusingdemonstrativeadjectives(e.g.,"Thispat-
tern…”)
•useofsignposts
Thenwemoveontoanalyzingdifferenttextpatterns,suchastheso-called
problem-solutiontextsorgeneral-to-specifictexts(orviceversa,specific-to-
generaltexts),whicharetypicalofspecificsectionsofresearchpapers.5Other
importantelementsofthecoursesyllabusincludewritingdatacommentariesand
summaries.Lookingatevaluativelanguageandwritingcriticalreviews(orbook
reviews),thoughnotdirectlyrelatedtothesubjectmatterofthecourse,isalsoap-
preciatedbythestudentsandprovidesawelcomebreakfromtheexclusivefocus
onwritingresearchpapers.Finally,wefocusonspecificsectionsoftheresearch
papersuchasIntroduction,Methods,ResultsandDiscussion.Thisisanopportu-
nitytogobacktosomeofthelanguagealreadyintroducedandpractised(notably,
describingcauseandeffect,qualifyingstatements,highlightingstatements,and
providingexplanations).
2Asaresult,thematerialsweusearemorerelevanttothestudents’specificdisciplinesthanthey
wouldbeotherwise.
3Onthesubjectoftheimportanceofeffectivewritingstrategiesandthedifferencesbetween
expertandnovicewritersinthisrespect,see,forexample,thediscussionofresearchintothewriting
processinHyland(2009:20–26).
4Onemustbearinmindthatatthebeginningofthecourse,thestudentshaveverylittleexplicit
knowledgeofissuesrelatedtocohesion.Forexample,theyoftenhaveatendencytooverusecon-
junctions(astheymighthavepreviouslybeentaught).Sometimestheyneedtobeshownexplicitly
thatthereareotherwaysofmaintainingcoherenceandcohesioninthetext.
5Forexample,theIntroductionwilltypicallyfollowthegeneral-to-specificpattern,whilethe
Conclusionwillbecharacterizedbythespecific-to-generalpattern.Theproblem-solutionpattern
willbefoundintheMethodssectionofaresearchpaper.
