Teaching Academic Writing: A Toolkit for Higher Education

188 Pages·2003·1.32 MB·English

by  Caroline Coffin

Teaching Academic Writing
‘With a rich and diverse supply of exercises and suggestions to incorporate into
teaching and assessment, this book will be useful for academic staff in all
disciplines.’
Shân Wareing, Director of the Educational Development Centre,
Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
‘This book is a gem, filled with practical ideas for helping students learn to write
in a discipline. Tutors will get a fresh sense of the possibilities for teaching and
learning through understanding how students make sense of a field’s theories and
concepts through writing.’
David R. Russell, Iowa State University, USA
Student academic writing is at the heart of teaching and learning in higher education.
Students are assessed largely by what they write, and need to learn both general
academic conventions as well as disciplinary writing requirements in order to be
successful in higher education.
Teaching Academic Writing is a ‘toolkit’ designed to help higher education lecturers
and tutors teach writing to their students. Containing a range of diverse teaching
strategies, the book offers both practical activities to help students develop their
writing abilities and guidelines to help lecturers and tutors think in more depth
about the assessment tasks they set and the feedback they give to students.
The authors explore a wide variety of text types from essays and reflective
diaries to research projects and laboratory reports. The book draws on recent
research in the fields of academic literacy, second language learning and linguistics.
It is grounded in recent developments such as the increasing diversity of the student
body, the use of the Internet, electronic tuition, and issues related to distance
learning in an era of increasing globalisation.
Written by experienced teachers of writing, language and linguistics, Teaching
Academic Writing will be of interest to anyone involved in teaching academic writing
in higher education.
Caroline Coffin, Mary Jane Curry, Sharon Goodman, Ann Hewings,
Theresa M. Lillis and Joan Swann are all based at the Centre for Language and
Communications, The Open University, UK.

Teaching Academic
Writing
A toolkit for higher education
Caroline Coffin
Mary Jane Curry
Sharon Goodman
Ann Hewings
Theresa M. Lillis and
Joan Swann
First published 2003
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2003 Caroline Coffin, Mary Jane Curry, Sharon Goodman,
Ann Hewings, Theresa M. Lillis and Joan Swann
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-99489-2 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–26135–X (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–26136–8 (pbk)
Contents v
Contents
List of figures vii
List of activities ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Issues in academic writing in higher education 1
MARY JANE CURRY AND THERESA M. LILLIS
Aims of the book 1
Student writing in a changing higher education context 2
Institutional provision of writing instruction 5
Approaches to student writing 9
What this book offers: a ‘toolkit’ approach to teaching writing 11
The book’s authors 15
Overview of Teaching Academic Writing 15
2 Approaches to teaching writing 19
MARY JANE CURRY AND ANN HEWINGS
Introduction 19
The purposes of writing 20
Teaching writing: focus on text 21
Teaching writing: focus on process 32
Integrating the process approach with text analysis 43
Conclusion 44
3 Writing for different disciplines 45
CAROLINE COFFIN AND ANN HEWINGS
Introduction 45
Sciences to the humanities: academic knowledge as a continuum 47
vi Contents
Writing project proposals and experimental reports: examples from science 49
Representing data and discipline-specific terminology:
examples from the social sciences 52
Writing an essay: an example from the humanities 57
Writing a case study: an example from business studies 66
Conclusion 71
4 Planning the assessment of student writing 73
SHARON GOODMAN AND JOAN SWANN
Introduction 73
Assessment: preliminary issues 74
Identifying what types of writing to assess 81
The wording of assignments 89
Students’ participation in assessment 92
Pre-empting plagiarism 95
Conclusion 100
5 Giving feedback on student writing 101
THERESA M. LILLIS AND JOAN SWANN
Introduction 101
Institutional demands and research insights 102
Identifying the purposes of feedback 104
Commenting on students’ writing 105
Ways of communicating feedback 111
Developing ‘feedback dialogues’ 121
Conclusion 128
6 Academic writing in an electronic environment 130
CAROLINE COFFIN AND SHARON GOODMAN
Introduction 130
Internet-based resources 134
Using electronic conferencing to develop students’ academic writing 141
Technology and assessment 153
Conclusion 156
Annotated bibliography 158
References 163
Index 170
List of figures vii
Figures
2.1 Two typical text types and their functional organisation 22
2.2 Signposting conjunctions 24
2.3 Patterns of spelling error 31
2.4 The apostrophe 32
2.5 Some common grammatical errors in student writing 33
2.6 The writing process approach 34
2.7 Brainstorm on ‘issues related to immigration’ 35
2.8 Cluster diagram on issues of immigration 38
2.9 Outline on the economic benefits of immigration 39
3.1 A categorisation of disciplines and their typical written texts 46
3.2 The academic knowledge continuum 48
3.3 Tips for writing reports on scientific experiments 51
3.4 Comparing similar texts 52
3.5 Guidance on using illustrative material 54
3.6 Three ways of structuring an argument essay 60
3.7 Arguments and evidence in an abridged history essay 62
3.8 A continuum of less endorsing to more endorsing terms
for referring to sources 66
3.9 The functional stages of a case study 69
4.1 Marking criteria on an English language course 78
4.2 Grade-related criteria on a literature course 79
4.3 Weighted criteria from a business studies course 80
4.4 Some alternatives to the essay and the laboratory report 82
4.5 ‘Concept essays’ from a course on calculus 82
4.6 Students’ responses to the assessment of reflective writing 84
4.7 Extracts from journal entries completed by dentistry
students 85
viii List of figures
4.8 Collaborative writing produced for assessment 87
4.9 Common assignment key words 90
4.10 A problem with question wording 92
4.11 Taking account of peer comments in assessment 94
4.12 Checklist for students to use as part of self-assessment 96
4.13 How to avoid accidental plagiarism 98
4.14 How to recognise unacceptable and acceptable paraphrases 98
4.15 Plagiarism resulting from clumsy paraphrasing 99
5.1 Some common errors in student writing 108
5.2 Spoken feedback 113
5.3 Feedback proforma 114
5.4 Extract from open-ended comments on a student’s essay 114
5.5 Strengths and limitations of structured feedback
proformas and open-ended comments 116
5.6 Open-ended feedback 117
5.7 Student text with tutor commentary 120
5.8 Student text with numbered comment 120
5.9 Guidance to students on how to use feedback 121
5.10 Sheet 1: Students comment on their writing 123
5.11 Sheet 2: Students assess their writing 125
5.12 Extended feedback dialogue 126
5.13 A student’s account of taking responsibility for her writing 127
6.1 Student writing and technology: a map of resources 131
6.2 Glossary of computer terms 132
6.3 Sample desktop screen from an electronic conference 135
6.4 Sub-conference showing individual messages and
discussion threads 136
6.5 Extract from a downloadable handout on Purdue
University’s OWL 138
6.6 Sample messages from Academic Writing On-line course 139
6.7 Evaluating websites 140
6.8 Strategies for creating an on-line community 142
6.9 Modelling an informal style 144
6.10 Model text illustrating effective electronic conferencing 145
6.11 Developing academic argument in an electronic
conference 146
6.12 Activity from MA in Open and Distance Education H805,
Open University 147
List of activities ix
Activities
2.1 An introduction to the purposes of writing 20
2.2 Argument and academic writing 26
2.3 Formality in writing 29
2.4 The use of personal voice in academic writing 30
2.5 Student guidelines for peer review 41
3.1 Functional stages of the scientific project proposal 50
3.2 Tutorial examining the use of a graph 55
3.3 Defining and classifying using discipline-specific language 56
3.4 What makes an argument essay persuasive? 58
3.5 Developing a stance on evidence 64
3.6 Comparing student voices 70
4.1 Considering the requirements of an assignment 83
5.1 Giving feedback 105
5.2 Making sense of feedback 107
5.3 Formal and informal language in academic writing 110
5.4 Some uses of first-person forms in academic writing 111
5.5 Feedback dialogues 126
6.1 Establishing ground rules for conferencing 143
6.2 Comparing forms of academic argument 150