EAPP

• Academic text


  Critical, objective, specialized texts written by experts or professionals in a given field using formal language
• Common examples of academic texts

  • Articles
  • Conference papers
  • Reviews
  • Theses
  • Dissertations
• Steps before reading an academic text

  1. Why am I reading this text?

  2. What pieces of information do I need?

  3. What do I want to learn?
• General purposes for reading an academic text

  • To better understand an existing idea
  • To get ideas that can support a particular writing assignment
  • To gain more information
  • To identify gaps in existing studies
  • To connect new ideas to existing ones
• Structure of academic texts

  • Clear structure that helps the reader navigate and understand the contents easily
  • Follow the Introduction-Body-Conclusion format
  • Include information from credible sources, which are properly cited
• Structure of some academic texts

  • Introduction-Method-Results and Discussion (IMRAD) format
• Content and style of academic texts

  • Include concepts and theories related to the specific discipline
  • Exhibit properties of a well-written text such as organization, unity, coherence, and cohesion
  • Adhere to the rules and mechanics of language use
• What authors observe when writing academic texts

  • State critical questions and issues
  • Provide facts and evidence from credible sources
  • Use precise and accurate words for clarity while being mindful that jargon is not used excessively or inappropriately
  • Avoid using colloquial expressions
  • Take an objective point of view and avoid being personal and subjective
  • Use hedging or cautious language to tone down their claims
• Critical reading strategies before reading

  1. Determine what type of academic text you are reading

  2. Determine and establish your purpose for reading

  3. Identify the author's purpose for writing

  4. Predict the main idea of the text based on its title

  5. State what you already know and what you want to learn about the topic

  6. Determine the target audience

  7. Check the publication date for relevance

  8. Check the reference list

  9. Use a concept map or graphic organizer to note your knowledge on the topic
• Critical reading strategies during reading

  1. Annotate important parts of the text

  2. Write key words or phrases on the margins in bullet form

  3. Write a symbol on the page margin where important information is found

  4. Write brief notes on the margin

  5. Write questions on information that you find confusing

  6. Write what you already know about the ideas

  7. Write the limitations of the author's arguments

  8. Write a note on the reliability of the text

  9. Comment on the author's biases

  10. Underline important words, phrases, or sentences

  11. Underline or circle meanings or definitions

  12. Mark or highlight relevant parts of the text

  13. Use context clues to define unfamiliar words

  14. Determine the main idea of the text

  15. Identify the evidence or supporting claims presented by the author
• Critical reading strategies after reading

  1. Reflect on what you have read

  2. React to some parts of the text through writing

  3. Discuss some parts with your teacher or classmates

  4. Link the main idea of the text to what you already know
• SQ3R method

  • Survey- Skim the target text and find main ideas
  • Question- Develop questions on the types of information you expect from the text
  • Read- Look for answers to your questions as you read the text
  • Review- Evaluate what you learned based on what you understand of the text
  • Review-Evaluate what you learned
• KWL method


  • What I Know about the topic
  • What I Want to Learn about the topic
  • What I Have Learned after reading
• Thesis statement


  Presents or describes the point of a text, usually found in the abstract, executive summary, or last part of the introduction
• Parts of a thesis statement

  • Topic
  • Position
  • Reason
  • Concession
• Strategies in locating the thesis statement

  1. Read the title of the text and make inferences on its purpose

  2. If the text has no abstract or executive summary, read the first few paragraphs as the thesis statement is usually located there

  3. Check the conclusion where authors sum up and review the main points

  4. In some cases, the thesis statement is replaced with a purpose statement
• Purpose statement


  Introduced by signal phrases that present the purpose, scope, or direction of the text as well as its focus
• Topic sentence


  Presents or describes the main idea of a paragraph
• Strategies in locating the topic sentence

  1. Read the first sentence of the paragraph carefully as most authors state the topic sentence at the beginning

  2. Browse the sentences in the paragraph to identify the one that states the main idea

  3. Find the concept or idea being tackled, and the sentence that defines it is usually the topic sentence

  4. Identify the purpose of the paragraph, and the sentence that presents or describes the purpose is the topic sentence

  5. Observe the writing style of the author and where they usually place the topic sentence
• Evaluating sources


  Standards or guidelines used to assess the credibility, reliability, and relevance of information from various sources
• Criteria for evaluating sources

  • Relevance
  • Authority/Author's qualifications
  • Currency/Date of publication
  • Contents/Accuracy of information
  • Location of sources
• Relevance of the source

  Checking the title, table of contents, summary/abstract, introduction, or headings to have a sense of the content
• Authority/Author's qualifications

  • If the source does not have an author, think twice before using it
  • Check the author's affiliation with a university to verify the information
  • Publications from professors are usually peer-reviewed and reliable
  • Legitimate academic texts must include citations as a requirement for publication
• Currency/Date of publication


  In most fields, the data from older publications may no longer be valid, so the date of publication should be at most five years earlier
• Contents/Accuracy of information

  • The tone or attitude of the author must be formal, with no informal words or phrases
  • Verify findings with multiple sources to avoid using a disputable source
  • It might be alright to use a source that focuses on one aspect of the topic, as long as it is balanced with sources from other points of view
  • Make sure the author has no personal agenda in writing the information
• Location of sources

  • Articles found in research databases like EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Science Direct, or JSTOR are peer-reviewed, unlike many articles found through search engines
  • Google Scholar and Directory of Open Access Journals are free web search engines that provide free full-text scholarly articles
  • Avoid using blogs, personal homepages, and wiki sites
  • Sites with .edu, .gov, .org, and .net in their URL are often considered reputable, but it's still best to double-check the publisher
• Methods in evaluating web documents

  • Coverage-If the information can be viewed properly
  • Accuracy-If the page lists the author, institution, and contact information
  • Currency-If the page is current and updated regularly
  • Authority-If the page lists the author's credentials and the domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org, .net)
  • Objectivity-If the page provides accurate information with limited advertising and is objective in presenting the information
• Summarizing


  Expressing the most important facts or ideas about something or someone in a short and clear form
• When you summarize, you end up with considerably less words than the original text
• Purposes of summarizing

  • Deepen your understanding of the text
  • Identify relevant information or key ideas
  • Combine details or examples that support the main idea
  • Concentrate on the gist or main idea and key words presented in the text
  • Capture the key ideas in the text and put them together clearly and concisely
• You are NOT summarizing when you write down everything, write down ideas from the text word-for-word, write down incoherent and irrelevant ideas, write down ideas that are not stated in the text, or write down a summary that has the same length or longer than the original text
• Guidelines in summarizing

  1. Clarify your purpose before you read

  2. Read the text and understand the meaning

  3. Annotate the text

  4. Write all the key ideas and phrases you identified in a bullet or outline form

  5. Without looking at the text, identify the connections of these key ideas and phrases using a concept map

  6. List your key points in a concise summary
• Summarizing


  Presenting an overview and a concise/condensed version of the original text by just putting the main points of the original text
• Paraphrasing


  Changing the words or phrasing of a passage into your own words, but retaining and fully communicating its original meaning
• Direct Quoting


  Matching the original source word for word, with the quoted part appearing inside quotation marks
• Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Direct Quoting all must be attributed to the original sources
• When to use Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Direct Quoting

  • Summarizing: Used to summarize a text that has long sections (e.g. a page or chapter of a book, a paragraph of an essay)

  Paraphrasing: Used to paraphrase a short text with a maximum of five sentences

  Direct Quoting: Used to quote a text that conveys a powerful message or whose impact lessens if it is paraphrased or summarized
• Guidelines in Paraphrasing

  Read the text and understand its meaning

  2. Use a pen to mark or highlight the key words or main idea

  3. Recall the key words or main idea

  4. Write in your own words what you understood

  5. Compare your paraphrase with the original text

  6. Check the meaning and sentence structure

  7. Refrain from adding comments

  8. Record the details of the original source

  9. Format your paraphrase properly
• Guidelines in Direct Quoting

  Copy exactly the part of the text you want to use

  2. Use quotation marks to show the beginning and ending

  3. Record the details of the original source

  4. Format your quotation properly

  5. Direct quotation should not replace paraphrasing or summarizing
• Reporting Verbs


  Words used to discuss another person's writing or assertions, used to integrate sources in the text