Essential Actions for Academic Writing: A Genre-Based Approach

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Target Audience:

English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructors, academic writing teachers, and students preparing for or undertaking undergraduate or graduate studies. It supports writers using English as a first, second, or additional language and is particularly relevant to teaching higher-level academic writing.

Context for Application:

The book can support postsecondary academic writing courses, university preparation programs, and research writing instruction. Teachers can use its planning framework to help students interpret assignment prompts and make decisions about purpose, audience, organisation, and language. Activities provide opportunities to analyse texts, practise specific writing skills, and apply them in longer assignments. Its research paper project introduces research questions, data collection and analysis, and the structure of a research paper.

Value:

The book connects language instruction with the demands of academic writing across disciplines. Its emphasis on analysing assignments and adapting writing to context can help students approach unfamiliar university tasks more independently. Integrated grammar and vocabulary instruction supports purposeful language choices, while synthesis, source use, and research projects make it useful for teaching higher-level academic and research writing. Teachers can select tasks and supplementary readings suited to their students’ needs.

Description:

This textbook develops academic writing skills through a genre-based approach, helping students adapt their writing to different purposes, audiences, and disciplines. It covers explaining, summarizing, synthesizing, reporting and interpreting data, arguing, responding, and analysing. Model texts, guided activities, and writing assignments connect these skills with relevant grammar and vocabulary. Projects include research papers, literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, abstracts, and personal statements.

Resource link
University of Michigan Press — Essential Actions for Academic Writing

APA citation
Caplan, N. A., & Johns, A. M. (2022). Essential actions for academic writing: A genre-based approach. University of Michigan Press.

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