Day 4 (Sep 3) - Audience, Purpose & Tone

1. Do you talk in the same way all the time? Even to different people?

2. What do you think is the cause of it?

Q1. Academic Writing Purpose

Academic writing purpose depends on the assignment. Some tasks include:

1) Explaining an issue

2) Making an argument

3) Analyze a work (paper, movie, book) by someone else

Your major papers in ESL115 will all involve some form of evidence-based ARGUMENT.

What is the purpose of each of those papers?

1) “Scenes of Smoking in the Movies Create Unhealthy Habits among Teenagers”

2) “Influence On Students’ Development: Comparison of Single-Sex vs. Coeducational School” 

3) “Get to Know Eating Disorders”

4) “The Examined Elite: Report and Reflection on Nicholas Lemann’s The Big Test”

Q2. Targeting Your Audience

What is your audience? Who read your papers? How would you describe your audience?

Keep in mind that your academic audience:

1) is well-educated and intelligent;

2) expects your paper to flow logically;

3) may not be knowledgeable of your specific topic;

4) may not be familiar with the sources you have read;

5) is looking to see that you understand the material;

6) may or may not agree with your assumptions

Look at the chart show in here and discuss with your partner.

Q3. Tone in Academic Writing

Formal tone

1) Avoid contractions, slang, informal figures of speech

2) Avoid hyperboles and clichés

Objective tone

1) Show your opinion with your evidence, don’t tell.

2) Leave yourself and the reader out of it. Avoid using the 1st person (I, we) and 2nd person (you).

3) Avoid phrases like “I think”; “I believe”; “It’s right that”; “It’s wrong to”; etc.

Here you can find a list of words and phrases you need to avoid in your own writing, but this is not all!

Making Connections & Put Them All Together