Genres and Types of Academic Writing. Exercises

1.Discuss the genres in academic writing and their distinctive uses.

The genres of academic writing include essays, research papers, case study, literature review, project report, proposals and dissertation/ thesis.

2.What are the features of a case study? Explain.

Case study is widely used in Social Science and Science subjects like Medicine. The main skills involved in case study are problem solving, critical thinking and writing. Case study usesthe method of analyzing sample cases- real or imaginary crises, hypothetical situations- to

demonstrate how they are handled or resolved. The steps involved in writing the case study include describing the situation, identifying the issues to be resolved, analyzing the case using theories and approaches relevant to the discipline and giving recommendations or suggesting a series of steps to solve the problem in the best possible way.

3. How would you differentiate between a thesis and a dissertation?

Dissertation / thesis are often used as interchangeably to refer to the mandatory final projects

in certain academic projects. In the universities of United States a thesis is the final project of Masters Degree and dissertation is submitted for a doctoral degree, whereas in the UK a thesis is submitted for a doctoral degree anddissertation for a Masters degree. The structure followed in both is similar, although there are differences in the number of pages.A doctoral thesis/ dissertation is usually lengthier compared to a masters project. Dissertation/ thesis are reports of research work carried out by scholars.

4.What is the objective of literature review?

Literature review is the summary of relevant previous writings on the topic under discussion.The main objective of review of literature as an academic writing activity is to display your knowledge of the subject. A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources (such as books, journal articles, and theses) related to a specific topic or research question. It is often written as part of thesis, dissertation...etc.

5. Bring out the major approaches to academic writing.

There are various approaches to academic writing. They are expository, descriptive,persuasive, analytical, critical/evaluative and narrative/reflective. The key feature of explanatory approach is to explain, inform, define or describe a subject. In descriptive approach the writer

uses visual words and descriptions. Persuasive approach aims to convince readers to accept the

writer’s point of view. Analytical approach mainly contains elements of exposition, persuasion and description. Critical/evaluative approach aims at evaluating the merits of an existing work and provides alternatives. In narrative or reflective approach the writer presents a story, personal experience and ideas through narration.

6. List the rhetorical modes and their uses.

7.What are the popular style guides in use today?

The most popular style guide in subjects under Humanities is MLA (Modern Language Association) style, whereas in Social Sciences, research scholars usually follow APA (American Psychological Association) style. Chicago manual of style is another style guide in use.

8.Write briefly on the sections in a Social Science dissertation.

Title page, abstract, introduction, review of literature, methodology, results,discussion/findings and references/bibliography.

Introduction part invites the attention ofthe reader towards the topic. Back ground information on the topic may be given in this paragraph.

Review of literature is to understand how other students and scholars approached your topic.

Methodology is the systematic theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of study.

Discussion or findings are the concluding part that summarizes the findings of the scholar.

Bibliography is the citation of those relevant books used to refer for the successful completion of the dissertation. 

In other words it is a list of all the sources you have used in the process of