Academic Writing for Graduate Students

Essential Tasks and Skills

4th Edition

Subjects: English Language Teaching (ELT)
Paperback : 9780472039968, 416 pages, 22 Illustrations and 21 tables, 6 x 9, May 2027
Ebook : 9780472222285, 416 pages, 22 Illustrations and 21 tables, 6 x 9, May 2027
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Over 30 years of helping graduate students position themselves as junior scholars

Table of contents

Table of Contents
Introduction to the Fourth Edition
Unit One: An Approach to Academic Writing
Introduction to Academic Writing
Writing Strategies
Audience
Language Focus: Definitions, Naming Statements , and Audience
Purpose and Strategy
Organization
Style
Language Focus: The Vocabulary Shift—Verbs
Flow
Language Focus: Common Stylistic Features
Language Focus: This and Summary Phrases
Language Focus: Transition Words and Linking Phrases
Language Focus: Simple and Complex Noun Phrases (NPs)
Presentation
Positioning
Unit Two: Moving from General to Specific and Other Approaches to Organizing Information
General-to-specific Organization
Language Focus: Verbs in Defining and Naming
Starting a Text with General Statements
Language Focus: Verbs in Defining and Naming
Using Statistics in Opening Sentences
Expanding or Unpacking Points in a Text
Exemplification
Definitions to Unpack or Expand a Point
Classification
Compare and Contrast
Causes and Effects
Effect and Cause
Specific to General
Unit Three: Problem, Process, and Solution
The Structure of Problem-Solution Texts
Providing Background
Introducing the Problem
Introducing the Solution
Language Focus: Adverb Placement
Procedures and Processes
Language Focus: -ing Clauses to Indicate Cause and Effect
Language Focus: Process Descriptions and Passive Voice
Flow of Ideas in a Process Description
Participles
Active Voice in Process Descriptions
Language Focus: Indirect Questions
Unit Four: Data Commentary and Commentary on Other Visuals
Introduction to Visualization and Commentaries
Strength of Claim
The Structure of a Data Commentary
Element 1: Location Statements and Summaries
Summary + Location Element with Passive Voice
Language Focus: Verbs in Indicative and Informative Location Statements
Language Focus: Linking as Clauses
Element 2: Highlighting Statements
Language Focus: Stance and Strength of Claim
Language Focus: Specific Ways of Moderating or Qualifying a Claim
Making Comparisons
Language Focus: Comparisons
Element 3: Concluding Observations
Language Focus: Dealing with Unexpected Outcomes or “Problems”
Dealing with Graphs
Dealing with Chronological Data
Language Focus: Prepositions of Time
Unit Five: Writing Summaries
Importance of Summary Writing
Considerations before Writing a Summary
Some Notes on Plagiarism
Paraphrasing
Careful Use of Synonyms
Language Focus: Identifying the Source in a Summary
Language Focus: Summary Reminder Phrases
Synthesizing Several Sources
Language Focus: Showing Similarities and Differences
Unit Six: Writing Reactions and Critiques
Introduction to Critique and Evaluation
Critical Reading
Language Focus: Indicating Your Perspective
Evaluating a Published Article
Language Focus: Unreal Conditionals
Language Focus: Evaluative Language
Language Focus: Evaluative Language Across the Disciplines
Book Reviews
Language Focus: Evaluative Language Across the Disciplines Revisited
Language Focus: Scare Quotes
Writing a Book Review for a Course Assignment
Language Focus: Emphasizing Points via Inversions
A Few Thoughts on Manuscript Reviews for a Journal
Unit Seven: Constructing a Research Paper I
Introduction to Research Paper Writing
Types of Journal Publications
Pre-Registered Reports
Overview of the Research Paper Structure
Writing the Methods Section
Language Focus: Linking Phrases in Methods
Writing the Results Section
Data versus Results
Language Focus: Revisiting Location Statements
Language Focus: Framing Findings
Language Focus: Framing Findings Through Comparisons
Commentary in Results Sections
The Organization of Results
 Unit Eight: Constructing a Research Paper II
Introduction to Writing the Final Parts of a Research Paper
Introductions
Introduction Moves
Notes on the Introduction Model
Waves of Meaning
Claiming Centrality in Move 1
Reviewing the Literature
Motives for Citing the Literature
Language Focus: Citation and Tense
Variation in Reviewing the Literature
Move 2—Establishing the Niche
Language Focus: Negative Openings in Move 2
Cumulative and Recycling Move 2s
Occupying the Niche
Language Focus: Tense and Purpose Statements
Completing an Introduction
Announcing Principal Findings
Stating Value
Outlining the Structure of a Text
Discussion Sections
A Possible Move Structure of Discussion Sections
Notes on the Discussion Move Structure
Language Focus: Levels of Generalization
Limitations in Discussions
Language Focus: Expressions of Limitations
Unfinished Business
Titles
Abstracts

References
Index

Description

For decades, Academic Writing for Graduate Students has introduced writers to the skills they need for successful academic writing. Now covering academic writing across an even broader range of disciplines, the new edition focuses on recurring rhetorical patterns found in academic texts and on the ways writers consider their audience, purpose, and disciplinary expectations as they make choices.

The book brings together short readings from published, student, and pedagogically-constructed texts with guided tasks to analyze how texts are organized and how claims are presented and supported. The first four units prepare students for academic writing while the following four units dive into genre-specific activities, such as the writing of summaries, critiques, and different research article sections. Throughout the book, readers will develop their rhetorical consciousness to see how strategic writing choices contribute to author positioning.

In Academic Writing for Graduate Students, 4th Edition, students will:

  • Analyze real student writing for information flow, citation patterns, and authorial stance
  • Learn to recognize different rhetorical patterns, such as cause and effect
  • Engage with different types of writing, such as summaries, critiques, data commentary, book reviews, and research articles

Christine B. Feak is a Lecturer in the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan. She is also author or co-author of numerous books, articles, and book chapters focused on writing and speaking for academic purposes.

John M. Swales (1938–2025) was Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Michigan. He authored or co-authored 20 books and around 130 research articles and book chapters.