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0PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 2IST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 MAv 2004 www.in~academy.uz
DIFFERENTIATING ACADEMIC PROSE: EXPLORING ITS UNIQUE
CHARACTERISTICS
Abdurashidova Dilafruz1, Bobojonova Shakhnoza2
1EFL teacher, The Department of foreign languages and literature, University of Tashkent for Applied Sciences, Gavhar Str. 1, Tashkent 100149, Uzbekistan 2Doctor of philosophy in philological sciences, (PhD), The Department of foreign languages and literature, University of Tashkent for Applied Sciences, Gavhar Str. 1, Tashkent 100149, Uzbekistan 1dilafruzJalil@gmail.uz, 2shahnozabobojonova@utas.uz 1ORCID ID: 0009-0006-8319-709X, 2ORCID ID: 0009-0000-3204-345X https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13143661 Abstract: This scholarly inquiry scrutinizes the distinguishing attributes of academic prose in contrast to other literary genres. It meticulously probes the defining traits that delineate academic discourse, emphasizing its structured formality, impartial demeanor, and reliance on evidence-driven argumentation. By dissecting the established conventions and anticipations inherent in academic prose, this study elucidates its pivotal role in scholarly communication and intellectual discourse. Through meticulous analysis of illustrative instances and deliberation on salient disparities, readers are afforded a nuanced comprehension of the singular qualities demarcating academic prose from alternative modes of expression. This investigation augments our comprehension of the pivotal role and significance of genre within scholarly pursuits.
Keywords: Native speakers, non-native speakers, academic paper, academic prose, academic conviction, non-academic style, academic style, academic performance, academic excellence.
1 INTRODUCTION
As Bourdieu and Passeron (1994) put emphasis on the matter that both native and non-native speakers have indentical challenges to meet the requirements of academic language, which is so-called no-one's mother's tongue, either mastering the English language or being a native speaker can guarantee no-one with adequate knowledge how to write a paper properly in academic prose. Each stage of education and professional progress require various types of writing demanding adherence to stringent language structures and skills, therefore, recognition where tasks, skills and situations diverge or where they stay close to each other are vital for successful academic performance of writers. In this sense, having familiar with what academic prose itself is, how many genres exist in it, and what features make it different from other writing styles and of course why a writer needs acquire it can be prioritised to get aware. In this paper, all those concerns will be explored through analysis of relevant literatures that illustrate clear model for each genre of academic prose and its distinguishable features from other ones. The review will draw research synthesised from exact sources and provide a summary and factual analysis related to academic writing. These findings will provide an explanatory basis to the factual analysis and contribute further in-depth comprehension of content provided that allows acquisition of every concern and master them.
2 METHODOLOGY
To delve deeper into the complexities of the academic genre, we employed a triangulated research methodology. This approach enabled us to explore the multifaceted nature of academic prose from various angles. Through an extensive review of scholarly papers discussing academic prose, we scrutinized its distinctive features, examined prevailing academic convictions, and pondered its future prospects. This comprehensive review yielded a substantial corpus of data, enriching our understanding of the nuances within academic discourse.
Our investigation extended beyond theoretical analysis to practical exploration. We meticulously analyzed more than ten academic writings to discern underlying genre structures and patterns. This empirical examination provided invaluable insights into the conventions and expectations governing academic writing.
We sought to gather perspectives from practitioners in the field. To this end, we conducted a targeted questionnaire among colleagues, probing their experiences and perceptions regarding academic writing style. This qualitative data supplemented our findings, offering nuanced perspectives on the intricacies of academic prose.
In synthesizing these diverse sources of information, we aimed to construct a comprehensive portrait of academic prose. By triangulating theoretical insights,
PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 21ST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 mav 2004 www.in~academy.uz
empirical observations, and practical experiences, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of the academic genre and its role within scholarly discourse. 3 DISCUSSION
Academic writing style is considered as a style that is mainly utilised among members of academic community, namely students, professors, and researchers, all the scholarly audience in academia. An academic paper feasibly shows a tendency of heavy dependence on textual and empirical evidence, as it goals to fill in the reader on non-biased data and support every claim with several solid proofs with the help of citations and a list of references. An adherence to rigid structure and layout is noticed in all kinds of academic genres, while it is not a single formula and homogeneous aspect, as Bazerman (2014) mentioned that "Rather it varies from discipline to discipline and from educational level to level. ... Even within the same field, genres may vary substantially on these same dimensions; for example, a paper of literary criticism differs greatly from a paper in literary history. Further the exercises asked of a primary grade of student differ greatly from those of a university student, and the professional scholar's task differs again" (p. 2).
While writing an academic paper, various tests and different structures are used to from a new one and those structures show to which genre the paper mostly suits. According to Professional writing bay (n.d) there are several genres in academic prose: abstracts, essays, posters, case-studies, reports, review of literature, research papers, dissertations, theses, and grant proposals. Here Sheldon argues that abstracts and literature reviews are considered as a genre element, not a wholly independent single one, because of being mostly an integral part of a paper and rarely stand alone. Although an exact structure is applied and following certain rules is fundamental, there are several general aspects that they must exhibit and make them as a single unit. Firstly, an academic paper is required to keep the semantic structure, allowing to encompass the topics and the foci. Secondly, the formal appearance of paper that is reached by adhering a structure. At the next steps, rhetorical function, structure of implication and frame can be shown.
Looking at each genre in detail, one of the most common ones might be an abstract, which ensures a summary of a text, pointing out the key points. Also, an abstract possibly serves as a gateway catching reader's attention at the first sight, as a conference organiser for rejection or acceptance of paper, and as a means of trigger that can both have influence on decision of journals and guarantee to get published. A brief abstract should have the feature that not only informs the reader
about entailed content and arguments but also, persuades him to go ahead till the end of the literature (Professional writing bay, n.d.). The second most important genre is an essay due to be as effective assessment tool at university and college. It can fall into 10 types: comparison and contrast, cause and effect, problem-solution, classification, argument, discussion, definition, process, exemplification, and description, so that is varies in rationale and length. To identify which type of essay is expected to write, it is necessary to make sure that the essay question is realized clearly.
At the same time, a report has mainly 9: namely business, laboratory, research, case study, progress, project, design, field and technical (Sheldon, 2019). Presentation of factual analysis of a particular project or definition of a certain procedure and analysis of presented issues are mostly encompassed in a report. A report can be presented in a distinctive format such as: Table of contents, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussions, Conclusion, Appendices, as well. All parts follow one after another keeping the linear order. Another Equally important genre in academic prose is a case study, in-detail research of a facet of a real-life problem from numerous viewpoints, mostly aims to offer a solution. In a case study, a reader is aimed to guide through various stages of investigation: description, evaluation, and solution of a problem. To explore the relevant data of sources for solution wide range of approaches exist to be used including: interviews, observation, questionnaires, library research, diaries, current documents and historical documents. Mainly case studies could be divided into comparative, linear analysis, theory-building, un-sequenced and suspense reports. Two of the most challenging and time-consuming ones are exactly theses and dissertations. Both academic writing genre are common among postgraduates and graduates. For admission into academic community those lengthy literatures can employ as a justification, simultaneously a requirement of qualification. Subjects and college instructions differentiate theses from dissertations, but they are tools of distinguish. A dissertation is a single and whole genre, while a thesis is created in another genre as a crucial part of it. A postgraduate or graduate student could be asked to write a thesis for graduation, but a doctoral must work on a dissertation for requirement of qualification (Professional writing bay, n.d.). One of the limitations of all the explanation is that lack of examples that allow to have the pictures of each genre. By providing appropriate samples it might have been more informative that Sheldon (2019) managed to do properly and precisely that in his well-organised book every genre is mentioned clearly.
PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 2IST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 may 2004 www.in~academy.uz
Formal, complex, objective, explicit, hedged, responsible, well-organised, planned, precise and accurate writing is an academic writing style according to the description of website UEFAP. Knowing what features do not belong to it can also help to comprehend what they are. Yes, a paper is free of citations or a list of references, possibly aims to inform mass public based on somehow biased facts, is written straightforward style to ease reading, ensures entertainment, and can be persuasive. It can be concluded, then, a paper that puts emphasis on informing scholarly audience through non-biased facts and solid evidence scaffolded with citations and a list of references is an academic one. In a 2007 study, David suggested many tips for academic convention - an amalgamated list, including: avoidance of abstraction and run-on expressions such as "and so forth, etc.", free of engagement with reader, especially direct questions, placing adverbs among verbs to show high level of grammar accuracy, using phrasal verbs less, excluding any collocations, slangs and niches and of course avoiding any personal pronouns. Unfortunately, a strict adherence to academic convention plausibly makes paper boring to read. In this sense, intentional impairment of that frame might bring about a far more prospective outcome. In an interesting 2017 study, Dominator found that violation of some academic writing rules could be an advantageous, yet. Because presence of non-academic writing style in academic paper might ensure a paper to be found fun and interesting to read, to reach wider readership. Applications of some entertaining techniques such as attention catchy title, emotion triggers, personal point of view, amusing tone and sense of humor and engaging the reader by directly addressing and giving questions in further steps captive the reader and lead to wide readership.
Thus, now it is time that educational institutions, generally academic community, considered inclusion of non-academic style resulting in easiness of reading and granted wider readership of research. The mixture of little deviant from a prescribed writing convention and non-academic writing style features would usher in a breakthrough, which could make a way for new crucial and relevant theories in life to be prevented in a far more straightforward and appealing mode. As Hyland (1994) argues that fortunately, widely recognised interaction between writer and reader at the expense of a popular belief of a series of in-demand impersonal statements of facts is a must to consider, because the expected audience, anticipation of their background knowledge and their reactions to the texts are requirements, all writers need to be aware (Cited in James, 2022).
Taking every key points consideration and looking at them deeply highlight that gaining awareness of academic convention, knowing what happens at every stage of education, especially in a university, what academic writing is not actually that mostly leads to comprehension of what it is, and genre and their structure is a must-be knowledge need to be acquired. Some suggestions raised by Dominator could generate new area of prose, so further research on them will possibly pay off. Because of a rigid structure of language, tone and mode, research could reach a wide range of audience rarely. It might not, then, be taken necessary reader who is supposed to review it, feasibly develop new arguments on it. There might be also several unnoticed facets of academic writing need to be further researched to better understand.
CONCLUSIONS
This exploration of the distinctive characteristics of academic prose underscores its pivotal role in scholarly discourse. Through a nuanced analysis, it becomes evident that academic writing stands apart due to its formal structure, objective tone, and evidence-based approach. These defining features not only distinguish it from other genres but also reinforce its significance as a cornerstone of scholarly communication. By adhering to established conventions and expectations, academic prose facilitates clear and effective transmission of ideas within academic circles.
The comparison between academic and non-academic styles illuminates the rigorous standards upheld in scholarly writing. While academic prose prioritizes precision, objectivity, and intellectual rigor, non-academic styles may exhibit more informality and subjectivity. This dichotomy underscores the disciplined approach inherent in academic writing, where assertions are grounded in evidence and logical reasoning.
The discussion on academic papers underscores their pivotal role as vehicles for scholarly inquiry and dissemination of knowledge. Academic papers, crafted with meticulous attention to detail and adherence to disciplinary conventions, serve as catalysts for intellectual exchange and advancement within academic communities.
The distinction between native and non-native speakers in academic discourse highlights the importance of language proficiency in scholarly communication. While native speakers may possess an innate fluency, non-native speakers bring diverse perspectives and insights to academic conversations. Embracing linguistic diversity enriches scholarly
PPSUTLSC-2024
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS ANO SOLUTIONS TO THE USE OF THEORETICAL LAWS IN THE SCIENCES OF THE 2IST CENTURY
tashkent, o-8 may 2004 www.in-academy.uz
discourse and fosters a more inclusive academic environment.
This examination of academic prose underscores its unique characteristics and indispensable role in scholarly endeavors. By understanding and appreciating the nuances of academic writing, scholars can effectively navigate the complex landscape of academic discourse and contribute meaningfully to their respective fields. ACKNOWLEDGEMNET
The writer extends heartfelt gratitude to the professors at Webster University in Tashkent whose guidance and support were instrumental in the completion of this work and the execution of the research. A special acknowledgment is owed to Professor Maria Covac, whose expertise and mentorship played a pivotal role in deepening the writer's understanding of academic prose.
References
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