Introduction

Writing is an important part of all university courses as it enables the students to communicate their ideas well in an organized and structured manner. Academic writing is a formal type of writing and it’s usage throughout the academic career also makes it easy for the students to cater to professional writing environment after completing their degrees. This aid is intended for undergraduate students who start writing academic papers in English. The aid introduces key writing skills and can be used to develop the text structure awareness and the writing skills of students and professionals from any academic discipline or professional field.

The main goal of this aid is to take undergraduate students with intermediate level ability in English as a Foreign Language from paragraph writing to essay writing. The aid gives the students the opportunity to learn how to express thoughts clearly and directly. The basic skills of academic writing are developed in the aid through a clearly integrated structure that combines theoretical material and practical tasks for the studied theoretical aspects. Theoretical material and practical tasks are based on authentic sources, including modern publications and various Internet resources. Consistent mastering of the material contributes to the development of such academic writing skills, as the ability to structure text, organize and express thoughts, paraphrase and summarize, write academic essays and reports. In general, the aid helps to increase the level of foreign language communicative competence and is focused on the formation of competencies necessary for the use of English in educational, research, and professional areas.

The aid consists of five parts. In part one, effective academic writing techniques are analyzed and practiced. Through theoretical material and tasks the students practice in writing effective texts on a sentence, paragraph, and essay levels. Such useful combining techniques as expansion, compounding, coordination, subordination, and clause reduction are practiced to help students make their writing interesting, clear and specific. Part two focuses on academic register. Common types of academic writing are analyzed, the differences between formal academic and informal styles in terms of aim, tone, grammar, vocabulary use are demonstrated. Practical tasks in this part help students gain clear understanding of academic register, its specifics and peculiarities. In part three, the students analyze and write the types of paragraphs that commonly occur in academic contexts. They practice writing topic sentences and concluding sentences, organizing the paragraph coherently with the appropriate use of vocabulary, grammar, and transitions. In part four, the academic skills of paraphrasing and summarizing are discussed. Paraphrasing and summarizing are often jointly used core skills that beginner academic writers have to master before they can start writing assignments that require the application, analysis, and basic manipulation (for example, description, explanation, comparison, contrasting, or classification) of information they learn in their content courses. In part five, students apply what they have learned about paragraphs to essay writing. They work on developing a thesis statement, the arguments that support a central thesis, and writing effective introductions and conclusions. The materials in the Appendix can be helpful to students to make their writing more consistent and coherent.

The material of the aid can be used for both classroom and independent work of students. It can be useful to students of universities majoring in any field, as well as a wide range of people studying English.