ATS1340 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES WORKBOOK 1 ISSUE 2 | Page 17

ATS1340 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
DAY 2 -- SESSION 2
ESSAYS v. REPORTS v. POSITION PAPERS v. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES

PREPARATION
1. Read through these documents on Moodle:
Critical Essays & Topic Analysis PDF
Annotated Bibliographies
PDF
Technical Writing
PDF
Lab Reports & Posters
PDF
READINGS & OTHER RESOURCES
https://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/2_assessmenttasks/assess_tuts/repor
ts_LL/essentials.html
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/report/index.xml
https://student.unsw.edu.au/annotated-bibliography
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Limitations: mainly concentrate on critical essays & attitudes to knowledge
2. Differences between various types of texts?
 Function  Form relationship
 A helpful meta-attitude
3. Function influences Form in several ways:
 Structure
 Diction (word choice)
 Register
4. Function also influences the text’s conceptual logic or its “attitude” as being
persuasive, descriptive, analytical, prescriptive or expository, for example.
THE ESSAY
From the French word essai “to try” or “to test”…suggests the examination,
interpretation and testing of something…a hypothesis, issue, debate, position:
“An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point
of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism,
political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and
reflections of the author.”
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay]
Helpful to think of a critical essay as an experiment (“a test”):
 A technical piece of writing
 Focuses on a specific issue or debate (differing points of view)
 Proffers a unique (hypo)thesis (author’s contention)
 Surveys existing positions on this issue or debate (literature review)
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