English Academic writing - an interview

Recently I had the visit of my son Eric from London, England. He teaches political science at Birkbeck College at the University of London. He has written several books. One, The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America (see a review of the book here)  published by Harvard University Press was his doctoral thesis from the London School of Economics. Another,edited by Eric and published by Routledge was Rethinking Ethnicity.  (See a review here). His area of speciality is ethnic nationalism and ethnic conflict.

I asked Eric what he thought was important in English academic writing. You can listen to his answer here. We will be producing a transcript of this interview for The Linguist library. We will also follow up with more discussions on this subject if there is interest. Let me know if this is useful and if you would like more.

Comments

[Zunaidah Sulong]

Dear Steve,
Let me introduce myself first. My name is Zunaidah Sulong. Call me Zunaidah. I'm a graduate student from Malaysia. Now, i'm in the stage of writing my dissertation (in English!, i required to do so by my supervisor if i want to publish it). The academic paper writing needs to academically interesting & structured. There is a need for compelling arguements explaining the concepts/theoretical model. Also it needs to "read" well (i.e. clarity, organised & appropriate writing style). I have problems both in order to express clarity ideas with flows & critical thinking of arguements. I also have problem to speak fluently (without need to think in my native language - Malay Language). I came from disadvantaged background (quite poor family, my parents do not go to school, they are traditional paddy field farmers from East Cost of Malaysia, Terengganu), my parents only speak in Malay language and during my schooling days i only expose to Malay cultures/surroundings. My undergraduate & Masters degree conducted in Malay Language (but all the sources/materials in English). Now, with this disadvantanges, it lowers my self confidence when to speak English. All the time, i feel so stupid and under a lot of stresses. It is because i MUST need to write academic paper and go to conferences regularly (all English!). I really want to get my dissertation completed so that i can change my future. I just don't want to end up like my parents. Please help me. *P/S: Sorry for such a long write-up.

TQ

regards & sincerely,
Zunaidah.

[Steve Kaufmann]

Dear Zunaidah,

I have made some corrections in your writing. Your only real problems are
i) the passive (to BE conducted, WERE conducted etc.
ii) the odd missing article "the".

Your writing is well structured, logical and clear as a fresh flowing stream. You use vocabulary with confidence. You need to work on some little points of grammar perhaps. But in the opinion of Eric in his discussion with me, even in England it is more important to develop the argument rather than worry about the niceties of grammar. And you use the language logically and well.

I am sure there is a lot that you can learn from your parents. But I can tell you that to be able to express yourself as effectively in a second language (English) as you do shows that you have gone a long way in developing a new path for yourself. Good luck to you and believe in yourself. You will certainly succeed in your endeavours.
Steve

Correctons:

Dear Steve,
Let me introduce myself first. My name is Zunaidah Sulong. Call me Zunaidah. I'm a graduate student from Malaysia. Now, i'm in the stage of writing my dissertation (in English!, i AM required to do so by my supervisor if i want to publish it). The academic paper writing needs to BE academically interesting & structured. There is a need for compelling arguements explaining the concepts/theoretical model. Also it needs to "read" well (i.e. clarity, organised & appropriate writing style). I have problems both in order to express clarity ideas with flows & critical thinking of arguments. I also have a problem to speak fluently (without the need to think in my native language - Malay Language). I came from disadvantaged background (quite poor family, my parents do not go to school, they are traditional paddy field farmers from East Cost of Malaysia, Terengganu), my parents only speak in Malay language and during my schooling days i WAS only exposeD to Malay cultures/surroundings. My undergraduate & Masters degree WERE conducted in THE Malay Language (but all the sources/materials ARE in English). Now, with thESE disadvantanges, it lowers my self confidence when I NEED to speak English. All the time, i feel so stupid and under a lot of stresses. It is because i need to write academic paperS and go to conferences regularly (all English!). I really want to get my dissertation completed so that i can change my future. I just don't want to end up like my parents. Please help me. *P/S: Sorry for such a long write-up.

TQ

regards & sincerely,
Zunaidah.

[Dorota]

Hi Steve,
I'm currently preoccupied with academic writing. Not because I love it or anything... It's just one of my classes and have to write lots of dissertations all over. Anyways, I was wondering if you could help me. What are the examples of the intervies and how do you write a summary of an interview? I can't find the answer anywhere.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Dorota

[Jammer]

Hi Steve,
I am Jammer from Malaysia. I have been wanting to learn a fluency English for long time. Previously, i was studied in an english educated place, my degree and diploma. But now, like others, i am having problem to speak english infront of people. One more thing, i have problem in remembering vocabularies as well, and also (only in english) i cant get concerntrated to what people speech, easy to loss. Can you help? What package or what should i downlaod from yours to fastest inprove my English!

Best Regards,
Jammer

[Steve Kaufmann]

Jammer,

I suggest you join The Linguist or at least give it a try for the free 14 day trial.

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