About the Event :

Academic writing refers to a style of writing that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines, to examine and explain the significance of some complex ideas, and to publish the findings of their research. Academic writing is clear, concise, structured, and supported by evidence from scholarly sources. Each subject discipline has its own writing conventions and types of discourse. However, there are some general features and characteristics of academic writing that are relevant across all disciplines.

In this workshop, the overall schematic structure, the general characteristics of academic writing, and the writing process of a journal article will be introduced. The characteristics of academic writing include defining the purpose and the intended readers of the writing, a clear focus of the research problem under investigation, synthesis of ideas from literature, incorporating evidence to support the arguments and findings, demonstrating a balance of views in the writing with clear and concise language. Special attention will be drawn on the writing of 1) an abstract which is crucial for readers to have a general gist of the relevance of the article before deciding whether they would select the article for reading; and 2) topic sentences which enable readers to follow the line of thinking of the writing. The tenses and language to be used to maintain an objective tone of the arguments will be explored. Learning activities will cover identifying the structure of an abstract, writing topic sentences, understanding the collocation and connotation of words for accuracy as well as for maintaining an objective tone in writing. Options for improving the choice of words to be used will also be discussed.  

Facilitator(s) :

Ms Jannie Tsang is the Project Consultant of the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), and the Guest Lecturer of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). She is also a freelance writer of English teaching materials for local publishers. Before joining the University, she was a Vice-Principal and the English Panel Chairlady of an English-as-Medium-of-Instruction (EMI) secondary school in Hong Kong. 

At EdUHK, she has been teaching the undergraduate programmes on education theories, effective teaching, classroom management, Learning Study, teaching innovations, and professional & vocational programmes. Apart from undergraduate programmes, she teaches professional development courses for the in-service teachers in Hong Kong and Macau. With her rich experience at the frontline, she does not only provide consultancy support services on English Language teaching but also conducts professional development seminars and workshops on themes like “cooperative learning”, “self-regulated learning”, “e-Learning”, “questioning techniques”, and “lesson observation & conferencing skills” for a number of primary and secondary schools in both Hong Kong and Macau.  

Intended Learning Outcomes :

On completion of the workshop, participants would be able to:

• identify key concepts, structures and elements of an academic journal article; and
• practice writing topic sentences and proper diction in academic writing. 

Target Audience :

All VTC Staff

Enquiry :

Ms LUK Wing Yin, Fiona
Project Officer
Tel: 2919-1559
E-mail: fionaluk@vtc.edu.hk