Academic Communication

EXPLANATION ESSAY

1. Topics & Objectives: Efficient, Effective & Critical Reading
To prepare students for success on the Explanation Essay, the following topic areas and skills need to be addressed:
1. Reading for key information (Brick Chapter 8)
a. Implement different reading strategies according to the reading purpose (e.g. skimming for key points, outlining and note-taking for detailed reading)
b. Critically read and evaluate texts
c. Identify generalisations and specific details which support them in a text (Brick Chapter 14)
2. Developing and expressing voice (Brick Chapters 10 & 12)
a. Identify the purpose and audience of an essay and how these variables affect how voices are used
b. Integrate own voice and voice of others appropriately using appropriate reporting verbs
3. Expressing evaluation with appropriate hedges, boosters and attitude markers (Brick Chapter 13)
a. Identify and demonstrate how hedges, boosters and attitude markers express voice in academic contexts
b. Identify and categorise the appropriate usage (and dangers) of hedges, boosters and attitude markers according to different kinds of texts and voice expression
4. Referencing and citing sources (Brick Chapter 11)
a. Explain the purpose of integrating outside sources in academic contexts (i.e. building on a body of knowledge and demonstrating an understanding of how my work fits into the larger picture)
b. Appropriately reference and cite sources in text using a variety of direct, indirect and external voice. (Brick Chapter 9)
c. Appropriately organise source information into a reference list
5. Organising and Outlining information in explanations
a. Map and apply causal relations implicitly and explicitly
b. Identify and distinguish between factors, consequences and conditions.
c. Distinguish between the logical relation/conjunction patterns of factorial, consequential and conditional explanations.
1- Factorial Explanation: Outcome ^ Factors ^ (Reinforcement of Factors)
? Explain events through two or more contributing factors
2- Consequential Explanation: Input ^ Consequences ^ (Reinforcement of Consequences)
? Explains the effects or consequences of a single event
3- Conditional Explanation: Phenomenon ^ Explanation
SIBT Page 3 of 13
? “conditional explanations imply obligatory relations between events, but they construe effects as contingent on variable factors” (Martin & Rose 2008:160). In other words, the explanation contains a series of if…then sequences to construct a conditional relationship between the description and the phenomenon.
6. Organise and develop an explanation essay (Brick Chapters 14, 17 & 18)
a. Identify the structure and functions of each stage of an explanation in comparison to a generic essay.
b. Identify and develop topic sentences that support the phenomena
c. Develop topic sentences that link paragraphs to each other and to the thesis.
d. Organise information coherently through repackaged conjunction and nominalised actions (i.e. grammatical metaphor; e.g. because…the result of, recognise…recognition)
e. Integrate evaluation objectively, obscuring the source of the evaluation
f. Recognise and reorganise descriptions/explanations that are unclear

6. Full and accurate references of all in-text citations. To reinforce this skill, review the different types of references (e.g. single author, multiple a
The learning outcomes for the explanation essay are a demonstrated capacity to:
A] Engage in independent and collaborative learning activities to achieve academic standards
B] Locate information and ideas for a specific purposes
C] Analyse the purpose, language and features of academic and disciplinary genres.
D] Critically evaluate information and ideas from academic and disciplinary sources
E] Investigate issues and concepts relevant to the social sciences and humanities
F] Present written and oral texts using appropriate language and structure
G] Apply reasoning to formulate and support a position or argument
H] Plan and produce texts to reflect academic and professional standards.
I] Engage in independent and collaborative learning activities.