Academic Writing Webinar: Session 1
On February 10, 2021, the Women's Scientific Research Committee of the Bachelor of Arts in English program facilitated the first in a series of webinars on academic writing, presented by Dr. Nada Alqarni.
In her opening remarks, Dr. Alqarni underscored the significance of understanding one's writing strategies as an essential step toward becoming a proficient writer. She elaborated that academic writing involves a multitude of considerations including audience, purpose, style, flow, and presentation.
Highlighting a critical writing strategy, hedging, Dr. Alqarni explained that it serves to introduce uncertainty, indicating that the writer might not fully endorse the information being presented. She elucidated various structures for expressing hedging and emphasized the appropriate usage of hedges as central to developing academic communicative competence, as it helps writers establish a rapport with the reader and authorities in their field.
Following this introductory segment, Dr. Alqarni explored the components of an academic research paper. She delineated the introduction's purpose, common pitfalls to avoid, and critical elements to include. She stressed the necessity of establishing the research territory, identifying gaps in previous research, and clearly stating the current study's purpose. In essence, authors should justify the topic's importance, trace the topic's past and present studies, highlight knowledge gaps and potential limitations, clarify the paper's aim and contribution, define key terminologies and acronyms, and indicate the paper's structure.
This webinar, primarily aimed at MA and Ph.D. students, was also attended by the Vice Dean, Dr. Salma Al-Qahtani, and staff members from the Faculty of Languages and Translation. It involved practical exercises on crafting the three main parts of an introduction: identifying the general research area, acknowledging the literature gap, and stating the research paper's purpose.
This session was the first of seven in a series of academic writing webinars, hosted by the Scientific Research Committee. The webinars are scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays, from February 10, 2021, to March 3, 2021, at 4:30 pm.
