Academic Writing: A Handbook for
International Students – A Critique
Garcete Marisol
Ciampichini Carolina
According to Bailey (2006) “those students who are not native speakers
often find the written demands of their courses very challenging” (p. vii). In
his book, the author aims to provide students with plenty of
practice in certain genres that could help them to
self-acquire competence in academic writing skills to be part of an
academic writing community and also, to assist teachers who are concerned
about their students’ writing progress.
Teachers in charge
of students at beginner levels in Academic writing may find the
book extremely useful. Not only has the author presented the
information in a clear way, but he also has provided new and
valuable information for students who have to start writing academically. The
book is comprehensibly organized in four parts each of which deals with certain
writing skills. For instance, “part 1: The Writing Process” (p.
3-60) tackles the issue of plagiarism and logical development and organization
in essays. In “Part 2: Elements of writing” (p.65-114) the author approaches
the need to use an argument style of writing, the use of paraphrasing and
referencing. “Part 3: Accuracy in writing” (p. 119-182) provides practice on
inaccuracies of verbs and vocabulary. Finally, “Part 4: Writing models” (p.
185-199) offers some models on certain basic writings.
However, although
the book would be suitable for secondary students or higher education
beginners, it might fail to fulfill the requirements of teachers and students
in the last years of college. The handbook would have been more
useful at advanced levels if it had contained more
complex genre writings and samples to be analyzed. All the above
mentioned topics are comprehensibly introduced but they are vaguely delved into
in the book. There is a considerable amount of practice but there are few references.
In the “Avoiding Plagiarism” section (p.7) for example, the author should have
included a clear guide with strategies for plagiarism avoidance so that
students can use it when writing their own productions. They may also find it
difficult to correct mistaken exercises because, although answers are provided
in the book (p. 204-258) there are no clear explanations. The same may happen
when students are doing the tests in the “Writing Tests” section (p. 201-203).
Bailey’s book would have been more accurate if it had targeted a smaller
range of audience. The author argues that the book “is a flexible course that
allows students of all subjects and levels, from foundation to PhD, to practice
those aspects of writing which are most important for their studies” (p. 6).
However, different disciplines often have different writing requirements and
this entails a more complex degree of knowledge and handling of writing skills
that comprises a wide range of academic genres.
All in all, it can be stated
that the handbook should be considered as a useful tool for students and
teachers who are interested in polishing their academic writing performance at
the beginning of higher education. However, a student that is in the last
years of university would not find this book useful because it vaguely delves
into practical writing skills and common difficulties in writing.
References
Bailey,
S. (2006). Academic Writing: A handbook for international students (2nd
ed.). Retrieved November 2013 from
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