Paper 1: Analysis of an Academic Discourse Community or What Makes a Text "Academic?"
If you read my blog post pertaining to Irvin's "What is Academic Writing?", this paper is pretty much directly related to it. For this, we had to analyze any kind of academic text to see which of Irvin's criteria is portrayed and decide for ourselves what makes it academic. Analysis criteria could include any subject from audience to purpose to special vocabulary used. The text could come from textbooks to journals to scholarly papers. I decided to analyze my Physical Geography text. Following is a development through my analysis.
First Draft
The writing that I have chosen to analyze is the first chapter of my physical geography textbook. There are many factors that are talked about in Irvin’s text – “What is “Academic” Writing? – that assist in pin-pointing my textbook as a piece of academic writing.
First, breaking down the situation within the text can help to produce a more clear focus of what makes a textbook academic writing. The audience is clearly meant to be the students taking the course and the professor that will be lecturing for this particular course and hence, assigned and utilizes this geography textbook. The occasion of the context is for the purpose of learning about physical geography and making sure we have the ability to display our knowledge of the subject. However the student interprets the text within the textbook is the message, and the purpose of learning this subject is to get a good grade in the course. The genre of writing is mostly facts listed on short paragraphs or bullets.
There are many other key points to help us determine that this textbook is an academic writing. For example, it demonstrates its knowledge of research skills through multiple appendixes, a glossary, and an index. The appendixes are incredibly useful in exemplifying the validity of the textbook’s information – they provide a broad array of background information necessary in aiding the learning process for this course. Throughout the book, there are links to research pages and other government websites that help to legitimize its sources.
The text itself does not utilize incredibly complex wording and vocabulary but it does have a good structure to its writing. Each chapter has a broad topic that is broken down into multiple sections, and these sections are broken down into even more sub-topics. The text is strictly factual and stays away from any bias – this is important to take note of because geography relates to many common controversies such as global warming. It may ask us to think about our opinion of a subject matter, but it sticks to just merely stating facts within the actual text.
Something that the geography textbook does not do, however, is present an argument. The first chapter, which is what I’m analyzing, is about an introduction to Earth; incredibly factual topics that have no room for an argument. They are mostly accepted facts about the planet Earth and don’t need any argument to be created.
It is, however, an analysis; an analysis of Earth – it explains how the Earth came to be, how it changes continuously, why it acts in certain ways, how season are related to its properties etc. All the parts within the first chapter relate to one another in a careful analysis of our planet.
A reader, like a student, will be able to trust the text too because it follows three basic characteristics of academic writing – clear evidence of persistency and a discipline in study, the dominance of reason over emotions and the assumption that the reader is rational and will take in the information without much hesitation. The text was written by two professors of geography, therefore they have that pre-requisite that allows them to create such a believable piece of writing.
The type of writing for this essay is closed writing. This conclusion is brought about by the fact that the text does not ask the students about their version of the facts. The text may present controversial topics to discuss, but the facts are stated clearly and make no room for change or debate.
Another important aspect is grammatical precision. The accuracy within the textbook makes the reader, the student, trust the book more. If words were misspelled on every page or the grammar was messy, it would be hard to illustrate the credibility of such a work.
All of these points help to prove that this geography textbook is indeed an academic writing piece. They utilize precise concepts and demonstrate structure and formality. These are key points to proving a text is legitimate.
First, breaking down the situation within the text can help to produce a more clear focus of what makes a textbook academic writing. The audience is clearly meant to be the students taking the course and the professor that will be lecturing for this particular course and hence, assigned and utilizes this geography textbook. The occasion of the context is for the purpose of learning about physical geography and making sure we have the ability to display our knowledge of the subject. However the student interprets the text within the textbook is the message, and the purpose of learning this subject is to get a good grade in the course. The genre of writing is mostly facts listed on short paragraphs or bullets.
There are many other key points to help us determine that this textbook is an academic writing. For example, it demonstrates its knowledge of research skills through multiple appendixes, a glossary, and an index. The appendixes are incredibly useful in exemplifying the validity of the textbook’s information – they provide a broad array of background information necessary in aiding the learning process for this course. Throughout the book, there are links to research pages and other government websites that help to legitimize its sources.
The text itself does not utilize incredibly complex wording and vocabulary but it does have a good structure to its writing. Each chapter has a broad topic that is broken down into multiple sections, and these sections are broken down into even more sub-topics. The text is strictly factual and stays away from any bias – this is important to take note of because geography relates to many common controversies such as global warming. It may ask us to think about our opinion of a subject matter, but it sticks to just merely stating facts within the actual text.
Something that the geography textbook does not do, however, is present an argument. The first chapter, which is what I’m analyzing, is about an introduction to Earth; incredibly factual topics that have no room for an argument. They are mostly accepted facts about the planet Earth and don’t need any argument to be created.
It is, however, an analysis; an analysis of Earth – it explains how the Earth came to be, how it changes continuously, why it acts in certain ways, how season are related to its properties etc. All the parts within the first chapter relate to one another in a careful analysis of our planet.
A reader, like a student, will be able to trust the text too because it follows three basic characteristics of academic writing – clear evidence of persistency and a discipline in study, the dominance of reason over emotions and the assumption that the reader is rational and will take in the information without much hesitation. The text was written by two professors of geography, therefore they have that pre-requisite that allows them to create such a believable piece of writing.
The type of writing for this essay is closed writing. This conclusion is brought about by the fact that the text does not ask the students about their version of the facts. The text may present controversial topics to discuss, but the facts are stated clearly and make no room for change or debate.
Another important aspect is grammatical precision. The accuracy within the textbook makes the reader, the student, trust the book more. If words were misspelled on every page or the grammar was messy, it would be hard to illustrate the credibility of such a work.
All of these points help to prove that this geography textbook is indeed an academic writing piece. They utilize precise concepts and demonstrate structure and formality. These are key points to proving a text is legitimate.
Second Draft
Academic writing is a concept that may be a bit challenging to grasp at first. Irvin’s essay, “What is Academic Writing” emphasizes the many components of an academic piece that will require you to search deeper and think harder. It is a significant jump from the common five paragraph essay that students are usually used to. Analyzing a piece of academic writing, however, can definitely help both a writer and reader to understand the structure of a work of academic text much better. The writing that I have chosen to analyze is the first chapter of my physical geography textbook; it definitely fits several of the criteria that Irvin mentioned about.
Breaking down the situation within the text can help to produce a more clear focus of what makes a textbook, in particular this one, an academic writing. Irvin encourages us to keep in mind who our audience will be, what purpose it serves, what kind of message it brings forth and the genre of the context (Irvin); this helps a writer to use specific language and persuasion that will cater to the readers’ needs. The audience for my geography textbook is clearly meant to be the students taking the course and possibly the professor that will be lecturing for this particular course as well. The purpose of reading this book is to learn about physical geography and understand the tools and concepts that can help us to learn about important factors such as causes of weather and climate conditions, global warming, earth formations and the future of our planet (McKnight). The message that the reader takes back are key values and knowledge about physical geography and how it can affect them in their surroundings and the purpose of learning this subject and reading this text is to get a good grade in the course. The genre of writing comprises of intellectual knowledge which is a key factor in classifying a text as academic.
There are many other key points to help us determine that this textbook is an academic writing. Using Irvin’s arguments, it demonstrates its knowledge of research skills through multiple appendixes, a glossary, and an index. The appendix is particularly useful and academic because it contains a multitude of facts about geography like lakes, mines, rainfall and weather models; this helps to credit the validity of the textbook’s information – they provide a broad array of background information necessary in aiding the learning process for this course. Throughout the book, there are links to research pages and other government websites that provide videos, clips and articles from significant companies like NASA or The National Geographic, aiding in legitimizing its sources (McKnight).
Irvin touched on the matter of being able to understand complex texts (Irvin); this could only mean that an academic text would have to consist of formal and highly intellectual writing. The text within this book itself does not utilize incredibly complex wording and vocabulary but it does have a formal and intellectual structure to its writing and focuses on hard concepts that may take more than one read to comprehend and grasp. Each chapter has a broad topic that is broken down into multiple sections, and these sections are broken down into even more sub-topics. For example, the first chapter is about our Solar System which breaks down into sections about the eight planets and our Sun. The text is then narrowed down to talk about our very own planet Earth, breaking down the information into subjects such as the equinoxes and solstices, latitudes and longitudes, the rotation and revolution of Earth, time zones, and the changing of the seasons. The text in this chapter is strictly factual and stays away from any bias, purely for the reason that these facts are fixed and are not determined by opinion but rather, science – this is important to take note of because geography relates to many common controversies such as global warming, ice ages and ancient time periods. The physical geography textbook may ask us to think about our opinion of a subject matter, but it usually sticks to just merely stating facts within the actual text (McKnight).
Now according to Irvin, an academic text is always an argument – or at least presents one within it (Irvin). It is hard to decipher the arguments within a physical geography textbook because they are mostly widely accepted, scientifically proven facts that don’t intend to persuade but rather to educate. Examples of these facts are durations of changes that take place on Earth (rotation – 24 ¼ hours, revolution – 365 ¼ days, seasons – 3 months), changes that are observed on or from Earth (tide changes, climate conditions, solar flares), dates that host important geographical events (winter and summer solstices, March and September equinoxes) and significant geographical locations (Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Equator, the Prime Meridian and International Date Line, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn). The text does however contain elements that present an argument. For example, the topic of global warming is widely debated as to whether or not it exists and what the causes are. The textbook clearly demonstrates that it believes global warming is real and states specific reason such as the greenhouse effect and harmful chemical releases that have caused it (McKnight). These opinions are meant to persuade the reader to believe that we do in fact have to worry about the future of our planet and in doing so, present an argument.
There are additional basic characteristics that assist in portraying the physical geography textbook as an academic writing – clear evidence of persistency and a discipline in study, the dominance of reason over emotions and the assumption that the reader is rational and will take in the information without much hesitation (Irvin). The facts within the book do not contradict one another and they were all written by Tom L. McKnight and Darrel Hess, both of whom are professors who earned their degrees in geography. This is a definite argument for proving a discipline in study; they are highly knowledgeable in their field of study. This provides the academic text with a higher source of credibility. Also, the text is clearly based on fact and does not lean on bias or emotional feelings to contribute to its vault of data.
Combining all of the previous aspects of Irvin’s points together, we can conclude that this physical geography textbook is a form of closed writing. This conclusion is brought about by the circumstance that the text does not ask the students about their version or opinions of the facts. The text may present controversial topics to discuss, but the facts are stated clearly and make no room for change or debate.
Another important aspect that Irvin stressed was grammatical precision. The accuracy within the textbook makes the reader, the student, trust the book more. If words are misspelled on every page or the grammar was appalling, it would be immensely difficult to illustrate the credibility of such a work, let alone accept that it is academic and professional.
Using these basic features that Irvin illustrated for us in his essay, the job of determining an academic text is considerably straightforward. It may be different than a usual analysis that we may be used to but is still an analysis. We have to put our feet in the shoes of the type of reader that will utilize the academic writing and determine our opinions through that. McKnight’s physical geography book has definitely exemplified its legitimacy as a piece of academic writing through all those detailed points.
Breaking down the situation within the text can help to produce a more clear focus of what makes a textbook, in particular this one, an academic writing. Irvin encourages us to keep in mind who our audience will be, what purpose it serves, what kind of message it brings forth and the genre of the context (Irvin); this helps a writer to use specific language and persuasion that will cater to the readers’ needs. The audience for my geography textbook is clearly meant to be the students taking the course and possibly the professor that will be lecturing for this particular course as well. The purpose of reading this book is to learn about physical geography and understand the tools and concepts that can help us to learn about important factors such as causes of weather and climate conditions, global warming, earth formations and the future of our planet (McKnight). The message that the reader takes back are key values and knowledge about physical geography and how it can affect them in their surroundings and the purpose of learning this subject and reading this text is to get a good grade in the course. The genre of writing comprises of intellectual knowledge which is a key factor in classifying a text as academic.
There are many other key points to help us determine that this textbook is an academic writing. Using Irvin’s arguments, it demonstrates its knowledge of research skills through multiple appendixes, a glossary, and an index. The appendix is particularly useful and academic because it contains a multitude of facts about geography like lakes, mines, rainfall and weather models; this helps to credit the validity of the textbook’s information – they provide a broad array of background information necessary in aiding the learning process for this course. Throughout the book, there are links to research pages and other government websites that provide videos, clips and articles from significant companies like NASA or The National Geographic, aiding in legitimizing its sources (McKnight).
Irvin touched on the matter of being able to understand complex texts (Irvin); this could only mean that an academic text would have to consist of formal and highly intellectual writing. The text within this book itself does not utilize incredibly complex wording and vocabulary but it does have a formal and intellectual structure to its writing and focuses on hard concepts that may take more than one read to comprehend and grasp. Each chapter has a broad topic that is broken down into multiple sections, and these sections are broken down into even more sub-topics. For example, the first chapter is about our Solar System which breaks down into sections about the eight planets and our Sun. The text is then narrowed down to talk about our very own planet Earth, breaking down the information into subjects such as the equinoxes and solstices, latitudes and longitudes, the rotation and revolution of Earth, time zones, and the changing of the seasons. The text in this chapter is strictly factual and stays away from any bias, purely for the reason that these facts are fixed and are not determined by opinion but rather, science – this is important to take note of because geography relates to many common controversies such as global warming, ice ages and ancient time periods. The physical geography textbook may ask us to think about our opinion of a subject matter, but it usually sticks to just merely stating facts within the actual text (McKnight).
Now according to Irvin, an academic text is always an argument – or at least presents one within it (Irvin). It is hard to decipher the arguments within a physical geography textbook because they are mostly widely accepted, scientifically proven facts that don’t intend to persuade but rather to educate. Examples of these facts are durations of changes that take place on Earth (rotation – 24 ¼ hours, revolution – 365 ¼ days, seasons – 3 months), changes that are observed on or from Earth (tide changes, climate conditions, solar flares), dates that host important geographical events (winter and summer solstices, March and September equinoxes) and significant geographical locations (Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Equator, the Prime Meridian and International Date Line, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn). The text does however contain elements that present an argument. For example, the topic of global warming is widely debated as to whether or not it exists and what the causes are. The textbook clearly demonstrates that it believes global warming is real and states specific reason such as the greenhouse effect and harmful chemical releases that have caused it (McKnight). These opinions are meant to persuade the reader to believe that we do in fact have to worry about the future of our planet and in doing so, present an argument.
There are additional basic characteristics that assist in portraying the physical geography textbook as an academic writing – clear evidence of persistency and a discipline in study, the dominance of reason over emotions and the assumption that the reader is rational and will take in the information without much hesitation (Irvin). The facts within the book do not contradict one another and they were all written by Tom L. McKnight and Darrel Hess, both of whom are professors who earned their degrees in geography. This is a definite argument for proving a discipline in study; they are highly knowledgeable in their field of study. This provides the academic text with a higher source of credibility. Also, the text is clearly based on fact and does not lean on bias or emotional feelings to contribute to its vault of data.
Combining all of the previous aspects of Irvin’s points together, we can conclude that this physical geography textbook is a form of closed writing. This conclusion is brought about by the circumstance that the text does not ask the students about their version or opinions of the facts. The text may present controversial topics to discuss, but the facts are stated clearly and make no room for change or debate.
Another important aspect that Irvin stressed was grammatical precision. The accuracy within the textbook makes the reader, the student, trust the book more. If words are misspelled on every page or the grammar was appalling, it would be immensely difficult to illustrate the credibility of such a work, let alone accept that it is academic and professional.
Using these basic features that Irvin illustrated for us in his essay, the job of determining an academic text is considerably straightforward. It may be different than a usual analysis that we may be used to but is still an analysis. We have to put our feet in the shoes of the type of reader that will utilize the academic writing and determine our opinions through that. McKnight’s physical geography book has definitely exemplified its legitimacy as a piece of academic writing through all those detailed points.
Final Paper
What Makes a Text Academic: An Irvinian Analysis of McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation
Academic writing is a concept that may be a little challenging to grasp at first. Lennie Irvin’s essay, “What is Academic Writing”, emphasizes the many components of an academic piece that will require you to search deeper and think harder. It is a significant jump from the common five paragraph essay that students are typically used to. Analyzing a piece of academic writing, however, can definitely help both a writer and reader to better understand the structure of an academic text. The writing that I have chosen to analyze is the first chapter of McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation; it definitely fits all of Irvin’s criteria which entails the basics of writing - audience, purpose, message and genre, and the more complex requirements of academic writing such as demonstration of knowledge of research skills, complex texts, evidence of an argument, persistency and a discipline in study, dominance of reason over emotions and, of course, grammatical precision.
Breaking down the situation within the text can help to produce a clearer focus of what makes a textbook, in particular this one, a piece of academic writing. Irvin encourages us to keep in mind who our audience will be, what purpose the book serves, what kind of message it brings forth and the genre of the context (7); this helps a writer to use specific language and persuasion that will cater to the readers’ needs. The aforementioned attributes are actually the basics of any kind of writing, not just academic. However, it is always good to have a clear understanding of what they are even when dealing with academic writing because it helps to reinforce the intellectual atmosphere of the text. As it is, the audience for my geography textbook is clearly meant to be the students taking the course and possibly the professor who will be teaching it. The purpose of reading this book is to learn about physical geography and understand the tools and concepts that can help us to learn about important factors such as the causes of weather and climate conditions, global warming, earth formations and the future of our planet. The purpose of learning this subject and text is to better under the concepts of physical geography which will be shown by getting a good grade in the course. The message that the reader takes back includes key values and knowledge about physical geography and how it can affect them in their surroundings. The genre of writing comprises of intellectual knowledge which is a key factor in classifying a text as academic.
There are many other key points to help us determine that this text is academic writing. Using Irvin’s arguments, Hess’s textbook demonstrates knowledge of research skills (Irvin 8) through multiple appendixes, a glossary, and an index. The appendix is particularly useful and academic because it contains a multitude of facts about geography such as lakes, mines, rainfall and weather models (A1-A25); this helps to establish the validity of the textbook’s information – they provide a broad array of background information necessary in aiding the learning process for this course. Throughout the first chapter – and the rest of the book – there are links to research pages and other government websites that provide videos, clips and articles from significant organizations such as NASA or magazines and websites such as The National Geographic, aiding in legitimizing its sources and demonstrating knowledge of research skills (Ch. 1).
Irvin touched on the matter of being able to understand complex texts (8); this could only mean that an academic text would have to consist of formal and highly intellectual writing. Hess’s Physical Geography book does not utilize extremely complex wording and vocabulary but it does have a formal and intellectual structure to its writing and focuses on hard concepts that may take more than one read to comprehend and grasp. Each chapter has a broad topic that is broken down into multiple sections, and these sections are broken down into even more sub-topics. For example, the first chapter is about our Solar System which breaks down into sections about the eight planets and our Sun. The text is then narrowed down to focus on our very own planet Earth, breaking down the information into subjects such as the equinoxes and solstices, latitudes and longitudes, the rotation and revolution of Earth, time zones, and the changing of the seasons. This emphasizes the fact that the text is reasonably complex, verifying that it qualifies as academic (Ch. 1).
Irvin writes that an academic text is always an argument (9-10) – or at least presents one within it. It is hard to decipher the arguments within a physical geography textbook because they are generally widely accepted, scientifically proven facts that don’t intend to persuade but rather to educate. Examples of these facts are durations of changes that take place on Earth (rotation – 24 ¼ hours, revolution – 365 ¼ days, seasons – 3 months), changes that are observed on or from Earth (tide changes, climate conditions, solar flares), dates that host important geographical events (winter and summer solstices, March and September equinoxes) and significant geographical locations (Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Equator, the Prime Meridian and International Date Line, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn) (Hess ch.1). The text in this chapter is strictly factual and stays away from any bias, purely for the reason that these facts are fixed and are not determined by opinion but rather, science – this is important to take note of because geography relates to many common controversies such as global warming, ice ages and ancient time periods. The physical geography textbook may ask us to think about our opinion of a subject matter, but it usually sticks to just merely stating facts within the actual text. However, the text as a whole presents the argument of physical geography as a coherent, consistent discipline showing the Earth as a magnificent balance of numerous laws, patterns and processes; hence the sub-title “A Landscape Appreciation”. The text also contains elements that present an argument. For example, the topic of global warming is widely debated as to whether or not it exists and what the causes are. The textbook clearly demonstrates that it believes global warming is real and states specific reasons such as the greenhouse effect and harmful chemical releases that have caused it (91-94). These opinions are meant to persuade the reader to believe that we do in fact have to worry about the future of our planet and in doing so, present an argument.
There are additional basic characteristics that assist in portraying the physical geography textbook as academic writing – clear evidence of persistence and a discipline in study, and the dominance of reason over emotions (Irvin 14). The facts within the book do not contradict one another and they were all originally written by the late Tom L. McKnight and re-edited by Darrel Hess, both of them professors who earned their degrees in Geography. This is a definite argument for proving a discipline in study; they are highly knowledgeable in their field of expertise. This provides the academic text with a higher source of credibility. Also, the text is clearly based on provable scientific facts and does not lean on bias or emotional feelings to contribute to its vault of data.
Another important aspect that Irvin stressed was grammatical precision (16). The accuracy within the textbook makes the reader, the student, trust the book more. If words are misspelled on every page or the grammar was appalling, it would be immensely difficult to illustrate the credibility of such a work, let alone accept that it is academic and professional.
Finally combining all of the previous aspects of Irvin’s points together, we can conclude that out of the three forms of writing – closed, semi-open and open – this physical geography textbook is a form of closed writing. “These kinds of writing assignments present you with two counter claims and ask you to determine from your own analysis the more valid claim. They resemble yes-no questions.” (Irvin 11). The conclusion that this textbook is classified as closed writing is brought about by the circumstance that the text does not ask the students about their version or opinions of the facts. The text may present controversial topics to discuss, but the facts are stated clearly and make no room for change or debate.
Using these basic features that Irvin illustrated for us in his essay, the job of determining an academic text is considerably straightforward. It may be different than a usual analysis that we may be used to but it is still an analysis. We have to put ourselves in the position of the type of reader who will utilize the academic writing and determine our opinions through that. McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation has definitely exemplified its legitimacy as a piece of academic writing through all those detailed points.
Works Cited
Hess, Darrel. McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation. 10th ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2011. Print.
Irvin, L. Lennie. “What Is “Academic” Writing?”. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Volume 1. Parlor Press, 2010. Web. 17 January 2012.
Academic writing is a concept that may be a little challenging to grasp at first. Lennie Irvin’s essay, “What is Academic Writing”, emphasizes the many components of an academic piece that will require you to search deeper and think harder. It is a significant jump from the common five paragraph essay that students are typically used to. Analyzing a piece of academic writing, however, can definitely help both a writer and reader to better understand the structure of an academic text. The writing that I have chosen to analyze is the first chapter of McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation; it definitely fits all of Irvin’s criteria which entails the basics of writing - audience, purpose, message and genre, and the more complex requirements of academic writing such as demonstration of knowledge of research skills, complex texts, evidence of an argument, persistency and a discipline in study, dominance of reason over emotions and, of course, grammatical precision.
Breaking down the situation within the text can help to produce a clearer focus of what makes a textbook, in particular this one, a piece of academic writing. Irvin encourages us to keep in mind who our audience will be, what purpose the book serves, what kind of message it brings forth and the genre of the context (7); this helps a writer to use specific language and persuasion that will cater to the readers’ needs. The aforementioned attributes are actually the basics of any kind of writing, not just academic. However, it is always good to have a clear understanding of what they are even when dealing with academic writing because it helps to reinforce the intellectual atmosphere of the text. As it is, the audience for my geography textbook is clearly meant to be the students taking the course and possibly the professor who will be teaching it. The purpose of reading this book is to learn about physical geography and understand the tools and concepts that can help us to learn about important factors such as the causes of weather and climate conditions, global warming, earth formations and the future of our planet. The purpose of learning this subject and text is to better under the concepts of physical geography which will be shown by getting a good grade in the course. The message that the reader takes back includes key values and knowledge about physical geography and how it can affect them in their surroundings. The genre of writing comprises of intellectual knowledge which is a key factor in classifying a text as academic.
There are many other key points to help us determine that this text is academic writing. Using Irvin’s arguments, Hess’s textbook demonstrates knowledge of research skills (Irvin 8) through multiple appendixes, a glossary, and an index. The appendix is particularly useful and academic because it contains a multitude of facts about geography such as lakes, mines, rainfall and weather models (A1-A25); this helps to establish the validity of the textbook’s information – they provide a broad array of background information necessary in aiding the learning process for this course. Throughout the first chapter – and the rest of the book – there are links to research pages and other government websites that provide videos, clips and articles from significant organizations such as NASA or magazines and websites such as The National Geographic, aiding in legitimizing its sources and demonstrating knowledge of research skills (Ch. 1).
Irvin touched on the matter of being able to understand complex texts (8); this could only mean that an academic text would have to consist of formal and highly intellectual writing. Hess’s Physical Geography book does not utilize extremely complex wording and vocabulary but it does have a formal and intellectual structure to its writing and focuses on hard concepts that may take more than one read to comprehend and grasp. Each chapter has a broad topic that is broken down into multiple sections, and these sections are broken down into even more sub-topics. For example, the first chapter is about our Solar System which breaks down into sections about the eight planets and our Sun. The text is then narrowed down to focus on our very own planet Earth, breaking down the information into subjects such as the equinoxes and solstices, latitudes and longitudes, the rotation and revolution of Earth, time zones, and the changing of the seasons. This emphasizes the fact that the text is reasonably complex, verifying that it qualifies as academic (Ch. 1).
Irvin writes that an academic text is always an argument (9-10) – or at least presents one within it. It is hard to decipher the arguments within a physical geography textbook because they are generally widely accepted, scientifically proven facts that don’t intend to persuade but rather to educate. Examples of these facts are durations of changes that take place on Earth (rotation – 24 ¼ hours, revolution – 365 ¼ days, seasons – 3 months), changes that are observed on or from Earth (tide changes, climate conditions, solar flares), dates that host important geographical events (winter and summer solstices, March and September equinoxes) and significant geographical locations (Arctic and Antarctic circles, the Equator, the Prime Meridian and International Date Line, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn) (Hess ch.1). The text in this chapter is strictly factual and stays away from any bias, purely for the reason that these facts are fixed and are not determined by opinion but rather, science – this is important to take note of because geography relates to many common controversies such as global warming, ice ages and ancient time periods. The physical geography textbook may ask us to think about our opinion of a subject matter, but it usually sticks to just merely stating facts within the actual text. However, the text as a whole presents the argument of physical geography as a coherent, consistent discipline showing the Earth as a magnificent balance of numerous laws, patterns and processes; hence the sub-title “A Landscape Appreciation”. The text also contains elements that present an argument. For example, the topic of global warming is widely debated as to whether or not it exists and what the causes are. The textbook clearly demonstrates that it believes global warming is real and states specific reasons such as the greenhouse effect and harmful chemical releases that have caused it (91-94). These opinions are meant to persuade the reader to believe that we do in fact have to worry about the future of our planet and in doing so, present an argument.
There are additional basic characteristics that assist in portraying the physical geography textbook as academic writing – clear evidence of persistence and a discipline in study, and the dominance of reason over emotions (Irvin 14). The facts within the book do not contradict one another and they were all originally written by the late Tom L. McKnight and re-edited by Darrel Hess, both of them professors who earned their degrees in Geography. This is a definite argument for proving a discipline in study; they are highly knowledgeable in their field of expertise. This provides the academic text with a higher source of credibility. Also, the text is clearly based on provable scientific facts and does not lean on bias or emotional feelings to contribute to its vault of data.
Another important aspect that Irvin stressed was grammatical precision (16). The accuracy within the textbook makes the reader, the student, trust the book more. If words are misspelled on every page or the grammar was appalling, it would be immensely difficult to illustrate the credibility of such a work, let alone accept that it is academic and professional.
Finally combining all of the previous aspects of Irvin’s points together, we can conclude that out of the three forms of writing – closed, semi-open and open – this physical geography textbook is a form of closed writing. “These kinds of writing assignments present you with two counter claims and ask you to determine from your own analysis the more valid claim. They resemble yes-no questions.” (Irvin 11). The conclusion that this textbook is classified as closed writing is brought about by the circumstance that the text does not ask the students about their version or opinions of the facts. The text may present controversial topics to discuss, but the facts are stated clearly and make no room for change or debate.
Using these basic features that Irvin illustrated for us in his essay, the job of determining an academic text is considerably straightforward. It may be different than a usual analysis that we may be used to but it is still an analysis. We have to put ourselves in the position of the type of reader who will utilize the academic writing and determine our opinions through that. McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation has definitely exemplified its legitimacy as a piece of academic writing through all those detailed points.
Works Cited
Hess, Darrel. McKnight’s Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation. 10th ed. New Jersey: Pearson, 2011. Print.
Irvin, L. Lennie. “What Is “Academic” Writing?”. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Volume 1. Parlor Press, 2010. Web. 17 January 2012.