Comparison of Academic and Informal Writing

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I am comparing several lines of two different texts, one an academic text (Loi and Evans, 2010) which is a part of an article published in Journal of Pragmatics, and the other one an informal guide (Azuma, 2003) which contains some tips on how to deal with graduate school. This short comparison falls in the following categories:

• Audience

       The intended audiences for the two texts are basically different. The first article which discusses the  organization of research article introductions in English and Chinese, addresses those audiences who are particularly working in the field of educational psychology or similar fields. However the second text is an informal talk which addresses a wide range of graduate students. Many of the tips in this informal guide are applicable to most, if not all graduate students that live in kind of confusion about the whys, and hows of graduate school life. An example of such tip is the answer to the question "why a PhD?".  The readers of the former article expect exact and well-proved facts and valid results of the comparison about the two types of introductions, while the readers of the latter text are basically expecting to hear the author's experience during his own academic life with some reasonable justifications.

•  Argument

       There are also differences in the way the two texts put forth their arguments. In the former article which is a scientific paper, statements are precise with provable claims and conclusions which are validated through certain scientific processes. The assumptions are not given for granted, and are all based on either previous literature or currently approved studies. However, in the latter text -which is presentation of some personal understanding and experiences during a life period,- not much of provable evidences are presented in the articles. Assumptions are made throughout the article without well- established justifications and the suggestions and recommendations are solely based on an individual's perceptions and observations.

• Style

       The style of writing is very different in the two texts. The former text contains a very formal and scientific style of writing which includes a formal introduction, literature survey, discussions and so on. On the other hand, the latter is an informal and friendly flow of experiences, come together in form of an article. It includes colloquialisms and casual expressions, sometime even with a funny tone:

 - After six months of toil and sweat...[pp.1]

 - You're no smarter today than you were yesterday [pp.1]

 - The Feynman Problem Solving joke... [pp.1]

 - Why the hell am I doing this? [pp.2]

Three comparisons have been carried out here. The audience, argument and the style of the two different articles were discussed from different aspects. Several other criteria such as the Tone, Authority, Rhetorical structure, scope, References and vocabulary of the the two texts could also be included in the comparison. 

Graduate Studentship and Time Management

Going to a graduate school could bring many challenges to students. The graduate school culture is different from that of undergraduate school in many aspects. The type of work loads, the instructors expectations, the level of difficulties of the courses and projects and etc, could all be some of the main reasons why the graduate school is challenging for many people.

One of the main causes that the grad students face difficulties could be lacking of TM skills. Many graduate students tend to adapt the same management techniques they had used in undergrad level to their current situation, while due to the changes in their new academic environment, they are expected to learn new skills in TM. There usually will be less scheduled classes with more workloads, so the students will be required to manage their time during the semester more independently and wisely.
To be able to successfully manage the time in a graduate level, one needs to have a broad as well as a detailed perspective of what he/she has to do during his/her graduate school life. This will require different levels of planning, i.e. long term planning, mid-term planning and short-term planning. One possible solution is that every graduate student has at least a yearly calender which describes his/her long-term objectives in terms of the results and deliveries, he/she is expected to obtain or submit. Next, a monthly calender could be very beneficial which would describe the amount of works required to be done in each month to fulfill the long-term goals. And finally a short-term calender - which could be anything from a daily calendar to weekly or even bi-weekly schedule-, will be necessary so that one could keep track of his/her daily progress. In this short term schedule, allow some times for interruptions and distractions. This method of planning should yield to a reliable monitoring scheme for short-term, mid-term and long term progress so that the graduate student won't get surprised by unexpected work loads.
In summary, students in graduate school requires to manage their time more appropriately. Several skills and techniques could be used for a more efficient TM. It is always helpful to have a calender reminding the students of their long, mid and short term goals.