Lisa Haslinger English for Academic Purposes

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Article – Bad Example

It has proven to be fairly difficult to find a bad example for a Journal article, mostly due to the

fact that the average academic article published in, respectively, a journal goes through a

process of editing. Another problem was to determine what criteria constitutes a bad article.

Nevertheless, I have determined that to me, a bad Journal articles crucial feature is reader-

unfriendliness. The article I have therefore chosen will be discussed bearing mostly this

criterion in mind.

The text is distinguished by a very high density and rather field specific vocabulary. This might

not be a problem for a reader with a certain familiarity with the field of usage-based grammar.

However, the article was handed to students as an introductory read to provide them an

impression of the field. For this purpose, I found the text rather unsuited. Many readers have

expressed great dissatisfaction with not only the structure, but also the main lines of

argumentation. The reading is highly information packed and it can be rather difficult for the

reader to distinguish between more and less important information, which can be a problem

when students are faced with this as an introductory read.

I would not argue that this text is overall a bad journal article, however, I think it could have

been used more appropriately. It was insufficient for the purpose it would have been

supposed to serve. It has proven to be rather difficult to find a Journal article that is overall

bad, as such texts go through a long academic process.

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