TOCI was brought to life by a talented group of student developers,
passionate about learning and innovation:
Peilin Chen
Gaeun “Emily” Suh
Olivia Munoz
Nadine Akimana
Michael Sun
Rawisara “Mimi” Lohanimit
Learn More about the British Academic Written English Corpus (BAWE) and the
Linguistics Annotations
BAWE
The British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus was developed by Drs.
Hilary Nesi, Sheena Gardner, Paul Thompson, and Paul Wickens from 2004-2008.
The corpus contains texts written by college students from the Universities
of Warwick, Reading, and Oxford Brookes. The texts survey a wide variety of
disciplines and genres. All texts received passing grades in their courses.
The texts available via TOCI are taken from BAWE with permission.
BAWE-MIDI
BAWE-MIDI is a version of the BAWE corpus that has been abridged and
annotated by the UAM Corpus Tool by Dr. Mick O’Donnell. The texts and
annotations available via TOCI are taken from BAWE-MIDI with permission.
Genre and Genre Families
A genre is a structured text type that accomplishes a goal. Genres that are
similar to each other can be grouped into genre families. Genre family
members share goals and structures. The following are descriptions of the
genre families displayed on the TOCI website.
Essay
The goal of an Essay is for students to demonstrate and develop the ability
to construct a coherent argument and employ critical thinking skills.
An Essay typically includes the following sections:
Introduction
Series of arguments
Conclusion
Examples of Essays include:
Exposition
Commentary
Cause-effect
Discussion
Counterargument
Critique
The goal of a Critique is for students to demonstrate and develop an
understanding of the object of study and their ability to evaluate and/or
assess the significance of the object of study.
A Critique typically includes the following sections:
Descriptive account
Explanation (optional)
Evaluation
Tests (Optional)
Examples of Critiques include:
Academic paper review
Approach evaluation
Business/organization evaluation
Financial report evaluation
Interpretation of results
Legislation evaluation
Legal case report
Policy evaluation
Product/building evaluation
Program evaluation
Project evaluation
Review of a book/film/play/website/podcast
System evaluation
Teaching evaluation
Narrative Recount
The goal of a Narrative Recount is for students to demonstrate and develop
an awareness of motives and/or behavior in individuals (including self) or
organizations.
A Narrative Recount typically includes the following sections:
Fictional or factual recount of events
Comments (optional)
Examples of Narrative-Recounts include:
Accident report
Account of literature search
Account of website search
Biography
Character outline
Short story plot synopsis
Reflective recount
Report on disease outbreak
Urban ethnography
Research Report
The goal of a Research Report is for students to demonstrate and develop the
ability to undertake a complete piece of research, including research
design, and an appreciation of its significance in the field.
A Research Report typically includes the following sections:
Student’s research aim / question,
Investigation and relevance to other research in the field.
Examples of Research Reports include:
Research article
Student research project
Topic-based dissertation
Exercise
The goal of an Exercise is for students to provide practice in key skills
(e.g., the ability to interrogate a database, perform complex calculations,
or explain technical terms or procedures), and to consolidate knowledge of
key concepts.
An Exercise typically includes the following sections:
Data analysis stage
Series of responses to questions
Examples of Exercises include:
Calculations
Data analysis
Mixed (e.g., calculations and short answers)
Short answers
Statistics exercise
Methodology Recount
The goal of a Methodology-Recount is for students to demonstrate and develop
familiarity with disciplinary procedures, methods and conventions for
recording experimental findings.
A Methodology-Recount typically includes the following sections:
Procedures undertaken by writer
Introduction (optional)
Methods (optional)
Results (optional)
Discussion (optional)
Explanation
The goal of an Explanation is for students to demonstrate/develop
understanding of the object of study and the ability to describe and/or
account for its significance.
An Explanation typically includes the following sections:
Descriptive account
Explanation
Examples of Explanations include:
Business explanation
Concept/job/legislation overview
Instrument description
Methodology explanation
Organism/disease account
Site/environment report
Species/breed description
Account of natural phenomenon
System/process explanation
Case Study
The goal of a Case Study is for students to demonstrate / develop an
understanding of professional practice through the analysis of a single
exemplar.
A Case Study typically includes the following sections:
Description of a particular case, often multifaceted
Recommendations for future action
Examples of Case Studies include:
Business start-up
Company report
Organization analysis
Patient report
Single issue
Design Specification
The goal of a Design-Specification is for students to demonstrate and
develop the ability to design a product or procedure that could be
manufactured or implemented. The social purpose of an Design-Specification
text is to demonstrate / develop the ability to design a product or
procedure that could be manufactured or implemented. A Design-Specification
typically includes purpose, design development and testing of design. A
Design-Specification may correspond to a professional design specifi cation
or to part of a Proposal or Research Report. Example genres of the
Design-Specification family include: application design, building design,
database design, game design, label design, product design, system design,
and website design.
A Design-Specification typically includes the following sections:
Purpose
Design development
Testing of design
Examples of Design Specifications include:
Application design
Building design
Database design
Game Design
Label design
Product design
System design
Website design
Proposal
The goal of a Proposal is for students to demonstrate and develop the
ability to make a case for future action.
A Proposal typically includes the following sections:
Purpose
Detailed plan
Persuasive argumentation
Examples of Proposals include:
Book proposal
Building proposal
Business plan
Catering plan
Legislation reform
Marketing plan
Policy proposal
Procedural plan
Research proposal
Empathy Writing
The goal of an Empathy Writing text is for students to demonstrate and
develop understanding and appreciation of the relevance of academic ideas by
translating them into a non-academic register so as to communicate them to a
non-specialist readership.
An Empathy-Writing text may be formatted as a letter, newspaper article or
similar non-academic genre.
Examples of Empathy Writing include:
Expert information for journalists
Expert advice to industry
Expert advice to layperson
Information leaflet
Job application letter (e.g., reflective letter to a friend, business
correspondence)
Newspaper article
Problem Question
The goal of a Problem Question text is to provide practice to students in
applying specific methods in response to professional problems.
A Problem-Question typically includes the following sections:
Problem scenario (may not be stated in assignment)
Application of relevant arguments
Development of possible solution(s)
Examples of Problem Questions include:
Business scenario
Law problem
Logistics simulation question
Literature Survey
The goal of a Literature-Survey is for students to demonstrate and develop
familiarity with literature relevant to the focus of study.
A Literature Survey typically includes the following sections:
Summary of literature relevant to the focus of study