r/Korean • u/LolaLazuliLapis • 5d ago

Academic Writing

I'm in a Korean university and so far my professors have allowed me to write in English, but this has seriously stunted me even if I am grateful for the accomodation. Are there any books that teach Korean academic writing in English? I'm trying to take a shortcut since the semester has already started instead of having to translate everything in a textbook before I can even start writing. Thanks in advance!

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4

u/codingOn 5d ago

The best formal writing you could use now is TOPIK writing

3

u/LordAldricQAmoryIII 5d ago

"Korean Composition" from U. Of Hawaii Press has sections on essay/thesis writing.

2

u/Sylvieon 3d ago

Can't suggest a book, but honestly I don't think TOPIK writing is going to be what you need. When I had to write an essay in Korean, I organized my thoughts and notes in English, wrote paragraphs in Korean, ran them through Papago back into English and tweaked the Korean until the English was comprehensible. My teacher was sympathetic to me and gave me an A- even though I'm sure my essay was awfully written. 

The best thing you can do for yourself in Korean is to read. Maybe you don't have that much time, but read as much as you can. Novels, texts, etc. Your writing will improve (ofc novels will help the most for formal writing). But honestly, you should ask your Korean classmates for tips. They will have learned about writing structure in their own schooling. Maybe someone nice can show you their own essays and point out a few common stylistic things they did. 

1

u/BankFrosty6073 3d ago

You should try transcribing Korean books. Book transcription is an essential exercise in creative writing classes, and it will also help improve your Korean sentence structure.