On both visits to the bookstore, I approached the style manuals with a checklist of features, which (on the basis of
my own academic experience) I expected to find mentioned. This was obviously a very crude tool and did not do
justice to the nuances found particularly in more recent volumes and in those aimed at more advanced students. It did,
however, confirm my hypothesis that English Academic Discourse is a clearly defined entity distinguished by a series
of identifiable characteristics, and that there is a broad consensus as to its general principles, methods of textual
construction, and the kinds of grammatical and lexical features to be used.