Academic writing is used by researchers, students and professors in various disciplines to form arguments, convey ideas and build scholarly conversations. This style of expression defines the intellectual boundaries of specific areas of a researcher’s discipline.
Academic or scholarly writing is based upon authentic, well proven arguments, logical organization, accurate and specific choice of words, along with an impersonal tone. It provides meaning about complex concepts and ideas in a specialized language for certain professions, like, medicine, law etc.
Broadly, scholarly writing is defined as the any assignment or writing given in an academic setting which can also be used for publications and can be presented at conferences or read by researchers or teachers.
The following list of documents shows where academic or scholarly writing can be used:
• Translations
• Research paper
• Research article
• Books and reports
• Essays
• Academic journal
• Conference paper
• Abstract (summary of a long document)
• Dissertation and thesis
• Explication
Structure of Academic Writing:
An academic manuscript is supposed to have a clear picture and purpose and it is not just a collection of thoughts and ideas about a topic. A focused and coherent argument must be developed. One way to do it is by starting with a relevant thesis statement or research question. Information included must be relevant to the overall purpose.
The three main sections of an academic paper include – introduction, body and conclusion.
1. Introduction:
In this part the reader’s attention is grabbed by identifying the thesis of the paper. This can be achieved be writing several questions, providing some interesting information and facts related to the paper, writing a famous quote and defining the terms used in the paper.
2. Body:
Clear and focused paragraphs are written in the main part of an academic paper. The paragraphs can be arranged in the order of importance or chronologically. Smooth flow of the whole section is ensured and each part in linked with the preceding paragraph. Synonyms are used for the main subject, important words are repeated, and several transitional words like; however, such as, for example, therefore, moreover etc. are used to achieve cohesion.
3. Conclusion:
it is composed of one paragraph which provides the reader with a reemphasis of the thesis and a short summary of all the main findings of the research. The paper should be authoritative and coherent. The readers should be able to thoroughly understand the conclusion.
Types of Academic Writing
Academic writing is categorized in four main types, each of is distinguished by the purpose of research and specific language features. These main types are analytical, persuasive, descriptive, and critical.
More than one type of academic research can be used while writing an academic text. For example, for an empirical thesis:
• The literature review will need critical writing to illuminate the gap in the existing research.
• Descriptive writing will come in handy for the methods section, to concisely explain the methods used in research
• The data collected will be reported descriptively and analytically in the results section.
• The discussion section is persuasive and analytical as the findings are linked back to the research question.
1. Descriptive
It is the simplest type of academic writing with the purpose of providing information or facts. A descriptive assignment usually comes with the keywords like report, identify, define, summarize and record.
An example of descriptive writing could be the report of results of an experiment or a summary of an article.
2. Analytical
On a university level, an academic writing can rarely be only descriptive and hence, it demands to be analytical. The information and facts described and organized into parts, groups and categories are also required to be analytically reorganized.
These categories or groups could be a part of the research area, or they may have to be created specifically to support the writing. In case of contrasting two hypotheses, the comparison can be broken down into a few sections, for instance: how every hypothesis manages language learning, how every hypothesis manages social setting and how, practically speaking, every hypothesis can be utilized.
An analytical writing usually consists of the keywords like compare, analyze, contrast, examine and relate.
Ways to make it more analytical:
• Lots of planning, Conceptualizing the realities and thoughts, and attempting various methods of gathering them, as indicated by designs, parts, similitudes and contrasts. This can be done by using flow charts, tree diagrams, table and color coding.
• Creating a name for the connections and classes found by the researcher. For instance, points of interest and detriments.
• Building each segment and passage around one of the analytical classes.
• Utilizing subject sentences and an unmistakable presentation to make the structure of paper clear to the reader.
3. Persuasive
The next step after analytical writing is the persuasive writing. It includes the salient features of analytical writing i.e. information and categorizing the information, along with researchers own point of view. Discussion and conclusion of a research article often contains the persuasive element. One primary example of persuasive writing is essay writing.
In academic writing the perspectives of the researcher can include recommendation, argument, evaluation of someone else’s work or interpretation of findings. In persuasive writing, point of views expressed must be evidence based and references must be provided to back up any claims made by the writer.
Persuasive writing includes the keywords like evaluate, argue, take a position and discuss.
To achieve your own point of view on the ideas and facts in a persuasive writing:
• Learn someone else’s perspective on the same topic and see which one you feel is the most convincing of all.
• Find out where the evidence in stronger. Identify the patterns in the references and data.
• List out a few interpretations and compare them to conclude which ones have problems and which are optimal.
• Brainstorm ideas and facts with others and learn their point of view as well.
Now, develop your argument by:
• Providing reasons for your point of view.
• Supporting our point of view with the help of evidence gathered from different authentic sources.
• Considering the differences or similarities your point of view might be having with other researchers’ point of view.
• Identifying several ways to reorganize your point of view into different parts.
Finally, to present you argument, make sure:
• The overall point of view is well supported by a smooth and coherent argument put together by all the individual claims.
• The reasoning is understandable by the reader
• All the claims are backed up by evidence
• Directly relevant and convincing evidence is used.
4. Critical
Commonly used for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate writing. It includes all the features of persuasive writing along with one new point of view, at the minimum. While persuasive writing expects you to have your own perspective on an issue or theme, critical writing expects you to consider at any rate two perspectives, including your own.
For instance, you may clarify an analyst’s translation or argument and afterward assess the benefits of the argument or give your own elective understanding.
The assignments based upon critical writing include a literature review identifying the significance of existing research, or a critique of a journal article. The keywords for critical writing include debate, evaluate, disagree and critique.
How to Write Critically?
In order to write critically, you need to:
• Accurately sum up all or part of the work. This could incorporate recognizing the fundamental translations, suppositions or system.
• Have a sentiment about the work. Suitable kinds of opinions could incorporate bringing up certain issues with it, proposing an elective methodology that would be better, or potentially safeguarding the research from the analyses of others.
• Provide proof for your perspective. Contingent upon the particular task and the area of research, various sorts of proof might be fitting, for example, legitimate thinking, reference to definitive sources and additionally research information.
Strong writing skills are required for critical thinking and writing. A clear understanding of the topic and its issues is needed. The paragraph and essay structure developed must be such as that it would help in identifying different interpretations and developing one’s own evidence-based argument
Examples of Academic Writing
Following are some of the most common forms of academic writing:
Research proposal:
It is an outline for the future research project or dissertation and gives an overview of the potential topic.
Literary analysis:
In this essay a literary work is examined and evaluated. It is not just summarization of the literary work, it expects close and thorough reading of multiple writings and focuses on a distinguished theme, motif or a specific characteristic.
Research paper:
A research paper is usually written by using outside information to make an argument that supports the thesis. These are written in almost all disciplines and tend to be analytical, evaluative or critical in nature. The commonly used research sources are primary resources for example, historical records, and secondary resources which can be review articles about the same topic. The ideas from these primary and secondary resources are mixed together with the ideas of the researcher to write up a good research paper.
Dissertation:
The document submitted at the end of a Ph.D. program is called a dissertation or thesis. This document is the summary of the candidate’s research.
Features of Academic Writing
Clearly, academic writing has several distinctive features, but getting to know them requires the knowledge of some standard principles of academic writing. Above all else, it is a definite scholarly writing design, a correct language structure, and a smooth flow of the content written. These are the fundamental things that one must adhere to for this type of writing. Academic writing is all about the appropriate usage of styles, values, choice of words and literary devices.
Along with these characteristics, main features of academic writing are as follows:
Formality
Scholarly composing plans to pass on data in an unbiased manner. The objective is to put together contentions with respect to the proof viable, not the creator’s previously established inclinations. All cases ought to be upheld with pertinent proof, not simply stated.
To maintain a strategic distance from inclination, it’s essential to represent the research of different scientists and results of your own study reasonably and precisely. This implies obviously delineating your strategy and speaking the truth about the restrictions of your examination.
The conventional style utilized in scholarly writing guarantees that examination is introduced reliably across various writings, so studies can be equitably evaluated and contrasted with different research works.
Along these lines, it’s critical to send out the correct vibe with your language decisions. Stay away from casual language, withdrawals, including slang, conversational expressions and clichés.
Complexity
As compared with the normal conversation, the academic writing is more complex and composite. It is grammatically correct, with the usage of more attributive adjectives and subordinate words. It additionally features more linguistic variations. For example, if you want to say
“Education has improved the poor living standard of people”
in academic writing it should be written as
“People used to have poor living standards, but it improved with the advent of literacy”
Precision
The use of Proper and specific figures and dates are is substantial for writing an effective academic paper. Non-specific combinations like ‘several people’ or ‘they said’ is not at all encouraged. These are not considered as the convincing or satisfying expressions. Exact numbers and dates (with evidence) should be provided to support the claims.
Objectivity
Academic writing by and large attempts to abstain from being excessively personal. Data about the author may come in at certain focuses—for instance in the affirmations or in an individual reflection—yet generally the content should concentrate on the examination itself.
Continuously abstain from addressing the reader legitimately with the second-person pronoun “you.” Use the indifferent pronoun “one” or a substitute expressing rather for speculations:
The utilization of the primary individual pronoun “I” used to be comparatively debilitated in scholarly composition, yet it is progressively acknowledged in numerous fields. In case you’re uncertain whether to utilize the first person, focus on studies in your field or ask your educator.
However, At the point when you refer to yourself, it ought to be all things considered. You can situate yourself and depict what you did during the study, however, maintain a strategic distance from subjectively embedding your own contemplations and sentiments.
Speakers in institutes are not explicitly inspired by exactly what students assume; rather, they are intrigued to comprehend what the students have examined, how they could back up their contentions, and how they would conclude their study. So, in the event that you need to write a scholarly paper, don’t consider engaging the reader’s sentiments just as utilization of “I”, “me”, “as I would see it”, etc.
Hedging
It’s critical to utilize clear and exact language to guarantee that your reader knows precisely what you mean. This implies being as explicit as could be expected under the circumstances and staying away from unclear language. For instance, instead of writing “Individuals have been keen on this thing for quite a while”, write “Scientists have been keen on this principal for 10 years”.
Abstain from supporting your cases with words like “maybe,” as this can give the feeling that you are not confident about your claims. Think about your choice of words to ensure it precisely and legitimately delivers your meaning. For instance, instead of writing “This could maybe recommend that…” write “This recommends…”.
Jargon or expert language is normal and regularly a necessity in scholarly writing, which by and large focuses on people of different academics in related fields. Jargon must be utilized to make your composing more succinct and precise, and not to make it more complex. It passes on knowledge more specifically than an equivalent non-expert term and the reader is probably already acquainted with the term. The term is regularly utilized by different researchers in the field.
The most ideal approach to acquaint yourself with the sort of jargon utilized in your field is to study papers by different scholars and focus on their language.
However, hedging is by one way or another a critical element to decipher. In scholarly writing, you need to frame choices about your stance on a particular subject, or the quality of the arguments you are making. Be vigilant not to make strong claims, for example, ‘it demonstrates’ Instead, use phrases like ‘It could show that’.
Tone
The general tone alludes to the disposition passed on in a bit of composing. All through your paper, it is significant that you present the arguments of others reasonably and with a fitting story tone. While introducing a position or argument that you can’t help contradicting, depict this discussion precisely and without stacked or one-sided language. In academic writing, the writer is required to study and evaluate the research problem from a definitive perspective. Therefore, you should express the qualities of your discussion and arguments with confidence, utilizing language that is nonpartisan, not fierce or pretentious.
Accuracy
Being clear in the use of jargon is another basic necessity for each scholarly paper. In customary conversations, words like “money”, “cash”, and “resources” can be utilized. In any case, when you manage a scholastic paper, you should be sure about using these terms appropriately on the grounds that every one of them has its specific sense and setting. Notwithstanding the way that they all seem to show practically the same idea, these terms have their own one of a kind specific highlights and applications.
Since you know the academic writing definition and the distinctive highlights of this sort of composing, you can be more productive when taking care of your scholarly tasks. There are numerous students who struggle when entrusted with research tasks and essay writing, essentially on the grounds that they don’t comprehend the necessities of academic writing and, consequently, what they are expected to deliver. A ton of them are staggered to find their evaluations when they get their papers. The issue is that the vast majority of the scholars don’t comprehend what academic writing is about.
Punctuation
Researchers depend on exact words and language to build up the story tone of their work and, hence, marks of punctuation are utilized purposely. For instance, exclamation marks are infrequently used to communicate an increased tone since it can seem to be unsophisticated or over-energized. Dashes need to be restricted to the inclusion of an informative remark in a sentence, while hyphens ought to be restricted to associating prefixes to words [e.g., multi-disciplinary] or when framing compound expressions [e.g., officer in-chief].
At last, comprehend that semi-colons are used for a pause that is longer than a comma, yet shorter than a period in a sentence. In the case when you are not certain about when to use semi-colons [and more often than not, they are not needed for legitimate punctuation], modify utilizing shorter sentences or reconsider the section.
Diction
Diction alludes to the selection of words you use. knowledge the words you use is significant in light of the fact that words that have nearly a similar signification (dictionary definition) can have totally different implications (implied meanings). This is especially obvious in academic writing since words and phrasing can develop a nuanced understanding that portrays a specific thought, idea, or marvel got from the epistemological culture of that discipline (e.g., the idea of objective decision in political science).
So, utilize solid words (not general) that pass on a particular significance. On the off chance that this is impossible without befuddling the reader, then you have to clarify what you mean with respect to the context oy our writing and how that word or expression is utilized in a field.
Thesis-driven
In academic writing, thesis driven means that the beginning stage is a specific viewpoint, thought, or position applied to the subject selected for research, for example, building up, demonstrating, or negating answers for the research questions modeled for the topic. Note that an academic writing is not considered such unless there is a problem statement with the respective research questions.
It is in light of the fact that just recognizing the research problem doesn’t explain for the reader how you will help in solving the problem, what critical viewpoints you are accepting, or recommend a strategy for collecting information to more readily comprehend the problem.
Evidence-based reasoning
Assignments often require that you express your own perspective about the topic of research. Nonetheless, it is important in academic writing that the evidence-based opinions and ideas are provided. Moreover, a sound comprehension of the relevant assemblage of information and academic discussions that exist inside, and frequently outside to, your area of study. You have to support your sentiment with proof from academic or scholarly sources. The strength of your proof will decide the quality of your discussion or argument.