The definition of Academic writing is in many different forms, it follows the characteristics, examples, explanation and a list of published works where this writing is used. It is generally a fulfillment of what is required for a college or university. Strategies for initial preparation are brainstorming; outlining and organizing ideas; research (get the information that is needed); compile a first draft; revise and cite your source; proofread (check for spelling and grammar errors) and support your evidence. (successful academic writing, 2019).
The purpose of academic writing is to report on a piece of research the writer has conducted, to answer a question that has been given or chosen, to discuss a subject to express the writers view and to synthesize research done by others (Bailey, 2018).
Academic writing is used for publications or presented at conferences. Below is a list of works where academic writing is used. Academic writing is an essential tool for the lay-out of the proposed assignment it involves many factors like planning, outline, tone, language, and a points of view approach. Academic writing can be found in the following: Translations, Research paper or article, Conference paper, Academic journal, Dissertation and Thesis. These are written in order to obtain an advanced degree at a college or university.
Much planning and forethought are required to have an interesting and well-organized paper. Researching and reading are crucial during the pre-writing phase for your topic and for the relevant sources (Lnu.se, 2019).
The structure of the writing is an important feature of academic writing. A well-structured text enables the reader to follow the argument and navigate the text. Most academic writings follow established structures. In academic writing a clear structure and a logical flow are imperative to a cohesive text. Longer texts can be further divided into sub-sections. (Hughes, Wainwright and Ward, 2011).
Writing is often described as a linear process, moving from the first stage to the last stage in an orderly fashion. However, the writing process often requires moving back and forth between steps and is often more complex than the model represents. (Writology.com(2019).
If a student is working on a large project, it would be more advisable to break the work down into smaller more manageable parts. This has the advantage of being able to make changes in sections that the student thought was finished therefore the content is not affected by what is written in other sections (Your Dictionary, 2019).
The Introduction and the conclusion should be shorter than the body of the text which should contain questions, references from some journals or books pertaining to the subject and some interesting facts and information on the subject. (MyEnglishTeacher.eu Blog, 201).
The main body of the paper is where much of the work is focused. It is where a student provides their argument, presents the evidence or describes the research and findings. It is the place to expand on all the topics mentioned. For the introduction and bring together all the information they have gathered from other sources during the research and can develop the argument in a logical structure. The structure is a flow of connected ideas where the student will be expected to show how they have evaluated and understood the information which they have researched (Ventola and Mauranen, 1996).
Effective writing assumes an abundant use of dates, titles, names and figures. Vague word combinations like ‘a lot of people” or “I said, she said” are not considered good academic writing expressions. Everyday talk compared with academic writing will become apparent that academic writing is much more complex (Writology.com, 2019).
Objectivity may well be the hardest requirement of academic writing for a student as they tend to focus on what they believe and feel when writing an assignment. The main emphasis should be on the presented information and/or arguments rather than what the student thinks about the issue. (Waylink-english.co.uk, 2019).
Organizing the information on the paper is vital to creating a well-written informative document. By taking the time to make sure the paper is organized and conducting researches and compiling background information and materials results in a discussion and conclusion (Anon, (2019).
Critical thinking the ability to evaluate the ideas and statements is the measure to all successful academic work decision making, problem-solving in real world applications and it is a component that employers are keen to see in new graduates. (Schrager and Smith, 2016).
The writer must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor, but the work must not be used for commercial purposes. Academic writing ideally would contain these key factors planning, active reading, development of argument, being critical, different disciplines, voice, direct quotation, structure and sequence. When reading and gathering information in an academic context, evidence comes from two sources, primary and published journals, although for much undergraduate writing it is acceptable to use published sources only. Primary evidence is the raw material such as questionnaires, interviews, focus groups or experiments that are used by a researcher to gather information to answer a specific research question; they provide proof or insight regarding the topic or question (succesful academic writing, 2019).
The link between academic writing, literacy and thinking skills with a student and the development of these skills will become very apparent professionally. The complexity of this or the need to decide or solve a problem, analysis etc. all start from the ability to research, write and then it becomes more credible (Anon, 2019).
In academic writing, there are certain words and phrases that are used consistently. If a student can become familiar with these words and phrases, their academic writing will certainly improve faster and their comprehension of academic texts will increase. By providing evidence of research, readers can trust what you write is concrete, accurate to the best of your knowledge, and reliable (MyEnglishTeacher.eu Blog, 2019).
“The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” – Mark Twain, The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain (1998).
Someone who works hard and is well organized but spends all their time on unimportant tasks may be efficient but not effective. To be effective in academic writing you need to decide what tasks are important and focus on these, starting with the most urgent this is called prioritization (Ventola and Mauranen, 1996).
Create smart goals a student should not say ‘I’m going to write 12,000 words today’ (which is unrealistic), he/she should say ‘I’m going to write 1,000 words of my essay today’ (which is a more realistic goal). Timely – you need to ensure you know the timeline of when all the smaller components of the activity need to be completed by so that you can finish them ready for the deadline. Referencing is an essential part of academic writing. There are numerous reasons why referencing the material which you have found and go onto use in your assignments is vital. These can be summarized as to acknowledge an intellectual debt to another author / to avoid plagiarism and to give supporting evidence to specific facts or claims you make in the text and to enable a reader to find the sources that have been quoted. (Birmingham.ac.uk, 2019).
Academic work depends on the research and ideas of others, so it is vital to show which sources a student used in their work in an acceptable manner. The main reasons for this are to show that reading some of the authorities on the subject which will give weight to your writing, to allow readers find the source should they wish to examine the subject in more detail and lastly to avoid plagiarism. It is important to refer correctly to the work of others that was used in each case a student can present these sources as a paraphrase or as a quotation, citation should be included to provide a link to the list of references at the end of a student’s paper (Bailey, 2018)
The conclusion to an academic paper always summarizes the main points given in the essay and draws together the ideas to explain how they connect and relate and shows how you have answered the question. It may even suggest some further research or pose a further question. (Waylink-english.co.uk, 2019).
References
- Bailey, S. (2018). Academic Writing. New York.
- Holycross.edu. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.holycross.edu/sites/default/files/files/english/bizzell/intermediate_aw_s_19_1.pdf [Accessed 6 Oct. 2019].
- Hughes, N., Wainwright, S. and Ward, N. (2011). Developing the Writing Skills of Social Work Students: Connecting Academic and Professional Expertise. Journal of Academic Writing, 1(1), pp.54-60.
- Lnu.se. (2019). Features of Academic Language. [online] Available at: https://lnu.se/en/library/Writing-and-referencing/academic-language/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].
- MyEnglishTeacher.eu Blog. (2019). Essential Academic Writing Examples and Phrases! [online] Available at: https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/academic-writing-examples-and-phrase/[Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].
- Schrager, S. and Smith, M. (2016). Writing skills in academic medicine. MedEdPublish, 5(2).
- Successful Academic Writing. (2019).
- Twain, M. (n.d.). The wit & wisdom of Mark Twain.
- Ventola, E. and Mauranen, A. (1996). Academic writing. Amsterdam [Netherlands]: John Benjamins Pub.
- Waylink-english.co.uk. (2019). Making links between paragraphs in academic writing. [online] Available at: https://waylink-english.co.uk/academic-writing/linking-paragraphs [Accessed 2 Oct. 2019].
- Writology.com. (2019). Features of Academic Writing. [online] Available at: https://writology.com/blog/academic-writing-purpose-features-and-rules.html [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].
- Your Dictionary. (2019). Definition of Academic Writing. [online] Available at: https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/word-definitions/definition-of-academic-writing.html [Accessed 9 Oct. 2019].
- WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING? – NUI GALWAY (Nuigalway.ie, 2019) Nuigalway.ie. (2019). What is Critical Thinking? – NUI Galway. [online] Available at: https://www.nuigalway.ie/academic-skills/criticalthinking/whatiscriticalthinking/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2019].
