Academic and transactional both deal with facts.
They both deal with information. These are facts that, when conveyed, need to be conveyed in a clear and concise manner that should be understood by its audience. Some experts in the field consider transactional writing as part of academic writing—that it is just a shorter, more concise. Others think of academic writing as part of transactional writing—that it just one of the many ways to convey the idea (Phenix, 52).
In fact, when studied closely, they are actually the same way of writing in most aspects except a few.Both writing styles are used to record, to report, to instruct, to explain, and to persuade. Both styles must be well-organized and exhaust the different writing tools (paragraphs, flow charts, lists, graphs) when necessary. Both are writing styles meant to inform and persuade.
The differences between the two lie in how the persuasion is done. Academic writing is a complete, or at the very least, expounded narration of how the careful exploration of a certain topic or task at hand was done and at the end, concludes whether the thesis statement or purpose holds water. This style of writing is evident in medical and other scientific journals, company reports, and lawyers’ pleadings. Transactional writing, on the other hand, while having the same goal, goes about it directly without bothering to actually narrate through the whole process since its point is just to get the important ideas across.
This style of writing is evident in business letters, advertisements, office memos, instructions, recipes, newsletters, and itineraries. Usually, academic writing strives for formality (Gillett, 2009) while transactional writing strives for brevity. In academic writing a statement would be: “Jonas Salk must have spent a great deal of his time and effort on research in order to find a cure for polio. He was greatly rewarded when in 1955 he was hailed as a miracle worker.
” In transactional writing this would be: “Jonas Salk must have put a lot of time and effort researching a cure for polio since in 1955 he was hailed as a miracle worker.” Both sentences convey the same information. The latter is just less formal, more brief, and succinct.REFERENCESAndy Gillett.
“Academic Writing”. Using English for Academic Purposes: A Guide for Students in Higher Education. 2009. Accessed on May 16, 2009.
http//:www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm Jo Phoenix.
The Writing Teacher’s Handbook. Ontario, Canada: Pembroke Publishers Limited, 2002, page 52.
