our characteristics of academic writing

our characteristics of academic writing

Exploring the Characteristics of Academic Writing

1. Introduction to Academic Writing

Academic writing can be divided into many different forms of writing. In certain cases, it is the content itself that gives rise to the prose, and it is also the case that the structure and expression of the prose take their cue from the writing task. On other occasions, it is the interpretation of the structure and other rules governing the writing of the forms of the language that defines the content. In all cases, though, it is the observed characteristics of academic writing that provide a teaching and learning setting serving definite skills. The content and formalist approaches to writing may be taught either sequentially or separately. The skills required for the two approaches are by no means directly oppositional, but to manage a text, you have to be both sympathetic and clever in the way you apply your interpretation of the received wisdom of the formal rules.

2. Key Characteristics of Academic Writing

This section discusses some of the key characteristics of academic writing, particularly the key difference between academic writing and other types of writing. Understanding these characteristics will help you to develop a foundation for your writing and to build further language and discourse skills. Academic writing is a specific kind of writing and one of the main characteristics of academic writing is the intellectual freedom it allows. Its main purpose is to persuade and influence a readership. Academic writing is conducted in several sets of forms and conventions, and also has several purposes.

Academic writing should be arranged in a linear, inside-out fashion. Your argument, structure and voice should be consistent and focused from start to end. Your tone should also be consistent. Your starting point should be indirect, abstract, and brief, while your body should work carefully through the main issue and present a clear argument supported by rich and detailed evidence. These should then be summed up clearly and properly in your conclusion. Each sentence, paragraph, and section should add value to your argument, rather than being tangential hugely extended descriptions of your research. Such information should appear in attached appendices when it cannot be omitted. A long-winded complex explanation is also pieced out in such a way that no individual part of it is very long.

3. Importance of Clarity and Precision in Academic Writing

A piece of writing is a communication and should be clear to the general reader, however sophisticated the topic. Writing in a distinctive way – the academic way – does not mean using fewer words, longer words, or harder words. It certainly does not mean using complicated grammar or syntax, as if it were possible to bamboozle the reader into believing that there is more sense in the writing than there actually is. Saying what you mean, selecting the right information to support a clear and recognizable thesis, indeed concentrating on the main things, makes academic writing accessible.

What it does require is an understanding of just how a good piece of academic writing should be both written and read. It requires sinking sound roots into the disciplines of both knowledge and communication, and understanding the relationships between writing, thinking, and speaking. Writing clearly and precisely is an essential academic skill which looks different in different disciplines and profiles. The way you have to write to be an effective Human Resources Professional is adapted to a recognizable and important set of concerns; similarly, a playwright, jeweler, or lawyer needs a distinct set of skills when writing for their own specialized contexts. But, the requirement to be clear and precise in writing is common to all.

4. Citing Sources and Academic Integrity

In academic communities, demands are made about what constitutes knowledge and how ideas are communicated. One demand is that writers not only know these ideas but also understand their place in conversations other scholars are having. Credibility is developed through the process of citing other scholars. If the reader does not identify the sources from which information has been obtained, the text is rendered as mere opinion. If readers do not recognize or trust the sources cited, they are less likely to be persuaded by the argument. If the writer does not accurately and fairly represent the source material, readers lack concrete reasons to place their trust in the writer. When plagiarism is discovered, damages inflicted on a writer’s credibility are severe and long-lasting.

Citing, quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing the work of others is basic to any composition. All of these forms of borrowing require accurate citations to source material and demonstration of authorship from the cited writer. The traditional notion of “self” is largely irrelevant in composition, and thus demands made by selfhood conflict with the notion of a writer as a member of an academic community.

5. Conclusion and Future Trends in Academic Writing

As a concluding remark, the purpose of academic writing is to communicate findings to a given academic audience. Even though it is not always clear what this audience will be, it is important to know to what extent some slight deviations regarding the written academic genre will be tolerated or not. Academic writing should thus reflect such an understanding and be aligned with the conventions of a given academic discipline. This chapter has explored what academic writing conventions are and in which ways they may be challenging for the less experienced writer. It has also briefly suggested general and specific principles to guide academic writing. All require vigilance in planning, drafting, revising, finally editing. Mechanisms and specific strategies to meet the demands of academic writing conventions are also offered to help writers better reflect knowledge claims, and avoid common mistakes that undermine them. This chapter also considered the barriers that may confront English as a Second Language writers associated with their linguistic and cultural contexts. Most of these considerations hold true for monolingual writers as well.

In the future, academic writing will be largely conditioned by the institutional environment in which it is situated. New forms of education will increasingly enhance academic mobility and demand new types of academic communication. Probably, more common English usage will lead to stable forms of writing, and it will greatly help to make international writing practices more homogenous. The Internet will increasingly offer mechanisms for rapid interaction among academics and facilitate academic publishing in blogs, wikis and other interactive platforms. Lifelong training strategies will demand differently planned academic programs, aiming at minimizing periods when one can’t access formal training in its traditional and established forms. It is then expected that academic writing will evolve to adapt to similar changes. However, whatever the future of academic writing may bring, the purposes and the characteristics of the academic writing genre will continue to shape its form and function.