academic writing

academic writing

The Importance of Academic Writing

1. Introduction

Academic writing is a skill that can be an asset to you in the future if you do not already possess it. It will definitely benefit you in your collegiate career. It is a proven aid to success.

Writing, as you likely know, is a huge part of a college education. Any major. In most cases, writing is used as a means of communication. Whether you are communicating with a peer, your professors, or an employer, it is usually done in a written form. Your writing also represents you. It can affect the way others perceive your intelligence, your work ethic, and your attention to detail. These are all things that can benefit or hinder you in the real world.

Academic writing is an art of communicating ideas and concepts in a readable, appealing manner. In most cases, academic writing is quite different in purpose and audience when compared to fiction writing or any other popular form of writing. The primary purpose of academic writing is to inform the reader. It is meant to be used for a clear understanding of concepts through a logical and unambiguous depiction of information.

2. The Purpose of Academic Writing

The primary purpose of academic writing is to demonstrate the knowledge of a particular subject, which is done by providing evidence with references to other scholars and valid arguments. Similarly, how to write an academic assignment or an academic assignment is another question. Writing an academic paper is not so easy, which is why students may seek help in doing an academic paper from any academic paper provider. Writing academic papers can help a student in multiple facets. These include a student’s note-taking skills, critical reading and thinking abilities, understanding and explaining specific thoughts and ideas, development of argument construction, organizing those arguments with clarity and coherence, and widening the knowledge on a specific topic. This is the same knowledge on how to write an academic assignment. An academic assignment is a reflection of knowledge attained by a student, therefore one can ponder how to write an academic assignment on an effective note. Using reliable evidence and properly structured arguments while academic writing can lead to the achievement of good grades and a promising career. With a lot of practice and focus, a student can attain expertise in academic writing.

Academic writing is a task of students, by which they have to show what knowledge they have gained in a particular subject. Students are required to write an academic paper on a particular topic and present a logical and articulate academic assignment, which reflects their deep understanding in a subject. An academic paper is a paper written by students, scholars, and teachers, which is either published in academic journals or is a research assignment given in an academic institution. Academic writing is not for everyone. This is a very special kind of writing, which is why it may be very challenging for some.

3. Key Elements of Academic Writing

Furthermore, the attribute of the writing should be taken into account. This means the writing should be done in a way that reaches a wide audience. This is reflected by using appropriate language. The use of technical terms and verbosity must be balanced with the reader’s understanding. Intermediate writing is the most suitable, and it is best to avoid writing in the first person. An additional useful method for engaging the reader is to use statements that directly agree or disagree with the reader’s own perspective on the issues at hand.

Other features of academic writing that are important are the presence of evidence. The purpose is to persuade the reader to believe something. The writing often incorporates documentation from other sources, which many times is supported by evidence from the source. It is crucial that the evidence provided is relevant to the topic. Sufficient evidence provides the reader with an underlying understanding of the necessity of the writer’s opinion. This is conducted by defining and proving the thesis statement: to define the problem and the plan for resolution of the problem, while proving the thesis through extensive evidence.

The key elements of academic writing, which entail accuracy, formality, and objectivity, remain as a sole critical aspect of academic writing. Having an understanding of these elements is essential because the writer is able to convey his or her message through the employment of this writing style. In other words, the writing must be well-planned and based on extensive research, and it must be structured logically with appropriate organization. A clear writing style and word choice can also help to convey the writer’s message.

4. Common Challenges in Academic Writing

While the difficulty with expressing thoughts clearly is common to many writers, it can be magnified for those writing in a second language. Other writer’s block might occur due to a mismatch between what they want to produce and their self-perceived ability to write it, due to fear of failure or the fear of being criticized. The writer might focus too much on the idea and not be able to translate it into a paper, or they may be too verbose. When a thesis idea isn’t fully formed, a person may have difficulty developing a thesis statement, which is crucial to the analysis and organization of an essay, research paper, or article. There is a fine line for some writers between being very precise and too general. An essay is meant to explore a topic in detail. The inability to further specify an idea or explanation is a common problem. This is also tied in with being too brief. Rushed writing rarely has the depth of polished writing. Another issue facing those writing academic papers is that of documentation. Each discipline uses its own specific style, so there are a myriad of different ways to cite a source. Custom also varies between industries. For example, a writer who has to write a sociology paper might use a significantly different style than he would an article for a medical journal. All of these factors serve to confuse the often nebulous rules of proper documentation. Because documentation serves as the proof and credit of the writer’s research, it is of utmost importance. Failure to properly cite a source can allow the appearance of plagiarism. This brings us to an offshoot of documentation, that of avoiding the use of others’ work without giving them credit, i.e. plagiarism. This is a very serious issue in academia and professional writing, and it can have severe implications. Due to lack of confidence in their ability to properly document sources and understand what constitutes plagiarism, many find themselves in the latter’s trap. In addition to this more technical side of documentation, a common problem with writers is the lack of inclusion of interesting, relevant sources due to a failure to find them or determine their value while researching. This can lead to a paper with insufficient backing evidence, or anecdotal evidence.

5. Conclusion

While studying biology with tertiary intention, when you write a reflective paper or report on a practical to explore the validity of a scientific concept, the lecturer wants evidence of a thorough understanding of the topic and of its implications. This type of writing requires an extensive investigation of an idea. This is taken from direct quotations, references and all out information of the concept, and it then explains where you use the information that you have garnered and relate that to the practical from which the concept was derived. This type of reflection or report sets the foundation for an assignment, and if you write with a clearer understanding the concept will be easier to relate to the marker, hence gaining you a higher grade. According to Gregory et al, “Clearly communicated scientific knowledge is fundamental to good science learning and instruction” so why not write academically to get the best possible grade on the assignment and further your own knowledge of the topic.

Academic writing is entirely different from that done in high school and has more of an emphasis on exploration rather than stating an obvious point of view. As Green states in Douglas Allchin’s “Composing the Scholarly Paper,” “Scholarly prose is exact, clear, and argumentative, adding to the stock of knowledge about given subjects more than a mere opinion and speculation.” The main point that is emphasized here is that academic writing is about developing an idea and adding to the knowledge on that subject.

There has been much discussion about the spaces between paragraphs and whether to insert a single or double space after the period at the end of a sentence. What this shows is that the rules of writing are not concrete and one can often debate what the correct way to do something is. At some point in time we will be required to write an academic type of document, whether it is a research paper, report, reflective paper, etc. While the writing requirements for these types of papers may vary, there are some universal truths to writing academically, which will help us to complete a successful assignment.