academic writing style examples

academic writing style examples

Academic Writing Styles

1. Introduction

There are variations in the extent to which academic writing is practiced, but it is an essential skill for tertiary education students. Some may see it as a daunting set of new standards that must be learned in order to write efficiently. Others may see it as a manageable set of goals and standards that will improve their written communication. The more advanced the level of study, the more complex the assignment, and the greater the effort it must follow the set standards. Always keep in mind that it is not a rigid communication as many think. It is a writing style that can be learned and practiced. With dedication and motivation, it will become easier to grasp, and the benefits of using it will add to a brighter future.

Academic writing has a vast array of resources, methods, and standards that one can follow. It is a detailed and unique writing style that is not commonly used. However, it is an essential skill to learn within tertiary education. Academic writing enables critical thinking, hence improving argument and exploration of ideas. It is also a skill that will continue to be useful if you plan to go into an academic career or any field that involves persuasive or analytical writing. In order to understand the writing style, it is best to begin by defining what academic writing is.

2. Formal Writing Style

Persuasive writing is what states a point of view in an attempt to convince the reader to think or act the same way. High school students are now overloaded with persuasive writing assignments; however, by the time a student has finished university, it is likely that he/she will never write another persuasive assignment again. This is because in the workforce, you will not have to write to convince your boss to give you more money; you will simply ask. This type of assignment can be difficult for native students and is very difficult for an ESL student. It is, however, a very easy task for a student of any type who has a good understanding of the language, is experienced and/or confident, which makes it a very rewarding assignment.

Descriptive style is used to explain an event, person, place, or thing. It gives a lot of detail and is mainly used to help the reader ‘see’ the item in their mind’s eye. Descriptive style is the only type of writing which can be understood as it is the same type of writing as an ESL (English as a Second Language) paper. Due to this, an ESL student can do very well in school in these types of assignments explaining something where a Native student may struggle in a persuasive or expository assignment. ESL students will also use a lot of descriptive writing in their mother tongue. It can be very useful for a student to be a descriptive writer as if they ever get an assignment with a negative word count, they can switch to being a narrative writer.

Formal writing is a style that is clear, concise, and to the point. It is important to be well organized, aiming to inform or persuade the reader. It is usually in the 3rd person and avoids the subjective ‘I’. The use of correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation is also an important element of formal writing. This essay will discuss the four different types of style which are: descriptive, persuasive, expository, and narrative. The essay is split into two parts and in the first part, a comparison of the styles will be made and then the analysis of the formal style. This piece of writing will define the strengths and weaknesses of each type of style and will compare and contrast the four in the second part.

3. Informal Writing Style

An example of informal writing can be a text or communication between friends. A student may write an email to a lecturer and the language used would be informal. Text is another example of informal writing and in this day and age, most students and society on the whole will engage in text throughout daily life. This is why translations of academic documents to media such as text can be beneficial. This will depend on the translation though, as a casual translation may detract from the clarity of the subject as opposed to being ambiguous and daft.

Informal writing is when the writer is writing in a formal way and it is to express other things. Informal writing is used in the humanities. When, in the early twentieth century, scholars adopted the social sciences to include many of the fields of academic inquiry outside of the humanities. And, informal writing is used to put a message across to the reader in a more subtle way. This is sometimes more effective as it can imply that the argument or concept is arguable. And, often in the humanities subject matter is quite ambiguous and the writer has to put across several points and engage the reader in thought. This writing style is quite common but it can be difficult to judge how effective it is. This is a criterion for assessment to be taken into account when Immersion and Interaction are assessed for writing such as Undergraduate Psychology. And informal writing requires little or no knowledge of the topic and this can be beneficial as an informal article or book may be ready by people who do have little knowledge of the subject matter. They may become disillusioned with academic writing that is unclear or ambiguous and a effective informal article can clarify information and encourage the reader to sidebar and read around the topic and further engage with the subject matter.

4. Technical Writing Style

Technical or academic writing is far more direct in its purpose. The purpose of the writing should be evident in the writing itself. The writing may have a precise, technical, or formal tone and use a third person point of view. An example of formal tone is: Argon is used in this experiment to better understand its behavior. A more precise tone can be: It is proposed that high purity, in this case 99.999% pure, argon be utilized as a shielding gas. This type of writing is very typical of materials science and engineering, and, while it is acceptable, it is often looked upon as a bit too difficult to read. The third person (he, she, it, they) is most common and the easiest way to avoid first and second person (I, you, how, etc). Third person is the most preferable way to write. In some technical reports it may be required that the writer does not use the first person. In any case, the writing should have a consistent point of view. Verb tense is another important consideration. Usually in an experiment past tense is used to describe what was done. However, universal facts, constructions, and definitions should be in present tense. This is standard in most technical writing, with the exception of the engineering Common Curriculum, where it is stressed to use the past tense. Sentence structure should be simple and to the point, as complex sentence structure is often confusing and more difficult to read.

5. Conclusion

The world is full of stronger and weaker arguments; stronger and weaker pieces of evidence. While this may be disheartening, an academic writing style offers a way for a careful reader to sift the stronger from the weaker. This ability is a crucial skill in a world of lies, half-truths, and media manipulation. In sum, the importance of an academic writing style lies in its enabling the reader to know, without a doubt, what is and what is not the case. This is a prerequisite to both action and further thought.

The purpose of academic writing is to add to the aggregate of human knowledge. This is a noble purpose. For the brief time a reader is engaged with your writing, you possess the reader’s mind. To use that time for mere entertainment, or to slide some trivial piece of information into the reader’s stream of consciousness, is a minor sin. Far better to use the time to better inform the reader on an important topic, or at least to more deeply ingrain the information in the reader’s mind. Academic writing forces self-reflection before the reader, in that the reader must process a given statement before agreeing or disagreeing with it.