characteristics of academic writing

characteristics of academic writing

Importance of Academic Writing

1. Introduction to Academic Writing

The importance of academic writing to a student cannot be downplayed at any cost. To begin with, the confidence and capability to write an academic essay is a significant factor for success at university. This is applicable to the students’ future career both in the university environment and in the job market. Due to the lack of most students not having a clear writing competency, there is a clear skill gap, giving students who are able to write an advantage in obtaining marks and hence degree classification in comparison to those that write below standard. It is clear that employers are not satisfied with the education system, as they are finding graduates lacking in many areas including written communication.

Academic writing is an essential part of the learning and teaching process. It’s a formal method used to communicate with university teachers and other professionals. A student’s successful completion of a written work or assignment relies on a good understanding of the topic and the ability to investigate or analyze information. Basically, putting into words what you have learned about a topic and proving your understanding through a variety of assignments. This form of writing is focused mainly around developing an answer to a particular question or subject and is geared towards being directly or indirectly linked to the coursework the student is undertaking. It is a rational, logical, personal writing reflecting the work undertaken by the student with guidance from the teaching staff. It should provide a means of assessment and demonstrate a clear understanding through having a topic driven with content. This coursework usually takes the form of an extended essay, a report, or a research paper. It should be self-contained work and may be several, so no examination is required.

2. Key Characteristics of Academic Writing

An essential part of an essay is its conclusion. This is the final point where the writer has to prove the thesis right, with an explanation of how he/she was able to build the argument. This is often shown to tie loose ends, with the final steps being to exhibit that the idea has been proven and the issue is resolved. A good conclusion is similar to the introductory core, with reiteration of the idea in context, ensuring that the reader takes on the message from the writing. This sets the course for future learning, and in the case of a researcher, the resolution forms the hypothesis and the need for further research.

Academic writing has a thesis, and evidence is built around this. The research is documented in a style that provides an objective way of presenting an idea or view, which is to be proven with an underlying assumption of being a reliable source. This can be shown through the referencing of other papers or published material, with the linkage to the idea relying on a sound understanding of the topic. This evidence is an extension of inquiring for facts, information, which is undertaken in a detailed manner to prove a certain view by collecting information that is either quantitative or qualitative.

Academic writing is structured around central ideas related to a topic. The development of a literature review, theoretical framework, data collection, and data analysis is typical.

3. Benefits of Developing Academic Writing Skills

In an increasingly competitive global environment, colleges and universities need to demonstrate the value of their programs to students and their families. Potential stakeholders—students, parents, taxpayers, donors, and elected officials—want assurance that higher education institutions are preparing students to succeed in the workplace and in society. This includes being able to communicate effectively, critically think and solve problems, work independently, and as part of a team. These are valuable skills that both employers and graduate schools are looking for. The ability to write clearly, coherently and effectively is a key skill that many employers and fields highly value. Many institutions are seeking ways to make overt and embedded connections between general education programs and the preparation of future professionals. Explicitly designing courses and curricula to develop these and other broad skills can help students understand the role of their studies in their preparation for the future, increasing student motivation and engagement. Learning and practicing the conventions of your field of study also prepares students for future work within their chosen field. Academic writing will enable students in articulating the connections between what they have learned in their courses, the field of study, and even the world at large. It will allow students to publish work, join the scholarly conversation, and prepare professional documents that will have an impact on their community and workplace. Learning to conduct and write about their own research or creative endeavors may also provide students with an increased sense of intellectual ownership and comprehensive educational experience. An overarching goal for many institutions is to produce students who are agents of positive change in their local, regional, and global communities. By effectively developing and assessing academic writing skills, we can better position students to meet this goal and demonstrate that our programs provide lasting value.

4. Strategies for Improving Academic Writing

Learning is much more effective if it is an active process, rather than a passive one. If you’re reading this section and thinking that self-assessment sounds like a good idea, but you are not actually doing it, then you are wasting your time and ours. But let’s assume that you have decided it is a good idea and want to give it a try. It’s worth setting aside 20 minutes to have a go at assessing a piece of your work. If you’ve never tried anything like this before, it would probably be helpful to show your checklist to a friend and get them to give an opinion of how well you provide answers.

Self-assessment can be done in the form of checklists. Use your previous experiences of writing assignments and take note of comments made on previous submissions. This will help you construct a checklist of things to look out for while writing, e.g. “Have I included my own analysis?” “Have I demonstrated a clear link between cause and effect?”

Before setting out for the long and complicated journey of writing an assignment, it is essential that you make rough notes or construct rough ideas about what you may include. These will often develop through discussion and/or reading, and it is only at the stage of attempting to write this down that you are forced to clarify and simplify your argument. During this process, it is often helpful to generate a series of questions at the top of your work to remind you what you are trying to achieve, e.g. “Does this paragraph answer the question?” “Have I used evidence here?” etc.

3. Self-assessment

There are a variety of ways to improve your academic writing. Would you be able to put up a shelf without learning about tools and going through instructions? We expect not. But, we would no longer attempt to write an academic essay without being clear about methodology and evidence. The following strategies will help you examine your evidence and develop your ideas.

2. Overview

5. Conclusion

So it will be better to take the specialist’s help in academic writing for creating a good introduction or conclusion. A conclusion, on the other hand, is also very important in academic writing. It is a very systematic way to explain how the aim discussed in the introduction part was achieved and also makes a student self-assess the whole work. So a conclusion could also be called a self-assessment tool. According to the specialists, the conclusion should have a clear answer to the assignment question, evidence to support the answer, a reflective analysis, synthesis with the success and failure, and expectations for the future. It also provides closure to the assignment.

Introduction and a conclusion, both being two very important parts, are meant to summarize the whole assignment. An introduction is an initial pitch of an idea; it sets the scene and puts the assignment in context. In an introduction, a student outlines or maps the approach he/she intended to take in the assignment. This also makes it easier for the marker to understand what the student is intending to do and then decide the marks according to the approach.

Academic paper writing is a must for any student. Be it a school assignment, a thesis paper, a dissertation, or a term paper, it is a compulsion as these assignments carry marks. The documents should be well-organized in order to get the format and to have an easy understanding of the document. No assignment can be said to be complete without a proper introduction and conclusion. Here I’ll be discussing what introductions and conclusions are, the importance of academic writing introduction and conclusion, and some conclusion writing tips.