grademinor academic writing

grademinor academic writing

The Importance of Academic Writing

1. Introduction

This essay will provide you with the understanding of what academic writing is, the problems associated with the teaching of writing, possible solutions to the teaching of it, and my personal conclusion drawn from the subject.

From the day you are born, researchers are interested in studying what makes a baby tick. This process of study and analysis continues on as you advance through school; programs, teachers, and professors are all interested in watching you learn so they may better understand how the learning process takes place. As a student, you will be asked to learn various concepts and to demonstrate that you have an understanding of these by various forms of assessment. At times, it may be an analysis of a concept, other times an argument or thesis that will demonstrate application of the concept. One common way in which students demonstrate their knowledge of a concept is through writing pertaining to the concept. This is often the case when students are working with a new concept, where they are asked to write on what they think the concept means and later instructors can assess the student’s understanding through the manner in which they have described a concept. Regardless of the task, what is consistent is the need for academic writing.

2. Understanding the Basics of Academic Writing

Understanding the basics of academic writing distinguishes between essential writing that expresses a point of view on a topic and expert writing which is based on empirical data and findings, and communicated to a specific audience in a logical, precise and error-free manner. For many students, the shift from credible writing to academic writing can be a difficult task. Academic writing truly must be solid – convincing a reader to believe, or to act on the information the writer is conveying, takes real skill. Academic writing allows for more creativity, and I believe that starts with the right mindset. Before approaching a writing project, and during the writing process, it is essential to develop and maintain a deep understanding of the topic. This may involve asking and investigating answers to several questions. Following this, the writer must perceive the writing task not as an assignment but as an opportunity to convey a message on a specific topic. This may sound like a subtle semantic twist, but the writer who is truly engaged in the topic aspires to communicate more than just what was assigned. This aspirational stage is where the questions of purpose and audience come into play. Purpose and audience of the writing determine what kind of writing it will be and also the level of certainty and confidence that the writer will need to convey in the writing. The more certain the writer, the more persuasive the writing.

3. Developing Effective Writing Skills

Since writing is a complex process, it can also be broken down into a series of sub-processes. This chapter has a number of important links to other chapters in the book, which will take you to a more in-depth look at each skill. These skills are not the rigid, set-in-stone type of skills, as the invention of writing is not a clear-cut process. But they are vital in helping the writer communicate his thoughts to the reader. By mastering these skills and the appropriate knowledge related to these skills, you can radically improve the overall quality of your writing. This will also help to increase the interest the reader has in your writing.

Transferring thoughts into words is difficult regardless of the type of writing assignments. However, all academic writing assignments have the same goal: they want to persuade, inform, or tell a story. They want it to be done in a certain way: be clear, focused, well-structured, backed up with evidence, and fully answer the question. They also expect the writer to critically engage with the course content and to follow conventions of scholarly discourse. For students, developing good writing skills can be quite challenging since it is not a simple process. This chapter is designed to help you think about writing. It will give you an introduction to what writing is and how it is connected to thinking, to reading and understanding the question, to planning, to drafting, and then to thinking more about what you are writing.

4. Mastering the Art of Research

The student who has prepared consistently throughout the semester need only spend a few hours getting additional information, and what they need is easily accessible. Dates, events, and definitions can all be searched for in the various internet search engines. In these cases, it will be most effective to skim for general info, then go to more detailed sources.

Mastering the techniques of research will be a critical and integral component to the academic writing process. Essentially, the tried and true principle of “garbage in, garbage out” is relevant for writing first-rate academic papers. If you are inputting data that you have collected from shoddy sources, inevitably the quality of your paper is going to reflect this. In turn, the process of attaining high-quality sources will be an arduous and time-consuming task. But success will bring an effective paper and a gratified sense of accomplishment. A more efficient approach can be achieved if one is knowledgeable enough in the subject to know where to look and what to look for.

5. Conclusion

Academic writing must be taught, as it is not a mode of writing that is intuitive for most. At the high school level, students should be introduced to the concepts of analysis and informed opinion, and then taught how to build upon these ideas in a systematic way. This can be done through various fields of study, from history to science. If the skills are learned properly, students will benefit from higher grades and be at an advantage for tertiary education.

The writing process should be systematic and well-supported in order for the writing to be considered academic. This is achieved through an in-depth analysis of a research topic, which will broaden one’s perspective and knowledge on a specific field of study. This new knowledge is supported by informed opinion and a review of what others have said on the issue. All of these elements tie together based on the audience, taking them through the writing in a logical manner. This therefore leads to a clear understanding of the knowledge at hand.

Academic writing serves as a communication tool for conveying acquired knowledge in a specific field of study. It therefore features a serious tone that is supported by a strong audience, based on evidence and facts, from one expert to another. The primary purpose of academic writing is to educate others based on research and knowledge, rather than entertain. It does so through a persuasive thesis, backed by strong arguments, which it then takes further to question and answer using evidence.