how to improve academic writing

how to improve academic writing

How to Improve Academic Writing

1. Understanding the Importance of Academic Writing

A more common interpretation, however, is that academic writing is formal and follows some standard conventions. This is a problematic definition because many types of writing in academic settings are informal in that they are primarily for the writer and not an audience, and other types can be quite formal.

The term academic writing is often used to refer to writing done for a university class. Academic writing is also used for publications that are read by teachers and researchers or presented at conferences. A very broad definition of academic writing could include any writing assignment given in an academic setting.

This section illustrates the difference between academic writing and business writing. Students will understand the importance of academic writing by our instruction on drive theory. We also analyze students’ need to backtrack, stop, and rewrite in writing for an effective product. Finally, students will realize the significance attributed to writing as being indicative of one’s intelligence.

2. Developing Strong Research Skills

Whether you are assigned a topic or can select one of your own, it pays to start your research in an area which you know has good quality information readily available. You might need to do some preliminary work to determine this. When given a broad assignment, students often find themselves in the predicament of determining what deserves a lot of effort and what will be skimmed over. This is where knowledge and interest in the subject matter is important. You will want to put more effort into areas which are of particular interest to you and which have an effect on the studies of that field. High-quality information in an area which has a direct impact on your studies is quite interesting, and you will have confidence that you are learning something. Step back and ensure that you have formulated a feasible question for which you can find solutions. Too often, students spend their time reading information which might not be the actual answer to anything. Make your question clear when said to someone else, and then try and answer it.

2.1 Start where there is ample information and interest

The learning experiences students build upon as they further develop their research and writing skills offer a foundation from which they can generate their own ideas and hypotheses, and critically analyze the work of others. The processes involved in compiling a well-documented research essay will pay dividends for the quality of the assessment, and ultimately the grades received. Here are some basic strategies to start and build a research assignment.

3. Enhancing Writing Structure and Organization

Not only does it take away from the clarity or meaning of the writing, but it can lead to losing certain points or information altogether. If the writer is jumping around with ideas or repeating the same information, this can cause confusion for both the writer and reader. When the writer has a specific outline to guide him/her through the writing process, then he/she is less likely to stray from the ideas, which will keep the writing focused and clear. This will be time well spent in helping to improve the quality of your writing.

Writing structure and organization can cause even the best writers to freeze up. Not everyone is naturally a good writer and may need to spend more time writing to get better. One thing for all writers to consider is organization. Well-organized writing has a higher impact on the reader. Use pre-writing, outlining, or mind mapping to brainstorm and organize ideas before writing. This will save you time and frustration during the writing process. If you struggle with writing a thesis statement, try using this tool to help organize your thoughts. Start with a question, then the answer to that question is your thesis.

4. Improving Clarity and Coherence

Your ideas must be presented in an order that is easy to follow. It can be difficult to grasp that what is logical in your mind may be difficult to follow for someone else. One useful strategy is to compose an outline of your argument. This will show you if you have repeated yourself anywhere or if you have been illogical in the ordering of your points. You should stick closely to your outline as you write the assignment and not be tempted to revert to your habitual stream of consciousness. A well-constructed assignment will present points in a definite sequence. A well-constructed paragraph will present a topic with a series of related sentences. This is a topic sentence and should be the first sentence of the paragraph. The sentences that follow should elaborate and provide examples where necessary. The paragraph will provide a link to the following topic or to the same topic in a different way. Keep this sense of order in your mind as you write, and it will help prevent your assignment from becoming a series of undisciplined and unrelated ideas.

Clarity and coherence are essential in academic writing. The reader needs to be able to follow your line of argument and understand how each sentence contributes to the whole. The best way to achieve this is to make your writing easy to understand. Often it is difficult to assess whether what you have written is clear to a reader who has not done the assignment. Some students try to get around this difficulty by asking a friend to read the assignment and make any corrections they think are necessary. Others believe that if they have followed all the rules of grammar and punctuation, their writing will be clear. Unfortunately, neither strategy is adequate. If you ask a friend to correct the assignment, you are probably expecting too much of him or her. A reader needs you to provide explanations at pivotal moments in your essay. And it is the content of what you write, the strength and logic of your ideas, that will determine how clear your expressions are. Any attention paid to grammar and punctuation will be wasted if the essay as a whole is unclear. These are the points your attention must focus on if you are to improve the clarity of your assignment.

5. Mastering Proper Citation and Referencing

First, remember that good citation and referencing is not just about complying with rules on a style sheet. It is as much about providing clear information to the reader/assessor, and a map to the source of your ideas. With this in mind, you will probably want to develop a system of note taking that links information you collect, with the sources of that information, in a way that can be clearly and easily referenced when you are writing your assignment. A word processed document can be easily edited and sorted, enabling you to alphabetically list, or cross reference notes by theme or source. Alternatively, many writers find it useful to note on a photocopy of an article or the relevant pages of a book, the publication details that will be needed for a reference, and then to attach these notes to the photocopy.

Although citation and referencing can be some of the most challenging hurdles for writers at any level, there are strategies that can make the process easier.

Through proper citation, the writer tells the reader where an idea, quote, or other information comes from, and where to locate that source. Effective references enable the reader to connect the writer’s work with sources that informed the actual writing, providing evidence of how a writer has adapted, synthesized, or developed an idea. This ‘trail’ from idea to written text also gives the writer the opportunity to demonstrate the depth of their research, and provides some insurance against accidental plagiarism.