What Is Academic Writing? Definition and Tips

A skilled writer knows how to adapt their tone and style based on their audience and the type of writing they’re attempting.

For your blog, you might let your signature wit and light sarcasm shine through; for a personal essay, you might be more reflective; and for a persuasive piece, you let your passion take center stage.

For academic writing, there are a few more rules to follow that can limit your creative freedom in some ways, but make this writing style unique in its own right. The important thing is knowing when and how to use it.

What Is Academic Writing?

Academic writing is a formal style of nonfiction writing that is primarily used by students, academics, and researchers. It can include everything from student papers, to journal articles of scientific studies carried out by professionals.

Examples of Academic Writing

Below are several types of writing that can often be considered “academic”:

• Essays (not personal)
• Research papers (including academic journal articles)
• Thesis papers or dissertations
• Research proposals
• Literature reviews

What Are the Rules of Academic Writing?

Unlike personal essays, narratives, or persuasive papers, academic writing is strictly characterized by the following attributes:

Formal and Direct Tone

There’s no room for eloquent prose, long-winded metaphors, or whimsical imagery in academic writing.

Get straight to the point, and avoid informal language, including slang, contractions, and clichés. Unlike other popular forms of nonfiction, academic writing generally does not feel “conversational.”

Unbiased and Impersonal

Academic writing isn’t about your personal opinions or experiences. You should simply be presenting the facts and evidence of whatever statements you’re making.

That being said, statements like, “In my opinion…,” “I think…,” and “I believe…” should never appear in academic writing.

However, that’s not to say that you have to avoid first person statements entirely. If you were the sole researcher, you might say, “I interviewed…,” “I collected…,” or “I argue that…”. But again, any hypotheses you present must be based on facts.

Accurate and Thoroughly Researched

Since academic writing should be unbiased, it’s important that writers represent the facts and work of other researchers fairly and accurately. You should also cite all of your sources.

Be honest about the limitations of your research, and be upfront about your methodology. How did you conduct experiments? How did you choose specimens? Why did you use one set of data but disregard another? These are all issues that should be addressed in writing if relevant to your work.

Clear and Precise

You can’t be vague or wish-washy in academic writing. This means no unclear statements, such as, “People have long been interested in this subject.” Instead, you should write something like, “Researchers have been studying this phenomenon and its effects for the past 20 years.” Be as precise as possible when you mention years, data, or groups of people.

At the same time, your statements should also be strong (as long as you’ve done thorough research!). Don’t say things like, “This could perhaps suggest…” but rather, “This suggests…”.

In either case, you’re not setting anything in stone (“suggests” just means it’s the most likely possibility). But with the second option, you’re simply eliminating weak words that make your argument look weak as well.

Focused and Well-Structured

When you set out to write an academic text, you should have a clear plan of what your’e going to include and how you’re going to present your evidence in the most clear, logical way to your audience.

Create a solid outline so you don’t wind up lost along the way, with your research and data strewn haphazardly, making it difficult for readers to figure out which conclusions you’re trying to draw. There must be a method to your mad-scientist madness!

What Is the Main Purpose of Academic Writing?

The main purpose of academic writing is to convey information in a clear, impartial way. As such, arguments should be based on evidence, not the writer’s personal biases or preconceptions. Any claims made should be supported with relevant evidence.

The Limits of Scholarly Writing

Although academic writing is used to convey important information and bring new data to light, it’s not always the most accessible. Sometimes the language, though precise and clear to people in academic circles, is simply too elevated.

Just take a look at this example cited by The Atlantic:

The work of the text is to literalize the signifiers of the first encounter, dismantling the ideal as an idol. In this literalization, the idolatrous deception of the first moment becomes readable. The ideal will reveal itself to be an idol. Step by step, the ideal is pursued by a devouring doppelganger, tearing apart all transcendence. This de-idealization follows the path of reification, or, to invoke Augustine, the path of carnalization of the spiritual. Rhetorically, this is effected through literalization. A Sentimental Education does little more than elaborate the progressive literalization of the Annunciation.

from Barbara Vinken’s Flaubert Postsecular: Modernity Crossed Out (Stanford University Press)

In 2010, the Plain Writing Act was passed, requiring federal agencies to write “clear government communication that the public can understand and use.”

But while federal entities are required to write in more “plain” language in order to encourage greater transparency and public participation, the academic world can remain as academic as it pleases.

This can be incredibly frustrating to college students and anyone unfortunate enough to come across such an article’s path, but it also limits a writer’s reach, as their work becomes less accessible to the masses. And if a writer is trying to get published by a more commercial publisher than Stanford University Press, this can be a problem.

In such cases, scholars will have to rework their manuscripts to make them more relatable and accessible to the average reader. For tips on how to do just that, check out our post on making the shift from academic to popular writing.

Mastering Academic Tone

If you’re a student, researcher, or someone with a career in higher education, you’ve likely come across academic writing at some point.

This style requires you to be professional, clear, and unbiased, which works well in academia, but isn’t always the right tone for other forms of nonfiction. If you’re not sure if you should be using an academic tone, consider your audience. If you’re not primarily addressing scholars or students, you can likely aim for a more casual tone and use layman’s terms.

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

 

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

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