6 quick tips for academic writing

Styles in Academic Writing

First of all, you need to know what academic writing is and how it differs from other writing styles. Academic writing is called so because academics first used it to share their scientific findings. Later, this style became a common writing style in universities and colleges due to its accuracy and efficiency in delivering thoughts.

Modern essay writers have to observe the requirements of this style, as it is a standard requirement by most educational facilities.

Formal Language in Academic Writing

Writing in an academic style means, first of all, formal language. You can deliver the same message in several ways using different words. Remember that you are expected to avoid any familiar, simplistic, or colloquial language.

Formal writing requires you to use more specific and formal synonyms of words that you use in everyday life. Informal words are general and vague, and for this reason, they are called “weak words.” Some of them are familiar to you: interesting, good, bad, something, happy, sad, awesome, cool, important, serious, and many others.

The problem with such words is that they are not informative and often overused. A useful habit for any writer would be excluding such words from his or her writing. You can do that without much effort using, for example, thesaurus.com. The main purpose of using formal language is to avoid vagueness and possible misinterpretation. Moreover, formal words are more informative and precise, helping you develop your thoughts and arguments efficiently.

Objectivity

Academic writing requires objectivity that obliges you to use the third-person perspective rather than the first or second-person. The first-person point of view can be applicable in the case of a personal reflection or an admission essay. However, do not use it in all other essay types. The second person directly addresses the reader, which means that it is forbidden for use in any type of academic paper. Being objective means avoiding personal opinions, and therefore bias.

Precision

An academic paper must provide the most accurate and precise information on the topic. Specifically, you have to use only credible, reliable, and relevant peer-reviewed sources to develop and reinforce your arguments. Another significant note on precision is that you have to exclude words such as maybe, probably, perhaps, some source, some person, somebody, everyone, nobody, and similar ones. Your arguments should be accurate and specific. Only facts and verified data.

Never use doubtful sources such as Wikipedia or Sparknotes; they do not provide reliable information. Credibility means, first of all, using reliable and relevant sources in your essays. You have to make sure that the information you use for your paper is authoritative, accurate, objective, and relevant. You have to check whether the article is published by an author who is well-known and authoritative in the field, the content is unbiased, the arguments are clear and reinforced by facts and by other reliable sources rather than the author’s personal opinion, and the information on the topic is recent (usually published within the last 10 years).

Quick Tips for Academic Writing

1. Prefer active voice over passive.

2. Do not write filler sentences (those that only paraphrase what’s already mentioned).

3. Every paragraph should have at least one cited fact, statistic, or other data supporting your argument.

4. Do not express your personal opinion unless you are asked to do so. Most essay types require a third-person perspective.

5. Be sure to use appropriate terminology expected by the discipline.

6. Avoid using phrasal verbs when possible. Most phrasal verbs have one-word equivalents (eg: figure out = discover).

These tips will help you write an outstanding academic paper. Get more help with academic writing at ace-myhomework