Six Key Features of Academic Writing

‘I don’t think I can write my paper’- this is something almost every college student can relate to at some point. Writing college assignments isn’t the same as writing a casual letter to your friend or submitting a journalistic article in media. There are certain rules you must abide by. Academic writing consists of six main features. All you have to do is string together all these features, and voila! You will be able to deliver a proper academic assignment without hassle. So, let’s check out what those features are.

1. Complexity

We don’t write the same way we talk. The former is comparatively complicated. There are longer words in written language. It involves a varied vocabulary and is lexically denser. You need to use more noun-based phrases while writing and make sure the texts are shorter. Written language consists of more grammatical complexity, such as passive voices and subordinate clauses. International students may struggle to get the grammar right in college papers. That is when you can opt for paper writing services and get your tasks done hassle-free.

2. Formality

Academic writing is formal. You must avoid colloquial expressions and words as much as possible while writing assignments. Also, make sure your assignment doesn’t consist of abbreviated forms, two-word verbs, bullet points or sub-headings since these make your writing informal. You can use bullet points in reports, though.

3. Precision

Precision is key when it comes to academic writing. Whether you use dates, figures, statistics or any other piece of information, make sure it is precise. For instance, you shouldn’t write ‘a lot of people.’ Instead, write ’30 million people’ to make the writing precise.

4. Objectivity

Writing embraces an objective approach rather than personal. It consists of fewer words that refer to the reader or writer. You must emphasize the details you want to convey to your readers and the arguments you want to make related to your topic. There’s no need to share any personal details about you unless it is asked. That is why academic writing involves the use of nouns and adjectives rather than verbs and adverbs.

5. Accuracy

 You are expected to use accurate vocabulary in academic writing. That means you shouldn’t use a word just because you liked it. Make sure the word contributes to the meaning you want to convey through the sentence. There can be several words that mean the same thing, like meeting, assembly, gathering or conference. It is up to the type of paper you are writing that determines which word you should use though all of them have similar meanings.

6. Explicitness

In academic writing, everything that you write should be explicit, meaning you should convey to your readers how different parts of your text are related. The best way to do so is by using certain signalling words such as however, furthermore, because, etc. If a sentence includes reasons for something in the succeeding sentence, make that explicit too. You should also cite the sources to make your writing explicit. There are online citation machines available to help you out.

That’s it. Put all these features in your writing, and there’s no looking back. You can write perfect academic papers in no time.

Summary

Are you struggling to write your academic assignments? This article discusses the key features of academic writing. Get these features together, and you will be able to deliver perfect academic content easily.

Author Bio: Alley John is a dietitian, and has been giving diet tips to students for 10+ years. Ms Jones is also associated with Myassignment help.com where he assists students by becoming their ghost writer. In addition to this, Alley likes to read books and has read over 500 books till now.