Academic writing is an essential skill set that all students must develop. To succeed in academia, you must communicate your ideas with grace, clarity, and power. These ten tips will help you enhance your academic writing so you can impress peers, professors, and publications.
1. Write to the level of the intended audience
Academic writing is generally intended for highly educated and well-informed individuals who know the basics of the topic in question. These readers need no in-depth introduction or explanation of the material. It’s advisable to concentrate on the main points of the treatise rather than wasting your readers’ time rehashing information they already know.
2. Build on the past
Academic writing typically requires a great deal of research before the first word is written. By compiling and expanding upon relevant research and published reports on the chosen topic, authors can produce fresh, informative papers that do not simply repeat previously published ideas.
3. Get to the point
The first paragraph of any paper should quickly outline the main points to be covered in the entire document. This provides a structure for the paper and quickly establishes the primary topic for the reader. Some scholarly works include a brief abstract that serves the same basic purpose and summarizes the entire paper in a few short paragraphs.
4. Take a stand
Creating a thesis statement and outlining the supporting evidence for that statement is one of the most effective writing strategies. By presenting the hypothesis along with persuasive arguments for its validity, writers can produce a compelling piece of academic writing for publication.
5. Provide supporting evidence
An academic paper should include a complete list of sources for any information used in that paper. This allows researchers and journal editors to more easily evaluate the paper’s conclusions based on those resources.
6. Inform the audience
Opinion pieces are best suited for editorial works, not academic papers. By supporting the conclusions of the paper with solid evidence, writers can enhance their overall credibility and ensure that their points are considered fairly and fully by their audience.
7. Avoid literary clichés
Academic writing is typically designed to inform and educate its readers; flowery language and overuse of metaphors and analogies can prove distracting and may diminish the impact of the points made in the paper. Choose language that is suited to the subject matter and that is clear, concise, and to the point.
8. Show a little style
Academic papers, like other types of writing, require a specific style and format in order to be readily accepted. Investing in an appropriate style manual and adhering to its recommendations can improve the quality of writing and the likelihood that the end result will be accepted by editors and by the final arbiters, the readers.
9. Edit, edit, edit
Especially when it comes to academic writing, the process of editing is essential and ongoing. Editing should encompass content as well as format; condensing and clarifying the material included in the paper will help ensure that it is both concise and persuasive. By eliminating wordiness, writers can produce papers that make their points more clearly.
10. Proofreading leads to perfect papers
Before submitting academic writing projects for review, authors should carefully examine their papers for any spelling or grammatical errors to ensure that their papers are as credible and cogent as possible. Enlisting a qualified, professional proofreading service like ProofreadingServices.com that can read over your paper and provide feedback on errors is an excellent way to ensure the quality of the finished product.
Gayatri Tanuja says...
Very informative
On March 07, 2016
Ela Laelasari says...
Nice …! Helpfull
On February 18, 2016
Shewamene Ataye says...
I saw what you have posted on your blog about the tips and helps you avail for ac. writing learners. Quite good. But I am delighted if you could email me related books. Thank you in advance.
On February 17, 2016
Fashola Kayode says...
Beautiful.
On February 17, 2016