What Do We Mean By Academic Writing?

Bruce Hargrave

Military Education Group

Academic vs ‘normal’ writing• Are there some differences?• If so, how can we describe those

differences?• We will have a look at some examples and

try to establish some ‘rules’.

Read the examples and decide..• Is this academic writing?• Why? (Or, why not?).

Features of Academic Writing• It is a process• It is a social practice• It has an obvious audience and a clear

purpose• Academic writing is linear.

Features of Academic Writing• Complexity• Formality• Precision• Clarity and conciseness• Objectivity• Explicitness• Accuracy• Responsibility.

Rules of Academic Writing• Any evidence used to support an

argument must be based on reliable research.

• Objectivity is better than subjectivity.• Both sides of the argument must be

presented – for and against, pros vs cons.• Emotional language should only be used

with great care.• Critical analysis is vital.

Avoiding Errors• Use the toolset available to you

– Spell check everything before submission

– Grammar check everything before submission

– AND proof read everything before submission

• Proof reading tips – Get some temporal distance

– Read out loud

– Get someone else to read it to you.

Description vs. Critical Analysis• Describe what you have read.

– But don’t just stop there!

• Offer your views on what you have read.• Support your views.

Common Errors• Its and It’s

– It’s is short for ‘it is’ (or ‘it has’).– The cat had eaten its dinner (no apostrophe

required).– It’s time to put the cat out for the night.– It’s been raining for a week.

Common Errors e.g. and i.e.

– do not mean the same things.– i.e. is short for id est, the Latin for it is.– e.g. is short for exempli gratia, – and means for example.

The standard discount applies; i.e. 10%. Try using easy-to-read fonts; e.g.

Georgia and Verdana.

Marking Frustrations• If all I do as the marker of your work is ask questions, then you have not written your work correctly

• Here are some common questions I shout out when marking:

– “How can you say that?”

– “Who says?”

– “Where did that come from?”

– “What has this got to do with anything?”

The Academic Mindset• “Everything is open to Question”

– If you ask all of these questions as you write then by definition you will be forced into supporting your work

– Bias will be removed

– Your work will be appropriately supported

– You will write far fewer definitive statements.

Remember• Your opinion counts, tell me what you

think, but support or refute what you say with academic underpinning.

• It doesn’t matter if I don’t agree with you.

Enhancing the flow of your work• ‘Develop’ an argument

– think of it as telling a story– it therefore has a beginning, a middle and an

end – Give the reader some indication of what is

coming, signposting the path you are going to take them on

– This means more than just writing coherent and well supported sentences

– It means using paragraphs, sections and chapters properly.

Useful Phrases

• Use of some of the following will help signpost your work: – This point will be discussed further in Chapter 2. – As was highlighted in Chapter 1… – In the previous section [some stuff] was discussed.

This section will [do something else with this stuff]… – Further consideration of this point will take place later

in this work. – Whilst it may be prudent to investigate this further,

that falls outside of the scope of this work.

Useful Linking Words• The academic feel of your writing will be

enhanced by the use of simple linking words and phrases: – However …– Further …– Conversely …– In support of this stance …– Jones (2008) refutes this …– In clarifying this, Smith (2009) …– It should also be noted that …

Three Good Ways To Improve Your Academic Writing

• Read more.• Read more academic writing.• Use the support team in the library.