It is alright if he does not love me back.
Just try hard for Academic Writing.
The importance of academic writing is intensified as we progress through our student life. As simple essays written in primary school and those in high school are not the same, thesis and complex academic essays written in higher education also have big differences. However, there are still dilemmas regarding the nuances of academic writing. Today, let us explore together what exactly academic writing is, how to write it, and what to be aware of.
Translation by @Hilton
Graphics by @Glory
What is Academic Writing?
You may already know that academic writing is a specific writing style mostly used in academic work such as classrooms, lectures, reports, and theses.
In fact, academic writing is a skill that depends on the ability to understand a given topic thoroughly and write in detail about it. Academic writing includes writing with solid information and avoiding vague language.
Myths About Academic Writing
Just like the title above, we would like to discuss whether some facts most people believe in writing are valid and practical or not.
Is grammar important?
Some will say that writing is primarily about coherence and reliability rather than grammar. In reality, it is critical to write grammatically since it is such a language skill.
Quality or Quantity?
When we sometimes have to write with a word limit, keep in mind that we can end up repeating the circle by stretching the sentences out to meet the requirement. The approach ‘The goal is the quantity, write more’ is not always accurate.
Now, Let us delve further into what to be aware of in academic writing.
Please Be Careful
When engaging in writing, the initial draft is not likely to be flawless, so please put some time aside to edit your paper. Remember that polished writing needs a lot of revisions.
In academic writing, the imperative step is researching. Do not be lazy to do research as it is essential for a clear understanding of the topic you are focusing on, establishing your direction, and relying on strong sources.
The Useful Guidelines
There are four must-know facts about outlines.
1. Audience
Know your audience. In academic writing, most of the audience is your professors. Grabbing on about the given topic or copying the text from books will not work in academic writing just because you assume your professors possess greater knowledge than you. You should know that academic writing is such a time-intensive process.
2. What is the context?
The purpose of academic writing is to gain a better comprehension of the given topic, not to indiscriminately write all your random thoughts down on paper. Hence, the initial step is to know what to learn and identify what kind of reading materials to be used before embarking on the reading process.
3. What is your message?
While writing, you can also express your thoughts and incorporate points you have learnt from your research instead of solely referencing other expert’s viewpoints.
4. References
Since reference is a main part of academic writing, we need to be aware of plagiarism (copyright). Stay tuned with the Study Diary Page as we will delve into details of plagiarism in the coming weeks.
The full version of academic writing we discussed today can be read in the following paper, ‘What is academic writing’ by L. Lennie Irvin. You can also get access to the PDF version of this guideline paper which has been uploaded in our Telegram Channel.
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