Academic Writing

Academic style is the way of writing that universities expect. It doesn’t mean using complicated words or losing your own voice—it means writing in a way that is clear, precise, and professional, so your ideas can be clearly understood.

Key features:

• Clarity - Express your ideas as concisely and clearly as possible. Avoid vague words like things; nice; or stuff.
• Formality - Use complete sentences and avoid slang, exclamations, texting language, or contractions (isn't; can't, don't, etc).
• Objectivity - Focus on evidence and analysis, not just personal opinion. Avoid value judgements such as 'brilliant' or 'wonderful'
• Modesty: Hedging language such as 'arguably' is often used instead of words like 'obviously' or 'definitiely' or 'prove', which suggest they have solved problems rather than contributed to debate. 
• Accuracy - Choose words carefully and use the precise terminology for your subject. Avoid imprecise intensifiers like 'very' or 'really'.
• Evidence-based - Use the evidence to make your points rather than cherry-picking selectively in a biased way.

For example:

Whether you can use first-person depends on the type of assignment and your subject area.

For example, in reflective writing, manifestos and artist statements, first-person is expected:

In critical essays and reports, the language is usually more formal, but first-person can be used carefully:

In dissertations and research reports a more impersonal style is preferred using third-person rather than first-person. This is to keep the focus on the evidence.

Top Tip:

If in doubt, check your assignment brief or ask your course tutor. Different course (and even different modules) may have different expectations.

In Academic Writing it can be tricky to work out who you are writing for and why – after all, you may think that your tutor knows it all already. Instead, you could think about writing for an interested, intelligent reader who has some knowledge of your subject area but who does not know the detail of your assignment – for instance you could think of a fellow student on your course from an earlier year but who has not taken the particular module or assignment you are working on. However, even if you are thinking about writing for another student, you should respect the conventions of a formal, detached and rather impersonal tone.

It is also helpful to remember you are not writing to educate your tutor but to demonstrate to them what you know! This is a key reason why you should not assume the reader knows too much because this will leave gaps in your own logic and explanation that may make it appear that your understanding of the issue is incomplete. Walk your reader through what you know in a logical, clear and convincing manner.