Introduction
Academic writing is a form of writing that is written in adherence to certain rules and practices. It is formal in tone and style, succinct, objective, well-structured and is backed by research evidence. Academic content writing intends to share scholarly information to a selected base of audience and therefore is usually preferred by a wide range of academicians. Essays, reports, journals, dissertations are some common forms of academic content writing. Let us now list down certain distinct features of academic content writing.
The 10 Features of Academic Writing -
Academic content writing is characterized by the following ten features. They are enlisted as below:
1. Proper Organization:
Every academic write up must have a proper organization which categorically refers to the way ideas are presented in a particular article/essay. Properly arranged paragraphs, highlighting a plethora of similar and contrasting ideas with a crisp writing style makes it easier for the reader to interpret ideas easily and coherently.
2. Complexity:
If one compares a regular write up with that of an academically written piece, it is evident that there lies substantial complexity in the way it is written. The writing is more polished and written from the perspective of being worthy of presentations and dissertations. Unlike the normal colloquial way of speaking or writing, academic writing makes use of lexical variations with respect to the way a piece is written or expressed.
3. Objectivity:
Objectivity is often considered as the hardest feature to adhere to in terms of content writing for most of the time students tend to focus on their personal opinions and how they feel while writing their assignments. As a result of this, the write up loses on its objectivity which clearly means to present information/arguments in an unbiased and neutral manner.
4. Accuracy:
Academically superior write ups are characterized by accuracy. Writers must be careful of the words that they use for the choice of vocabulary is an extremely important factor in determining quality write ups. There may be several variations of the same word that may or may not fit into the context of the write up. A good academic writer must be able to understand the context of the sentence and make use of the words accordingly. For example, the three words such as funds, money and cash may imply the same thing but can be used in different contexts, having different applications which invariably end up changing the entire meaning of the sentence if not used in a proper way.
5. Formal Tone:
The tone of an academic write up must be formal. A formal tone showcases the writer’s seriousness about a particular topic and highlights the same in front of his readers. The formal tone can easily be differentiated from that of an informal or personal tone and usage of conversational language must be avoided.
For example, let us consider two sentences.
1. I think it will rain in the evening.
2. It might rain in the evening.
3. The second sentence is more formal and conveys a more confident tone, something that is required in academic writing.
6. Grammatical Conventions:
Grammar, again, forms an important feature of an academic write up for the way a sentence is written in this form of writing is starkly different from what is written in other unofficial blogs or websites. Words such as “shouldn’t, couldn’t, isn’t” or any other form of acronyms are not advisable while writing academic content. Also sufficient care must be taken while using punctuation marks and the apostrophe. Academic essay writing service content writers must also take note to avoid using emotive language, unsupported declarative statements and contractions while writing an academic essay or journal for they spoil the quality and originality of the paper.
7. Backed by Latest Research Evidences:
One of the most important features of academic writing is that it must be backed by latest research evidence to substantiate the details provided in the write up. Writers should perform thorough research before selecting the work that can be provided as evidence and in doing so bibliographic referencing sites such as Google scholar can be put to use.
8. Citation Styles:
Academic papers are formal papers which are used by a wide range of academicians, right from teachers to researchers to even young university going students. Hence, the write up must be backed by relevant information which must be in-texted from time to time. There are several citation styles that are available and an academic writer usually has to select from the APA/MLA/Chicago/Harvard citation styles. Adequate care must be taken to avoid mistakes while in text citations.
9. Impersonality:
Impersonality forms a very important aspect of academic writing since it is meant to be formal and for academic purposes. It has been evidenced that a lot of writers usually resort to the excessive usage of “I” and “you” while writing reflective pieces. However, adhering to the third person is the universally accepted way of writing an academic journal or paper.
10. Plagiarism Free:
The most distinctive and prominent feature of a good academically written article is that it should be plagiarism free. Many copywriters find themselves in a fix while writing about topics that have been already written countless times on other websites. As a result of this, often writers tend to indulge in copy pasting from random unauthorized online websites for writing authentic content can be tiresome on certain occasions. In that case, if an idea or the pattern of a write up impresses the writer, he must not forget to paraphrase it in his own words or give credit to the original creator. The quality of a write up depends majorly on how authentically it is written.
Conclusion
Writing academic assignments may often look easy, however they need a thorough and proper understanding of the above mentioned core features so as to ensure that the write up is truly regarded as high in quality and worthy of praise.