Ways To Improve Your Academic Writing

Academic writing is used for writing different scientific papers. First of all, to improve your academic writing, you have to use clear, understandable and easy language. The reader has to enjoy reading your paper.

Also, your paper should be grammatically correct. It is very important to proofread the final version of your paper. In order to get an even better check, ask your colleague or friend to look through the paper. Different spelling, punctuation, grammatical mistakes and errors leave the reader disappointed.

What Is Academic Writing?

So What is academic writing? In a nutshell, it is composition backed by evidence and develops a field of study. Texts should be succinct delivering much meaning with each word. This can be a rude awakening to new students. Especially those who like colorful language and much verbosity. Also, no longer are you able to simply state your opinion, but you must references sources and reasons to validate how you feel about a subject. If you read a poem by Poe and didn’t care for it, you must present a reason why you didn’t appreciate literature from a highly acclaimed author. Another stark contrast to high school is the rules for citation formats and plagiarism is much stricter. Professors expect papers to be based off prior resources and credit given when those resources are referenced.

Types Of Academic Writing

In addition to your university’s formatting standards, you’ll find many types of academic writing to apply to your papers. Each type has its own specific purpose depending on the paper you are drafting. So let’s take a look at the four main types.

Critical – This style is common with many papers such as compare and contrast essays. With critical essays, you analyze another’s work and provide at least two opinions on it. A typical approach would be your own position along with a contrasting one.

Descriptive – Perhaps the easiest style. Here you are simply reporting information, such as in a narrative essay or the consequences of a lab test. The most important consideration is to ensure your text stays focused and flows in a logical manner.

Persuasive – One of the more fun styles is persuasive composition. Debates and speeches often rely on this style. Here it is important to have as many facts to support your position so it is research intensive.

Analytical – You’ll find case studies and research papers at home with this style. Here you play detective and rely just on what the facts tell you. All conclusions should be based on the results of research without any emotional involvement.

Tips That Help Improve Academic Writing

Writing is a skill that can always be improved. For this, many students opt for professional essay services to improve academic writing skills. This is a great strategy to see how professional writers format papers. So here are ten tips we’ve to help you out:

• Be concise. This is rule #1 of academic work. If the reader is fumbling over excessive words, they’ll get bored and you’ll get a low grade. Cut down on unnecessary words for the best results.
• Use a thesaurus. This is useful not only for English second language speakers but native speakers as well. We tend to box ourselves in with our vocabulary, if you find a word isn’t delivering specifically what you mean – the thesaurus is your go to.
• Read academic journals. If you walk the walk, you’ll talk the talk. The more time you spend in academic periodicals the easier it will be for you to match the style of leading academics.
• Ask your friends to find essay ideas. Everyone has a different perspective on life. If you’re stuck for a topic ask a friend what they would write about.
• Always make an outline: Academic writing requires a plan to be successful. Outlines organize your thoughts and allow your essay to flow better. The best part of an outline is it allows you to start writing at any part of your essay first (read the next tip).
• Don’t start your paper from beginning to end. The best results are when you start from the most interesting part of your paper. As you start producing work the less interesting parts will fold in a lot easier.
• Stay focused on your thesis. Your thesis statement is the basis of your assignment. If you find you’re going off course – stop, review your outline, and change course.
• Speak to your professor. Some lecturers may not seem approachable, but you never know until you try. If you have any questions, your teacher is your first, last and best resource. After all, they are the ones grading your papers.
• Edit – twice if you can. Rushed work equals low grades. When you finish your paper, set it down for a few hours and revisit it. Is it logical? Is your word choice relevant? And most importantly, did you answer all the questions the task asked for?
• Relax. Stress will affect your work. Be sure to plan out your assignments and don’t wait for the last minute. You’ll find with the proper rest and social life, your assignments will get done quicker with higher quality.

It is important to provide the reader with different facts throughout the text. This will make your paper more reliable.

Plagiarism is the main enemy of academic writing. To write a good quality paper, you have to always avoid it! There are a lot of plagiarism checkers, which will help you identify plagiarized content. You have to paraphrase everything which is not unique in your text. It is important that you show your own ideas in the text and how you have understood the material.

If you use someone else’s materials, make sure to cite it correctly. There are different styles in academic writing, such as MLA, APA. Harvard etc.; and all have different rules for citing. However, avoid using quotes very often, it will mess up your text and not look like your own. Once again, use paraphrasing.

In conclusion, make sure to practice academic writing on a daily basis; it will definitely help you improve your skills. Also, make sure to read a lot, especially scientific literature; this hobby will automatically expend your vocabulary. If you follow some tips from this article, you will definitely improve your academic writing.