Mastering Academic Writing
How does academic writing differ from other forms of writing?
Learning how to write in academic settings is very important to your studies at Unity and is a skillset you will carry into your career as an environmental professional. Being able to write about, combine, and analyze ideas from source literature to develop new knowledge on a topic will greatly improve your communication abilities and improve your credibility.
Academic writing sounds quite different from other kinds of writing. It often avoids certain language and tones, is written from the third person perspective, and focuses on communicating ideas as clearly and succinctly as possible without bias.
When do we use academic writing?
- Research Reports: Synthesizing new/existing information on a research topic, often as a part of classwork
- Peer-Reviewed Publications: Presenting new data and analyses for publication in an academic journal
- Essays & Reviews: Sharing author’s opinions about an issue with evidence-based support
- Literature Reviews: Summarizing existing information on a topic
Who is my audience for academic writing?
Academic Writing communicates ideas, information, data and research to the wider academic community.
- As students, your audience will be your professors and other students training in the same field to demonstrate learning
- As professionals, your audience will be other experts in the field and you are writing publications to share/create new knowledge
How do I structure Academic Reports?
Academic writing generally has a clear structure that allows readers to easily follow ideas and arguments.
This structure often includes:
- Introduction: where the main arguments/hypotheses are introduced
- Methods: Describing how the data/information was collected
- Results: Describing new knowledge derived from the analysis of data/info
- Discussion: Interpreting these results in relation to existing knowledge
Use a balanced and Objective Tone:
Academic writing gives consideration to all sides of an issue – so avoid being biased:
- Use phrases like “this suggests”, “may indicate”, “could be caused” – this helps avoid implications of certainty and causation
To remain objective, place your emphasis on the arguments and information rather than your opinions and point of view:
- Use phrases such as “it can be seen that” rather than “in my opinion”
Academic writing uses a more formal tone, complex sentences, and avoids conversational feeling phrases:
- Be precise with your word choice – check out the academic word list (AWL)
- Use a formal, objective (impersonal) and technical language
- Avoid using casual or conversational language such as “I” and “you” statements
- Remain objective by avoiding direct reference to people or feelings
- Emphasize facts and ideas, stay succinct and on topic
Using evidence and attribution in academic writing:
In academic writing, any arguments or hypotheses made must be supported by evidence. What is evidence?
- Facts, reasons, examples already proven by or existing in our source literature
- This is where we use citations for our references!
In academic writing attributing where information came from is critical!
All academic writing should include:
- APA in-text citations at the end of sentences where you share ideas from one of your sources
- APA full citation is at the end of each academic piece of writing
For more guidance on developing your citations, visit the Finding and Citing Credible Sources resource page.
