Academic Writing Guide For Students – Dos and Don’ts

0
82
Academic Writing

Academic writing is a formal piece of writing that a student use throughout his career in school, university, and for scholarly publications. It has a specific style that follows the same writing process as other specific texts, but it is explicit in terms of structure, content, and style. A student encounters academic writing in different ways, including a school essay, research paper, and dissertation. An academic paper must be written in a formal tone, clear and concise, focused, and well-structured with proper pieces of evidence. The main objective of academic writing is to enlighten and educate.

Dos and Don’ts of the academic writing

Scholarly writing is not the same as everyday English or other world languages. It can be challenging for students and scholars. It has its own Dos that must be followed and don’ts that must be avoided. Here are some important dos and don’ts that will help you to avoid common mistakes and make educational writing properly formatted, readable, well-structured and clear.

Dos for Academic Writing:

It must be clear and precise

Academic writing must be clear and precise so that reader can clearly understand the main objective of your essay or assignment. It must be straightforward that present facts and ideas of your assignment. There are seven C’s of communication that makes communication more productive and effective. Academic writing has its own C’s that make it more efficient and clear.

Avoid using complex words or vocabulary; you can use simple words in academic assignments.

It must have supporting evidence and clear objective

Scholarly writing must have a clear objective and requires logical and factual information. It has strong research supporting evidence that is not based upon any personal opinion, idea, objective or feeling. It must be as plain as possible. Try to write the collected data from appropriate sources and cite the references you use from that source. However, if you cannot collect satisfactory pieces of evidence in support of your arguments, do not hesitate to seek help from the best academic writing services.

It must be correct and consistent

When writing for academic purposes, make sure you use correct grammar. Grammatical mistakes possess a bad image in the mind of the reader. Make sure that your punctuations are properly placed, and follow specific stylistics, and this style remains constant throughout the assignment. Ensure you use the correct verb tenses in different sections and carefully proofread before submitting the assignment.

Don’t’s for Academic Writing:

Don’t use inappropriate style and font

Do not use the wrong or inappropriate style when writing an academic assignment. The most common style for academic assignments is times new roman (regular). Make sure that this style remains constant throughout the writing process. Wrong or unsuitable style may dismay the reader. Like style, the font of the assignment must be according to the guidelines. For main headings, 14 font size is used, and 12 font size is generally used for the main body.

Don’t use inappropriate verb tenses

Do not use inappropriate verb tenses. The verb tenses indicate the time event. Verb tense has a great impact on overall academic writing. One cannot change the verb tense randomly. The wrong use of verb tenses poses a negative image. Do not switch between verb tenses, past, present, and future, when writing an academic assignment. If you are writing the assignment in a single frame or present form, make sure to use the verb’s present form and avoid using the past form of the verb

Don’t use personal pronouns

Don’t use personal pronouns like I, we, or us when writing an academic assignment or research paper. One can use the personal pronoun in some paragraphs, like acknowledgment, declaration, and reflection. Personal pronouns are generally observed in the academic assignment but do not use in the main body paragraph. Use third person instead of personal pronoun as they create objectivity in writing.

Don’t use repetitive sentences

Don’t use repetitive sentences, as this is an unprofessional way to write an academic essay or assignment. Using repetitive sentences creates a bad picture, and the reader may think that the writer did not research well for his assignment. Do not restate the ideas you have already made, do not use the same headings, and all the sections should be relevant to the main goal.

Conclusion

Academic writing is very important for every student and scholar alike. Academic writing helps a student communicate and builds arguments. It teaches a student to be professional. As mentioned earlier, the dos and don’ts help a student to make his academic skills more productive and efficient. It creates and polishes critical and analytical thinking in a student. It is also an excellent way to communicate.