THE ACADEMIC WRITING STYLE

WRITING is a form of communication that is shaped by the following factors:

1. Topic- What is the text all about? What details am I imparting to the readers?
2. Role- Who am I as a writer? Do I write as a sibling? A student? A son/daughter? A customer?
3. Purpose- Why am I writing this in the first place?
4. Audience- Who is reading this piece? What knowledge does he/she need to understand in my writing?

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF LANGUAGE in ACADEMIC WRITING

1. FORMALITY
Formality reflects your dignified stance in your writing as a member of the academic community. This
means that since your audience are fellow members of the academic community, the language you use
requires precision to make it a ‘legitimate’ piece of academic writing.
Formality can be achieved through the following ways:
a. Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms, such as using cannot instead of can’t, do not
instead of don’t.
b. Choosing one verb form over two-word verbs, such as damage instead of mess-up.
c. Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated equivalents, such as as soon as possible instead of
ASAP.
d. Avoiding colloquial/ trite/idiomatic expressions, such as kind of like, as a matter of fact, I need to go
to the John.

2. OBJECTIVITY
Academic writing requires special knowledge and use of more complex language and objectivity. This
means that the writing must be impersonal and maintain a certain level of social distance.
Objectivity can be achieved by:
a. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as you, I and we.
Poor example: you need to conduct the experiment.
Improved version: the researchers need to conduct the experiment.
b. Avoiding rhetorical questions as it marks “closeness” with the reader, and constantly seeks his/her
attention.
Poor example: how can these problems be solved?
Improved version: certain measures must be discovered to solve the problems.
c. Avoiding emotive language that shows biases and lessens objectivity.
Poor example: the investigators were very shocked to see the outcome of the tests.
Improved version: The investigators did not expect the results.

3. EXPLICITNESS
Academic writing demands the use of signposts that allow readers to trace the relationships in the parts
of a study.
If you intend to show a change in your line of argument, make it clear by using however.
Example:
It is apparent that the government hopes to provide assistance to the poor. However, giving dole outs to
the “poorest of the poor” does not work in the long term.
The following phrases may be useful in making ideas explicit:
a. This is due to the….
b. This resulted in….
c. When two ideas seem the same, express each one clearly use the word “similarly”
d. If you intend to give extra information in your sentence, make it clear by writing “In addition”
e. If you are giving examples, do so explicitly by writing “for example”
4. CAUTION
Academic writing requires care since knowledge is built from proven theories and concepts therefore,
caution is needed to avoid sweeping generalizations. Consider the following example:
>Government officials are corrupt.
The statement is not completely true and the rhetorical impact of the statement may be misleading. The
statement can be improved through the use of devices such as modal verbs, adverbs or verbs.
Improved versions:
Some government officials may be corrupt. (Modal verb)
Corruption is commonly linked to some key government officials. (Adverb)
A number of government officials tend to be linked with cases of corruption. (Verb)

In academic writing, caution needs to be observed in the following parts of your paper:
>when a hypothesis needs to be tested
>drawing conclusions or predictions from your findings that may generalize certain matters or may not
be conclusive
>referencing other’s work to build on your own paper

Below are some forms that you may use in observing caution in writing.
Verbs indicating caution: tends, suggests, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, and indicate

Example: The findings of the survey suggest that students who use the social networking in their academic
work tend to be more updated on recent developments in their respective subjects.

Modal verbs: will must, would, may, can, might, could

Adverbs of Frequency; often, sometimes, usually

5. STRUCTURE
Aside from language, sentences need to be constructed in such a way that they show a level of
complexity that reflects the sophistication of an academic writer. Combining ideas effectively,
nominalization and passivization are some ways to achieve structure fir for academic writing.

In combining ideas effectively, you will need to avoid redundancy and at the same time, make sure that
ideas are packed effectively.

Consider the following examples:

Though these sentences are grammatically correct, they do not possess the sophistication of academic
writing. They can be improved by continuing similar ideas expressing them through a more complex
construction. Hence, they can be rewritten this way.

*The earthquake was a disaster that caused loss of life, property damage, and permanent changes
in the landscape.
In nominalization, the verbs are made central as they denote action. Transforming verbs into nouns
help readers focus on the action and not on the doer of the action.

Examples:
1. The company created software to manage the transaction successfully.

Nominalization:
The creation of software to manage transaction was a success.

2. The president announced a three-day holiday this September.

Nominalization:
The president’s announcement of a three-day holiday for September was released.

3. The mall distributed several free items to consumers in the hope to boost sales.

Nominalization:
Distribution of free items for consumers was done in the hope to boost sales.

In passive construction, the results of actions are highlighted. In academic writing, since the writer of
the paper is presumed to have done the collection and analysis of data, it is understood that results of
the action are a product of the writer’s work.

Example:
1. The researcher conduct experiments to validate the hypothesis.

Passivization:
Experiment were conducted to validate the hypothesis.

2. An engineer built a salt water lamp to help communities with no electricity.

Passivization:
A salt water lamp was built to help communities with no electricity.

3. Several scientists conducted experiment to examine the effects of algae and biodiversity.

Passivization:
An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.