The Importance of Academic Writing
For centuries, the human species has been mastering the art of writing, as it is everywhere whether you think so or not. Writing is portable and permanent, and it makes your thinking visible. That being said, it is an essential skill that one must learn. Hence why English/Language Arts is a core class in most schools. These schools teach various types of writing that are used in different areas of work and life, and that are essential to college life. However, we would like to know specifically why academic writing style is so important to our educational careers. More so, why is academic writing more important that professional or personal writing when it comes to the educational field?
According to James Hartley of Colorado Technical College: “Academic writing refers to a style of expression that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and their specific areas of expertise. Characteristics of academic writing include many things like a formal tone, use of the third-person perspective rather than a first-person perspective, a clear focus on the research problem that is under investigation, and very precise word choice. Like specialist languages adopted in other professions, such as law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts for a group of scholarly experts.”
Universities, high schools and even elementary schools all around the world use academic writing almost on a daily basis. Usually when a student starts school their instructor/teacher begin to teach certain shapes called letters that the student will learn to use and will be used for the rest of their lives. When the instructor then decides these students are ready to begin writing they start to write stories. They learn to use their imagination and are taught to put their thoughts on to paper. Over the years their stories begin to turn into essays. The essays begin to get more elaborate and are then used to help a student think and analyze on what they have heard, seen and read. Now the teacher is assigning pieces of literature for the students to read and reflect on. By stating their opinion about the assigned literature,
The written word is a robust contrivance that has been used for thousands of years to endow knowledge and emotion upon its audiences. Academic writing is one of the many different types of writing. Academic writing conveys different formalities of writing when compared to a basicity that is Personal writing. Academic writing needs a more organized, formal structure whilst using attire such as in-text citations and references to backup information presented within the script. Academic writing also deals with basal theories and causes ascendant processes and practices in ones everyday life, as well as exploring alternative substitutes for these events according too author Jagg Xaxx. The following is a reflection on my own academic essay
In L. Lennie Irvin’s What Is “Academic” Writing, this short story is written as an opening and introduction to new young college students to show them how the world of writing really is. Irvin deciphers speaking to generate a discussion and true writing. Irvin explains how college writing is a much higher educational process that is much more unique and requires research skills. Academic writing is described as analytical for most students. Irvin tells the readers about the myths that are said. The main myth is the perfect first draft, “We put unrealistic expectations on first drafts, either by focusing too much on the impossible task of making them perfect”. Irvin’s main point about writing is that It resembles having a blind fold over your
What is academic writing? If you were to ask a majority of first year college students what academic writing is I am definite that an inadequate amount will be able to give you the correct definition, while some like myself may not even have a clue as to what academic writing is. Since taking English 101 and being assigned the readings, They Say/ I Say and Rhetorical Approaches I was able to comprehend the meaning of academic writing for the better of my understanding. According to Purdue University academic writing is, “Rules and practices that may be organized around a formal order or structure in which to present ideas, in addition to ensuring that ideas are supported by author citations in literature.” Also the text in They Say/I Say reads, “For us, the underlying structure of effective academic writing ---and of responsible public discourse---resides not just in stating our own ideas but in listening closely to others around us, summarizing their views in a way that
In this journal, written by Elizabeth Wardle, she discusses the bridge between high school level writing and collegiate writing. Although some students come to college well prepared in their writing ability, others fall short of the expectation and often focus too much on the structural nature of writing, rather than the writing itself. Wardle elaborates on the ideas that high school educators typically desire for the students to focus on the information in said paper, in lieu of discovering a wider variety of techniques and genres. A high school student writes a paper to put his/her thoughts onto one cohesive document. It is a rarity to find one student who writes for the art of writing. Wardle does an excellent job
Writing a college-level essay can be tricky, especially if there is lack of inspiration or the ideas aren’t organized well enough to articulate into a draft. However, in the case of higher-level education; students are encouraged to stimulate their learning through writing, in order to acquire an analytical and understanding capacity to be successful in college. Coupled with planning, research, and hard work; writing essays for college becomes an easier task in a short time, resulting in the improvement of critical thoughts. In the article, Using Writing to Promote Reading to Learn in College, Hayes Christopher G, states that, “the written text allows both reader and writer to examine thoughts captured in time and recorded in words, thereby encouraging more complex thinking because constraints imposed by memory have been abolished by the written record” (Hayes 4). After all, more than any other invention, writing has transformed the human consciousness. This mastery gives society the ability to improve every day, by enhancing their personalities, considering that having a good use of language and information, will result in achieving great success. In the article: Reconsidering English Teaching for Improving Non-English Majors’ English writing Ability, Yuru Shen declares how, “it is self-evident that grammar plays a very important role in language learning, including English learning” (Shen 74).With this in mind, understanding that college level composition is important will
Every day consists of writing, whether it is informal or formal. Writing comes in different forms including, emails, essays, text messages, and even note taking in class. I have gathered materials and assignments in my major to analyze what kind of writing is required and how it should be executed. What I discovered was surprising, but almost every piece of research revealed that writing is not incredibly important in my field of study.
The actual concept to academic writing includes a person opinions along with a thesis that supports the authors claim. Then followed by the opinion, there should always be a reason or a topic sentence on why the author or writing is trying to tell the audience. Lastly there should always be evidence in the essay with statistics, examples, reliable quotes, and the topic should always focus on one specific topic. Another writing
Scholarly writing is a process that requires practice to develop this skill. Hatcher (2011) purports that scholarly writing is root in ideology. This style of writing is multi-faceted; it requires a level of formality, the use of of active voice with the intention to eliminate passive voice, and when writing sentences the character should precede the action. According to (Types of Scholarly Writing, n.d.) this style of writing serves to advance knowledge within a particular field and adds new insights to extend, challenge or expand what is known. The wording should be carefully selected, sentences should be concise and written in third third person. The appearance of scholarly writing is usually structured in the sections, abstract, keywords, introduction, literature review, methodology, result, conclusion, and references.
There are many different types and forms of writing that are out there to do. Some examples are persuavive and informative essays, comic strpis, book reviews, autobiograyphy, lettters, opioins, texting and many many more. Most people don't realize that they do some type of writing in some form almost everyday of their lives. Although I don’t seem like I do it that often; I believe that writing is a very critical skill to know and apply because it will help you significantly for the future of your life. Marquette University says” Writing is the
Writing has been the normal way of communicating for hundreds of centuries. Ever since the early Hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt in 3000 B.C.E. to the well recognized Greek scripts, writing has been one of the best forms of communicating. With any type of writing there are specific types of guidelines and rules that a writer must follow to sound intelligent to make the reader understand him/her clearly. In the English language, there are different types of formats to write and hundreds of ways to write in that format. For example, a simple poem can be wrote so many ways, and the poem can either rhyme with a A-B-A-B format, A-A-B-B- format, or not even rhyme at all. When it comes to essays, they need to be very precise and structured.
Writing an essay may seem to be a skill only used in the scholarly environment; however, nearly every job one can imagine will require writing. Doctors write research papers, software engineers write documentation, and applicants write cover letters. All writings should include certain features which distinguish them from lackluster comparisons. Writings should feature parallelism, concise clarifying details, and an active voice.
Academic writing is a concept that I didn’t analyze deeply before. The essay “Navigating Genres” shows every part of this type of writing. It exposes its structure which is not easy to grasp and can vary depending on the intended audience. One of the elements that I noticed in this type of writing is a clear language allowing the writer to be concise in the idea that is expressed to the reader. An additional characteristic is a formal tone where slang and confusing words are avoided. Evidence is imperative because it shows the sound understanding of the theme that is imparted and defines the strength of the argument. One thing that has surprised me about academic writing is that the information or evidence is shown in a formal narrative tone,
Writing is a form of communication that is used to be understood by the reader regardless of the environment it is being used in. Writing in the workplace and writing at school have different technical aspects even though both are precise in their purpose. Business writing is specific in supporting the efficiency, quality and needs of the job (Barrass, 2003, p. Ch. 2) while writing at school supports the demands of obtaining a degree.
There are many different forms and styles used in writing. Writing is a form of communication that is used to document and express ideas people have. Through the years as people grow and learn knew ways of writing, writing awareness of a person will evolve into a much higher level of thinking. From the first term paper a person writes in high school to the papers they hand in at the college level, the writing will have matured over the years. The authors of writing develop new and more sophisticated ways in expressing themselves through the words they use in writing. Throughout history writers have found ways in which they can achieve the goals of gaining the readers attention and keep them interested. A good form of
For this assignment I will focus on academic writing, which is a much more involved process. I know that before you can write an actual paper, you must first go through certain steps in order to prepare for it. Then when the time comes, you can write your essay by adding details as you go. Each writing process is different and unique to its author. An