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Writing Commons  Style  Writing Styles  Academic Writing – How to Write for the
Academic Community

Academic Writing – How to Write for the

Academic Community
Written by Joseph M. Moxley

Academic writing refers to the writing style that researchers, educators, and
students use in scholarly publications and school assignments. An academic
writing style refers to the semantic and textual features that characterize
academic writing and distinguish it from other discourses, such as professional
writing, workplace writing, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Learn about the discourse
conventions of the academic community so you can write with greater authority,
clarity, and persuasiveness (and, in school settings, earn higher grades!).

Writing Commons
When academic writers are working to contribute to a scholarly conversation, they are careful to immerse
The encyclopedia for writers, researchers, and knowledge workers
themselves in the scholarly conversations on the topic. Once they've read deeply enough to distinguish the

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thought leaders on a topic, the knowledge gaps, and the preferred research methods for exploring a topic, they are
best prepared to synthesize what’s known about a topic and perhaps even contribute new knowledge on the topic
by engaging in acts of scholarship (e.g., theory, interpretation, and argument) or research (e.g., quantitative
research or qualitative research). Photo Credit: Academic Writing by AUM OER is licensed CC BY 2.0

Related Concepts: Audience – Audience Awareness; Discourse Community –

Community of Practice; Discourse Conventions; Elements of Style; Genre;
Professional Writing – Style Guide; Persona; Rhetorical Stance; Tone; Voice

What is Academic Writing?

Academic writing refers to all of the texts produced by academic writers, including
theoretical, empirical, or experience-based works. Examples:
Students at the high school and undergraduate level write essays, book reviews,
lab reports, reviews of literature, proposals–and more. These assignments
often presume an audience of a teacher-as-examiner
Professional academics (e.g. research faculty at a university) engage in
academic discourse in order to engage in peer-reviewed scholarly conversa-
tions with other experts or to inform other disciplines or the general public
about a subject. Academics endeavor to contribute to existing scholarly conver-
sations–and, ideally–to change the conversation in a range of ways:
by proposing a new theory, method, application
by presenting new empirical findings
by offering new interpretations of existing evidence.
Different academic fields have distinct genres, writing styles and conventions
because each academic field possesses its own set of rules and practices that
govern how ideas are researched, structured, supported, and communicated.
Thus, there is no one single style of academic writing. Rather, there are many
different writing styles a writer might adopt, depending on their aims of discourse,
media, writing tools, and rhetorical situation.

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Mind map of top level disciplines and professions by Useamuse is licensed CC BY SA 40

Differences aside, there are a number of discourse conventions that academic

writers share across disciplines. These conventions empower writers to establish
authority and clarity in their prose–and to craft pieces that can be understood and
appreciated by readers from various academic fields as well as the general public.

Features of Academic Discourse

Content
1. Substantive, well reasoned, and logical
Academic writing tends to be substantive rather than
superficial, anecdotal, vague or underdeveloped. For example, a paper on
climate change would not just describe the observed changes in
temperature, but might also delve into the scientific theories that explain
these changes, the evidence supporting these theories, the potential impacts
of climate change, and the debates within the scientific community
2. Evidence-based
Academic writing prioritizes evidence and logical reasoning over anecdotal
observations, personal opinions, personal beliefs emotional appeals
Members of the academic community expect authors to provide evidence
for claims. When academics introduce evidence into their texts, they know
their readers expect them to establish the currency, relevance, authority,
accuracy, and purpose of any evidence they introduce
3. Research-based

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Academic writers are careful to support their claims with evidence from
credible sources, especially peer-reviewed, academic literature.
Academics are sensitive to the ideologies and epistemologies that inform
research methods.
Academics are mindful of the assumptions that inform their research
practices.
For example, when a psychology student studies the effects of
mindfulness on anxiety disorders, they would need to understand that
their research is based on the assumption that anxiety can be measured
and quantified, and that it can be influenced by interventions like
mindfulness training. They would also need to understand that their
research is situated within a particular theoretical framework (e.g.,
cognitive-behavioral theory), which shapes how they conceptualize
anxiety, mindfulness, and the relationship between them.
4. Objective, Fair, Truthful
Academic writing is expected to be objective and fair–and free of bias. This
means presenting evidence in a balanced way, considering different per-
spectives, and not letting personal biases distort the analysis.
It also involves recognizing the limitations of the research and being open to
criticism and alternative interpretations.
5. Respectful of copyright and intellectual property
Academic writers are very careful to attribute the works of authors whom
they’re quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing. They understand information
has value, and they’re careful to discern who the major thought leaders are
on a particular topic. They understand they cannot simply copy and paste
large sections of copyrighted material into their own work, even if they
provide an attribution.
Academic writers must also abide copyright laws, which protect the rights of
authors and creators. This means, for example, that they cannot simply copy
and paste large sections of copyrighted material into their own work, even if
they provide a citation. Instead, they can use smaller excerpts under the
principle of “fair use,” or they can seek permission from the copyright holder
to use larger portions.
Organization
Academic writing is typically organized in a deductive way (as opposed to induc-
tively). Many genresof academic writing have a research abstract, a clear introduc-
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tion, body, conclusions and recommendations.

Academic essays tend to have an introduction that introduces the topic, the exi-
gency that informs this call to write.

reviews pertinent research, and explains the problem —

hypothesis, thesis, and rhetorical situation. the context and states the purpose of
the writing (aka, the thesis!), the body develops the arguments or presents the
research, and the conclusion summarizes the main points and discusses the
implications or applications of the research

Design
Typically, the design of academic documents is plain vanilla, despite the visual
turn in communication made possible by the ubiquity of design tools. Unlike
professional writing, which tends to be incredibly visual, academic writing tends to
be fairly traditional with its focus on alphabetical text as opposed to visual
elements.
1. Plain Design: Academic documents, such as research papers, theses, or
scholarly articles, typically follow a minimalist design approach. They primarily
consist of black text on a white background, with a standard, easy-to-read font.
This “plain vanilla” design reflects the focus of academic writing on the content
rather than the presentation. The aim is to communicate complex ideas clearly
and without distraction.
2. Limited Use of Visuals: Unlike in professional writing or journalism, visuals
such as images, infographics, or videos are not commonly used in academic
writing. When they are used, it’s usually to present data (in the form of graphs,
charts, or tables) or to illustrate a point (with diagrams or figures). The visuals
are typically grayscale and are intended to supplement the text rather than
replace it.
3. Structured Layout: Academic writing tends to follow a structured layout, with
clearly marked sections and subsections. This helps to organize the content
and guide the reader through the argument. However, aside from headings,
there is usually little use of design elements such as color, bolding, or varied
fonts to highlight different parts of the text.
4. Lack of Interactive Features: With the transition to digital media, many types of
writing have become more interactive, incorporating hyperlinks, multimedia, or

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interactive data visualizations. However, academic writing has been slower to

adopt these features. While academic articles often include hyperlinks to
references, they rarely include other interactive elements.
However, as digital media and visual communication become increasingly
prevalent, we may see changes in the conventions of academic design.

Style
1. Academic writing tends to be formal in persona, tone, diction. Academic
writers avoid contractions, slang, colloquial expressions, sexist use of pro-
nouns. Because it is written for specialists, jargon is used, but not
unnecessarily. However, the level of formality can vary depending on the
discipline, the genre (e.g., a research paper vs. a blog post), and the intended
audience. For instance, in sociology and communication, autoethnography is a
common genre, which is a composite of autobiography, memoir, creative
nonfiction, and ethnographic methods.
2. In the last 20 years, there has been a significant move toward including the first
person in academic writing. However, in general, the focus of discourse isn’t
the writer. Thus, most academic writers use the first person sparingly–if at all.
3. Academic writers use the citation styles required by their audiences.
4. The prose style of academics, especially professional academics, tends to be
incredibly “compressed,” which makes academic writing challenging,
particularly for novice readers or those outside the discipline. In other words,
academic writing, particularly that of professional academics, is often
characterized by an efficiency of expression, where a lot of information is
conveyed in relatively few words. Here’s what that means in more detail:
Specialized Vocabulary: Academics often use specialized vocabulary or
jargon that is specific to their field. These terms can convey complex ideas
in a compact form, contributing to the compressed nature of academic
prose. However, they can also make the writing less accessible to non-
specialists.
Complex Sentence Structures: Academic writing often uses complex
sentence structures, such as long sentences with multiple clauses, or
sentences that incorporate lists or parenthetical information. These
structures allow academic writers to express complex relationships and
nuances of meaning, but they can also make the writing more challenging to
read.

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Referential Density: Academic writing often refers to other works, theories,

or arguments, either explicitly (through citations) or implicitly. This referential
density allows academic writers to build on existing knowledge and engage
in scholarly conversation, but it also assumes that readers are familiar with
the referenced works or ideas.

FAQs
1. When is it appropriate to use the first person?
Use of the first person is now more commonplace across academic disciplines. In
order to determine whether first person is appropriate, engage in rhetorical analy-
sis of the rhetorical situation.

Recommended Resources
Professional Writing Prose Style
First-Person Point of View
Using First Person in an Academic Essay: When is It Okay?
A Synthesis of Professor Perspectives on Using First and Third Person in
Academic Writing

Topics

APA – 7th Edition

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Citation
Collaboration
Design
Discourse
Editing
Genre
Grammar
Information Literacy
Invention
Literacy
Mindset
MLA – 9th Edition
Organization
Research
Rhetoric
Style
The Elements of Style
The Writing Process – Research on Composing
Writing Studies

Help

How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing

How to Navigate Writing Commons
How to Shape Information for Maximum Impact
How to Write for the Academic Community
How to Write for the Professional World
How To Revise Your Work
Teacher’s Guide
Writer’s Guide

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