FY026-Preparing for

Success: Knowledge
and Creativity

ACADEMIC WRITING
SKILLS
ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS
COMMUNICATION FOR ACADEMIC AND
PROFESSIONAL CONTEXTS

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What is Academic writing?

Academic writing is accurate, impersonal and

evidenced.

Accuracy embraces sentence structure,

spelling, punctuation and vocabulary as
well as, most importantly, the accuracy of
the factual information it discusses.
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Accuracy

You should check

spelling, punctuation
and grammar when
communicating
academic and
professional Watch the video on: https://
contexts. How? www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE4sVMz?pid=ocpVideo0-innerdiv-oneplayer&postJsllMsg=true&maskLev
el=20&market=en-us

Use Editor in MS
Word (Web Version –
RM Unify) or
Grammarly 4
Accuracy

Accuracy also applies to facts. Check your

facts! State the source of your information!
Think of academic writing as similar to
scientific writing: nothing said is vague;
nothing is guesswork; nothing is simply a
matter of opinion.
The statement below is not academic.

“Women are bad drivers.”

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Vocabulary

Academic writing is precise. Words should be used with care. They must
mean what you want them to mean. If in doubt, check words you use in a
dictionary.

Precision means not leaving your reader to guess your meaning. In general,
academic vocabulary can be considered to consist of three types of
vocabulary:
• general words which are acceptable for academic use;
• non-general 'academic' words;
• technical words specific to an individual subject area.
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Vocabulary

How can you improve your academic vocabulary?

Read an academic text every day for at least 10 minutes.

Your brain will slowly gather many academic words. You
will use that word collection unwittingly to write your
coursework later.

You may also check a list of common academic words below.

https://www.eapfoundation.com/vocab/academic/nawl/
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Some simple rules: do’s and don’ts

• Do not use abbreviations (don’t, can’t, etc.)

• Numbers under 10 (or better still, under 100) and at the start of a sentence should be
written in full.
• Initialisation or acronyms should be explained the first time they are used eg: The
International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA) . . . Is holding a conference . . .
• Avoid colloquial speech and clichés: this bird I know who was going out with this
geezer . . . The reaction was over the top . . . There was light at the end of the tunnel . . .
• Attempt to keep your writing impersonal. This means that the reader is not aware of you
or your emotions. You may give a judgement but it is based on objective evidence.
• Avoid subjective or emotive words: wonderful worthwhile rabble. These
• words give away your attitude and feelings.

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Academic writing is structured

You will be expected to write in a range of formats. Essays, reports,

portfolios, papers and articles all have their own structure. In common, they
will each have a form of introduction in which you make it clear what you
intend to write about and why.

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Essays
Essays are usually written in continuous, flowing, paragraphed text and don’t use section
headings. This may seem unstructured at first, but good essays are carefully structured.

Reference list 10
REPORTS
Reports originate from the business environment. They are formal documents used to
convey an idea, message or analysis effectively and clearly.

Typically, they are produced in response to a request for information.

There is no standard format for reports but they will be structured in a similar way and
contain standard sections so that readers can find information which is of particular
interest quickly.

Unlike essays, reports will be divided into headed and numbered sections; they may
include an abstract (summary) at the very beginning of the report which sums up, in one
paragraph, the entire contents of the report. Longer reports will also contain a contents
section to enable readers to locate key information. 11
REPORTS

Why are reports written?

There is always a purpose to a report. Generally, reports are

written:
- to inform (provide individuals with information, establish the
current situation)
- to explain (investigate an occurrence /problem)
- to persuade (suggest a particular course of action)

The style and content of your report must be appropriate to its

purpose and its audience.
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Structuring reports

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What is a Portfolio?

A portfolio is a collection of documents (MANY IN ONE). You will

collect and place various types of documents into one document in
a structured way. Anyone can locate the different items of the
collection easily using that one document.

When you submit your work to Turnitin for grading, there will be only
one link available for you to upload your Portfolio.

You should assemble all your items/documents into single file. We

called that file “Portfolio” as it is a collection of many documents in
one file. 14
Portfolio Example

For example, you will be asked to create a portfolio for your coursework
that contains two items,
a report and
a presentation.

You will use MS Word app to write your report and save it as an MS
Word file (.docx). You will then use MS PowerPoint app to create your
presentation (.pptx).

In the end, you will insert both those items in one MS Word document.
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 Example: Process of creating a PORTFOLIO
Document App used File name
ending
Conversion
Portfolio document

Presentation MS PowerPoint .pptx Convert slides into

images.
Then insert those
images into the
Portfolio file

Portfolio should be in MS Word file

Report MS Word .docx Copy and paste the

your text of the
report into Portfolio
file

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PORTFOLIO IS “MANY IN ONE”

Creating a digital portfolio could be a challenging task.

Seek help from the Academic Support Team.

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Academic writing is cautious

Avoid absolute assertions which cannot be proved.

Look at the text: “Women are bad drivers”

Compare it with
“Many people consider women to be bad drivers”
“Some women are bad drivers.”

You might be able to prove the second or third statement; you are not in
position to prove the first statement.

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Academic writing is objective

It avoids emotive language. (Emotive language sets out to cause the

reader to react with certain emotions. It gives away the writer’s attitude.)

Compare:
The skinny hooligans behaved in an outrageous way.
with:
The behaviour of the less than average size youngsters caused discomfort
to some onlookers.
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Writing in the “third person”

• A far as possible, academic work should be written in the 3rd person.

Avoid using the first or second person in your writing unless
asked to do so in a reflexive piece.
(Grammatically: 1st person = I, we, me, us, my, mine, our, ours
2nd person = you, your, yours
3rd person = he/she, it, his/her, they, them, their)
This can be difficult to achieve when you are expressing your own opinion. It is
usually necessary to step back mentally from the action and rethink how it can
be expressed impersonally.

Look at: I read several books and decided . . . (1st person)

Compare with: Several texts indicate that the following decision should be
made. (3rd person) 20
The passive voice

A far as possible, academic work should be written in the passive voice. How to achieve the
passive voice.
Look at:
Ali did the research.
Ali is the subject word in the sentence. Ali governs the verb “did the research”. Ali is active.
The object of the verb (the thing having something done to it) is the research
Now look at:
The research was done by Ali.
The research is the subject word in the sentence. “The research” governs the verb “was
done”. But the research did not do anything. It was passive.

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Academic writing is evidenced

Every time you make a statement, try to back it with evidence

and then comment on that evidence.

Look at: Dalton airport has grown enormously over recent years. [STATEMENT]

Now look at : Dalton airport has more than doubled in size. Bloggs (2006) states that
Dalton covered 14 acres in 1990 but had grown to 30 acres by 2005. Froome (2005)
shows that the average daily passenger throughput has tripled in much the same time. The
Dalton Airport website (2007) suggests profits are rapidly increasing too.
[STATEMENT with EVIDENCE]

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The Academic Sandwich

Academic writing must not be a collection

of quotations from books or downloads
from websites with no input from you.
Paraphrasing (putting information into
your own words) and comment to show
you have thought about the material you
have read is essential.

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Paraphrasing

Academic writing must not be a collection of quotations from books or

downloads from websites (called “cut and paste”) with no input from you.
Paraphrasing (putting information into your own words) and comment to show
you have understood and thought about the material you have read is
essential.
Look at a quotation from “Health and Safety Aspects in the Live Music
Industry” by Chris Kemp.

“Managing an event and providing the audience with an environment which is both safe and risk free is
an extremely complex undertaking” (Kemp, 2004 p.11)

How can you paraphrase the above?

Kemp (2004) stresses the complexity of managing music events safely is the same statement put
into this writer’s own words. 24
Thank You!!