Academic writing should be objective. The language of academic writing should therefore be impersonal, and should not include personal pronouns, emotional language or informal speech. Use of personal pronouns (I / my / our / us / etc) can make the tone of writing too subjective, and should be avoided.

Informal language is not appropriate in formal writing or speaking contexts. Slang and idioms might not make logical sense to nonnative speakers of English. It is good to be aware of slang and idioms so they do not appear in your formal writing.

Features of academic writing

• Complexity. Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language.
• Formality. Academic writing is relatively formal.
• Precision. In academic writing, facts and figures are given precisely.
• Objectivity. Written language is in general objective rather than personal.
• Explicitness.
• Accuracy.
• Hedging.
• Responsibility.

Academic language has a unique set of rules: it should be explicit, formal and factual as well as objective and analytical in nature. Students often think that academic language should sound complex and be difficult to write and understand but that is not necessarily the case.

The Structure of Academic Texts

1. Aim. The aim determines the entire academic text and the content found in each section.
2. Research questions. The aim is often rather general, and may have to be narrowed down with research questions.
3. Introduction.
4. Methods and Materials.
5. Results.
6. Discussion.
7. Conclusion.

Academic articles are written by professionals in a given field. They are edited by the authors’ peers and often take years to publish. Non-Academic articles are written for the mass public. They are published quickly and can be written by anyone.

Both academic and non-academic texts aim for accuracy, and both use research, though the research behind non-academic texts tends to be much lighter and to focus more heavily on secondary sources than that behind academic texts.

The three-part essay structure is a basic structure that consists of introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction and the conclusion should be shorter than the body of the text.

Complexity: Academic writing is more complex. It has longer words with varied vocabulary and usually complicated grammar, compared to spoken language.

Academic writing serves as a tool of communication that conveys acquired knowledge in a specific field of study. Writing academically will help students analyse, convey understanding, think critically and focus on technique and style.

• Features of academic writing. Using academic language. Establishing your position. Writing in your own ‘voice’ Using tentative language.
• Clear communication. Writing clear paragraphs. Writing clearly, concisely and precisely. Signposting.
• Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting.
• Editing and proof-reading your work.

The primary function of writing to learn is to order and represent the content of the learning experience to one’s own understanding. Students will improve their writing skills in various ways, but primarily from practice reading and writing. The more you ask them to do, the better they will become.

Five Ways to Inspire Your Students to Write

1. Allow your students to see themselves as authors.
2. Read lots of narrative text.
3. Assign relevant writing assignments that are applicable to your students lives.
4. Give your students permission to make mistakes.
5. Allow your students to publish and share their own writing.