2.0 What is Academic Writing Style?

Definition

Academic Writing Style is actually an amalgam which has evolved to meet the purposes of written communication found in various text types. These text types include:

The phrase, "writing style" actually refers to the way a particular writer selects and combines words, sentences, phrases and paragraphs to achieve a specific outcome. The addition of the adjective, "academic" implies a given context different from, for instance, fiction, poetry, drama, letter writing. It also points to a set of expectations that does not exist in other forms of writing. For example, in academic writing the writer will use a more involved sentence structure, making considerable use of parallelism and balanced and periodic sentences and will avoid the use of fragments, often effectively used in narrative writing. His/her diction will demonstrate an appropriate use of extensive vocabulary, abstract words and the absence of slang and contractions.

Purpose of academic writing style

This style described above is designed to produce a serious attitude towards the subject on hand. Depending on the genre, the writer will be subjective, objective, informative or affective. There can be a combination of two or more of these features in a particular piece of writing. The genre dictates tone, and if a personal approach is inappropriate, the writer endeavours to keep the piece of writing as impersonal in tone as possible, in order to highlight the importance of the subject being discussed and the angle from which it is being treated.