Features of academic writing

Academic writing is intended for a particular reader to get some important information from it, and not for entertainment. Therefore an academic text follows certain strict rules, which a writer in this genre should hold, in order to persuade the readers.

In order to be convincing the writer should be factual. It means that an academic text should be based on real facts. The writer should not use his personal opinion to judge certain things.

The writer should be precise. Everything that is written should be proved and taken from a reliable source. Each source that is used should be mentioned, so that the reader does not doubt in plausibility of information.

The text will be more understandable for a reader if the writer selects words carefully. So, an academic text should be written in a formal vocabulary. Colloquial words and expressions, abbreviations should be avoided.

As an academic text uses formal vocabulary, it should be written in passive voice. Pronouns I, You, We, They should be missed, as they are used more often in informal speech. However passive voice also should not be overused.

Another feature of academic writing is objectivity. The text should be focused on the main theme and offer information about it, without the writer being involved in a personal manner. Therefore an academic text includes more nouns, than verbs and adverbs.

A logical and coherent structure is another important key to writing a clear and convincing academic text. There should definitely be one central topic which is developed with supporting ideas. An academic text should contain introduction, from which the reader understands the subject and the purpose of the writing. Then follows the body, where the subject is developed and all the ideas are proved. And it ends with conclusion where the writer sums up all the ideas.

It is also important that each new idea should start with a new paragraph.

Thus, following all these rules, will help to write a coherent, logical and, that is the most important, a convincing text.