Academic writing style

Academic writing style

Academic writing is the ability to express and substantiate one’s thoughts through a short. Yet, convincing scientific text. It is one of the important aspects of successful education at the university and further research activities, including at the international level.

With the help of academic writing, scientific and educational communication between different countries has been carried out over the past few decades. Its principles are guided by the leading editors of the most competent scientific publications around the world, so everyone should master them, at least to help their path in climbing the career ladder in any science.

English-speaking countries today play a key role in the development of the academic writing system and its scientific and methodological base. This is a completely new discipline for Russian education, although the problems it poses is not new for our country. The development of scientific writing was carried out by specialists from various industries, including linguists, philologists, semiologists, sociopsychologists, and even representatives of professions engaged in information technology.

Writing genres

The developers of the academic writing system distinguish between primary (scientific article, dissertation, academic review, monograph, etc.) and secondary genres (description of a scientific project, thesis, abstract, scientific discussion, encyclopedic article, abstract).

In a scientific article, the author cites the results of his own research. Besides to facts, it contains logical reasoning and comprehension of the effective part.

• The dissertation is prepared for obtaining a master’s qualification or other academic degree.
• The review analyzes the scientific text and gives a critical assessment of the work.
• The monograph devotes to one topic. Also, is set after the accumulation of a enough amount of heterogeneous information and scientific materials on the subject of research.
• An abstract is a concise summary of any primary source (article, dissertation, abstract, etc.). A short transmission of its essence. She lists the issues addressed by topic. A description of the structure of the work is possible.
• The abstract is similar in meaning to the presentation of the revised primary text. It conveys the information disclosed in the original source. May include more information, new data.
• A scientific discussion intends to discuss scientific problems and search for their solutions. It begins with the advancement of the topic of discussion and voicing of oppositions (contradictions). After which it proceeds to a critical examination of existing points of view.

Besides, researchers must master another genre – scientific journalistic (popular science), used to publish an expert point of view in a wide public field.

All these genres differ in content, peculiarities of language, composition, functional-speech specifics. At the same time, they unite into one main feature – clarity, accuracy and uniqueness of expression of thoughts.

Features of the academic writing style

When writing any text within the framework of academic writing, its peculiarities should take into account. So, a scientific text as a basic model of academic writing should have a simple structure, consisting of an introduction, a main part and a traditional conclusion.

• The introductory part reveals the topic, introduces the reader to the course of the matter.
• In the main part, the author refers to scientific research on the topic and presents his own vision of the problem under study.
• In the conclusion, conclusions are drawn, further prospects in the issue under study outlines, forecasts are made.

When constructing sentences, using special terminology and professional abbreviations of terms, the author must understand for which audience he is writing. When reading, there should be no questions left, the topic should disclose and understandable.

The rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling must follow. This makes it easier to understand, eliminates the distortion of the meaning and ambiguity of what is said.

In the work, it is desirable to use citations and refer to the work of other scientists. This demonstrates the competence of the researcher, the breadth of his research and its completeness. Referring to other studies, their essence must disclose so that the reader understands what it is about and for what purpose the author gave a specific example.

In conclusion, it should one should note that everyone needs to master the scientific text and academic writing: students of higher educational institutions, graduate students, teachers, scientists and researchers who publish scientific articles.

If they intend to publish their work in scientific journals, they will have a better chance of receiving a positive response from the editorial board. This is best facilitated by an abstract prepared under the rules of academic writing.

For those interested in the voiced problem, a special training course “How to write an article for publication in publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science?” Will be useful. It is interesting because one views academic writing from the point of view of the English language. As a bonus, all listeners will receive the first module for free. Upon completion of training, a certificate of completion is awarded.