What is academic writing?

Academic writing is writing which is done by scholars (students or academics) for other
scholars to read. It can take many forms: journal articles, textbooks, dissertations, group
project reports, etc. Although students are increasingly being asked to write different types of
academic text, the essay still remains the most popular type of assignment. Essays are written
by students and are likely to be read by one person only: their tutor. The essay can be set as a
coursework assignment to assess a student’s understanding o f a module, or as an exam
question

I. Formality
Before starting university, students are already aware of the need for form al language in
essays. The problem is that it can be difficult to know what is formal and what is not. You can
try to think about it in this way: words that are used a lot when speaking (e.g. ‘big’, ‘good ’,
‘well’, ‘a lot’), or a technique that is used a lot in speeches (e.g. asking the audience
questions) are unlikely to be used in form al writing.

What else can, we expect from the internet? The first thing which we expect and hope to have
is an improvement of the services in, the near future.

The student asks a question here and then answers it. This is a technique used in speeches to
involve the audience. In academic writing, the writer does not address the audience. An
improvement would be: ‘the future of the internet will be decided by the needs of its
customers. One development is therefore likely to be service improvement.’ This takes out the
question, the word ‘hope’, which is quite personal, and the need for ‘we’, which-refers to
internet customers.

Secondly, we need to reduce the internet service access fees. Moreover; there are always
technological developments in the pipeline.

This follows on from the previous text about the internet, so we can avoid the ‘we’ by saying
‘Another customer requirement is a reduction in access fees.’ The second sentence contains
an idiom, ‘in the pipeline’, which means ‘in the process of being completed, delivered, or
produced’. Idioms are very rare in academic writing, and it is better if you don’t use them.
The sentence could be improved as follows:
‘Technological advances can also be expected, as companies are always developing their
systems in order to stay competitive.’

Analysis of annual financial reports is an art, which involves many complexities. Even when
they are looking at the same natural beauty, amateur painters and great masters will have
completely different interpretations. Different people might o b ta in different conclusions
when reading the same report.

This student is using an analogy: financial analysis is compared to an art form with many
complexities. It is not wrong to use an analogy, as it involves comparison, which is an
academic skill. However, analogy and metaphor can be quite poetic in nature, in which case
they are not academic. The student is going too far in the second sentence. An improvement
would be: ‘The analysis of financial reports can be said to have more in common with art than
with science, as it relies on interpretation and not just facts. This is why different analysts may
reach different conclusions.

Then, there is another problem: different parties' interests often correspond with the financial
performance of the company.

‘Then’ is used here to list items (‘First, Second, Then,’). This is often done in presentations,
but in writing it sounds too informal. The sentence can be improved as follows: ‘Another
problem is that different parties’ interests ...’
In order to find out more information about the statement, the reader can break it down into its
different aspects.

Notice how one-word verbs sound more form al than phrasal verbs: ‘In order to investigate
further, the reader can analyse the different aspects of the statement.

In companies with alternative working environments there seems to be a lot more respect for
the management.

‘A lot’ is so common in speech that it is best avoided in academic writing. It can simply be
replaced with ‘much’ in front of an uncountable word (like ‘respect’ in this sentence), or
‘many’ if it is countable (e.g. ‘many people’).

However, every enterprise cannot develop without the support of society and the natural
resources of the environment.

There is a grammatical mistake here: you wouldn’t say ‘every X cannot’. One way of
correcting this is saying ‘an enterprise cannot... . This can be made to sound more formal by
using ‘no’ instead of ‘not’: ‘... no enterprise can ...’

There are not many recruitment managers who would actually use social networking sites to
gather information about potential employees.

In a similar way to the previous example, we can replace ‘not’ to make the sentence more
formal: ‘Few recruitment managers would ...’ Where ‘not ... much’ is used in an essay, it can
be replaced with ‘little’.

Firstly, the leader should implement systems which enable the staff to tackle their problems
together.

An improvement would be: ‘... enable the staff to solve their problems together’. ‘Tackle’ is
often used in the context of sport, and is quite an informal word. There is a good alternative
available, so it is better to use that here.

Patients can't always judge accurately what is expected of them.

Using abbreviated forms of verbs {can’t, shouldn’t, won’t, etc., instead of cannot, should not
and will not) is fine in informal writing such as emails, but contractions are not acceptable in
academic writing.
Formality is not about writing difficult words and constructions. If you try to over-complicate
your language, it may give the impression you are not being respectful of the reader. Instead,
when you are explaining something in your text, start off simply, then rephrase parts to make
the writing more formal.

II. Efficiency
Efficient writing fulfils its purpose without saying too much. You should use the minimum
amount of language that is required, and not repeat yourself. When you were writing shorter
essays for exam s, you might have been worried about writing enough words in a small
amount of time, which may have led to repetition. Avoid this by careful proofreading.

To compare these two theories, several examples of similar content can be pointed out
between these two theories.

There was no need to repeat ‘theories’. An improvement would be: ‘When com paring these
two theories, it becomes clear that there are many similarities.’

If you look carefully at academic writing, you will notice that many noun phrases are used.
Here is an example:

‘In a study, the effect of weight loss without salt restriction on the reduction of blood pressure
in overweight patients was examined.

Nearly half of the words in that sentence are nouns. Using nouns is efficient: you use less
space if you are talking about processes (salt reduction) without describing the action (they
have reduced the salt).

III. Modesty
In academic writing you need to be respectful of the ideas of others. In your essays it is very
unlikely that you would say something like ‘These researchers were completely wrong.’
Instead you might say ‘More recent research has shown that this is not the case.’ You are
supposed to look at different angles and say whether you agree or disagree, but you always
need to remain modest about your opinion. Look at some examples on the next page:

Trait theory is the best leadership theory.

This statement is too strong: even if the student can explain why this theory is useful in
comparison to other theories, another scholar could easily argue that another one is better. The
statement is too confident. The student should not use the word ‘best’ and should explain why
this theory is useful.

Students are very weak in their basic mathematical knowledge due to over-dependence on,
calculators.
This is the student’s opinion, but she cannot write this without evidence. She could cite
studies that have shown this to be true, or she could adjust her language: ‘Some students’
mathematical knowledge may suffer because of their over-dependence on calculators.’ A way
to ensure academic modesty is to use cautious language. This is also called ‘hedging’
language, because ‘to hedge against something’ means to protect yourself from its
consequences.

In order to encourage consumers to try their goods for the first time, a number of promotional
methods should be applied as follows: (...)

The student says that the company ‘should’ do something, where he should really have made
a suggestion (‘could’).

The next step is to conduct a long-term, observation, among the workers to find out if they
show a more creative and conscientious approach in their daily work.

Here, ‘is’ is too strong. The student is saying what he thinks is a good idea, so it really is a
suggestion. He could have used ‘may be’ or ‘could be’.

A common mistake that students make is to use cautious language where it is not necessary.
They use ‘would’, ‘might’, ‘likely to ’, etc. because they have learnt that these verbs are com
m on in academic writing.

Annual financial reports misfit include information from, financial statements and other
sources.

Even without knowing much about the subject, we can assume that the purpose of financial
reports is to give financial information. The verb ‘might’ needs to be taken out of the
sentence. It would come across as immodest if your essay were to state ‘I did I did ..., I did
Even if you use the ‘we’ form, this would not improve matters much. It is possible to use ‘I’
and ‘we’ in certain circumstances, however.

Here though, we will work on the basis that ‘I’ and ‘we’ should be avoided where possible
and we will be looking at examples of writing where language is used that is not objective
enough.

As we all know, an enterprise is composed of many different groups, including management

(such as the board of directors, the chief executive officer; other executives), shareholders,
and other influential stakeholders (including leaders, suppliers, employees, creditors,
customers, and the community)

This is an interesting one: the student is including the reader by saying ‘we’, so she is making
her comment quite personal and suggesting that if readers do not know there may be
something wrong with them. We can say the same thing but make it more impersonal: ‘It is
commonly known that an enterprise ...’

In my opinion, the company should do this, because it would offer direct business benefits.
The student could say ‘If the company did this, they would receive direct business benefits.’
There is normally no need to say ’in my opinion’ as your whole essay is a development of
your opinion.

Non-shareholder stakeholders also play an important role in corporate governance. As I

mentioned before, stakeholders include employees, suppliers, local communities and local
governments.

Here, ‘I’ can easily be left out, so it is best to do so

VI. Clarity
If your writing has clarity, it means that you have expressed yourself clearly and there is no
doubt about what you mean. Your choice of words needs to be specific and precise.

This could help stakeholders to understand the health of public companies by means of a
Balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in Financial Position and other
descriptions.

It is not clear what the student means by the word ‘descriptions’, as he seems to be referring
to financial information.

We now need to consider how enterprises perform, successfully. In my opinion, good

corporate governance is the main reason.

At first sight the two sentences don’t seem to relate as the words ‘how ’ and ‘reason’ do not
connect with each other. With careful rereading it becomes clearer that the student is saying
that good corporate governance is the main reason why enterprise^ that operate successfully
manage to do so. An improvement here would be ‘In the next section we will consider the
reasons why enterprises are successful and the central role of good corporate governance.’

The first one depends on the situation: they may need to change the leader if his style is not
suitable.

The student has chosen ‘his’ but this cannot be what she wanted to say, as leaders can be male
or female. She probably did not want to write ‘his or her’ because that is quite awkward.
However, there are other solutions: ‘companies may need to change leaders if their style is not
suitable’, or ‘a company may need to change its leader if their style is not suitable’. The w
plural can be used to refer to a singular person in this type of sentence.

In, short, there are always two sides to every coin.

It is tempting to use sayings, as they often express exactly what you want to say in few words.
However, they are best used when speaking, not in form al writing. In this example, the
saying is used as the conclusion of a paragraph, but this is a poor ending. The main reason for
not using sayings is that they tend to express universal truths or commonly held beliefs, and
therefore do not demonstrate original, research-based or critical thinking. They are also often
used in speech, which makes them sound informal.

In confusing the role of author, editor etc. Diba refers to the multiplicity of the text.

The abbreviation ‘etc.’ is not very common in academic text, because it forces the reader to
come up with more examples themselves. Academic writers need to be clear and precise.
Here it is hard to imagine what other roles the writer is referring to.

The steam, engine was a reliable power source at that time and used in mining, cotton,
railways, etc.

If the steam engine was only used in mining, cotton and railways, then the student should
simply have put a full stop rather than ‘etc’., but there are probably more examples to be
given. Here, an improvement would be: ‘... used in mining, cotton, railways and other
industries.’

There are many things that need to be taken into consideration.

The word ‘thing’ is very imprecise, and there is never a need to use it. Simply say what it
stands for. Here, the word ‘factors’ could be used. Other vague words and phrases to avoid
include ‘kind of’ and ‘stuff’.