10 Quick Tips to Improve Your Academic Writing Skills
The catch with academic writing is that it’s super specific. A set of rules exists for students to master and get high grades for essays or other academic papers on their way to a diploma. Most are confusing or have tons of exceptions, thus making it challenging to remember and follow.
We’ve done the job for you:
In this article, you’ll find ten quick tips to (finally!) remember the rules of academic writing and improve your corresponding skills. All core details are in one place now; feel free to bookmark and address them next time you get an essay assigned!
1. Follow the Structure
Many write low-quality academic papers because they don’t know (or don’t want to follow) the structure and formatting rules for this type of writing. The experts from FastEssay, a quick essay writing service helping students deal with urgent assignments online, admit:
While the typical structure of standard academic papers is straightforward, some students still struggle with it and can’t distinguish between the tiny details of different essay types. The company’s specialists encourage them to ask for help if in doubt:
It’s better to double-check once than to write essays wrong all the time in the future.
For an academic paper to rock, organize it logically to address the specific issues by connecting ideas and arguments consistently.
- Start with a relevant hook, topic background, and a thesis statement.
- Organize the main points with arguments, evidence, and examples for the target audience to understand and be able to follow your train of thought.
- Conclude by summing up the whole paper and specifying the significance of your research.
- Craft the list of references: What works of other scientists did you cite while writing?
2. Learn Citation Styles
Academic writing requires in-depth research of what other scientists have said about your topic. Stellar academic writing skills are about your ability to analyze all their works, choose the most relevant for your essay, and logically put them in your text as credible evidence to support your arguments.
It’s critical to give proper credit to the original author in your papers. Academic writing guidelines prescribe several citation styles you can use:
- APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian are the most common ones.
To improve your academic writing skills, be aware of those referencing guidelines. They’ll help you organize a paper and avoid plagiarism.
3. Outline Your Paper Before Writing
You will need a proper outline to write a professionally-looking academic article. It’s your instrument to organize all ideas, statements, evidence, and references; think of it as a roadmap that won’t let you get lost on your writing path.
Make it a habit to craft outlines before writing your academic papers.
Take notes regarding what you’ll include in each paragraph: a claim, evidence to support it, counterarguments, references, etc. Such a plan for your future paper will make writing faster and easier.
4. Use Active Voice
Passive voice is grammatically correct, and using it in essays is ok. (We bet you have read dozens of academic papers where this grammar construction predominated.)
However:
Unless otherwise specified in your writing guidelines, do your best to minimize passive voice usage in your academic works. Active voice makes your writing look and sound more persuasive, confident, and professional.
Compare:
- The theory of relativity was developed by Einstein, and thus, modern theoretical physics was founded. (Passive voice)
- Einstein founded modern theoretical physics by developing the theory of relativity. (Active voice)
The latter one sounds better, don’t you agree?
5. Stay Specific
Academic writing is about data and facts, interpreting past ideas, and creating new arguments. It would help if you were specific when writing your papers to make them sound professional.
Narrow down complex topics and focus on their specific aspects in your research. When in doubt, consult your tutor or professor to prevent vague statements, weak references, or repetitions in your academic work.
The same is true for the language you use to write a paper:
Stay formal (more on that below), and use transitional phrases or lengthy expressions sparingly.
6. Vary Sentence Structure
Excessively long and sophisticated sentences are hard to avoid in academic writing because they are natural for formal language. But it doesn’t mean you should limit yourself to this structure:
Too many long sentences in a row hurt readability and annoy the audience. Your academic texts will be challenging to read and understand if you write like that; by contrast, short sentences add rhythm and desired tone to your text.
So, vary sentence length and structure in your essays to create a more natural flow to your writing voice.
7. Use Words YOU Know
Another trap college students and aspiring academic writers often fall into is the desire to sound smart. They try hard to stuff their texts with sophisticated words, hoping they will sound better and more professional that way.
It doesn’t work like that.
Academic writing is concise and clear. You need to understand what you write about rather than trying to impress the audience with your vocabulary. Be straightforward and use the words you know.
But there’s a catch:
Your everyday vocabulary may not be enough for stellar academic performance. Don’t hesitate to expand it:
- Address thesaurus and use synonyms when writing.
- Avoid cliche phrases like “in other words,” leading to repeating the same idea.
- Watch out for weak words like -ly adverbs (consider stronger verbs instead).
8. Keep Language Formal
Back to formal language in writing:
Unlike other types of writing, academic papers require a formal narrative tone. You need to remain unbiased, provide proven facts instead of personal opinions, and use straightforward lexical items to communicate the message.
Also, please avoid slang, jargon, and buzzwords in your texts. It’s academic writing, so follow the corresponding style.
9. Use Evidence and Examples
It’s a must-have component of all academic papers. Consider including relevant and up-to-date evidence for every claim/argument you state for your essay to be A-worthy. Use credible resources to find them:
- Studies, research reports, dissertations on your topic
- Academic books
- Scholarly articles at edu websites
- Government publications
- Online (and offline) university libraries
Apart from scientific evidence in your essay, add several examples that support your point. The trick is to combine theory and practice:
Consider experiment results, practical implementations of hypotheses you describe, real-life stories, and anything else proving or refuting your arguments.
10. Remember to Proofread and Edit
When in a hurry and willing to meet the deadlines, many writers forget about revising their drafts before submission. It’s a huge mistake:
Take time to edit your academic papers. It’s your chance to re-check whether your text is logical and coherent and ensure you haven’t missed any essential information you planned to include.
Grammar mistakes, typos, stylistic drawbacks, and punctuation errors — you’ll have an opportunity to eliminate them when proofreading and, thus, polish your paper for a high grade and positive feedback from the audience.
In a Word
Academic writing skills aren’t hard to develop if you know and follow the rules when crafting your papers. Do precise research, follow the structure, cite your sources, and use formal language in your texts — and you’ll nail it.
