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Academic Writing

This guide provides guidance, tips, and examples about different types of academic writing like literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, and abstract writing.

Write as an academic: what does that mean?

Academic writing refers to a :

  • particular style of expression that researchers use to
    • define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and
    • their areas of expertise
  • certain characteristics of academic writing;
    • formal tone,
    • use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective (usually)
    • a clear focus on the research problem under investigation
    • precise word choice.

Like specialist languages adopted in other professions, such as, law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts for a group of scholarly experts.

Academic Writing. Writing Center. Colorado Technical College; Hartley, James. Academic Writing and Publishing: A Practical Guide. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Managing the terror of writing

Seems simple enough-just start, just put pencil to paper but that blank page? It can be intimidating.

The 2 sites below will help.

Brad Gregory: Managing the Terror

Lynn Hunt: How Writing Leads to Thinking