Academic Writing
In this pod Dr Milissa Deitz introduces you to the basics of academic writing. You’ll learn what good academic writing looks like (and not-so-good) and what’s expected of you at University. The skills you’ll learn in this pod will help build your confidence when it comes to conveying what you’ve learnt in assignments. You will need to carry out further research and study, however, by reading the accompanying notes and resources. We also recommend you take one of the University’s excellent Academic Writing Workshops and make use of the Library’s fantastic Study Smart Advisors. You can make appointments for face-to-face and online help.
What is Academic Writing?
At its broadest academic writing is a genre, a type of writing that is used in a scholarly application ranging from critical essays, reports, case studies, reflective essays, book reviews, blog posts and higher-level applications like research proposals and theses. It’s used to develop and express arguments (known as the ‘thesis’), and to communicate findings that emerge out of research and evidence-based enquiries. Academic writing follows a set of conventions that includes scholarly referencing. As a writing style it tends to be formal, well-structured and direct.
For many students academic writing feels mysterious and intimidating. The rules and conventions can leave students feeling ‘locked out’ and anxious about ‘getting it wrong’. At Western Sydney University, for example, we frequently hear students say they’re ‘no good at essay writing’ and that they don’t know what an academic essay is supposed to look like, especially at university level.
It’s true that academic writing tends to be defined by conventions and rules but that’s actually good news – it means that with work it’s possible to learn how to do it. It does take practice though. Good academic writing has structure and logic. Ideas are ordered and connected across the whole text, as well as each section and paragraph. The ideas in a piece of academic writing are almost always unified around a thesis statement or argument –that is, a primary claim that the writer is seeking to argue or defend or maintain.
One of the best ways of learning academic writing – apart from doing it – is to study how others write. There is a strong link between those who read well and those who write well. So treat the readings you have at Uni not just as sources of knowledge for the theory they present but as examples of academic writing in their own right. What do you notice, admire, dislike about the various styles you encounter? How do the scholars you’re reading position and defend their arguments? How are they using quotation? How do they integrate their own ideas with the ideas of others, and how is this used to help validate or defend the argument they are making? These are key characteristics of good academic writing.
If it’s available in your unit (for example, Writing Ecologies and Visual Storytelling) you should also consider attending PASS classes. PASS is a weekly study session facilitated by a former student of that unit. It’s a great way of getting extra help for readings, assignments, concepts and for making new friends. Students who attend PASS usually achieve higher grades than those who don’t. Contact your tutor unit coordinator or check your vUWS site for more information.
FOLLOW-UP READING
Quiz
Know your essay writing key terms
Academic Writing Resources
Library Study Smart – Assignments
Library Study Smart – writing (there’s some fantastic stuff here so take the time to go through it)
Assignment resources
Structuring essays
Sentence structure
Paragraph – structure
Essay drafting tool
Essay writing guide
Features of academic writing
Western Sydney University’s Study Smart