Many students struggle with academic writing. In reality, if there were a way to skip academic writing, many students would do it. But it’s necessary to complete your education; you can’t graduate without writing at least one academic paper. So, why do students have trouble with academic writing?
Many students have academic writing issues because it follows a specific writing process. It requires critical thinking and in-depth research and is written to be read by professionals.
In academic writing, there’s a recommended guideline; once you deviate from it, every other thing you write has errors. So, many students are afraid of academic writing because it requires that they devote a certain level of attention.
In most cases, students prefer to buy essay instead of writing academic essays themselves. While asking for writing help is required at some point, learning how to write your essays yourself is vital. This article takes you through five easy steps to help you improve your academic writing skills.
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5 Simple Ways To Quickly Improve Your Academic Writing Skills
The method for academic writing is quite different from casual writing. So, when you’re presented with an academic writing assignment, do this to help improve your skills;
1. Conduct thorough research
As a student, research is one of your surest ways to tackle any academic task that feels impossible. Before starting your academic essay, take out time to conduct research. You’ll reduce the stress of writing your academic essay if you first conduct research before writing.
Your research should first start with reading the instruction guide for the essay. Pick out anything and everything you don’t understand from the guide and read up on them. Once you understand the guide correctly, read about the writing topic. Knowing your topic gives you ample information on what you’re writing.
2. Practice critical thinking & writing
Every academic writing is written from a critical perspective. Every piece of academic writing follows a critical process to provide more meaning and understanding of a topic. Even those who offer admission essay writing service understand this. To help you think and write critically, read the works of authors and scholars in that field.
Critical thinking involves analyzing information to pick up points from more than one perspective. Critical thinking enriches your essay and establishes your writing standpoint.
3. Use a writing outline
Have an outline that contains everything you plan to write. Most students don’t realize the importance of having a writing outline. But your outline could be the difference between poorly written and well-expressed and organized essays.
The purpose of having an outline when writing is to organize your thoughts accordingly. You lay out all your points with an outline, then gradually build them up to form a structure. Academic writing follows a structure; to maintain that structure, draft an outline after you’ve done your research.
4. Learn the art of formal writing
As stated earlier, academic writing has a specific standard every student must maintain. Part of this standard is the writing style. In academic writing, only formal writing is acceptable. Avoid using contracted forms like; don’t, can’t, aren’t, and wouldn’t. Instead, write them entirely; “do not,” “cannot,” “are not,” and “would not.”
Every form of colloquialism or conversational language meant for peers is unacceptable. Also, if you’re writing an academic paper, note that you must follow the formal structure of academic papers. The formal of every academic paper includes;
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Body (Contains research objective, statement of the problem, research methodology, and findings)
- Conclusion
- Reference or Citation
Another formal standard to maintain while writing academic essays or papers is quotations and citations. Without referencing scholars, it’s assumed you didn’t conduct thorough research. Referencing indicates that you’ve conducted thorough research on the area.
5. Follow the formal formatting style
You’ll be pleased to know that there are many formats for academic writing. For instance, you can use the APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago writing and referencing format when writing a research paper. Some rules govern each of these formats. Find out which of them is acceptable in your discipline.
If it’s MLA, ensure everything you’re writing, especially your quotation and references, is tailored to the MLA style.
Conclusion
Academic writing only requires one thing: precision. Once you can follow the precise academic writing format, it becomes impossible to write an academic essay, paper, or research wrongly.
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