COMMON FEATURES IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Let us now consider how we can differentiate and define academic writing style. As K. Reekie states in her tips for academic writing, “anyone who has ever dealt with an academic research article is familiar with the somewhat formal and impersonal writing style in which it tends to be written. The way it is written can be very different to the informal style which tends to be used for most other forms of modern communication”[1].

It is no wonder that research papers have a reputation of being complicated and hard to understand. It is unlikely that most people will be required to write in this style before they are university students, and even then it may only be for a project report in the final year.

How can the “academic style” really be defined? It must be emphasised that the way in which research is reported tends to be guided by function and convention rather than anything else. In general, the tone is impersonal, factual and often highly technical. Academic texts contain both facts and opinions and the writer’s main concern is to make the reader accept these. Hence, both facts and opinions are supported by arguments. Although academic texts are not devoid of emotion, logical arguments play a more important role than the emotional component.

The style of writing used to report academic research has changed over time, as different voices have gone in and out of fashion. Before the 20^th Century, researchers typically reported their work in the active voice, using the first person pronouns “I” or “We”. However, it then became common to adopt the passive voice, for example, “Research was conducted…”. This formal and impersonal style was considered the most suitable for reporting academic research.

Modern research articles tend to be a mixture of the passive and active voice. K. Reekie recommends to check the guidelines of the journal you intend to submit to, as some express a preference for one style over another. For example, Nature state that they prefer authors write in the active voice. The style of writing also differs between sections of an article. The Methods section, for example, should be completely technical – the “nuts and bolts” only. The point of this section is to provide enough information for the work to be repeated exactly. Contrast this with the discussion, which is in many ways the most personal part of the article, where it is common for authors to voice opinions and their own interpretation of their results.

It is also interesting to consider how the current emphasis on collaborationhas affected the way in which research articles are written. For example, many years ago it was often the case of a single researcher working on, and reporting their thoughts on a subject. Consider, for example, Darwin’s observations on Evolution. In this case, it was justifiable to use the first person pronoun of “I”, as these were the thoughts and ideas of a single individual. However, science is now increasingly collaborative. It is extremely uncommon for a research article reporting original findings (as opposed to an opinion piece or review, which may be written by one author) to be the work of a single individual – more likely a dozen or so researchers working together including students and early career researchers. Therefore the first person pronoun is more or less defunct in modern research articles. It is more common to use the collective pronoun “We” which represents a group of authors or researchers. However, within the constraints of what is generally considered to be the norm, it may seem surprising that individuals can still maintain a personal style, but it is possible.

Both the choice of Active or Passive Voice and the use of personal pronouns (“I”/“we”) also have rhetorical implications. They will be discussed in § 1.2 (Rhetorical Strategies in Academic Writing) of this manual.

If we consider the approaches to the style of academic writing, we will find two main approaches: a narrow-angle approach (ESAP (English for specific academic purposes)) and a wide-angle approach (EGAP (English for general academic purposes)) to this issue. The first approach (ESAP) suggests studying academic style in single, discipline specific groups, e.g. when students who study how to write an academic paper have the same major discipline. In contrast to it, the second approach (EGAP) suggests studying scientific style in multidisciplinary groups, e.g. when students who study academic writing have different major disciplines. In our manual we will follow the second approach.

Now let us summarize some of the instructions given on the style of writing an academic article by different manuals. These instructions will include the following general academic style guidelines:

In all sections of your paper you should

Ø Use normal prose including articles (“a”, “the”, etc.);

Ø Stay focused on the research topic of the paper;

Ø Use paragraphs to separate each important point (except for the abstract);

Ø Indent the first line of each paragraph;

Ø Present your points in logical order;

Ø Use present tense to report well accepted facts;

Ø Use past tense to describe specific results;

Ø Keep to the academic style, mind that such devices as informal wording, addressing the reader directly, slang terms, or emotional expressions have a strong rhetoric bearing. Be very careful if you want to use them!

Ø Make sure you explain things carefully enough, give definitions, examples, illustrations, even though your readers are specialists in the field, you are giving information which is new to them;

Ø Avoid use of superfluous facts and pictures - include only those figures necessary to presenting results.

As we have already mentioned, the list of instructions differs depending on the approach to the studying of scientific academic writing. Further in this manual you will find some more detailed instructions on how to write an outline and different parts of a research paper.

The above list of instructions can be grouped into the following categories:

I. Write accurately!

ØBe accurate;

ØMake sure you say what you mean;

ØBe careful with commonly confused words.

II. Write clearly!

ØWrite at a level that is appropriate for your audience (find a balance between authority and deference);

ØDo not avoid the active voice (in some cases it is clearer and more concise than the passive voice);

ØChoose the right pronouns (use either the first person singular “I” or the collective plural “we”);

ØAvoid dangling participles.

III. Write succinctly!

ØUse verbs instead of abstract nouns;

ØUse strong verbs instead of "to be";

ØUse short words, e.g.:

ØUse concise terms, e.g.:

ØUse short sentences (a sentence made of more than 40 words should probably be rewritten as two sentences).

Apart from these instructions there are some specific rhetorical strategies which are commonly used in English research papers and which you should be aware of.