During your course you will have to produce many written assignments for example essays, reports, case studies and dissertations. Academic writing uses a particular style which may be unfamiliar at first. As you progress through your course, and read from books and journals, you will start to understand how academic style is different from other styles of writing like fiction or newspapers and magazine articles. In this section, as well as an introduction to academic style and avoiding plagiarism, you will find boxes containing activities and guidance for further sources of information.
Academic style is formal. It avoids slang, the use of colloquial language, clichés or unnecessary jargon.
It also avoids shortening words through contractions or abbreviations.
Contractions are the substitution of a letter with an apostrophe; for example 'They've...' would be written as 'They have...' and 'It's...' as 'It is...'
Abbreviations are fine for making notes in lecture or when you are reading but not in assessed coursework. Avoid text talk like 'ur' or 'yr'. Instead write the words out in full like 'You are' and 'Your' or 'Year'.
Look at the following two articles. Make some notes about how the style of the two articles differs. There is no need to read the whole of the journal article. Concentrate on reading the abstract which summarises the article, the introduction, the conclusion and skim through the headings in the rest of the article. Also note the headings in the rest of the article. (Links open in a new window.)
Developing supply chain innovations from the journal 'Public Attitudes towards Molecular Farming in the UK' (Martindale and Swainson 2008) available at http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/1855/1/Developing_Supply_Chain_Innovations_-_Martindale_Swainson_-_AAB_November_2008.pdf
Supermarkets throw away two million tons of food a year taken from a Sunday Mirror newspaper article (Boniface, Johnson. and Armstrong 2008) available at http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WASTERS%3B+Staff+can't+take+in-date+food+home+so+it's+thrown+out+Food...-a0181256375
Read and make some notes about the writing style of these two pieces and compare your notes with the comments below.
Comments
You will probably realise that the journal article demonstrates all the elements of academic style, whereas the newspaper does not!
Regarding the newspaper article you may have picked up on the following:
There are no details about the Sunday Mirror investigation. How many shops did they visit? Was it a covert or overt investigation? What did they actually do? Until we know the answers to these questions it is difficult to assess the credibility of their research.
So remember in your academic writing, unlike a newspaper you are not trying to sensationalise a story and/or persuade your readers to a certain viewpoint by the clever use of language. You are aiming to construct a clearly structured piece of writing which is objective, well-argued and backed up with evidence that is clearly referenced.
References
Boniface, S., Johnson, G. and Armstrong, L (2008) Supermarkets throw away two million tons of food a year. Sunday Mirror, 13/07/2008.
Martindale, Wayne and Swainson, Mark (2008) Developing supply chain innovations - requirements for research and challenges for the food industry. Aspects of Applied Biology, 87 . pp. 77-84. ISSN 0265-1491
When you are engaged in academic writing, you are creating an argument leading to a conclusion. Your statements will be cautious and tentative rather than assertive. For example, instead of using a sentence like 'This is the most important factor.' you would say instead 'This appears to be the most important factor .' or 'This may be the most important factor.'
Structure is also important; academic writing needs a clear beginning, middle section and ending. Structuring your work helps it to flow. You need to have a logical transition between ideas and keep similar points together before moving onto something different. Otherwise the reader might become confused and feel your work lacks focus. This could lose you valuable marks so when planning your work load, always remember to build in time for preparation and writing drafts.
