Part 1
Part 1(a) –What are the key academic writing styles and why are they important? (350 words)
Academic writing styles deal with the formal way of writing that is being used in the academic environment of a university or by researchers to define the intellectual boundaries of their discipline and their specific area of expertise. However, to some extent, it is formal, descriptive, argumentative, concise, evaluative and structured, drawing on the personal experience of the writer and backed up by evidence.
As a rule, the key academic writing styles must be descriptive, and well structured. This helps to distinguish between formal and informal writing. For this reason, cautious linguistic terminologies is employed to give the impression that they are not the student’s personal opinions but the ”result of evidenced based research.”
Furthermore, it must be formal in tone and in style, through using of appropriate language and syntax, and it must be concise, clear and balanced. It must also be noted that using of slang words like ‘gona’, colloquialism and any word or phrase that is not formal or literary used in ordinary conversation like’ lols’, and abbreviations such as ”pple” or ”btw” must be avoided.
In addition to this, academic writing styles must be argumentative in nature, using reasoning, logic and synthesis as a tool for evaluation and analysis in an objective, non-judgemental way.
Moreover, it must be evidenced. The information and supporting opinions and arguments must be accurately planned and referenced with tangible evidence. Also, all related points and materials must be well focused and brought together in a well coherent, articulated, structured and in logical order.
The importance of academic writing styles cannot be overemphasised, the purpose is to enable the student to communicate ideas clearly and effectively, making him/her to think critically and objectively, viewing and evaluating ideas and research activities from different perspectives and later make a statement based on his/her understanding of such information.
Moreover, it aids readers understanding the student’s point of view and his writing skill ability. This also helps to explains his sources of information and above all, exonerate him/her from plagiarism which is the idea of converting people’s work and signing them as one’s own.
