Thursday, November 15, 2012

Academic Writing Skills

Writers working towards getting better at their academic writing skills have to focus most of their efforts on three key areas:

1. Strong writing: Thinking paves the way for writing. All creative and professional writers spend more time extracting information from their books, journals, papers etc. and reviewing major points before starting to write their own paper. Students usually start by writing detailed outlines which eventually helps in organized idea flow and thoughts. This means that all strong academic writing begins with solid planning.

2. Excellent grammar: Begin by learning the major and minor points of grammar. No point is minor and should not be skipped. No one is perfect at grammar and needs to look at the smallest details to make the grammar as perfect as possible. The writers need to spend time practicing writing and seeking detailed feedback from teachers, professors or writers you respect. Perfecting English grammar is a detailed and complex process, but strong writers command the major points after many years of study and practice. Investing in a good writing reference, such as online libraries or referring to a Dictionary can provide advice on the more troublesome points of grammar. Grammar is just not about use of words in the right place but also proper punctuation use and good proofreading skills improve academic writing as well.

3. Consistent stylistic approach: Whether your school, college or university requires use of the Harvard, MLA, APA or Chicago Style of referencing, you must choose one style and stick to it. Each of these style sheets provide direction on how to write out numbers, references, citations, and more. All are easily accessible at your universities website or online.

There are different kinds of writings involved in academic writing. These include many different kinds of essays, research papers etc. and involve different kinds of academic writing skills. As mentioned before, your university's website would have posted information about academic writing skills related to: essay writing, and crafting research papers on their Web sites to help the students.

Essay Writing

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