What is meant by academic writing ? what are its major elements?

Question

What is meant by academic writing ? what are its major elements?

Answer 1

Academic writing is what we would use in a formal writing assignment, such as a research paper, a lab report, or a feasibility memo that you would write to your professor.

Here are some suggestions that I give to my students in regards to academic writing:

1. Make your writing clear and concise, and leave no room for ambiguity. 
2. Maintain an objective tone. Even if you are presenting an argument, do so in a logical and systematic manner, so as not to appear too biased in the eyes of your audience. Focus on supporting your assertions with factual evidence.  
3. Look to use strong verbs in your writing, and limit your use of adjectives.
4. Avoid phrasal verbs, which is a verb connected to another element, like an adverb or a preposition. So instead of writing, “Alexander Hamilton set up the nation’s financial system,” you would use the word “established” or “assembled” in place of “set up.”
5. Avoid informal language in academic writing. So instead of saying, “Alexander Hamilton had a lot of political rivals outside of New York City,” consider using “many” in place of “a lot of.”
6. In academic writing, you generally want to avoid contractions. Therefore, “can’t” should instead become “cannot,” and “wasn’t” should be “was not.” There are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but when you are unsure of what to do, then avoid contractions.