Academic documents need to be clear, concise, and error free. And to ensure this, there are five things you should avoid in academic writing:
For more on what to avoid in academic writing, read on below.
In academic writing, you must cite your sources! Failure to do so can lead to allegations of plagiarism. And to avoid plagiarism, you need to:
Proper referencing will also demonstrate your academic writing skills, which can win you valuable extra marks on an essay.
Academic writing is more formal and objective than everyday English. This means using standard English spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but it also means avoiding informal English. This typically includes:
There are, of course, exceptions to these rules. If you are writing a report on a book, for example, you might need to quote passages of informal English. But try to maintain a formal tone in general.
We understand the pressure of needing to meet a word count, but you should never pad out an essay with extra words and phrases just to meet your target. Excessive wordiness makes your writing harder to follow. It also stands out, so readers will spot it quickly!
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To avoid wordiness in your writing, though, you can:
If you are under your word count, look for areas you could expand without padding. This could be an extra comparison or example to support your argument, or simply a more detailed explanation of your conclusions.
It’s important to use bias-free language. This includes gendered terms, generalizations, and stereotypes. Key things to look out for include:
In general, take care around how you discuss age, gender, race, ability, religion, etc. Make sure to consider the people you’re writing about and, where possible, use the language they use to refer to themselves.
Typos in your work will lose you marks, which could make the difference between a failing and a passing grade! But by having your writing professionally proofread, you can be sure it is clear, concise and error free.
To see how we could help you get the marks you deserve, then, why not submit a free sample of academic writing for proofreading?
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