Introduction
Writing at taught postgraduate level can be a daunting prospect, particularly if you have been out of higher education for a long time or if English is not your first language. There is often a fear factor around writing – and ‘formal academic writing’ in particular – which isn’t really warranted. In fact, there are a few basic conventions to follow – beyond that, there’s room for you to develop your own, confident voice and to let the quality of your research and your thinking shine through.
Being clear and concise
The purpose of any piece of writing you do at university is to convey your ideas and arguments as clearly and concisely as possible. It makes sense therefore to keep the process as simple as possible. Many people overcomplicate their writing, thinking that to sound ‘academic’ they have to write in an elevated style, using language and phrases that they wouldn’t normally feel comfortable using. Whilst there are certain conventions you need to follow, these are actually quite few in number and straightforward to apply. If you’re not confident in your writing, focus on understanding a few of these simple conventions and execute them as effectively as possible, then build from there.
The importance of planning and drafting
Good writing very rarely just happens. Whilst we’d all love to be able to write just one draft of perfect prose, the truth is that writing is a messy process, and that planning, drafting and redrafting are all essential elements of producing writing of the standard expected at this level. When planning your assignments, you should always allow time for these stages. Writing that has been rushed in order to meet a submission deadline will rarely be of good quality.
Begin by planning your essay, paper, or chapter. How will you introduce it, what conclusion are you working towards, and what key points will you cover along the way (and in what order)? If you don’t have even this most basic of outlines in place, your writing is likely to meander towards a vague conclusion. By contrast, if you have a clear sense of the conclusion you’re writing towards, and of how you aim to reach that destination, then the writing will be much more focused.
You should see your first draft as just that – a first draft. Whilst you want the writing to be as good as possible, don’t be a perfectionist. Accept that at this stage the goal is to get you’re ideas down on the page, in some sort of coherent manner. You will make mistakes. That’s where redrafting, editing and proofreading come in. But you cant redraft, edit or proofread a blank page, so the first draft is about getting the ideas and arguments down in writing.
It’s at the redrafting, editing and proofreading stages that you will correct the errors, improve the writing, and make sure you are submitting a piece that’s written in an appropriate style. In the next sections, we’ll look at some of the most important things to look out for at this stage of the process.
Writing objectively
In most academic writing, you will be expected to write objectively. This means using impartial language and avoiding sweeping statements, bias, and personal assumptions. You should avoid superlatives or over-emotive language and aim for a measured tone. This does not mean you can’t come to your own critical conclusions about the arguments or ideas that you encounter. It just means that you are arriving at a careful, critical evaluation rather than a subjective or uninformed opinion.
1st person v 3rd person
One key way to write more objectively is to write in the 3rd person, and to avoid the 1st person (I, we, our, etc.). For example, rather than writing:
I think the evidence proves that global warming is a real and urgent problem
you should use the 3rd person and write:
The evidence demonstrates that global warming is a real and urgent problem.
Can you see how the second version sounds more formal and authoritative? It’s still clearly your reading of the evidence, but it’s now written in a way that is much more formal and academic.
Note there may be occasions when you are expected or allowed to use the 1st person in an assignment, for example if you are being asked to write reflectively. In such cases, whilst it’s acceptable to use personal pronouns (I, we, our, etc.), you must take extra care that in doing so you don’t allow the writing to become over-descriptive and subjective. Most of the conventions mentioned on this page still apply to 1st person writing.
Passive voice v active voice
Another distinction to be aware of is that between the passive and active voice.
In the active voice, the person or thing (i.e. the actor) performing the action takes precedence. For example:
We conducted an experiment.
In the passive voice, it’s the event that takes precedence:
An experiment was conducted.
The passive voice always constructed of the verb ‘to be’ (in our example ‘was’) + the action in question (in our example ‘conducted).
Whilst it’s helpful for you to be able to recognise the distinction between active and passive voice in your writing, it’s not something you need to focus heavily on. As you may have noticed, the examples we looked at for 1st and 3rd person (above) are also examples of the active and passive voice respectively. That is to say, if you are writing in a formal, 3rd person style, it’s likely you will automatically be employing the passive voice, whilst reflective 1st person writing will employ the active voice.
Formal writing
At the core of academic writing is a formal style. Whilst this may sound daunting, it really boils down to following a few simple rules:
- avoid conversational or chatty language (e.g. instead of ‘Let’s move on now to look at…’, write ‘The next point to consider is…’)
- avoid contractions (e.g. rather than ‘it’s‘, write ‘it is’)
- avoid asking rhetorical questions (e.g. rather than writing ‘So what can be done about this?‘, write ‘There are several potential solutions.’)
- avoid slang, colloquialisms or idiom (e.g. ‘beat around the bush’, ‘to cut a long story short’)
Common sentence errors
Another thing to pay attention to, particularly at the redrafting or editing stages, is that you’re writing in grammatically coherent sentences. You can find advice on two of the most common types of sentence error, and how to fix them, in our article on Common Sentence Errors – Run-on and Fragment Sentences
As well as the two sentence errors mentioned in that article, you should look out for overlong sentences. Sometimes when we pour our ideas onto the page we don’t realise that we’re writing very long sentences. Whilst effective, properly punctuated long sentences certainly have their place in academic writing, often a clumsily drafted long sentence will not be grammatically coherent, and will be difficult for your reader to understand.
Remember that’s the ultimate goal of your writing – to communicate your ideas to your reader as clearly as possible. So look out for overlong sentences and consider breaking them into two or three shorter sentences to get your meaning over more clearly.
Common punctuation errors
The one last thing which can adversely affect your writing is poor punctuation. Whilst there isn’t room here to go into detail about all the rules of punctuation, here are two key things to look out for:
- comma use – both a lack and an excess of commas can affect how your writing comes across to the reader. Read your work out loud and listen for the natural pauses and phrasing – this will help indicate where your commas should or shouldn’t go. For more detailed and technical advice, read this article on the use and abuse of commas
- colon v semi-colon – colons (:) and semi-colons (;) are often misused. There is a very simple way of remembering the distinction.
- colons are used to introduce a list. The colon is preceded by a complete sentence. The clause after the colon is not a grammatically complete sentence.
- semi-colons are used to bring together two closely related points, so both clauses are complete sentences. Even when used correctly, semi-colons are often over-used. Use them sparingly – usually a full stop will suffice.
Editing and proofreading
You may be feeling a bit overwhelmed at all these conventions, all the things you need to remember. We can’t emphasise enough that the way to follow these conventions is to draft, redraft, edit and proofread. There are no short cuts – writing takes time, and involves a great deal more than just that one draft.
Editing and proofreading are crucial stages in that process, so if you haven’t already done so have a look at our article on Editing and Proofreading Your Work
Reading as a writer
One final note on writing. One of the best ways of developing the skills you need to write in your subject area is to learn from the reading that you do. When you’re conducting research, don’t just read for content. Try to pay attention to the kind of language the authors employ. Look at how they use evidence. Note the ways they present their arguments.
If you find something particularly persuasive, clear or easy to read, try to work out why that was and look to emulate some of those things in your own writing. Likewise, if you find something difficult to read, try to work out why that is and avoid repeating that in your own work.
Summing Up
We’ve covered a lot of ground in this article and you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the challenge of writing academically. That’s understandable, but the key is to take things step-by-step. By mastering a few simple writing conventions and giving yourself the time and space to properly edit and proofread your work, you can develop confidence and skill in communicating your ideas clearly and appropriately.
And remember, you don’t have to master it all overnight – in fact none of us do. See it as a process, build on your successes and act on the feedback, and over time you should see your writing improve steadily.
