TYPES AND

PRINCIPLES OF
ACADEMIC
WRITING
Types of academic writing
Paper
Types

Essay: argumentative text, usually short (1,500 to 6,000 words).

Research paper: longer essay involving library research (3,000 to 6,000 w

ords).

Research article: an essay written to be published in scientific journals.

Dissertation: long essay involving study and research (6,000 to 20,000 w

ords).
Thesis: completed over a number of years. Offers an original contribution
to the research area. (20,000 words).
Technical report: describes process, progress and results of scientific
research.
Research project: describes the ideas for an investigation on a certain
topic.
Basic Principles of Academic Writing

Cohe
sion
Formal Clarity
ity

Logical
Variety Order
Basic
Principles

Complet Consis
eness tency

Concis
eness Unity
 Cohesion
Cohesion means as the smooth movement or
flow between sentences and paragraphs.
It refers to connectivity in a text. Coherence
refers to how easy it is to understand the
writing. Cohesion is also a very important aspe
ct of academic writing, because it
immediately affects the tone of your writing.
 Clarity

Clarity is the meaning of what you are

intending to communicate is perfectly clear;
the reader does not have to read between
the lines to guess what you are saying, or
in the other word is clear purpose.
 Logical order
Logical order refers to a logical ordering of
information. In academic writing, writers tend
to move from general to specific.
Developing points and ordering information in
a certain way can help keep the reader
centered on the focus of the paragraph. It
can also help the writer create a paragraph
with a clear purpose that is easy for readers to
follow.
 Consistency

Consistency refers to uniformity of writing

style. The writer should be consistent: either
use note form or complete sentences. The
principle of parallelism also exemplifies
consistency (the same grammatical structur
e should be consistently used in a list). Finall
y, in citing sources, consistency of style is als
o essential.
 Unity

Unity refers to the exclusion of information

that does not directly relate to the topic
being discussed in a given paragraph. In its
broadest sense, an entire essay should be
unified; that is, within the paragraphs, the
minor supports must support the major
supports, which in turn must support the
topic sentences.
Conciseness

Conciseness is economy in the use of words.

Good writing quickly gets to the point and
eliminates unnecessary words and needless
repetition. The exclusion of unnecessary
information promotes unity and cohesion.
 Completeness

Just because a source you have chosen does

not include certain information, you are not
excused from supplying all the basics in
your essay. For this reason as well as others,
you must consult a variety of sources.
 Variety

Variety helps the reader by adding some

spice to the text. It is achieved in part by
using various methods of joining ideas. In
addition to constructing sentences of
various types and lengths, the writer should
try to use synonyms when possible.
 Formality

Academic writing is formal in tone. This

means that sophisticated vocabulary and
grammatical structures are used. In additio
n, the use of pronouns such as I and
contractions is avoided.