Study Skill · Academic Writing
Academic Writing Skills
How to write concisely, clearly, and in an appropriate academic tone.
What makes writing "academic"?
Academic writing is characterised by precision, clarity, and objectivity. It uses formal language, avoids colloquialisms, and supports claims with evidence. Good academic writing is also concise — every word earns its place. At university level, you are expected to write in a way that communicates complex ideas clearly, uses technical terminology accurately, and maintains a consistent formal tone throughout. The goal is not to sound clever, but to be understood.
📖 Example 1: Wordy vs. Concise Writing
❌ Wordy Version
It is widely acknowledged by many researchers in the field of developmental psychology that the concept of attachment plays a very important and significant role in the overall emotional development of children throughout their early years of life and beyond into adulthood.
Problem: This sentence is 43 words long but says very little. "Widely acknowledged by many researchers" is redundant, "very important and significant" is repetitive, and "throughout their early years of life and beyond into adulthood" could be much shorter. The reader has to work hard to extract the meaning.
✅ Concise Version
Developmental psychologists widely recognise that attachment plays a critical role in emotional development from infancy through adulthood (Bowlby, 1969).
Why this is better: This says the same thing in 19 words. It replaces vague phrases with precise ones, removes redundancy, and adds a citation. Concise writing is not about saying less — it is about saying the same thing more efficiently.
📖 Example 2: Informal vs. Academic Tone
❌ Informal
Basically, kids who don't get enough love from their parents end up having a lot of problems later on. This is really important because it shows that attachment stuff matters a lot.
Problems: "Basically" is a filler word. "Kids" should be "children." "A lot of problems" is vague. "Attachment stuff" is imprecise. "Really important" and "matters a lot" are informal and repetitive. Academic writing requires formal, specific language.
✅ Academic Version
Children who experience insecure attachment in early life are at increased risk of emotional and behavioural difficulties in later development (Sroufe, 2005). This finding underscores the significance of early caregiving quality for long-term psychological outcomes.
Why this is better: The language is formal and precise. Vague terms are replaced with specific ones ("emotional and behavioural difficulties" instead of "problems"). The claim is supported with a citation. The second sentence is analytical rather than just asserting importance.
✏️ Practice: Rewrite in Academic Style
The bullet points below represent informal notes about a topic. Your task is to rewrite them as a single, well-written academic paragraph that is concise, formal, and clear.
- Topic: the effect of social media on self-esteem in teenagers
- Social media use has gone up massively in the last ten years
- Lots of studies have found that spending too much time on Instagram etc. can make teens feel bad about themselves
- One key study: Vogel et al. (2014) — found that people who looked at attractive profiles on Facebook felt worse about their own appearance
- But: correlation doesn't mean causation — maybe people with low self-esteem use social media more
- Not all effects are negative — some research shows social media can help shy people build connections
Rewrite as a formal academic paragraph: