7 Academic Writing Skills Every Student Must Have

7 Academic Writing Skills Every Student Must Have

Essays, research papers, lab reports, literature reviews… Any student has to spend a fair share of their time writing those. But that doesn’t make crafting academic texts any easier, does it?

It’s not just you – academic writing is hard. It’s even harder than writing in general. You need to be more than just good with words to ace it. If you’re not, your essay or research paper won’t have any substance behind it – and it won’t earn you a good grade.

But what exactly does it take to excel at academic writing? Experienced paper writers from WritePaper are here to tell you. Here are the top seven skills that are a must-have for any student who wants to ace their assignments.

1. Doing Thorough & Unbiased Research

Let’s say you have an argumentative essay to write. You know your stance. But without any evidence to support it, you’re not ready to start typing. Evidence is everything if you want to convince your readers you know what you’re talking about – and that your position is on-target.

This is why research is always the first step in crafting any academic text. But doing it requires strong critical and analytical thinking skills. Here’s what it means in practice:

  • Choosing the right sources for your supporting evidence. That includes well-conducted scientific studies, reputable organizations’ reports, surveys with representative samples;
  • Avoiding confirmation bias. You may tend to dismiss the evidence that contradicts your opinions, beliefs, and decisions;
  • Looking into every side of the argument. Find counterevidence for any possible opposing side’s arguments;
  • Prioritizing objective data (if applicable). Statistics, observations, and figures are more convincing than opinions (unless you’re working on a philosophical essay).

2. Analyzing & Synthesizing Facts & Figures

Once you have all the initial evidence at hand, you need to know how to use it to support your arguments and draw logical conclusions. That’s a skill in and of itself – but no, you don’t have to be born a prodigy to master analytical thinking.

Here’s what it can mean to analyze and synthesize all of the information you’ve found:

  • Distinguish correlations from cause-effect relationships;
  • Use inductive and/or deductive reasoning methods to draw any conclusions;
  • Examine the evidence and counterevidence for any possible flaws (e.g., non-representative samples in surveys);
  • Double-check your reasoning and conclusions for any logical fallacies.

3. Persuading Your Audience

Most academic writing assignments require you to convince your audience your stance is the one worth supporting. So, your persuasion skills can play a significant role in the success of your work.

And yes, you’ve read that right – persuasion is a skill. It comes naturally to some people, but others can develop it with enough practice. You don’t have to be born charismatic to become persuasive, especially in writing.

Here’s what being persuasive as a skill involves:

  • Knowing your audience and what evidence they’re more susceptible to;
  • Choosing the appropriate mode(s) of persuasion: pathos (emotion), logos (logic), and/or ethos (credibility);
  • Collecting enough evidence – and making sure it’s reliable;
  • Addressing and debunking counterarguments right in the text.

4. Communicating in Writing

Yes, written communication skills aren’t the only ones that matter in academic writing – but they matter nonetheless. If you conduct an outstanding study but can’t communicate the results right, few will find your report credible.

But what does having great written communication skills mean in practice? Well, here are the four criteria that determine the quality of your work from this standpoint:

  • Conciseness. Communicate your thoughts using as few words as possible. Don’t ramble or stray away from the topic;
  • Comprehensiveness. Leave no detail overlooked. Mention all of your sources;
  • Style. Use the formal, impersonal style in academic writing;
  • Consistency. Keep the tone, pace, and formatting constant throughout the text.

The best way to level up your written communication skills is by practicing them. You can do freewriting exercises or keep a journal to do so. Don’t forget to be patient with yourself, though – no one can become a master of the written word within a week.

5. Proofreading & Editing

No one is perfect when it comes to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. It doesn’t matter what grades you received in your English class. You’ll still make some typos and mistakes. You might miss a word in a sentence or forget to make a transition from one paragraph to another.

What matters isn’t how perfect your first draft is. It’s how thoroughly you proofread and edit it. Here’s what you should pay attention to when you improve your first draft:

  • Spelling, grammar, and punctuation. You can use tools like Grammarly to streamline this part;
  • Typos and missed words. Grammarly and its likes can help you here, but they don’t always do – so, reread your text;
  • Structure and logic of the text. Make sure the information is presented smoothly, all transitions are in place, and the text is broken down in paragraphs well;
  • Clarity and conciseness. “Kill your darlings,” as they say – leave only the words, phrases, and sentences that you can’t do without.
  • Style. Double-check for any traces of informal addresses, expressions, and slang terms.

6. Using Office Suite Apps

This skill might be a bit unexpected to see on this list. But think about it: when you write academic texts, formatting guidelines are a handful to deal with. The font, its size, text’s alignment, and other parameters are strictly regulated.

To cope with all those requirements, you have to know your way around a word processor app (e.g., Google Docs, Microsoft Word) and its parameters. Here are just several examples of what it means in practice:

  • Selecting custom page margins;
  • Inserting a table and formatting it;
  • Adding indents;
  • Setting the right paragraph spacing;
  • Checking the word and character count.

Plus, if you need to work with figures, you may need to spend some dealing with spreadsheets. That means a whole other set of skills: using formulas, sorting and filtering data, making charts, and more.

7. Managing Your Time

As you can see, it takes a lot to excel at academic writing. If you want to go it 100% alone, it might take you a while to learn all the ins and outs of it in practice. So, you better have enough time in stock for acing those assignments.

No one can magically turn a 24-hour day into a 36-hour one. So, making enough time for academic writing means managing well the hours you already have. This is where your time management skills come in.

In the context of academic writing, time management skills include:

  • Scheduling research and writing sessions and setting reminders for them if needed;
  • Planning to have some extra time in stock in case writing takes longer than you thought;
  • Aiming to finish the assignment several days in advance;
  • Removing all potential distractions to achieve maximum productivity.

Of course, you always have another option: outsourcing some of your assignments to people who already possess this extensive skill set. If you’re overwhelmed by all the tasks you have, this option is worth considering.

In Conclusion

Mastering academic writing is no easy feat. But it’s not impossible, either. The key to becoming the maestro in this particular area isn’t a mystery, anyway. It’s quite straightforward: practice times ten.

While you’re the only one who can boost your writing skills, that doesn’t mean you have to go it completely alone. Turning to someone more proficient than you for help will give you a powerful push in the right direction.

So, go ahead and ask someone to proofread your work and give some suggestions on improving it. Or ask for feedback on your text from the style and communication point of view. Don’t hesitate to turn to your teachers, fellow students, or professional paper writers for that.

 

An original article about 7 Academic Writing Skills Every Student Must Have by Kokou Adzo · Published in

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