Write a detail note on the differences between academic and non-academic writing.

M. K. BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY

Department of English

M.Phil

Sem -1

Enrollment No : 3069202320160001

Paper No : 1   Research Skills: Documentation & fundamentals of Literary  research

Assignment Topic :  

Write a detail note on the differences between Academic and Non-academic writing.

 Preface :

            Writing skills are an important part of communication which allow us to communicate with clarity and ease to far larger audience than face to face or any other communication. The good thing is that writing skill can be learned as we can learn any other skills .

             Any writing is not easy task but it is important to know how to write and the more important thing is how to distinguish academic writing from the other writing. Though larger group of people are used to habituating to write something , have we ever thought about the process of writing ? Yes, Writing is a set of process. Let's discuss first about the process of writing.

Writing Processes:

            Have you ever thought that writing is process ? People set about the writing process in many different ways. They require all kind of different situations in which to feel 'Comfortable' when they are writing. Use the following short questionnaires to think about own writing process which is crucial  element for writing.  Answers of such questions may give the purpose of writing.

Q.1  When you write an important text, do you make more than one draft ?

Q.2  Do you prefer to write on paper or use a computer ? Have you ever asked yourself why ?

Q.3  How do you start writing ? Do you begin at 'the beginning' or jump in wherever you have some ideas? Do you think one approach is better than another?

Q.4 What do you do while you are writing? Do you stop and think ? Do you ever go back to the beginning and start again ?

Q.5 When you finish your first complete draft, what do you do next?

            To give above answers of the questions, writers must be emphasized on own writing process because writing is not easy task as it is seemed. Academic writing is just like written form of communication which demands reading and serious thinking. Thoughts never come into sequences. It is rather fragmented in mind and researcher/writer has to write such fragmented thoughts which are very useful to connect with the area under discussion. If they fail to write it , they will lose the linkage of that thought so they may lead themselves to the confusion or ambiguity. Thoughts must be set with selected words and put into proper organisation with understanding. Writer/researcher needs to redraft his/her write-up with each new sentence.

            Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout life. However, academic writing does many of the things that personal writing does not, it has its own set of rules and practices. To know something  is precious but to know what it is not is more valuable than that. So, let's discuss first what is not academic writing.

 v  Personal or Non-academic Writing :

            Non academic writing is only for friends and family. It is just like conversation which never include serious thoughts and references. Non academic writing mostly joined by conjunctions. In this writing, writer  may include emotions, feelings and personal experience and the most important thing that s/he tells story from her/his perspective to share it with readers flaw of paragraph must be lost in this writing and structure of writing can't be hold up till the end. 

Examples :

Personal blog writing , Facebook posts and any personal journal writing can be included in the non-academic writing because there are everybody free to share their views , and also can express their emotions towards any matter or things publicaly without any evidence.  

v  What is Academic Writing ?

             Academic writing refers to a particular style of expression that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and their areas of expertise. Characteristics of academic writing include a formal tone, use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective, a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice.  Academic writing is the process of breaking down ideas and using deductive reasoning and formal voice. It is about what researchers' thinking and what evidence has contributed to that thinking. Researchers keep the distant from all emotions and feelings, means  they remain as impersonal  with subject which lead them to different perspective of subject and find out solutions of problem. Academic writing must be structured and well organized with the flaw of  each paragraph. Academic writing is just like scientific writing which demands facts and evidences. It should be error free.

            Academic writing in English is linear, which means it has one central point or theme with every part contributing to the main line of argument, without digressions or repetitions. Its objective is to inform rather than entertain. As well as this it is in the standard written form of the language. There are many different kinds of academic writing in English. some of these differences arise from the different disciplines and the ways in which they create and share knowledge; some relate to the  reader. Academic writing deals with the underlying theories and causes governing processes and practices in everyday life, as well as exploring alternative explanations for these events. Academic writing follows a particular ‘tone’ and adheres to traditional conventions of punctuation, grammar, and spelling.

 v  How to distinguish between academic and non academic writing ?

                      Academic writing is formal by avoiding casual or ‘conversational’ language, such as contractions or informal vocabulary. It is impersonal and objective by avoiding direct reference to people or feelings, and instead emphasizing objects, facts and ideas. Here, we are going to discuss how academic writing is recognized and different  from the non-academic writing. The rules of academic writing in English are quite complicated; nevertheless most students find that they can recognize the  difference between informal writing and formal, academic writing.

            The separation between academic and non-academic is not simple or absolute. One will see non-academic style in academic texts; and academic features will occur in non-academic texts. But it is generally true that academic texts have predictable patterns of grammar, organisation, argument and of giving credit to the work and words of others.

(1.) Recognizing writing :

Ø  Examples of academic writing:

[1]

            Video games encourage children to associate happiness and pleasure with the capability to cause pain to others. They develop the feeling that in order to be happy, one has to make other people suffer. Children who play video games tend to develop selfish behavior (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Video games teach the player to be dependent and since the child is often left alone while playing on a game console, he or she can develop selfish behaviours. A certain study that was done at a Minneapolis-based national institute for media indicated that kids can get addicted to video games and exhibit social phobias. The interactive quality of virtual games is quite different from passively viewing movies or television. The games allow players to be active participants in the script. The players who are able to benefit from acts of violence are then able to proceed to the next level (Sherry, 2001)

            - Well quoted with references.

            -  It is grammatically error free and has serious thoughts.

            -  Though language is complicated, it is straight forward.

            - Well cited.

[2]

            'Alone one is never lonely,' says the poet and author May Sarton in praise of living alone. Most people, however, are terrified of living alone. They are used to living with others - children with parents, roommates with roommates, friends with friends, husbands with wives. When the statistics catch up with them, therefore, they are rarely prepared. Chances are high that most adult men and women will need to know how to live alone, briefly or longer, at some time in their lives.

             - Quoted someone's quote with reference.

            - Various questions are raised

            - Current serious issues problem with serious thought

            -Well defined statements.

[3]

            "Linguists were and remain convinced by Noam Chomsky of the Massachusetts Institute of  Technology, who discovered that however disparate human languages seem, all share a common, basic structure, seemingly hardwired into the brain."

            -  just like scientific writing

            - well cited with name and reference

            - use of complex sentence

            - academic concern

Ø  Example of Non-academic writing  :

"The Way you speak says a lot about you."

            -Ambiguous

            - not clear

 (2.) Recognizing levels of  formality :

                        This is remarkable to recognise the level of formality to distinguish between academic and non -academic writing. Each writer has the purpose to convey the message to target readers. Writing should have its own style, structure, and organisation in sentence pattern. So, let's discuss in detail the level of formality so that we can easily find the difference between academic and non-academic writing. Academic writing must be clear with excellent grammar and Consistent Stylistic Approach.

	Academic	Non-Academic
Reader	Academics	Family and friends
Content	Serious thought	Conversational
Style	Complex sentences showing Considerable variety in construction	Mostly simple and compound sentences joined by conjunctions such as, and, or but
Organisation	Clear and well planned	Less likely to be as clear and as organised
Grammar	Likely to be error free	May not always us complete sentences
Vocabulary	Technical and academic language used accurately	Use of short forms, idioms and slang

                             

    

  There is other features which also often discussed. Academic writing is to some extent: complex, formal, objective, explicit, hedged, and responsible. It uses language precisely and accurately where as non -academic writing is free from such conventions.

·         The Reader :

            It is important to remember for whom researcher is writing. Being conscious of academic tone suggests that researchers are aware of their audience and respect the formality normally associated with academic writing. Researchers should assume that their readers will be intelligent thinking people, but they may not be specifically informed of the particular topic.

·         Punctuation and grammar :

            In academic writing you should always follow rules of punctuation and grammar, especially as the end-user or consumer of the writing. Punctuation and the conventions of grammar are universally known systems  that maintain clarity and avoid ambiguity in expression.

·         Complexity :

            Written language is relatively more complex than spoken language. Written language has longer words, it is lexically more dense and it has a more varied vocabulary. It uses more noun-based phrases than verb-based phrases. Written texts are shorter and the language has more grammatical complexity, including more subordinate clauses and more passives.

Examples:

(1) "Although Myrtle initially embodies the glimpse of possibility and vitality in the Valley of Ashes, her desperate attempts to appear wealthy through Tom coupled with her exaggerated death highlight Fitzgerald's resentment toward the dismal reality of the American Dream."

(2) "Since Achebe explores the complexity and dignity of the Igbo tribe's religion and culture, he combats the image of Africans as a crude and savage people."

·         Vocabulary:

            Academic writing relies on excellent grammar and precise word structure. researcher's narrative should not include regional dialects or slang terms because they can be open to interpretation; be direct and concise. Academic writing is relatively formal vocabulary. In general this means that in writing, researcher should avoid colloquial words and expressions.

·         Objectivity :

            Written language is in general objective rather than personal. It therefore has fewer words that refer to the writer or the reader. The main emphasis should be on the information that researchers want to give and the arguments writers want to make. For that reason, academic writing tends to use nouns  rather than verbs.

·         Explicitness:

            Academic writing is explicit about the relationships in the text. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the writer in English to make it clear to the reader how the various parts of the text are related. These connections can be made explicit by the use of different signalling words.

·         Accuracy :

            Academic writing uses vocabulary accurately. Most subjects have words with narrow specific meanings. Linguistics distinguishes clearly between "phonetics" and "phonemics".

·         Responsibility:

            In academic writing you must be responsible for, and must be able to provide evidence and justification for, any claims you make. You are also responsible for demonstrating an understanding of any source texts you use. 

 v  Grammar Discourse :

                                    Grammar provides the structures for linguistic action, and functionally motivated linguistic action in turn produces the recurrent patterns that ultimately grammaticize, giving rise to linguistic structure. Discourse and grammar often complement each other, each imposing a different set of constraints on speakers' utterances. It is also during conversational interaction that language change somehow takes place. It then examines the relationship between discourse and grammar from a grammaticization point of view, demonstrating how a subset of discourse patterns. How grammatical structures arise from the relatively fluid patterns of language use (discourse) through regular processes of grammaticization; and how the relatively stable and reusable structures of grammar provide templates for linguistic action, imposing a grammatical shape on functional realizations in discourse. This element of the linguistic toolkit is necessary for those who seek to understand the grammars of the languages of the world in both empirical descriptive and theoretical explanatory terms. Grammar discourse is one of the most important part which must be discussed to define difference between academic and non academic writing.  

           

Academic	Non Academic
Use of full Forms in sentences : - E.g: There is , The test did not show There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. California is not in the United Kingdom.	Use of short forms in sentence :- E.g: There's , The test didn't show,
Connectors  : ·         The theory appears to provide an explanation for this phenomenon. However, this is not the case on a closer examination of the facts. ·         The experimental design was weak. Moreover ,the methodology was faulty.	Connectors : ·         I want to go to the cinema, only I have to work late. ·         Because of work, I can't go to London this weekend. Anyway, I don't have enough money.
Use of Nominal Groups :- The application (noun) of the result needs to be carefully considered rather than: we need to carefully consider how we apply (verb) the results.	Use of pronouns :- We need to carefully consider how we apply the result.
Use of the passive voice : The high jumped record was finally broken last Saturday.	Use of the active voice : The crew paved the entire stretch of highway.
Concise Vocabulary : ...the focus is on X Researchers assumed that.... The central issue addressed here is the relationship between… Research indicates that… This study will investigate whether… is more objective than "I want to prove to you that…	Informal vocabulary : ...talks about X They thought that ...
Point of view : Objective and impersonal   e.g This essay attempts to... Using qualifying language,  e.g One possible reason may be ...	Point of view : Subjective and personal, e.g In my essay I will attempt to... Asking rhetorical question, e.g  How can this be so ?

            Some disciplines (e.g. some of the Arts and Humanities disciplines) expect longer paragraphs, which include topic sentences to show how one's argument is structured. In contrast, some disciplines (e.g. Sciences) expect short paragraphs, with no topic sentences,which are denser in factual information. As another example, some disciplines will accept more subjectivity (e.g. “My view is that…” ) while other disciplines avoid any use of personal pronouns (e.g. I, my, you, we) in writing.

            Thus, discussing all above in details, we now clear how academic writing is different from non academic writing . And after discussing grammar discourse , structure, and vocabulary and the most important  academic work sustain with this. After conserving all in well planed , researcher must assume their work in Visualising Text.

Ø  Visualizing Text :

                        To visualizing the text, researcher must focus on three questions. Researchers must ask questions to the self Who is the text for ? (Audience should be targeted) Why is the text needed ? (Purpose must be referred ) and What resources - what data, evidence, reference material and so on -have I got that I can use ? (material)  Thus, to write texts that are academic, begin by thinking about three key elements ; Audience , Purpose and Material.

      Conclusion :

                                                            Thus, after discussing topic in details, we may conclude that academic interpretations are different from others.  Ordinary people can't understand that extra ordinary interpretation but academician can.  Academic representation of subject is something different and worthy to read. Academic language represents serious thoughts while non-academic writing includes only informal conversions. Non- academic language has no particular rules and regulation of structure and grammar to follow in language. So, it is just like daily regular language which is used in day to day life only. Academic language must be well planned, clear cut and straight forward. The most important thing of academic writing is brevity which is useful in research writing. Therefore , it is very useful to researchers to keep some points in mind which we discussed above about the differences of academic and non-academic writing and how academic writing is more important to create own research work. Academic writing includes everything together like....reading, thinking, reasons, planning, arguing and organizing.

Works Cited

Ariel, Mira. “Discourse, grammar, discourse.” SAGE journals (2009).

BARBARA, SANTA. 20 Jan 2017 <http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/research/discourse-grammar>.

MASSEY UNIVERSITY. 25 OCt 2012. 20 Jan 2017 <http://owll.massey.ac.nz/academic-writing/what-is-academic-writing.php>.

Research Guides. 12 Jan 2017. 20 Jan 2017 <http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide>.

UEfAP. 20 Jan 2017 <http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/intro.htm>.

Wikipedia contributors. "Academic writing." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Nov. 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2017