"The sorts of
activities that constitute a research paper - identifying, locating, assessing,
and assimilating others' research and then developing and expressing your
own ideas clearly and persuasively - are at the center of the educational
experience."
-MLA Handbook, 4th ed.
This
quotation from the Modern Language Association neatly summarizes the fundamental
concept behind academic writing. If you focus on the statement, you will
quickly see that the real "basic" of academic writing is
academic thinking. Without your careful, considered, laborious thinking,
writing is merely a transcription of empty words. Thinking, of course, is
hard work!! -- and that is why so often writing seems like hard work.But, you say, that
last statement can logically apply to any form of writing, even a letter
to a friend. What do we refer to when we use the specific term academic
writing? We include three elements:
1) Research, as a means of discovering and developing ideas;
2) Logical argumentation, as a means of persuading our readers to take our thinking seriously, and
3) Formal, precise writing style, as a vehicle for presenting our ideas clearly and avoiding the reader's misinterpretation or distrust.
In short, academic
thinking and writing is carefully considered, well documented thinking
and writing - very unlike creative writing or casual letter-writing. It
cannot be hurried or haphazard if it is to be successful, and it requires
deliberate, directed thought.
As graduate students,
you are confronted by two basic types of writing situations:
(a) the class or seminar, where writing is shorter (anywhere from 10 to 30 pages, approximately), more tightly focused, and directed primarily to the instructor:
(b) the original research project, otherwise known as Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, where writing is longer, more complex, and directed primarily to a committee.
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