5.4 Rules for Academic Writing in English
Erin Kelly; Sara Humphreys; Natalie Boldt; and Nancy Ami
English grammar for academic writing is a special subset of the English language. There are some grammatical conventions you will see in almost all examples of Academic English – and that you should expect to follow in written work for your classes. These conventions include the following, most of the time:
- Ideas are usually expressed in complete sentences. Sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a final piece of punctuation (most often a period but sometimes a question mark or exclamation mark).
- Words that make up sentences are expected to be spelled correctly according to the agreed-upon spellings provided in a standard dictionary.
- Verb tenses won’t change (from past to present or present to future) unless there is a reason for them to do so and normally such shifts will be signalled explicitly.
- Punctuation will follow a standard set of rules for when, where, and why to use commas, hyphens, dashes, and other punctuation marks.
- Word choices will be precise and might even be quite technical.
- Vocabulary and phrasing is likely to be formal rather than colloquial.
- A set of specially formatted elements (headings, page numbers, lists of sources, references to sources, graphs, abbreviations, etc.) allow readers familiar with the conventions of a field to find and use complicated information quickly and easily.
In other words, academic writing generally follows a set of rules for what is sometimes called “correctness” or simply “standards” for more formal written English. Here are some good reasons to get to know and follow these rules for Academic English.
Clarity and precision: Using language in ways that follow agreed-upon rules can lead to greater clarity for readers familiar with these rules. Here’s an analogous case: at its most basic, mathematics is a language. When everyone agrees about what mathematical symbols mean, especially when they are put into a particular order, it becomes possible to convey an enormous amount of information clearly and precisely in a concise formula. Sentences and paragraphs can’t be as straightforward as a mathematical equation in the ways they convey information to an audience, but written language that follows rules is likely to be clear and precise for an academic audience.
Ease of reading: When a piece of writing aligns with a set of standards that readers find familiar, they’re not distracted by errors or stylistic experimentation as they try to understand the ideas the essay or article is trying to convey. The ideas in your own academic writing will be easier for your intended audience to comprehend and engage with the more closely your work follows the rules for academic writing.
Audience awareness: Remember that the audience for academic writing is usually most interested in the ideas and information being conveyed, and given this set of priorities, your readers don’t want to have to work