Academic Writing

What is Writing?

Writing is the expression of thoughts onto something so that can be passed on to someone else. Thousands of years ago, writing occurred on stones, papyrus, and even in soil.  Today, our writing can be composed on electronic device keyboards, voice-to-text systems, and even, yes...good old paper.

While this section deals with Academic Writing, if you need information about Technical Writing or Creative Writing, you can find links to those items in other sections of this site.  Academic Writing is the most commonly learned style of writing for students since it represents essays.  Technical Writing and Creative Writing are typically, elective-type writing styles learned in an academic setting to advance a student's education in those realms.

• When an essay is mentioned, it must follow standard Academic Writing styles established by its writing type: persuasion, process,analysis, and so on.  
• When a document is mentioned, it is going to follow preset Technical Writing standards for the given document: email, memo, letter, proposal, etc.  
• When Creative Writing is mentioned, it is going to be following creative standards for fiction, poetry, music, and so on.

Each Academic Writing (Narration, Exposition, Process, Classification, Argument, Persuasion, Analysis, and so on) has its own style and format.  (Format relates to the 'form' of the writing, yet it can also relate to the 'format' for formal documentation and arrangement: MLA, APA, and Turabian.) Given those specific guidelines for the 'style,' add in an audience, and you have the current structure of writing required in Academic Writing.  See the links below to help you understand the Writing Process and how to construct specific styles of writing.  (No matter what academic-essay-writing-style you are assigned, there will be a specific flow within the essay that resembles this Geyser Info-graphic.)

If you have taken my Technical Writing course, you have become fully aware of the differences between Academic Writing and Technical Writing.  While both styles incorporate the 3-part system to writing, each has its own layout pattern for specific types of writing.

In the links on this site, you will find information to help you with your Academic Writing in this class as well as all other aspects of your life.  As time allows, I will add more helpful content to this page to assist you with your independent study of writing.