In writing, you need to get your message across in a clear and concise way and this applies especially so in the competitive world of academia.
Put in its most simplest form, an academic paper consists of an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The introduction establishes the paper’s central argument, which is then built upon with the assistance of supporting evidence. The paper is then rounded out with a conclusion, which is a summation of the points and a statement of opinion based on an analysis of the evidence sourced.
The prospect of writing an academic paper can seem daunting at the best of times, but when you’re writing about a topic that doesn’t spark a fire inside you things can get overwhelming pretty quickly and it’s highly likely that you will end up throwing in the pen. For this reason alone, it’s a good idea to write about something that is of interest to you.
HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR PAPER
The first step is always the most difficult when it comes to writing an academic paper. What you’re looking to do in the introduction is establish the main points to be covered in your document.
Having taken a stand in your paper, your focus now needs to shift to providing supporting evidence to back up your thesis. Without solid evidence to support your academic paper, your document is nothing more than an opinion piece.
Once you have established a topic for your paper, it’s good practice, especially if you’re a visual person, to develop a mind-map. The main topic goes in the centre and all of the ideas that have emerged from your research sprout off from there. The next step is to move all of your ideas into sections that are related and from there you will start to see a pattern emerge as to which ideas have the strongest level of back-up in literature.
The evidence used to build your article needs to be referenced in the bibliography. The bibliography enables researchers to efficiently refer to the supporting material utilised by the author and evaluate the paper’s findings based on the resources that the writer leaned on to compile their work.
SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE
You may think that stacking your work with big words and an endless stream of information sourced from other publications will result in a paper that will earn rave reviews, when the fact of the matter is that an academic paper is designed to inform and educate the readers. Excessive verbiage and an over-reliance on sources will not only lessen the impact of the point you’re trying to make, but will also diminish your credibility.
Of all the forms of writing, academic writing arguably demands the most amount of research before pen is put to paper. And while acquiring information from several sources is a key component of a well-rounded academic paper, the writer needs to expand on existing research to ensure they are disseminating a paper that is both fresh and informative.
A SKILL THAT WILL SERVE YOU WELL
From the outside looking in, the art of academic writing may seem like a skill that only a select group require to make serious strides in life, when in fact it’s a form of communication that everyone should have a degree of competency in. I say this for the simple fact that academic writing demonstrates an ability to think critically and convey that you’re an expert in a specific field. And if you’re serious about making progress on the professional front, having these two skills at your disposal is an absolute must.
As academic papers are typically 8,000 to 10,000 words in length, there will be errors in your work no matter how passionate you’re about the topic. So before submitting your academic writing project for review, you should reach out to a professional proofreading service like TK Proofreading to make sure that your work is laid out in an easy-to-read format and is free of spelling, grammatical and factual errors, thus guaranteeing credibility among your target audience.