9 Simple Steps to Improve Skills in Academic Writing

A good academic paper speaks well of the writer. Most students rely on their previously gained knowledge of academic writing from lower level education as a basis for their writing technique, but little did they know that academic writing requires improvement. There are various steps to academic writing, and each should be perfected in order to develop good writing skills for academic purposes.

What is Academic Writing?

Academic writing as defined by yourdictionary.com is any writing done to fulfill the requirement for a college or university. It also includes publications read by a teacher or a researcher or a publication to be presented at a conference or an academic setting. Academic writing should be backed up by evidence as it possesses a clear, focused, concise and well-structured content.

Characteristics of an Academic Writing

1. Planning and Focus: An academic writing requires substantial planning in other to fully understand the topic to be written. This includes research on the topic, the establishment of outline and drawing of a conclusion.
2. Aim: The aim of an academic paper should be to educate the third party, rather than supporting an idea. An academic paper focuses on educating its reader.
3. Outline and Structure: The outline helps to formulate your thoughts, as a good structure helps to establish related points.
4. Language: A comprehensive formal language is used, as it involves academia.

Structure of an Academic Writing

1. The Introduction: This is important for grabbing the reader’s attention.
2. The Body: This is the main part of the topic sectioned into different paragraphs linked together.
3. The Conclusion: Here, the topic is re-emphasized, and the summary of the main points is given.

How to Write a Professional Academic Paper

Below are 9 practical steps to improve your skills in any academic writing;

1. Develop a good writing mindset: Every good writer requires an inspiration which will always compel him/her to write. A writer who is forcefully compelled to produce academic writing always performs woefully. In order to improve one’s writing skills, one needs to develop an affection towards writing, by researching on how to love writing papers, as well as finding the best writing companion, teacher, and role model.
2. Take online writing classes: Online classes help students to learn good writing skills while partaking in their usual daily academic activity. They provide professional tutoring and advice to students who wish to improve their writing skills. These include the acquisition of books on writing purposes.
3. Consult online writing templates: Online templates provide some formats and techniques which will save a writer’s time and energy as well as a professional paper which will show how to perfect writing looks like. By identifying and applying the rules in the template, the writing skills of students can be improved to obtain better grades.
4. Identify a conducive writing environment: A conducive environment should be a well ventilated, distraction-free area, where all your writing tools are located. It saves you the stress of moving around and provides optimum concentration during writing.
5. Budget your time: Every student who wishes to possess exceptional writing skill need a certain amount of time to compose their thoughts and papers. This helps them to avoid last minute rush as well as acquire enough time for researching, writing and proofreading their document in advance of its due date.
6. Read and write as often as possible: The more a student writes, the more he is able to correct previously made errors, and with time, his writing skills will be more perfect. Same goes for reading, as reading helps you to understand the style and how to structure your writing.
7. Write as you would speak: An academic paper should sound natural to the hearing as it looks appealing to the eyes. It should contain easy to comprehend languages in order to gain the interest of your readers. Most especially, a good academic paper is written as if you are speaking through the paper as it makes the writing more engaging while it feels like a conversation.
8. Research/Focus on the topic: One of the most important writing skills is the ability to gather information from various sources, and streamline all of them to focus on a particular topic. Students actually find this aspect uneasy, but proper mastering of writing skills will help to improve any student in this aspect, as it is a prerequisite for a good academic paper.
9. Edit and proofread papers online: No man is an island of knowledge, to avoid errors in the course of your academic writing, editing and proofreading from professionals are pertinent. This can be achieved via online editing and proofreading sources such as Hemingway App, Readability score and so on. These online sources analyze and correct spellings, awkward structures as well as long sentences, to produce a clear and concise paper.

In Conclusion:
Academic writing which involves writing for academic purposes and in an academic setting requires various skills in order to produce a good academic paper. These skills have been highlighted within this article, and by the application of these skills, students will be able to produce a good and error-free academic paper. For a good professionally written paper, hire the best academic writers, with features including high-quality custom writing, plagiarism-free papers, and reasonable prices,contact academic writing services online.