Types of Academic Writing

Academic writing is a requirement for any student studying at the university level or even below that. Assignments associated with academic writing are necessary to allow students to demonstrate their intellectual ability.

The professor would want to know:

• How well can you create a coherent argument?

• How clearly and concisely can you write?

• How can you summarize and paraphrase information from different sources?

• How can you synthesize information to create a new understanding? 

There are four different types of academic writing. They include Descriptive, Analytical, Persuasive, and Critical writing.  However, the distinction between them is not always clear-cut. 

In fact, in a single document, you may have to demonstrate each of the four types of academic writing in an essay. Therefore, it would be useful to know when and how to use each of the four types of writing. 

1. Descriptive 

This is the most basic form of academic writing. The job of descriptive writing is to lay out basic facts and information. Examples of descriptive writing include a summary of an article or reporting the methods or the descriptive results of a lab experiment. 

The focus of descriptive writing is to be clear about data and to explain actions or results clearly, in your own words, and concisely. Below is an example of descriptive writing explaining the data collection method and demographic information of a study on the environmental awareness of university students in Taiwan and the U.S.A.

Example of descriptive writing

The data for our study were collected through self-filled questionnaires, which were based on two representative samples of students currently studying in college and university in both Taiwan and the US. The data collection period for the US was from August 6, 2020, to January 15, 2021. The total number of valid respondents was 771: namely, 654 in Taiwan and 117 in the U.S. The profile of the respondents is depicted in Table 3. In Taiwan, 38% of respondents were male, and 62% were female. However, in the US, 50% were male and 50% were female. The age of the respondents ranged from 17 to 50 in Taiwan and 17 to 31 in the US. The average age was 21 and 20 years old in Taiwan and the US, respectively.

Descriptive writing in research writing is often associated with describing data collection methods and basic results, such as the demographic characteristics of participants. 

2. Analytical

Analytical writing is one step above descriptive writing. It includes descriptive writing and more. Instead of simply summarizing and describing information, you determine the relationship between facts. 

In this form of academic writing, you may have to do the following: 

• Analyze and categorize

• Compare and contrast

• Determine relations

To make your writing more analytical, you could follow these tips:

1. Be consistent in your system or style of analysis

2. Categorize based on logical patterns, similarities, and differences

3. Use tables and infographics to present your categorizations

As mentioned earlier, analytical academic writing is descriptive and more. In formal research studies, analytical writing can occur in the Results sections of a paper. 

In the Results section, you may categorize your sample into categories based on their similarities and differences. Below is an example of analytical academic writing in a paper:

Example of analytical writing

Based on their responses to the questionnaire, the participants were divided into three groups: Group A, those who regularly used the library (more than once a week); Group B, those who used the library occasionally (once a week); and Group C, those who never or rarely used the library. 

3. Persuasive

Persuasive writing includes all the characteristics of analytical writing. However, this time you add your point of view or perspective.

In academic writing, perspectives can include:

• Arguments

• Recommendations

• Interpretations

• Evaluating others’ work

Including your perspective should not be an excuse to provide unsupported opinions. Each claim should be supported by evidence. This typically involves a reference. 

This reference should preferably be something from a reputable source, such as a book written by a credible and qualified author or a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. The example below shows a study work being evaluated. 

Example of persuasive writing 

Sholubi et al. (2009), in a study looking at organic dairy farmers in Canada, suggested that the high cost of fertilizer plus environmental concerns were the primary reasons driving farmers to adopt organic farming. It was, however, a very small study that looked at only eight dairy farms; therefore, its results may not be generally applicable. Nonetheless, based on these results, we recommend that policymakers emphasize both the cost-efefctivenss and environmental frindliness of organic farming methods to promote the organic farming industry.

As you can see, in the above, the method of the study is described. Its results are summarized. And its flaws are evaluated. Nonetheless, based on the results of the study, they make specific policy recommendations.

From this type of critique, they could go on to recommend solutions for stronger studies. For example, they could call for future research that includes a larger sample of dairy farms. 

4. Critical

Critical writing is one step above persuasive writing. This means that includes all the features of persuasive writing. However, this time, there’s another point of view that you need to contend with. 

With persuasive writing, you may simply critique the methodology of a study as in our example with the research with a small sample size. With critical writing, you do more than that.

You may challenge or critique someone else’s evaluation of a topic or results. This may include a process where you first explain an author’s argument or interpretation before giving a “better” or more valid one. 

The literature review sections of research papers or articles can be a good example of critical academic writing. Critical writing is typical of research questions full of controversy or disagreements. For example, there is controversy on whether or not African iron technology was independently discovered in Africa or spread to Africa from the Middle East.

Here is one author, Augustin C. Holl, disagreeing with another author's dismissal of what Holl sees as convincing evidence supporting the independent discovery of iron smelting technology in Africa.

Example of critical academic writing

“The recent publication of an undoubted iron forge with radiocarbon dates around 2000 BC at Oboui (Central African Republic) seemed to prove that iron was first smelted in Africa (. . .). The excavators obtained seven consistent radiocarbon dates calibrated (at 95 percent probability) in the range 2343 to 1900 BC, but subsequent commentators have noted several puzzling anomalies. The blooms and forged artifacts from Oboui are quite well preserved, retaining substantial amounts of metallic iron, but iron that has sat for 4000 years in an open site in the tropics should be fully corroded” (Killick 2016, 68). The hyperbolic expression “sat for 4000 years in an open site in the tropics. . .,” clearly intended to impress the reader, is at variance with the carefully investigated and well-dated stratigraphy of Oboui (Zangato 2007). In fact, the evaluation of the state of preservation of Oboui iron artifacts is based on published illustrations. This objects sample was effectively selected for publication because of its relatively good preservation out of 174 iron artifacts and by-products collected from Oboui forge. The objection has no merit.

 This critical analysis involved carefully quoting and citing the author being objected to and giving clear reasons why the author's objections lack merit. Namely, the site where the iron was discovered was properly investigated and documented with published illustrations.

Another type of critical writing is literary-based critical analysis. This involves providing critical commentary on a literary work. There is also rhetorical analysis, which focuses on analyzing speeches or oratory-based writing from historical speeches or works of literature.

Example of literary criticism

Below is an example of a literary analysis of Yeats' "Wild Swans at Coole":

In "The Wild Swans at Coole," Yeats gives us scant clues as to what he is mourning. Perhaps it's a lost love or someone close to him has died. We don't know for sure. We could speculate though. The facts of Yeat's personal life and poetic career can be investigated to come up with intelligent guesses as to what motivated his madness. And many critics have done that. However, for our purposes, we will stick to the facts or details on the page. The only thing that we are sure of is the melancholy sense of loss and deep quiet grief that the author suffers from and which the swans simultaneously stir up and soothe. In the case of Milton's "Lycidas," we know the name of Milton’s friend and how he died. But here Yeats leaves us only with the heavy impression of the sad mood of the event that he alludes to without ever naming it. 

In this excerpt, Yeats' personal allusions in "The Wild Swans at Coole" are compared to other examples of allusion such as John Milton in Lycidas.

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Final Thoughts on the different types of academic writing 

Being competent in academic writing is crucial in academia. This is true for both students who have to write research papers for assignments or even academics who have to publish papers in peer-reviewed journals

Just remember. Despite the type of academic writing, basic principles of academic writing should always be followed. These include:

1. Objectivity

2. Clear logic and reasoning

3. Credible evidence 

4. Formality

5. Rigorous structure

To learn more about how to do this, check out this article on academic writing. 

The different types of academic writing are not always clearly defined and separated. They typically intersect with each other or flow directly from each other. 

In these types of assignments, you should not expect to work on just one type of academic writing. Instead, you should be ready to recognize when it's appropriate to use what type of writing even in the same document. 

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2024, August 16). Types of Academic Writing. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/types-of-academic-writing