lesson 3

• Components of Academic and Professional Writing


  • Context
  • Message
  • Language
  • Purpose
  • Audience
  • Product
• Academic Writing


  • Writings produced by students in an academic settings
  • Main purpose is to inform or persuade
  • Examples: academic books and book reports, academic essay, literature reviews, researches, reaction papers etc.
  • Usually formal and impersonal (use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective), a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice
  • Need to build a wide range and field-specific vocabulary
  • Have distinct structure
  • Follows specific guidelines and language use including citation and referencing
• General Tips in Academic Writing


  • Follow the basics in writing process
  • Be clear with purpose
  • Organize ideas using cohesive devices
  • Avoid wordiness and redundancies, be direct to the point
  • Be objective and factual
  • Edit, edit, edit!
• Use of quotations in academic writing


  Use sparingly, paraphrase information as much as possible
• Avoid using imperative tone in academic writing
• Avoid using font effects such as too much use of boldface, underlines, and italics in academic writing
• Be consistent with the type of English used in academic writing
• Plan wisely in academic writing, allot ample time in preparing your writing assignment
• Professional Writing


  • Any type of written communication done specifically in professional context; often applied in business and technical writing
  • Allows professionals to make informed decisions
  • May involve private businesses, government corporations and offices, academic institutions, technical reports and business correspondences
  • Uses business English and a more personal tone (use of first and second point of view)
  • Does not mean you can include personal anecdote jokes and colloquial expressions
  • Addresses a particular need, follows standard structure and format, and conveys business and technical content to a specific audience
  • Objective, unemotional, accurate, concise, and straightforward
• General Tips in Writing Professional Texts


  • Follow the basics of the writing process
  • Anticipate the readers' beliefs, values, motivations, and possible objections especially when writing persuasive documents such as proposals
  • Adjust your language based on your relationship with the receiver of the document
  • Study the format used by your organization and incorporate it in your writing, however you may use a different formats if which you think are appropriate
  • Avoid excessive font effects such as boldface, underlines, and italics
  • Be consistent with the type of English you use