Why Develop Good Academic Writing Skills?

One of the purposes of academic writing is to help individuals with their personal and professional growth which is a vital skill to succeed in the workplace.

Today, every job description demands a candidate to have strong communication skills so as to be able to communicate ideas clearly and concisely with confidence. As a student, you get to learn part of these skills, if not all, from the academic writing you do for your coursework.

From communicating ideas clearly and concisely to becoming able to convey arguments logically and in a convincing manner, academic writing teaches you skills that are transferable to a range of workplace tasks. Regardless of your field of study, here are some of the general skills that academic writing trains you with:

• Time Management

  Probably the best skill you learn from academic writing is time management skill. The time window allotted to you for the completion and submission of your assignments has a good reason for it. Time is money, and learning to use it efficiently is crucial to succeed in all walks of life, be it related to academics or your workplace. Today, most jobs demand employees to work within strict deadlines. Failing at time management results in individuals being stressed and feeling unmotivated which seriously affects productivity.

• Research 

  Researching skills are yet another useful skill that academic writing helps students with. Businesses always look for opportunities to grow through research. Research also helps businesses identify the probable sources of threat. Further, understanding consumer needs before venturing into production also requires research. This proves the need for researching skills for candidates applying for jobs and if you’ve had this skill well-rehearsed during your academic writing, you’ll be skilled enough to tackle arising issues in your workplace appropriately.

• Developing an Argument/Critical Thinking skill 

  Argument here does not signify a dispute between parties, rather. In the context of academics, argument refers to a claim that is justified and developed by reasoning and evidence. From your research, you first derive an argument(or it may be derived from the analysis of relevant data), and then work on justifying it with evidence, from published scholarly articles. This entire process of developing and justifying an argument is a crucial skill that helps others understand your perspective. This process might also be termed critical thinking.

Note that even though you can make any sort of claim, however, only when you prove it with evidence and sound reasoning, it truly becomes an argument. Once you become skilled at it, you’ll feel confident enough to present your work to upper management and propose changes in your workplace environment.

• Correct usage of grammar, punctuation, and spelling

  As mentioned earlier, academic writing is a formal style of writing wherein, grammatical usage is strictly flagged where inappropriately used to maintain clarity, flow, and appearance. The compulsion of the correct usage of grammar, punctuation, and spelling in academic writing itself instills the skill of generating high-quality written work in students. This makes their writing more clear, concise, and free from any arising misunderstandings; which most industries require individuals to submit error-free work.

• Understanding of your targeted Audience

  Whenever you write, whatever you write; you must always keep your audience in mind as you go. Through academic writing, you learn how to structure your essay, what sort of tone to use, what type of information to cover, and how to dwell on every topic keeping in mind your audience. In a workplace context, this comes in handy when adopting a different tone for different stockholders, customers, or clients. Subtle differences might become necessary depending upon whom you are talking to within your organization. Once you master this art of communicating with subtle differences, according to your audience, it’ll be easier for you to develop work relationships.

• Organization and Structure

  Academic writing almost always requires a structure that will essentially make it look more organized and clearer for the reader. Also, in academics, it is usually one logical point (your claim) that you are trying to prove that connects your work. This very point devises a structure for the rest of your argument. Imagine if you go off-topic, your final writing will not be considered properly structured and so you’ll have to stick with the main goals to not go astray from the main topic (the point you are trying to prove) and not lose the effective structure and organization in your writing. This skill is crucial to understanding the most relevant points to focus on when pitching your products or services to clients, negotiating with professionals, or presenting your ideas to senior management in the workplace context.

• Writing Clearly and Consistently

  Clarity and consistency in writing come from academic writing when you develop the skill of knowing your audience, you’ll know whether your reader will have relevant knowledge or technical expertise. Only then do you develop the skill of writing with a tone consistent for your audience with better readability scores which ensures readers of your content understand the point you are making.