The purpose of academic writing is to support the arguments with strong evidence in order to make the statements concise and clear for the reader. The vocabulary does not necessarily need to be complex but the tone and style are formal with a purpose of persuading the reader, make him interested and engaged in the topic. Both native speakers and non-native speakers of English oftentimes struggle with becoming competent academic writers because of their inability to understand the importance of organizing the text in a format that closely follows the principles of academic writing. There are several problems that may occur in academic writing, which can cause difficulty for both the reader and the writer, such as plagiarism, citation style and text structure. Usually students solve these problems by applying for help to custom writing services like Writemyessayonline, or their friends or former students. They help not to miss the deadlines and save the grades.
Claiming someone else’s creation as your own is extremely unethical and not beneficial to anyone. The ideas and arguments of someone else should never be taken advantage of and stolen because the work provided will never be original. This is a major problem in academic writing and it may cause the writer to suffer serious consequences, such as being suspended and his reputation as a writer may be completely damaged. Apart from that, plagiarism is completely illegal and dishonorable. The reason for academic theft of someone else’s work without properly addressing it, may be the writer’s difficulty to understand the concept of plagiarism. It can also be a result of insufficient knowledge and practice, or not being properly taught about citation rules. In addition, plagiarism is perceived differently in different cultures. Non-native speakers of English may paraphrase their sources incorrectly because of their unfamiliarity of the concept and what it requires. ‘’In this case, lack of intentional wrongdoing may be due to the influence of culturally rooted definitions of the word ‘’plagiarism’’, suggesting that inexperience is likely to be a contributing factor behind student plagiarism.’’ (Chien 120) The main aim of academic writing is to provide original work with unique ideas and citing sources correctly.
An additional problem that may occur in academic writing is the utilization of different citation styles. Writers can get confused on which citation style to use and how to properly use it. Similarly to plagiarism, the reason for this confusion may be due to the fact that the writer has no experience or is not given proper instructions. ‘’Instruction in writing has frequently been criticized for the inappropriate emphasis on the finished product and the corresponding neglect of the process of composing.’’ (Lamberg 26) The common problems that occur in citing sources involve using references that are not relevant or do not support one’s arguments, missing page numbers and not listing the references in alphabetical order. Citing sources helps to avoid plagiarism and gives credit to the original writer’s work. The validity and credibility of the writer can be destroyed if he does not show proper knowledge and research skills on the topic, by relating someone else’s work to his own ideas. Different citation styles focus on different disciplines. For example, the APA citation style is used for science-based research papers, whereas MLA citation style is mainly used for writing literature essays. These two citation styles can appear similar which can lead to confusion. However, they are unique in their own format and proper instructions need to be provided so that they can be used accordingly. It is of fundamental importance to understand the purpose of proper citation and using a suitable citation style.
Many students in school, but mainly in college, experience difficulties with structuring their text properly to create a cohesive academic piece of writing. ‘’The majority of the teachers include structure in their writing instruction, believing it is one of the most important aspects of students’ writing.’’ (McCarthey & Mkhize 15) Although many Universities, and schools in general, use the traditional introduction-body-conclusion method, many students still struggle with organizing their ideas in each separate section and express what they mean by their statements. This is closely connected with the mental processes the writers tend to go through during writing and also not being correctly and efficiently informed on how to organize their piece of work. The most common mistake is presenting new information in the conclusion, instead of restating the arguments and main ideas. This can lead to confusion on the part of the reader suddenly being presented with new details at the end of reading the essay. Another problem that may occur regarding the conclusion is not being brief, clear and concise. Very long conclusions are unnecessary and only a few sentences are enough, excluding any unnecessary information. Apart from the issue with conclusions, writers also struggle with constructing a thesis statement and providing a clear explanation of what the reader is about to encounter and identifying the major claim of the whole work. Ineffective academic writing instructions result in the writer’s inability to establish academic competence.
Academic writers are expected to make their own statements and support them with evidence referred to what others say on the topic, meanwhile avoiding plagiarism. Being properly informed and educated on the rules of using citation styles is crucial in creating efficient academic piece of writing. Cohesive text structure is what draws the reader towards the topic, making it easy to follow, read and enjoy. The reasons for the main problems in academic writing are closely connected with insufficient education and unclear instructions, culturally different understanding of the academic principles and poor research skills.References
Chien, Shih-Chieh. “Cultural Constructions of Plagiarism in Student Writing: Teachers’
Perceptions and Responses.” Research in the Teaching of English, vol. 49, no. 2, National
Council of Teachers of English, 2014, pp. 120–40
Lamberg, Walter J. “Major Problems in Doing Academic Writing.” College Composition and
Communication, vol. 28, no. 1, National Council of Teachers of English, 1977, pp. 26–29
McCarthey, S. J., and D. Mkhize. “Teachers’ Orientations toward Writing Instruction.”
Journal of Writing Research, vol. 5, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1–33.
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