Difference Between Academic Writing and Non - Academic Writing
Name : Latta Baraiya
Paper : Research Methodology
Roll no : 11
Enrollment no : 3069206420200003
Email id : lattabaraiya1204@gmail.com
Batch : 2020-22
Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU
Introduction
Writing skills are an important part of communication. Your thoughts are reflected in your writing. But we never thought that writing has different parts also, like academic writing and non academic writing. There are differences between academic writing and non academic writing. Both have different style, language, context, format, tone, grammar, vocabulary etc. Their purposes are also different. Writing is Process. It is not easy to write. According to Columas people have been writing for thousands of years, writing has become more important in recent years, and despite the fact that millions of people are unable to write and read, the majority of communication takes place through writing rather than speaking .(Coulmas) If we look at other observations, we find Yunus and Haris said that writing is a necessary device in learning that it can help learners better in different ways such as comprehending the opinions and concepts.(Yunus and Haris)
But here one can ask that, what is this academic writing and non academic writing ? How does academic writing differ from other writing? Writing is a set of processes. So let's see it in detail.
What is Academic Writing and What is Non Academic Writing ?
It is very important to know what academic writing is and to write in that form. So let's see what is academic writing and what is non academic writing. It refers to a particular style to express anything that we are going to write. "It is consequently unsurprising that writing is given higher prominence in academic contexts, owing to its immediate practical application in a wide range of academic assignments such as examination questions, essays, research reports, dissertation thesis, and so on" (Sağlamel and Kayaoğlu). Hhh talks about three characteristics of academic writing :
Clear evidence in writing that the writer(s) have been persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in study.
The dominance of reason over emotions or sensual perception.
An imagined reader who is coolly rational, reading for information, and intending to formulate a reasoned response. (Hill, Josh, et al)
Academic writing is just like written form of communication which demands reading and serious thinking. It refers to a style of expression that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and specific areas of expertise.
"Academic writing include a formal tone, use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective (usually), a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice. Like specialist languages adopted in other professions, such as, law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts for a group of scholarly experts".(Hartley)
Now let us look at non academic writing. Non academic writing, it is writing that is not intended for an academic audience. They are written for a lay audience or the mass public. This type of writing may be personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. Examples : Personal blog writing, Facebook post, Personal journal writing, Writing for newspapers etc.
Non academic writing is writing that is not intended for an academic audience. They are written for a lay audience or the mass public. This type of writing may be personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. (Hasa)
Most of non academic writings do not include references, citations or a list of sources. Nor are they extensively well-researched as academic writing. Moreover, non academic writing often does not have a rigid structure as academic writing. It is often free-flowing and reflects the style and personality of the writer.
Difference Between Academic Writing and Non Academic Writing
Now we have idea that what is academic writing and what is non academic writing. If we compare both writing, we can get many points that are different from each other. So let's see what are the differences,
Academic writing is a formal and impersonal style of writing that is intended for a scholarly or academic audience while non academic writing is an informal and often subjective style of writing that aims the mass public. (Hasa)
Academic writing and non academic writing are differ from various sectors such as audience, style, purposes, language, vocabulary etc. Let's overview all the points,
Audience :- The readers of academic writing are academics or scholars and the readers of non academic writing are mostly family and friends.
Purpose :- Academic writing give information with evidence, whereas non academic writing so give information. But it is gave in sense of entertainment.
Style :- The style of academic writing is more formal and impersonal, but in non academic writing it is personal and more subjective and emotional.
Organization :- When we write research it needs a well organised. It is more clear and well planned. In non academic writing the organisation is less likely to be as clear and as organised.
Grammar :- When you write academic writing you are supposed to follow all the rules of grammar. Because your academic writing is authentic source of information. Many people take your research as their supporting argument. In non academic writing you are free to use grammar rules. But you are not supposed to break all the rules, but there are not rules also.
Language :- The language of academic writing is more formal and it avoids colloquialisms whereas the language of no academic writing is informal and casual. It may include colloquialisms.
Vocabulary :- Academic Writing needs accurately use of technical and academic language. While non academic writing uses short forms, idioms and slang in write up.
Complexity:- In comparison to spoken language, written language is more complex. Written language has longer words, a more rich lexicon, and a wider vocabulary than spoken language. It employs noun-based phrases more frequently than verb-based phrases. Shorter written texts have more grammatical complexity. While non academic writing have less complexity in the writing.
Citation & Reference :- In academic writing we can see the citation and references but in non academic writing we can not find citation and references. Because academic writing is giving evidence, so they require critics to prove their points and non academic writing is just gives information so they don't require any proofs.
Example :- The example of academic writing is, research paper, scholarly article, thesis, dissertation etc. The examples of non academic writing is social media post, blog, newspaper article etc.
In this way academic writing is different from non academic writing. As Hyland said, "academic writing is a kind of means to discuss knowledge claims.Academic writing should be the most concrete social text; it should consider as collective social practices rather than concerning linguistic features as regularities of academic writing. The most goals of academic writing will be persuasive; to persuade an evaluation in a review, to accept a knowledge claim in a research paper and to acknowledge a schema in a text book. On the other hand, non-academic writing is a kind of individual text in which writers think, feel or believe something. It doesn’t include literature, personal essays, articles, writing in popular magazine and newspapers".(Hyland)
Academic writing is complex then non academic writing. You should follow the rules of grammar as well as spelling and punctuation. It is hard to do academic research, because it requires more attention and you can't write anything in research. Non academic writing is more easy but I haven't that much importance in comparison to academic writing. You are responsible for your writing also, because you are giving evidence in your research so you can't rid of it. It may possible that someone deniy your points in academic writing, at that time you should be ready with your points. In non academic writing you are not supposed to prove your things and nobody is going to ask you about it. In this way we can defferciate both writings. In this both writing academic writing is very important. We can write a good academic writing with the help of quotes, statements of author and critics. This is how we can improve our academic writing.
Conclusion
In this way we can say that both writings have their own form of describing the information, one is professional and one is personal. From the discussion of this topic we can say that scholarly interpretations differ from those of others. Ordinary people are not able to understand this unusual meaning, but academicians are capable of doing so. Academic portrayal of the subject is unique and interesting to read. Non-academic writing only comprises informal conversions, whereas academic writing represents serious views. There are no specific standards and regulations for structure and grammar in non-academic languages. As a result, it is similar to everyday ordinary language that is only used in everyday life. Academic language should be well-thought-out, concise, and straightforward.
Works Cited
Coulmas, Florian. Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge University Press,2003. https:/writing-systems-an-introduction-to-their-linguistic-analysis-cambridge-textbooks-in-linguistics-e156761438.html.
Hartley, James. Academic Writing and Publishing a Practical Guide. Routledge, 2008.
Hasa. “Difference between Academic Writing and Non Academic Writing.” Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms, Differencebetween.com, 4 Oct. 2019, https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-academic-writing-and-non-academic-writing/.
Hill, Josh, et al. “What Is Academic Writing .” Go to the Cover Page of Composing Ourselves and Our World, https://composingourselvesandourworld.pressbooks.com/chapter/1-2-what-is-academic-writing/.
Hyland, Ken. “Disciplinary Discourses, Michigan Classics Ed.” The United States: University of Michigan Press, 2004, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.6719.
Sağlamel, Hasan, and Mustafa Naci Kayaoğlu. “ English Major Students’ Perceptions of Academic Writing: A Struggle between Writing to Learn and Learning to Write.” Journal of History Culture and Art Research, vol. 4, no. 3, 2015, p. 37., https://doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v4i3.477.
Yunus, Melor Md, and Siti Nor Haris. “The Use of Discourse Markers among Form Four SLL Students in Essay Writing.” International Education Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, 2014, https://doi.org/10.5539.
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