Formal Writing and Academic Success

FORMAL WRITING VS SPOKEN ENGLISH

The language that we learn and use everyday when speaking to friends and family is VERY different from the language that should be used to write an academic paper.

What are some of the differences?

• In speaking, punctuation does not matter. In writing, it does! (We can see it!!)
• In speaking, we can make mistakes and speak in incomplete sentences- and still be understood. In writing, these errors are very distracting and unacceptable.
• We use more formal, academic vocabulary in writing than we typically do in everyday speech.
• We often connect ideas in different ways in speaking and in writing (but, so, and, VS however, therefore, in addition)
• In writing, we must follow a very specific structure, and maintain strict unity and coherence in our paragraphs. When speaking, we have much more flexibility with how we organize our ideas.
• See this page for some additional Dos and Don'ts: (https://awelu.srv.lu.se/grammar-and-words/register-and-style/dos-donts/)

Curious to learn more? Here are some videos.

• Watch this helpful video from SMRT English that describes more of these differences!
• Watch this one for 5 tips to improve your formal writing.
• Here is a video that details 12 common academic writing errors to avoid.
• Practice your advanced listening skills with another video that explains how to write for college.

Would You Like to Practice?

• PRACTICE 1: This exercise helps you identify INFORMAL language (which we should NOT use in academic writing)
• PRACTIC2 2: Avoiding abbreviations
• PRACTICE 3: This one is challenging! It asks you to find synonyms that are MORE formal and LESS formal.
• PRACTICE 4: Replace less formal expressions with more formal synonyms
• PRACTICE 5: Exercises from the Purdue Owl to practice your punctuation use
• PRACTICE 6: Practice editing for sentence fragments with the Purdue Owl
• PRACTICE 7: Practice avoiding run-ons and comma-splice errors (Purdue Owl)
• PRACTICE 8: Exercises for making your sentences less wordy and more concise (Purdue Owl)
• PRACTICE 9: Verb tense consistency exercises from the Purdue Owl