Improving academic writing
Strong academic writing is fundamental in academia, if you are reading this article, you will no doubt already understand the importance of good writing in your academic studies. There are no shortcuts or easy ways to become an expert in academic writing. However, we have a number of tips that may help you as an international student to refine your academic writing skills to enable you to present your work to a higher standard.
Two of the most fundamental and basic elements to improving your academic writing are to read more and write more. As the more you read the more you will absorb different writing styles and the intricacies of different writing styles which will assist you in developing your own style. This will also then help you in your writing and the more you write, the more you will get better at expressing your thoughts and ideas.
This will of course take time so patience will be key, there are a few tips that will assist you along the way:
- Becoming a translator, this is not to say that you need to become a professional translator. However, simply translating your favourite books, stories or articles will draw your focus to the writing. Thus, translating between English and your native language will give you a greater insight into the words being used, how to use them correctly and their context.
- Analyse academic writing in your field in the form of academic research papers and journal articles throughout your studies. You will of course be doing this regularly, however, when reading them do not simply skim through them, try to pay close attention to the authors writing style and the words used and try to consider how you would phrase what you are reading.
- Find out what help is on offer at your institution, most institutions whether they are colleges or Universities will offer support in helping you to improve your writing. They may be in the form of workshops, writing classes or one-on-one meetings with your tutor to discuss your writing. These will be invaluable and you should definitely make the most of these and attend them.
Your tutors will not proofread your assignments, however their critique and feedback will be invaluable, ask them to look at whether there are common mistakes you make so that you can work on improving these. Also ask your tutors to comment on how well they are able to understand your points and if not why. These comments will enable you to go back and work and hopefully improve your academic writing as a result.
Improving your academic writing will take time and will not bring results overnight, the first steps are to become aware as to what good writing is, and then applying your findings to improve your own writing over time. With hard work, patience and diligence your writing will improve!
Academic Proofreading For International Students
If you are an international student and are looking to have your academic writing proofread, you can rest assured that our editors have the necessary experience and expertise to proofread your work to ensure that it reads grammatically correct, and flows well. We understand that writing in a second language can have its challenges. This is exacerbated when writing academic work. Therefore, with our academic proofreading service we are able to take a fresh look at your work and ensure that your grammar, syntax and style of work is in line with what is expected.