Developing Academic Communication Skills (LDT3101)

This report discusses the difference between academic and other writing, features of academic writing, key elements and vocabulary issues. It also explains types of abbreviations used in academic reports.

Sample

INTRODUCTION
Academic writing related to those style of writing which is used in various educational
institution such as school colleges and universities. It is quite different from other types of
writing because it need some formal structure to be followed while writing. Academic writing
helps to develops academic integrity in institution and enables the students to develop various
interpersonal skills. This report contains difference between academic and other writing.
Features of academic writing and key elements and various issues of vocabulary in content
writing.
TASK
Difference between academic and other writing
There are major difference between academic writing and other writing because both the
writing need different skills and content. Brief discussion related to these differences are given
below.
 Personal or interpersonal style :- In academic writing impersonal style of writing is
used to analyse various projects or topics while personal style of writing uses informal
way of writing. There are many criteria which distinguish academic and non academic
writing such as audience, purpose, format, tone and language. The main aim of academic
writing is to aware the audience about the facts and figures and the main aim of non
academic writing is to reach at mass public.
 Formal or informal style of writing :- Academic writing follows formal style of writing
while non academic writing follows informal style of writing. The major difference
between formal and informal style of writing is that there is prefixed structure present for
formal writing which is mandatory for writers to be followed in writing and no particular
format is there for informal writing. There are certain principles and theories which
academic writer has to follow in their content writing.
 Language :- Language is an important factor for the differentiation in formal and
informal writing because in academic writing first person is not used and in non academic
writing first person can be used by writer. In academic writing writer analyses the
particulate topic and to acknowledge other persons and in non academic writing the main
motive of writer is to express their personal views on specific topic.

 Citations and references :- It is compulsory for every academic writing to be evidenced
with proper references and citations. Generally non academic writing does not contain
any reference and citation because it includes personal ideas and suggestion of writers.
Purpose and features of academic writing
There are many features of academic writing because of its pre determined structure and
style of writing. The brief discussion related to these features are given below.
 Precision :- The simple meaning of precision is to become specific on the main topic of
report. Academic writing contains use of actual facts and figures and restricted to be use
of unnecessary words such as someone said or a lot of people. It should be upon the man
purpose of the report and always be on third person language.
 Complexity :- The content of academic writing is more complex than any other type of
writing. It is specified in format of academic writing that it should be contains various
aspect of grammar and more complex.
 Formality :- It is the first requirement of any academic report to be written in formal
language and it is protected from the use of informal words such as sort of, stuff and etc.
academic report carry pre specified path to be followed by writer and the neglect of this
path can create problem of ineffective report and non acceptance of report.
 objectivity :- Every type of report whether it is formal or informal has an objective to
write. The main objective of Academic report is to provide information related to any
subject to readers. The objective behind informal report is to provide self views and ideas
on any topic.
 Accuracy :- The simple meaning of accuracy is to being correct and precise. It is
specified for Formal report that it should be accurate about the topic and not use any
accurate data and figures.
Key elements of academic writing with examples
There are many elements and types of academic writing and writers has to use one from
them tom make their report attractive and useful for readers. Brief discussion related to these
elements are given below.
 Descriptive :- Most of the reports carry a quality element to be descriptive because it
contains many aspects of particular topic or subject. The most important example of this
type of report is summary of an article or result of the experiment. It is required for writer

of formal report that it should describes all the aspects of related topic so that reader can
take benefit of it.
 Analytical :- The meaning of analytical is carry out proper research on any topic so that
each and every aspect could be find out and describe. It is the main element of academic
writing that the reader could analyse all the facts and figures related to topic to provide
information to their readers. Report can be made more analytical by followed some steps
such as take time to plan the work and find out facts and figures. These facts and figures
should be grouped effectively so that each and every facts can be used by reader.
 Persuasive :- Academic writing carries quality to be persuasive because it influence the
thoughts and emotions towards particular topic. Formal report are developed to provide
information related to specific topic to readers so that the reader can enhance their
knowledge and develops their judgement. To develop a quality of persuasive in report
there are some suggestion such as read the work of other authors and takes overview and
also considers different researches related to topic and then own report with authentic
sources.
 Critical :- It is related to those feature of academic report under which both the aspect
such as positive and negative are describe in report. It is important feature because it is
required that writer should be unbiased in their report and not express their personal
judgement on topic. It should be general. This type of reports are generally used in
research, graduate and post graduate.
Explain key vocabulary issues and types of abbreviations
There are many issues and problems related to vocabulary which writers faces in their
work and the brief discussion related to these problems are given below.
 Lexical difficulties :- It is related to those problem faced by writer under which they
finds difficulties in words and are not able to link all their words from one another. This
problem makes report ineffective to provide information to readers. The solution of this
problem is to develop vocabulary skills by a way of reading and writing.
 Grammar and punctuation :- It is one of the major problem which many writers faces
in their work. Under this problem it faces many difficulties in relation to tenses, verbs
and many grammatical errors. The main reason for this problem is incomplete knowledge

of subject and weak concept. Writer can solve this problem by a way of improving their
concepts and knowledge.
 Plagiarism :- It is one of the most common problem in present scenario, under this
problem writer uses the concept and words of other author's work. This problem is very
harmful for students skills as well as academic integrity. This problem makes difficulties
for students to develops their writing skills. It is solved by a way of proper training and
practise.
 Text structure :- In case of formal or academic report there is predetermined structure
which students has to follow in their reports and many students make mistakes in this
task. Lack of structure disable the delivery of main purpose of report to readers.
Types of abbreviation in academic report
Abbreviation is important to make the report useful for the readers and can easily be
access for everyone some of the abbreviation to be uses in academic report are given below.
 Contraction :- These are used to simplify the complex verbs or other words in report and
helps the readers to use simplify information. For example I am is written as I'm and is
not as isn't.
 Acronyms :- These are the short form of many terms which is used by writers to
decrease their efforts to write full forms of well known words. For example information
technology as IT, masters in business administration as MBA and many more.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from this report that there is predetermined structure and regulations to
write academic report. This phenomena can helpful to develop the academic skills of students
and also benefits in their professional career. There are many features and qualities of formal
reports which writer has to fulfil to make report effective. It is required to have proper
knowledge of grammar and other subjects to make Academic report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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4708). IATED.
Atabekova, A., Lutskovskaia, L. and Gorbatenko, R., 2021. Developing multiliteracy skills and
pragmatic communication awareness of university students learning a foreign language
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Bobkina, J. and Domínguez Romero, E., 2020. Exploring the perceived benefits of self-produced
videos for developing oracy skills in digital media environments. Computer Assisted
Language Learning, pp.1-23.
Coroban, C., 2020. Developing Intercultural Communication Skills Through Practical and
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Hurwitz, S., Ryan, T. and Kennedy, D.P., 2020. Developing social communication skills using
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autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 50(3), pp.904-915.
Repina, T.Y., 2019. Implications of Teaching Speaking Skills in the University English Course.
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