Types of Academic Writing and Amnesia: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Running head: Health and Social Care Management
Health and Social Care Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE MANAGEMENT
Part A
There are four chief types of academic writing and they are descriptive, analytical, persuasive
and critical. Descriptive academic writing refers to academic writing that is descriptive in
nature; academic writing whose primary purpose is to give information or facts. Examples of
descriptive academic writing include the summary of an article or a report detailing the results of
an experiment that is conducted.
Analytical academic writing refers to academic writing that is descriptive in nature. However,
in an analytical academic writing, I need to reorganize information and facts that I describe, into
groups, categories, types, parts or relationships. An analysis of a text includes the method of
comparison, contrast, analysis, examination and relation.
Persuasive academic writing refers to the position of a writer through a combination of
persuasion referring to different evidences. The identification of the point of view and the
research through different sources helps a writer in inducing persuasive documentation of the
idea. Point of view in academic writing may include a recommendation, an argument, and the
interpretation of findings or an evaluation of the work done by others. Persuasive writing entails
that each claim that I make, is supported by evidence, for instance, a reference to published
sources or research findings. Persuasive piece of writing includes an argument, an evaluation,
discussion, and taking a position.
Critical academic writing refers to academic writing that has all the elements of persuasive
writing in addition to more than one other point of view. The difference between persuasive
academic writing and critical academic writing pertains to the fact that the former requires me to

2HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE MANAGEMENT
have my own point of view on a topic or an issue while the latter requires me to consider at least
two points of view, in addition to my own point of view. Examples of critical writing include a
literature review that evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of an existing piece of research and
a critique of a journal article. Critical academic writing entails debate, disagreement, critique and
evaluation.
These key academic writing styles are important because it will help me to write an empirical
thesis. Critical writing will be required to write a literature review. The methods section of a
research essay will be descriptive in nature. The report section will be primarily descriptive as
well as analytical as I report on the data that I have collected. The discussion section will entail
an analysis and being analytical as I relate my findings back to my research questions. It will also
be persuasive as I propose my interpretation of what I have found.
Amnesia refers to a state when an individual can no longer recall or memorize information that
has been stored in that person’s memory. People suffering from amnesia often have difficulty in
forming new memories and is unable to recollect places, events, facts and experiences that have
happened in the past. There are various types of amnesia including retrograde amnesia,
anterograde amnesia, transient global amnesia and infantile amnesia (Moon et al. 2016).
Retrograde amnesia refers to a state when a person loses existing memory and previously
formed memories (Kwan et al. 2013). Anterograde amnesia refers to a state when a person can
no longer form new memories in their mind. Transient global amnesia refers to a state when a
person experiences agitation or confusion that occurs several times over the course of a number
of hours. Infantile amnesia refers to the state when a person is unable to remember the first
three to five years of his life (Staniloiu and Markowitsch 2014).