This guide discusses the basic language rules to help you ace academic writing. To give you an opportunity to practice proofreading, we have left a few spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors in the text. See if you can spot them! If you spot the errors correctly, you will be entitled to a 10% discount.

If you are just starting with academic writing, you may feel overwhelmed by the pressure that academic writing usually imposes. However, as demanding as it may seem, you can easily master academic writing if you know the right rules to follow. This article particularly reaches out to beginners in academic writing to help you master this form of writing. Here, we will go through the basic language rules that apply to all kinds of academic writing (generally) and will help you master it in no time.

Language rules for academic writing

Before we begin, let us shed some light on what establishes a piece of writing as academic writing. In simple words, academic writing is the format you use when you are writing for scholarly purposes. In other words, for universities, colleges, or for publication in academic articles and journals.

It is essentially a way of writing that abides by certain rules and regulations pertaining to the use of language, tone, writing style, writing format, and so on. It has certain goals, including being precise, clear, structured, focused, and logical. Here are certain characteristics of academic writing that will help you recognize it:

• Utilizes a formal tone and approach

• It is well planned and structured

• Focuses on the topic of the writing

• It is logical and provides substantial evidence to prove an idea

So, as it is crystal clear, it is pretty regulated, which is why beginners become overwhelmed by it. However, there is nothing to fear as it is not that hard to follow. Even though it may seem to have too many rules and regulations, it is, in the end, used to allow readers to understand better. Therefore, with the usage of difficult sentences and words, it is not complicated at all. With enough practice, academic writing is an easy art to master. Of course, if you follow the right rules. Here are the basic language rules for academic writing which can help you more than you think.

• Most Important Language Rules to Improve Your Academic Writing

• Importance of Punctuation Marks in Academic Writing

• 10 Common Grammar Mistakes in Academic Writing

• 15 Basic Capitalization Rules for English Grammar

Language rules for structuring sentences

There are no hard and fast rules on how you can sentence your structures except for one — do not complicate them. You want your readers to thoroughly understand what you want to convey, not have them solve word riddles. So, you need to mix in various lengths of sentences to ensure that your piece is balanced.

Here are the things that you should avoid:

• Dangling modifiers

• Run-on sentences

• Fragmenting sentences

• Unusually long sentences

• Misplaced modifiers

Language rules for choice of words

When it comes to academic writing, you need to be careful of what you are writing and what you are meaning. There are various language rules that students and even experts mix up. Some examples include misutilization of the articles, mixing up pronouns (avoid using second-person pronouns here), using wrong prepositions, and, more commonly — using the wrong word for the wrong intention.

Capitalization

For academic writing, the use of capitalization is mostly for differentiating proper nouns. Therefore, make sure that you do not capitalize as and when you see fit but instead focus on the rule mentioned above. Also, make sure you are consistent with how you capitalize your headings and titles.

Punctuation

Punctuation marks are important language rules that people tend to overlook the most. There are various common misconceptions or misplacement of punctuation marks. However, you should pay strict attention to such mistakes in academic writing.

After all, misplacement of punctuation marks can vastly change the meaning of your sentence. Therefore, make sure you understand the purpose of a punctuation mark before you use it.

Verbs

Lastly, you need to pay attention to how you use your verbs in your academic work. There needs to be a proper verb-subject relationship to avoid misunderstanding or confusion for your readers. Also, the tense of your verbs needs to be consistent depending on what you are trying to do:

• Generalization

• Stating facts

• Describing content

• Elaborating details that have ongoing relevancy

• Reporting finished efforts

Be cautious of phrasal verbs, as they can be tricky to use and sometimes too informal for academic writing.

• How to Fix Dangling Modifiers in Academic Writing

• The Main Differences Between American and British English

• Guide to Avoid Common Mistakes in Sentence Structuring

Language rules for academic writing — Conclusion

Remember that you can only get better when you practice more. Also, always make sure that you edit and proofread your work after you finish, as these steps are essential in writing. You may edit and proofread your work on your own. However, if you want expert aid, you can always reach out to professional services to help you out.

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