Discussion on Academic Writing Genre

Question: Write a Discussion On Academic Writing Genre. Answer: Genre is a type of literature, art or music that is characterised by a specific content, style and form. Writing is found to have different genres that classify it into several categories depending upon the forms, style and content[1]. It is important to note that all of these genres have particular functions and features that differentiate them from each other. On the other hand, academic writing is conducted in different sets of genres and forms. Hence, it is important for a reader to categories the writing into a particular form of genre to understand the message that is conveyed by the writing. The paper has been developed to discuss academic writing as a genre and present the characteristics of academic writing. The study discusses the variety of critical approaches that are used while writing about a subject. Along with that, the paper presents a comparison between academic writing genre and drama writing genre to understand the basic differences between the two writing forms. It can be seen through study that academic writing can be further categorised into various forms such as article writing, abstracts, research, textbooks, reviews, PhD theses, posters, grant proposals, essays, and popular science writing[2]. It is important to note that the writing in the academic form is written in a dispassionate and impersonal tone. On the other hand, Drama genre is categorised into two forms that are known as tragedy and comedy[3]. Hence, the study primarily focuses on various forms of academic writing and compares them with other genre of writing. The primary purpose of academic writing in English is to inform the readers regarding a particular subject. Academic writing offers factual data and information on a particular subject and does not intend to entertain the readers[4]. Hence, there is no place for digression and repetition while constructing an academic writing. It is important for the author to have a key theme or idea that will be followed in a constant manner throughout the writing. In other words, the writing must be structured around the main theme and every part of the paper must provide arguments and information to support the central idea[5]. Academic writing as a genre has eight major characteristics that are known as formality, complexity, objectivity, precision, accuracy, explicitness, responsibility, and hedging. Hence, it is important for an author to consider all of these characteristics while constructing an academic text. It is important to note that academic writing must be writing in a formal way without considering personal touch in the text[6]. The daily dialogues used with friends and family cannot be used while writing an academic paper. On the other hand, academic writing must be writing in a complex manner using high standard of English language[7]. The language used in academic writing must be different from the language used in daily vocabulary. Academic writing must be precise and up to mark. It must provide factual information, charts and figures to support the explanation in the text. Furthermore, objectivity is another primary characteristic of academic writing[8]. It is important to note that academic writing is not about the readers or writers and must not contain any referrals to any of them. Academic writing must focus on the main idea and provide supportive information about the theme. Along with that, it is important for the authors to make the writing explicit in nature. There must be a connection between every text and points provided in academic writing. It is the responsibility of the author to provide proof of relevancy of the information to the central theme of the written paper. Furthermore, the information provided in an academic writing must be accurate and proper references must be given in the case of using the thoughts of other authors. It is important for the writers to take proper responsibility of th e information provided[9]. Everything written in the academic paper must be accompanied by appropriate justification and proofs. There is no assumption allowed in academic writing. Finally, there are some writers who use the hedge technique to writing academic literatures. The hedge technique is the way a writer decides to carry on writing regarding a certain subject and the strength of claiming the ideas that the author writes. The writing genres are majorly differentiated through the rough classification of the context provided in writing. However, based on the characteristics of writing, specific writing styles have been utilised for the significant intended purpose[10]. In this study, a discussion has been evaluated making a comparison between academic writing genres such as a scholarly article, thesis, and textbook and other types of conventional writing genre i.e. drama. Meanwhile, academic writing genres have been written to establish a high degree of knowledge and information to students on a particular subject. For instance, a textbook is one of the most common academic writing genres to provide an explicit instruction to the targeted students through relevant principles, theories, and concepts[11]. Notably, scholarly articles have been designed to deliver new ideas to the target audience on a given scientific problem or academic object. Decisively, scholarly articles can be identified as one of the most influential academic writing genres to be utilised for supporting or opposing a claim on any given topic. Through the use of empirical data, scholarly article writers have substantiated their views acknowledging the research study[12]. Convincingly, academic writing genres need more precise information to explain or exhibit the writing. On other note, a thesis is another skilful genre of academic writing, precisely a form of scholarly work. Precisely, in this form of academic writing genre, knowledge of the professional fields has to be submitted in writing providing skilful resource arguments. On the other hand, other sets of writing genres have been characterised on the basis of different literature style, context, and format. In this particular study, academic writing genre has been compared to drama, one of the most popular forms of literature writing genres of all time. Apparently, each of the writing genres has been identified according to the used features and functions. Precisely, each of the writing genres has a shared objective to convey a message to the reader. In the case of dramatical genre, significant dialogues, characters and direction tactics have been utilised by the author to represent the main agenda of the writing. Meanwhile, drama can be categorised in two different types such as comedy and tragedy[13]. In this form of writing genre, significant emotional attachments, intellectual developments and conflict scenario of diverse life situation have been represented through the form of a writing style. Moreover, in dramatically writing genre, significant p lots have been included by the author to create more realistic portraits of human psychology[14]. Therefore, the classification of the literature writing genres is far more different to that of academic writing genre. Primarily, literature writing genres such as drama has been developed based on a form of art including real or fictional characters. Herein, it can be addressed that the major difference between academic writing and another genre is the style of writing and content of the writing. Through the identification of the original writing style and content of both the academic writing genre and other writing genres such as drama, it is quite understandable that academic writing genre has been drafted based on studies and thorough research to evaluate a solution of a certain question or scientific problem[15]. On the other hand, other writing genres such as drama require the significant combination of thoughts and subject of the writer to build a form of writing discussing emotional phase of social human beings. Decisively, other writing genres have been written to influence the literature skill and thinking standards of a student to be precise. Through the comprehension of drama and other writing genres, a learner can improve the knowledge of literature to generate heightened effects in the study[16]. On the other side, academic writing genres cannot be written on an imaginary background. In order to write a form of academic writing genre, specific investigation, theo ries, principles and knowledge resources must be taken into consideration. Precisely, writing a drama or a romantic poetry needs a literature form to be presented in a meaningful standard to the suitability of the author carrying a message to the readers. Conversely, academic writing genres cannot be written based on mere ideas. Considering the differences between academic writing genre and drama writing genre, it can be seen that citation of work is required only in the case of academic writing. It is important for an academic writer to cite the work from where he or she borrows the ideas that are transmitted in the written text[17]. The failure of citing the sources is a punishable offence in the case of academic writing. On the other hand, it is not required to cite the sources from where the authors borrow ideas for constructing the written text. Furthermore, drama is basically a type of literature genre that is prepared for the entertainment of the audiences. It has certain impacts on the psychology of the audiences[18]. A good drama makes people flow with the theme and get into the scenes of the text. On the other hand, academic writing is prepared for the audiences to increase their knowledge on different subjects such as science, management, arts, literature and many others. The discussion has pointed out the distinct features of both academic writing genre and other writing genres to be precise. Apparently, literature writing is somewhat different to writing an academic form of writing such as a thesis or an academic journal article. While writing a drama, the author identifies the characters and role of the imaginary people based on several societal emotions. During a comedy or tragedy writing, the flow of writing shows the events as a chapter to the reader mostly developed for comprehensive benefits and literature improvement. Notably, other forms of writing genres are convenient to form of writing styles. On the other note, academic writing genres are suitably developed for an academic purpose to investigate a social issue, economic prospects or a scientific problem to be resolved based on research and previous studies. Through the identification of theories, relevant knowledge resources, data sources, and expert interventions, an academic writing ge nre has been prepared providence evidence and scientific knowledge. Conclusive, during the construction of a writing genre other than academic writing, the authors are not liable to understand any theories related to any event. But, in the case of developing an academic writing genre, it is mandatory to support the argument with evidence and reference. 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