Style and academic writing: joining those two terms could be seen, by some, as an oxymoron. That is, they aren't always thought of together, and for some people they are poles apart. But let's ignore that for the moment and concentrate on the two key terms here: style--what is it, and how do you identify it?--and academic writing--which to some extent requires a variety of writing styles.
In a recent podcast I gave some examples of how style has been defined:
None of these are wrong, but they aren't particularly helpful, either. Let's also consider what style is not:
Some of the component parts of a writing style include:
In another post I shared a document that helps identify these and other features of a written text and prompts you to identify those features either in your own writing or the writing of someone you are trying to emulate. In the podcast and the slides you can see examples of the three levels of style that classical rhetoricians identified:
Ultimately, you'll want to develop your ability to write at each level, depending on your purpose. I'll examine each of those styles in future articles and podcasts. Roger Graves roger@wecanwrite.ca Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWriter. Educator. Researcher. Archives
June 2020
Categories |