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Home / Your studies / Study skills / Writing / Types of academic writing
Writing
1.Academic writing
2.Types of academic writing
3.Planning your writing
4.Structuring written work
5.Grammar, spelling and vocabulary
6.Editing and proofreading
7.Evidence, plagiarism and referencing
8.Resources and support
Types of academic writing
The four main types of academic writing are descriptive, analytical, persuasive and critical. Each of these types of writing has specific language features and purposes.
In many academic texts you will need to use more than one type. For example, in an empirical thesis:
you will use critical writing in the literature review to show where there is a gap or opportunity in the existing research
the methods section will be mostly descriptive to summarise the methods used to collect and analyse information
the results section will be mostly descriptive and analytical as you report on the data you collected
the discussion section is more analytical, as you relate your findings back to your research questions, and also persuasive, as you propose your interpretations of the findings.
