Lesson 9:

Academic and
Professional
WRITING
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 INTRODUC
TION

Hi dear learners!
You have learned about the writing process, patterns of development and many more as you dive
deeper to this subject. In this module, you will learn how to differentiate academic writing to
professional writing. Knowing the difference between these two will make you identify the kind
of texts you are reading. Hence, it will also be easier for you to write those.

OBJECTIVE
S
By the end of the lesson, you will have been able to;
 distinguish academic from professional writing
 explain the importance of specifying the purpose in academic and
professional writing; and
 edit a piece of writing to make it academic and professional.
 PRELIMINARY
ACTIVITY
Brainstorming!
For 3 minutes, think what comes to mind when you hear/read the words “academic writing and
professional writing’’. Generate as many ideas as you can about those words. After 3 minutes,
let’s discuss about some of your answers.

Academic Writing Professional Writing

DISCUSS
ION
1. Context refers to the situation where professional writing is performed. It includes the
people involved (sender, receiver), relationship between the people involved in the
communication, time and place, and some possible interferences.

2. Message refers to the content of your document. It includes the main topic and the details
that support it. These details may be in the form of facts, statistics, testimonies, and
observation.

3. Language is the channel used to convey the message. It can either be visual or textual,
formal or informal, verbal or non-verbal.
 4. Purpose is the major goal or reason why you are writing. There are 2 levels of purpose
for the context of academic and professional writing: general and specific.

To inform means to make the audience understand a concept.

To persuade is to influence or convince the readers to change their attitudes, actions and
perspective.
The second level is the reason why you wanted to inform or to persuade your target
audience.
5. Audience refers to specified group of potential readers most likely to come into contact
with your essay.

6. Product refers to the output that you intend to produce after considering all other
components/

Differences between Academic Writing and Professional Writing

PURPOSE

Academic writing is typically a research or knowledge paper in which the author uses analysis to
try and increase understanding of a particular subject area.  The writer will add their own opinion
and often include extra wording to link ideas together.  Therefore, academic writing tends to be
longer than professional writing

Business (or professional) writing is about to trying to communicate a message that will
influence actions or opinion on a particular subject.  The focus is often on hard facts with little
room for the writers’ opinions.  Therefore, professional writing is more concise and ‘to the point’
and, consequently, shorter that academic writing.

AUDIENCE.

From an academic point of view, the audience are very likely to have some knowledge of the
area being written about.

But from a professional point of view, audience is likely to consist of multiple parties with
differing knowledge levels, views and attention spans.

LAYOUT, TONE AND STYLE

From an academic point of view, visual is important but not as important as Professional
writing.  This is because the reader(s) is likely to read the entire document.  The layout and style
should reflect the complexity and analysis of the area being addressed.  There should be lengthy
paragraphs (to allow the ideas to be developed) with long sentences and wide range of
vocabulary.  The tone should be inquiring   to demonstrate the writer has a control over the topic
and analysis.
 However, from a professional point of view, it is extremely likely that the audience is working
under time constraints and will have other papers to read.  Therefore, they will not have
sufficient time to read the document in depth.  Therefore, the layout of the document needs to
reflect this; viz (a) a strong document structure to allow readers to skim read and to ensure they
focus on the key areas and (b) simple words, short sentences, short paragraphs and visual appeal
(white space, lists and subheads).   Long sentences are acceptable but they can be viewed as
cumbersome.  Finally, the tone should reflect the message trying to be portray, the expectations
of the audience and the ethos of the company.

 POINT OF VIEW

 Academic writing will be formal using the third person

 Whereas professional writing will be less formal and can use any point of view.

General Tips in Writing Academic Texts.

1. Follow the basics in the writing process.
a. Be clear with the assignment or prompt.
b. Analyze the context of writing.
c. Have a clear purpose and audience in mind.
d. Make your thesis evident.
e. Stay focused on your topic
f. Read some academic texts that use a rhetorical pattern that is similar to the one you
are writing.
g. Make sure you use sufficient cohesive devices. However, be careful not to overuse
transitional devices
h. Avoid wordiness.
i. Use brainstorming strategies.
j. Edit and proofread your work.
General Tips in Writing Professional Texts
1. Follow the basics in the writing process.
a. Be clear with your purpose
b. Consider the context of writing.
c. Organize your ideas using cohesive devices.
d. Avoid redundancies
e. Be objective and factual.
f. Use brainstorming strategies.
g. Edit, edit, edit

ACTIVI
TY
Read the following text very carefully. Then convert it into an academic and a professional text.
You may add other details as long as you provide appropriate citation.

Oh! when we used Facebook in our writing class, it’s quite tough. We used it to post our students
essays. As a teacher we gave some feedback on how we can use it better the next few years.
There are few applications available. Some are for free and some are not. I think these
applications will make the use of Facebook more efficient. It would be nice if students can have
pictures and photos in their portfolio to make it exciting and interactive. By the way, some of our
students were concerned about who can read their work. They do not want everyone to see their
work. In short, there where somewhat reluctant in posting their essays in FB. Perhaps we can
allow them to choose their friends who can see them. Hopefully, it works. We also see students
complain about typing their works. They find it difficult and repetitive. Let’s just allow them to
use laptop so they can encode their essays directly to their computers. Let’s just make sure that
we check them once in a while so that they will not do things not related to their class work. And
of course, let’s show them some samples of portfolio published on Facebook. And then, let’s
demonstrate it to our students. We can also have training session for teachers like us so that we
can see how it really works and how it will help us improve our teaching skills.

Academic Text Version (Recommendation section or research paper)

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Professional Text Version (Proposal for using Facebook in class)

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Now, that you already know about the

difference between the two, I bet you are ready
to learn more. 😊 Always remember what you
have learned from this module because it will
help you to identify what type of writing you
should use depending on the situation. Always