'Write Here, Write Now' episode 2: Academic Writing Styles
The second episode of Write Here, Write Now continues the series’ exploration of academic writing issues by discussing academic writing styles with students and lecturers. The episode commences by clearly explaining the different reasons behind this critique which frequently indicates when a student has conveyed a point in a colloquial, vague or convoluted manner. Similar to the series’ introductory episode, this episode discusses the topic first from the student’s viewpoint and highlights how and why the student found it difficult to develop this aspect of their academic writing. In the interests of clarifying the term “expression”, Episode Two also features an interview with a member of UCC’s teaching staff. The focus of this interview is on explaining exactly what a lecturer means when they write “expression” in the margins of a student’s assignment and why is it important for the student’s essay. Once both the students’ and the lecturers’ concerns and insights have been established, the podcast episode briefly delineates the four different writing styles and contextualize the purpose and the advantages of each writing style for its student audience. The Write Here, Write Now team then offers students a number of alternatives to the informal expressions and generalized statements that are predominantly found in students’ assignments. Throughout this segment of the podcast episode, the Write Here, Write Now team emphasizes that these alternatives not only improve students’ written expression, but render students’ arguments more objective in its analysis of the material and therefore, more pertinent to the set assignment than an argument that was written in a subjective and biased style.