Some Principles of Good Academic Writing for Students

The Strathclyde Institute of Education’s Jonathan Firth and Allan Blake demystify the process and provide practical tips for new students.

There is no universal agreement across academia about what constitutes good writing, but at the same time, there are many principles that most academics (and therefore most markers) are likely to share. One is that good writing shows efficiency and clarity when expressing an idea (rather like Grice's maxims for conversation). It makes a clear point, is not vague, not overly wordy, and does not use long terminology when short words would do just as well (though technical terms must be used where necessary). Such writing sticks to the point and gives the reader enough information – not too much and not too little.

By this standard, not all published academic writing is especially ‘good’, and there will be a range from better to worse. The very best writing is witty and entertaining as well as informative, but for those who are new to the practice of academic writing, it’s best to focus on being precise and clear.

Focus and flow are important considerations too, and connect to clarity and efficiency as well. A good essay flows well; the direction is clear, and the reader understands what the author is trying to say. A good essay often contains a few ‘signposts’ to guide the reader, such as “This essay will analyse...” or “I will return to this point later”. Such statements are a form of metalanguage that help to keep a reader on track (though it’s best not to overuse them).

Another point is pace and balance. A good essay has many of the same features as a good story. It’s not boring; it gives us enough information to set the scene (the introduction) but then gets to the point without making us wait too long. Later, it comes to a satisfying conclusion that makes sense, and fits with what went before.

What sets excellent writing apart?

At least in social sciences such as Education, an excellent piece of academic writing will make careful use of sources. It’s not just a matter of using as many references as possible, though essays that rely on very few sources will tend to score low. A good essay reflects the student having read and thought deeply about the core reading from the course or module, while excellent essays include ideas that demonstrate their broader reading and awareness.

There’s also the question of how the writer uses evidence. In skilled academic writing, points are backed up deftly with suitable sources, with critical discussion of the sources included. Of course, a good essay will also have correctly understood its sources; it is not uncommon to see students misquoting sources or getting points factually wrong, which obviously reduces the quality of the essay as a whole.

As the points above suggest, being critical is an important feature of academic writing, though explaining what this means in practice is not straightforward. Broadly, it might be described as a scepticism about accepting at face value claims arising from a single perspective. From an investigation of academics’ expectations of criticality in student writing, the researcher Clive Opie (2004) generated a list of strategies that might be useful to employ. These include (but are not limited to): comparing and contrasting different theories, concepts and terminology within sources and indicating the position you are taking; and relatedly, strategic and selective referencing to support the underpinning arguments that form the basis of your writing.

There is no getting away from the fact that there is some subjectivity on the part of markers, which is why the assessment process in Higher Education involves cross-marking and moderation to try to keep the standard similar across courses. It’s important nonetheless to refer to the marking criteria for an assignment as the writing progresses, to ensure that you are on the right track, and not losing sight of the aims and requirements of the task.

The planning process

Planning an essay is a chance to make sense of concepts and ideas, and to decide how to communicate this clearly. Students should not rush this step. Likewise, they should not skip it entirely – it’s important that the planning is completed by the writer rather than Generative AI.

At the same time, a good plan is flexible, and skilled writers change their plans and rethink things as they write. It’s not realistic to create a perfect plan before writing a single paragraph. Writing transforms understanding, and new ideas develop as you write. Thus, writing is not simply a ‘mopping up’ of learning, but rather a key part of the thinking and learning process (Galbraith, 1999). While it may seem obvious that a student should read first, then plan, then write, the whole process is much more fluid for experienced writers, and includes reading and re-reading sources as a new piece is written.

The specifics of how to write a plan can be very individual. Some people jot down notes, some use index cards for points/paragraphs and move them around, some use mind maps. A plan can be simpler or more elaborate, but at the very least, it’s good to have an overall idea of the argument or idea that the essay will focus on. Once you have that, you can reflect on how to express this clearly.

Good academic writing habits

Reading widely is an important part of good writing, not just because it adds to your knowledge and thus informs what you write, but also because articles (some in particular) act as good models. It’s not just about reading as much as possible; how you engage with books and articles matters a lot. It can be very helpful to keep notes on articles that you read, as well as thinking about how they connect to other readings and/or lectures. It’s also useful to discuss readings with classmates, which is why this is a common task in seminars and tutorials.

Developing understanding and (ideally) expertise in a topic takes time. It can be hard to know where to begin – or where to stop. Students may find it helpful to allocate blocks of time to this, and one useful approach is to write notes and reflections from memory before returning to a text and rereading it. Quotes, of course, should be copied verbatim (but use them sparingly, and provide context).

These are just some of the principles that contribute to good academic writing. They’re intended to demystify a practice that is focused, and coherent, and purposeful; that makes use of evidence that can be scrutinised; that is critical but not quarrelsome; that builds analytically and strategically towards a conclusion; that makes a concise and persuasive contribution to the wider discussion of an issue, but without trying to say too much. Above all, the purpose of good academic writing might be to allow you to “lay claim to knowing something” (Richardson, 1994, p. 517) in the context of developing a lively and convincing scholarly perspective.

 

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to BA Education & TESOL student Ghayda Al Araimi, whose questions about academic writing stimulated this piece.

 

References

Galbraith, D. (1999). Writing as a knowledge-constituting process. In M. Torrance & D. Galbraith (Eds.), Knowing what to write: Conceptual processes in text production (pp. 139–159). Amsterdam University Press.

Opie, C. (Ed.). (2004). Doing educational research: A guide to first-time researchers. SAGE Publications.

Richardson, L. (1994). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 516–529). SAGE Publications.

 

Published 18/05/2026

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