Types of academic writing styles

The four main types of academic writing are descriptive, analytical, persuasive and critical.

Types of academic writing styles

Types of academic writing styles

Types of academic writing styles list

Different types of academic writing

Characteristics of academic writing

Academic writing style examples

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.

Descriptive

The simplest type of academic writing is descriptive.

Its purpose is to provide facts or information. An example would be a summary of an article or a report of the results of an e