Academic writing involves carefully selected (or created!) words with specific meanings in order to be as precise and specific as possible. When possible, define the key words you're using to explain precisely how you're using them.

Example: Penny's freedom—her ability to leave her captive's manor if she wants to—is restricted by the dangers that lie beyond the manor's walls.

Pro-tip: use em dashes, commas, or parentheses (brackets) to insert a definition or clarification! Here's more on how.

Complex sentence structures that permit writers to show connections between ideas are common in academic writing. 

However, academic readers—perhaps especially those who are working through a pile of student papers—appreciate how clear and bold a simple sentence can be. Don't be afraid to use them to emphasize important insights or observations!

Academic writing, like much professional writing in other fields, should be concise. 

Repetition that is not purposeful will potentially annoy your reader. However, your reader will appreciate repetition that is productive and helpful. 

If you’re writing an essay about freedom and use several synonyms for “freedom” throughout the paper, your reader is likely to be confused. “Freedom” does not mean the same thing as “autonomy” or “sovereignty” or even “freedoms”...

Strategically repeat key words and phrases to keep your essay focused.

There are many varieties of academic styles, with differences that reflect the various work of scholarly communities as well as their value systems and beliefs about the nature of knowledge and truth. 

For example: In the sciences, a preference for avoiding the personal pronoun “I” connects with the value for the scientific method and its role in the production of reliable knowledge. If the scientific method is responsible for the discovery of knowledge, then it makes more sense to say, “This study reveals that…”  than it does to say, “I reveal that…”.

In contrast, humanities scholars appreciate the author’s role in the construction of knowledge and value its acknowledgment through the use of the personal pronoun “I”. Rather than obscuring the author’s role in statements such as, "This paper contends…”, humanities scholars tend to prefer, "I contend…” or "The author contends...”

You don't need to memorize the conventions of each scholarly community! Just do a bit of reading so you know what you're emulating, and focus on making your writing clear, precise, measured, and evidence-based.