Formal and Informal Writing

Academic Writing
Academic writing has two separate but similar ways of communicating: formally and informally. Formal written communication can be further broken down into two broad categories:
• Objective, or what the American Psychological Association calls professional writing.
• Self-reflective writing, which is a personal contemplative examination of a topic but is no less rigorous.
The hallmarks of professional or objective communication are avoidance of self-references, rhetorical statements and jargon, maintaining a style of writing that refers to the material presented as if from a distance: detached and impersonal, emphasizing facts and using clear argumentation based on a thoroughly reasoned analysis of the material.
On the other hand, self-reflective writing is a personal exploration of a topic critically assessed from the observer’s point of view, clearly stating the person’s interpretation of material, concepts, and experiences. It is also influenced by your feelings, values, and biases.
When applied to writing, the difference between objective and subjective writing conveys a perspective. To consider how objectivity and subjectivity interact and to examine reflective writing, watch these videos:
• Week 6: Academic WritingLinks to an external site..
Both writing styles back their arguments and claims with supportive evidence from the literature, and depending on the audience, context and purpose have their place. Further, both professional (objective) and self-reflective writing employ POETS (Purpose, Organization, Evidence, Tone, and Sentence Structure), described on the home page of the Writing CenterLinks to an external site.. To understand how to develop and write using scholarly writing tone, refer to Tone for Advanced LearnersLinks to an external site.. Rigorously applying the principles and practices of both writing styles will demonstrate mastery of the material you will interact with throughout your studies.
A large part of your growth as a scholar-practitioner will come as a result of your ability to use your writing as a vehicle for communicating objectively and critically material that is complex, sometimes obtuse, and perhaps laden with philosophical perspectives that influence or shape the researcher’s or author’s results. Already in this course, you have completed an assessment of your writing skills (Week 2), posted your ideas and responses to peers in discussions, and turned in a written assignment designed to follow a particular structure and style of writing.
Doctoral Thinking
To develop your critical thinking skills, complete the following reading list:
• Week 6: Doctoral ThinkingLinks to an external site..
APA Style
One of the functions the American Psychological Association (APA) performs is promoting and disseminating knowledge in the field, including publishing scientific research. In pursuit of this part of its mission, APA has long offered its publication manual to provide the conventions designed to ensure clear and consistent presentation of written material. One advantage of the consistent use of APA style is when you read papers, articles, and dissertations formatted accordingly, you know where to quickly find each aspect of the research, since you already know the format. You should be able to find the author’s cited resources, should you want to pursue those resources in greater depth. From the point of view of the writer, properly citing references in APA format is one way to adhere to and demonstrate academic honesty, giving proper and accurate credit for the work of others. Capella offers several resources to help you with APA style.
• Familiarize yourself with Academic WriterLinks to an external site. for guidance, examples, and tools you can use to research, write, and format your paper as well as cite and reference resources in APA style. You may wish to take the tutorial, “Getting Started With Academic Writer” on the home page. In addition, you may wish to skim the sections on References and Format.
• See the Evidence and APALinks to an external site. section of the Writing Center for additional assistance.

Week 6 Discussion: Continue Your Discussion
Writing as a Scholar-Practitioner
This week, we will be discussing your writing as a budding scholar-practitioner. Share your thoughts on what you have learned from the dialog and written assignments and how scholarly writing combines all the elements of scholastic excellence. Here are a few ideas to help stir your thinking.
Choose ONE topic option to respond to for the discussion this week. Remember to support your thoughts and findings with our required readings, activities, or research using APA format.
• Discuss your strengths and growing pains of scholastic academic writing comparing the differences between formal objective and reflective writing. What do you find the most or least challenging between both writing styles?
• What do you find about scholarly writing the most challenging and demanding? How do you feel about the APA’s way of writing compared to your way of writing today?
• What outside resource (image, video, article, research study, self-recording) can you find that addresses how you came to understand scholastic excellence in writing? Share the link within your post. Why did you pick this item to share?