Response to What is Academic Writing?

L Lennie. Irvin, author of What is Academic Writing?, debunks the common myths of academic writing for college students to better dip their toes into the inspiring realm of drafting and composing, in an unfamiliar setting. The author stresses writing is recursive, and touches on the controversy of the five-paragraph essay — it is good to know, but must be outgrown. This encourages students to break away from the confining mold of “typical” essay writing to find what delivers the message of the composition best. Similarly, the author states that writers do not start when they have everything ready. An essay is supposed to be slowly built up of evidence and analysis. A perfect essay starts with a rough draft, second draft, third draft, and works its way up to a final draft. Some may fret at the idea of writing, but there are some quick fixes: one way to cure writer’s block is brain vomit, and bad grammar can be fixed with the help of spell-check.
Academic reading requires much more attention to detail from the writer, as they are “…confined within the two-dimensional setting of a flat page…” (Irvin, 6). Adequate research skills paired with the ability to comprehend difficult text is crucial for the precise delivery of the message. Further, the writer must analyze the text and include the significance of the message in the response, as academic writing is a way for college students to demonstrate their comprehension of the article, literature, or text — it is a strategically thought-out, well-written piece of work.