Academic Text
Samples

Academic Text: Definition & Types

An academic text is a full-fledged written passage produced for study purposes. A well-crafted academic text should be objective, logical, clearly structured, and error-free. It should also be based on proven facts rather than emotions or personal opinions, and should rely on verifiable evidence and reputable scholarly sources.

Academic Text Types

The four main types of academic texts are persuasive, analytical, descriptive, and critical. Let’s look at each of them in more detail.

• A persuasive academic text aims to make the reader adopt the author’s point of view by using solid evidence, reliable examples, logical arguments, and rhetorical devices. A policy paper or an opinion essay explaining why renewable energy should replace fossil fuels is an example of such a text.
• An analytical text involves analysing a specific topic. It requires breaking your data into various types, groups, or categories and exploring the relationships between them. Analytical writing is common in research papers, case studies, literature reviews, and similar academic text genres.
• A descriptive text focuses on delivering information and presenting facts. Descriptive writing is typical for summaries, scientific reports, methodology sections, and historical overviews.
• A critical text requires you to evaluate ideas, arguments, or sources by examining their strengths and weaknesses. It goes beyond mere description, reflects on the material, and presents your own reasoned judgement based on evidence. A critical review of a scholarly article that evaluates its methodological aspects and discusses the relevance of its findings is a good example of a critical text.

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