Academic writing is simply known as writing used for academic (educational or scholarly) purposes. This style of writing is used to inform the reader, present results of research or get the reader involved into a scholarly discussion.
Just like other formal styles of writing, it has a set of rules and best practices that must be followed to meet academic standards of writing and to be accepted by the academic community.
Here is what makes academic writing different from other writing genres:
There are three main audience types that work with academic writing: students, professors (instructors, advisors etc) and professional researchers. Professors give students respective writing assignments while the latter work on them to demonstrate their knowledge and the skills acquired in the writing process. Professional researchers, in turn, generate academic content to talk to fellow scholars, present their research findings and discuss results.
Academic audiences already have some background knowledge about the subject in discussion. Any other audience would have a hard time understanding academic writing that abounds in jargon, professionalisms, and terms.
The overall writing style should be formal and impersonal. Using impersonal constructions like Passive Voice or speaking from the 3rd person is usually encouraged to ensure objective tone. Please refer to ‘phrases to use in academic writing’ section of this paper.
Reference to evidence is another tool that assists academic writers to achieve objectivity and attain. When writing academic papers, an author should refer to objective evidence (research findings, data etc) to sound impersonal and objective.