While I am generally very sceptical about information on Wikipedia and would never recommend it as a source, I was surprised to find a rather useful description of academic writing that I want to share. It is from Chris Thaiss and Terry Myers Zawacki (2006) Engaged Writers and Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing Life, Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, [5-7].
This gives some insight into the Anglo-Saxon mentality in academic writing. The tendency is to be very evidence-based, which may feel very different to academic writers from other academic traditions.
Academic writing, or scholarly writing is a prose register that is conventionally characterized by “evidence…that the writer(s) have been persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in study”; that prioritizes “reason over emotion or sensual perception”; and that imagines a reader who is “coolly rational, reading for information, and intending to formulate a reasoned response.” The particular stylistic means of achieving these conventions can differ considerably by academic discipline, …
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_writing
Chris Thaiss and Terry Myers Zawacki (2006) Engaged Writers and Dynamic Disciplines: Research on the Academic Writing Life, Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, [5-7]
