Woolever: The Differences Between
Academic Writers and Non-academic Writers
| Academic writers stress the interpretation of facts and urge readers to develop their own interpretations. | Non-academic writers focus on presenting facts
and explaining or calling for specific actions.
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| Academic writers pose readers as “co-conspirators” often filling them in on background details: how facts were found and interpretations were realized. | Non-academic writers envision readers as recpticles
or decision makers interested only in essential facts and in knowing what
they should do with those facts.
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| Academic writers assume readers will take time to read densely “packaged” material. | Non-academic writers assume readers don't have
time to read densely "packaged" material.
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| Academic writers most often use dense paragraphs with relatively long and complicated sentences. | Non-academic writers most often use short paragraphs,
and short sentences. They also use readability enhancing typographic
devices.
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| Academic writers often feature their personas. | Non-academic writers efface their personas.
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Woolever, Kristin R. "Coming to terms with Different Standards of Excellence for Written Communication." In Worlds of Writing: Teaching and Learning in Discourse Communities. New York: Random House, 1989. pp. 5-8.