Below are some of the authorial characteristics which you may want to convey in your writing. Although academic writing has a distinct style, the way you combine these and other qualities in your writing is personal to you and constitutes your own individual style. You will need to make decisions about which qualities you prioritise, as there are conflicts to be negotiated between, for example, formality and conciseness, objectivity and making your own position clear. The way in which you resolve these tensions contributes to developing your own personal writing style.
Click on each for further discussion and strategies to create these qualities in your written style. You can explore these aspects in any order - there is no single 'route' through these materials.