{"id":8885,"date":"2021-05-15T11:08:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T15:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techrhet.com\/3213\/?page_id=8885"},"modified":"2025-05-25T15:20:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T19:20:59","slug":"academic-writing-vs-professional-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"#","title":{"rendered":"Academic Writing vs. Professional Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Contents & Navigation<\/div>\n
differences<\/a><\/div>\n
PAGOS differences<\/a><\/div>\n
academic writing PAGOS<\/a><\/div>\n
professional writing PAGOS<\/a><\/div>\n
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Obviously, the writing you’ll do as a professional is much different than the writing you’ve done (and will do) as a college student.<\/p>\n

But how is it different? In what ways?<\/p>\n

Below, let’s consider some of the ways in which academic writing differs from professional writing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Differences: Academic vs. Professional Writing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nAcademic\/College Writing<\/th>\nBusiness\/Professional Writing<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Purpose & Prompt<\/td>\nStudents write because instructors make them. Instructors assign reports, essays, and papers, and provide guidelines, requirements, and parameters. Students write to learn, to draw connections between things they’ve learned, and to demonstrate what they know to their instructors.<\/td>\nProfessional writers write when a situation calls for writing\u2014either at their own initiative or because someone in their organization expects them to write. Professional writers write not to create a document, but to accomplish something\u2014to make things happen.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Readers<\/td>\nMost often, students write for a singular reader\u2014their instructor. To varying degrees, instructor-audiences make their expectations known. Instructor audiences expect student writers to demonstrate and apply their knowledge.<\/td>\nProfessional writers often write for large and complex groups of people, various stakeholders who have different needs and interests. Expectations aren’t always explicit, but professional readers still want professional writers to meet or exceed their expectations.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Genres (or Types of Writing)<\/td>\nStudents write papers\u2014academic essays. They may also write journals, lab reports, summaries, etc.<\/td>\nProfessional writers write memos, letters, proposals, reports, performance evaluations, business plans, marketing plans, audit reports, sales presentations, manuals, handbooks, contracts, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Organization \/ Order<\/td>\nStudents often write using a five paragraph structure\u2014introduction, first point, second point, third point, conclusion.<\/td>\nProfessional writers organize their writing according to the conventions of the genre in which they write. They also must organized based on how the audience will read or use the document, how the audience is likely to respond to the message, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Style & Design<\/td>\nFor the most part, students follow formatting requirements outlined my MLA or APA guidelines, typically 12 point font, Times New Roman or Arial, double-spaced, with indentations, a proper heading, and style appropriate in-text citations and documentation. Students write complex sentences and lengthy paragraphs to develop and support their ideas, and must conform to maximum and\/or minimum page length or word count requirements.<\/td>\nProfessional writers design their documents to be visually attractive and to allow their readers at least two ways of reading documents–quickly by scanning, or more slowly for details. Professional writers often use white space and graphic highlighting to facilitate reading. They use headings, subheadings, bullets, graphic organizers, and visual aids to increase readability and comprehension. Professionals typically write shorter, simpler sentences and include much less paragraph development. Professionally written documents are just as long as they need to be (or, as short as possible).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Product, Feedback, & Evaluation<\/td>\nThe product–a finished paper–is the end point in the communication process. The student’s instructor may offer some feedback in addition to a letter or percentage grade.<\/td>\nIn general, the product of a business writer’s context–the written report, memo, etc–is secondary to what that product accomplishes. The document is only a means to communicate something (to get something done), and so, is usually only a small piece of what will be a larger project or goal, or a component of a business relationship.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
In Summary<\/td>\nStudents write to learn, to demonstrate what they have learned, and to demonstrate their ability to communicate what they’ve learned.<\/td>\nBusiness writers write to get things done.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

*Adapted in part from “Differences Between Academic and Business Writing”<\/a>, by Dave Dusseau, University of Oregon<\/p>\n

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PAGOS Differences: Academic vs. Professional Writing<\/h3>\n

You’ll read more about PAGOS in later notes. For now, just know that PAGOS\u2014purpose, audience, genre, organization, and style\u2014will be a frame for planning and analyzing texts. In brief:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Purpose:<\/td>\nWhat does the writer want to accomplish? What does the writer want to happen as a result of the communication situation?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audience:<\/td>\nWho will read the document? What does that reader care about? What does the reader know? need to know? want to know?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Genre:<\/td>\nWhat genre (type or category of communication) is most appropriate for the communication situation? What are the conventions (rules) of that genre?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Organization:<\/td>\nHow should the writer organize the text? (Give details or background first and request last? Make request first and give details last? etc.) Why?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Style:<\/td>\nWhat tone, level of formality, and diction should the writer use? How should the writer communicate information\u2014in paragraphs? in a list? in a visual?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Academic<\/span> Writing PAGOS<\/h3>\n

Let’s take another look at the differences between academic and professional writing–this time, using the PAGOS categories (purpose, audience, genre, organization, and style).<\/p>\n

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Remember “Hamburger” Paragraph Organization? You may have learned this (or something like it) in high school or 1101\/1102.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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No more five paragraph essays in Professional Writing!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
What was the purpose<\/span> of your writing in composition I and II?<\/div>\n