Demystifying Academic Writing: A Guide for Novice Researchers and Aspiring Scholars

Abstract

The academic writing, characterized as a complex, iterative and continuous process, resulting into a brief, logical, clear, and attractive piece of work, is often a challenging task for novice researchers as well as experienced scholars. Stimulated from an encounter with a PhD scholar’s seminar paper lacking these characteristics, this paper aims at preparing basic guidelines for mastering academic writing adopting the conceptual research design. It assists emerging researchers and scholars in developing essential skills required for mastering academic writing, such as cohesive and coherent structuring of arguments and appropriate management of citation, particularly in the format of the American Psychological Association (APA), and thereby guiding them for the transition from the simple task of writing assignments to producing complicated scholarly writings. The arguments in this paper align with the writing format provided in the scholarly guidelines, including the ‘Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association,’ seventh edition. This paper provides insights into appropriately crafting each component of a research paper and putting them into a cohesive and coherent whole, reflecting the scholarly rigour and dedication.