Zach Aaronson

Writing 2, DePiero
March 17, 2016

Is Academic Writing More Effective Than Non Academic Writing?

How do you like to write? Well, to begin to answer that question you have to start by
figuring out what genre youre writing in. By choosing a genre one does not only choose whether
they are writing a nonfiction or a fiction work, but one decides whether to write formally or
informally; to address the reader as you or one; to use citations to back up claims or to
simply state facts without citations; and more. Every piece of writing fits within a genre; it has its
own moves, its own purpose, presents evidence in its own way, addresses its audience in its own
way, and is structured uniquely. Yet, set aside these differences and works from two or even three
unrelated genres can all be presenting information on the same topic, but with a slightly different
focus. The way to break down genre is by looking at what conscious decisions one can identify,
what it is the writer is trying to accomplish, and how the reader interprets that information and
style choice(s). The real question is: does an academic piece accomplish anything that a nonacademic piece cannot?
I am going to break down these aspects and show what it is that creates genre by
examining three articles that cover a similar topic, two from academic journals and one from The
Washington Post. The first article, titled Exploring Intercultural Communication: Language in
Action Book Review, is an analysis of a book by the same title (without the added book review
of course). The analysis is written in a communication publication and is about how language
affects intercultural communication. The second article is titled Promoting Cross-Cultural
Understanding and Language Use in Research-Oriented Internet-Mediated Intercultural
Exchange, comes from a geography journal and is an empirical study on how cultures that are

Aaronson 2

geographically separated perceive each other and themselves. The third article, which comes
from The Washington Post and is titled How Airbnb Promotes World Peace is about how the
service Airbnb brings together people from different cultures and in doing so eliminates cultural
bias. While these articles cover the same topic, intercultural interactions, they each do it
differently and some more effectively than others. Academic and non-academic articles both
present information in different manners; academic articles use jargon, audience expectations,
and structure to create rapport; non-academic articles use attention grabbing titles, outside
research, and casual language to establish an informal tone. A question can be posed; is one style
more effective than the other?
One of the easiest aspects to pick out in a genre are moves. What is a move? Well, that
was a move (asking the reader a question), anything that is unique to a writer or a genre is a
move. A move can be anything from how a writer move[s] from one idea to another (Boyd, 90)
to the way the author uses language to describe ideas. In academic writing there tends to be much
overlap between the moves of writers. In the article that analyzes a book on intercultural
communication the writer uses many jargon terms such as, conversational conscription, gap
between turns, or face (this term does not mean ones physical face) (Hua, 135-136). The
other academic article makes use of jargon as well, for example, the globalized world,
intercultural dimensions, or intercultural collaborative learning are all jargons within the
subject of the abstract (Chen, Yang, 262-265). In an academic article such as these two, one
would use jargon to sound more in-tune with the subject because these jargons tend to not be
used in daily life and only in situations in which one is interacting with other scholars of the
subject. The use of jargon is effective in persuading the reader because it makes it seem as if the

Aaronson 3

writer(s) are more knowledgeable of the subject matter; jargon is not as heavily used in The Wall
Street Journal article as it is in the other two articles which makes it less persuasive.
In the article from The Washington Post about how Airbnb promotes world peace the
author uses an attention grabbing title and backup research to snag the readers attention. This
attention grabbing title is effective for the genre of a news article because unlike the academic
articles subscribers to The Washington Post are probably reading an article because they think
the title is interesting, and arent as interested in the subject matter until they have read a bit of
the article. The title of the article is in fact How Airbnb Promotes World Peace which is a very
interesting choice of words since Airbnb is a house rental service which most people do not
normally associate with spreading a message of peace. To back up this idea the author uses
research from psychologists about the leading social psychology theory on how different groups
of people relate to each other. The research that the author presents comes in the form of a bar
graph showing that people that have less contact with people of other nationalities are more
prejudiced than those who have had more contact with people of other nationalities (Hua, 1).
Dewey effectively uses an attention grabbing title and outside sources to not only attract her
readers attention, but also hold it.
When Dewey uses psychological research the author is giving validity to her claims that
Airbnb promotes world peace, much in the same way that the author of the communication
article uses analysis of a book to prove his point; or how the authors of the geography abstract
use empirical data to test their claims. This move could be labeled as giving ones argument
viability and is an enticement to logos which is defined as appeals to the audiences intellectual
side (Carroll, 44). Although all these articles use evidence with the same intentions, to persuade

Aaronson 4

or inform the reader, they do so in different ways and this is due to difference in genre and
purpose. While an attention grabbing title is effective in attracting a readers eye; perhaps, it is
better to use jargon terms within the article to establish credibility - if one is attempting to
convince readers. In the rhetoric of moves the academic journals are more effective because they
demonstrate a deep understanding of the subject whereas the writer of The Washington Post
article has to rely on other conventions to exhibit credibility.
Genre can range anywhere from an empirical study to a news article. Genre is normally
determined by purpose, for example an analysis of a book is meant to relay information in a
simpler manner, an empirical study is meant to test a hypothesis, and a news article in The
Washington Post is meant to persuade. There are multiple ways to accomplish each of these
purposes effectively and that is what moves are for. This is because writers think how their
writing choices are influencing responses [of] a reader and make choices that will
effectively display the message they have to their reader (Bunn, 81). Authors purpose is likely
the most important active choice one can make as a writer. It will determine whether the
language is academic, such as the communication analysis and the geography abstract, or
informal in the same manner as the article from The Washington Post. Each of these writers has
multiple purposes, and they each go about accomplishing those purposes by using specific moves
and conventions that fit the genre and their purposes. When one is attempting to persuade a
reader - something each of these articles is attempting to accomplish - it is likely much more
effective to use an academic and formal tone like the communication analysis and geography
abstract than to use an informal tone and language such as in The Washington Post article, but

Aaronson 5

that informal tone can also be seen as easier to read for someone who is not well-read in the
subject.
The purpose of a work is often determined by the intended audience. For instance, the
communication analysis is probably expected to be read by a student looking for a short analysis
of a book on intercultural communication; the geography abstract is no doubt written for a
student or scholar who wants or needs to learn about how certain cultures interact with new
cultures whom they are geographically separated from; and The Washington Post article is in all
likelihood written for the common peruser of the website or paper publication that is intrigued by
the article title. One can normally tell purpose by the rhetoric a writer employs, the purpose of a
piece of rhetoric, helps you understand what the rhetor is trying to achieve such as how one can
tell The Wall Street Journal article is attempting to persuade by its use of exaggeration (Carroll,
44).
The way we can see how authors with different intended audiences achieve their purpose
is through structure. This can be noticed in the two research journal publications through the
analytical description of the communication book, which has no fluff and is simply a short
analysis and commentary on the book followed by a chapter-by-chapter analysis as seen by the
Chapter 1 delves Chapter 2 scrutinizes Chapter 3 looks at (Hua, 135-136). In the
geography abstract the purpose can be seen through its structure starting with the abstract,
moving on to the introduction, then to the methodology, and so on which establishes a
formal tone and achieves the purpose of purely informing (Chen, Yang, 262-266). The author of
The Washington Post article was attempting to persuade and accomplishes this through
exaggeration, which she actually acknowledges at the end when she says nobody gets the

Aaronson 6

[Nobel] peace prize for not hurting (Dewey, 1). Each of the writers has a different purpose and
goes about fulfilling that purpose in their own way whether it be through jargon, format, or tone.
Each of those uses of rhetoric has a different effect on how the reader is persuaded. Jargon and
the format of the geography abstract and communication analysis are undoubtedly more
persuasive than the casual format and tone of The Washington Post article.
If the differences hadnt added up enough already, each piece uses evidence in different
ways. In the communication analysis the author does not use a single quotation to support her
argument or analysis, which is not the greatest idea when one is trying to persuade. The author
uses citations clearly, but only to show where he has pulled information from the book and put it
into his own words. The geography abstract presents its information in a very different manner.
The authors obviously made a conscious effort to present clear examples of their evidence in any
way possible, not only by including questions that they asked participants of the research like,
Do you have any taboos in your culture? What are they? What do they mean? the authors then
go on to tell not only what the participants answers were, but how they got to those answers.
Through deep research, by collecting information, interviewing, analyzing and
negotiating, classes submitted answers to their partners questions on the Wiki.
Simultaneously, classes also received answers to their questions from the other
classes (Chen, Yang, 269).
The author of The Washington Post article presents her evidence in yet another manner. She uses
both paraphrasing like the communication article as well as direct quotes from her sources. She
mixes these two forms of presenting evidence best when she paraphrases and quotes within the
same sentence, for example, That theory, intergroup contact, basically holds that prejudices

Aaronson 7

between groups go down as interactions between them go up (Dewey, 1). In this instance the
author is using paraphrasing to describe a directly quoted jargon that most people would not
understand without her explanation. This is actually a move in itself which which is labeled as
making what they say something you say, the author is making a quote fit her argument
(Graff, Durst, 107). The geography abstract and The Washington Post articles presentation of
evidence is more effective than the communication analysis because the reader can more easily
tell where that information is coming from and more readily trust the writer(s).
In conclusion, there are many effective ways to present an argument to a reader. Some
approaches are better than others and what determines that is normally the presentation of
evidence and tone as well as how persuasive the writing itself is. Academic writing tends to be
more persuasive than non-academic writing simply because more often than not academic
writing uses more valid sources, and most of the time backs them up with research. Whereas a
non-academic article may be better at reaching the general public and giving a brief overview for
those who might then turn to an academic journal to reach a deeper understanding of the topic. In
a sense academic writing is more effective in teaching and persuading, but non-academic writing
is more effective at reaching a vast number of people because it tends to be much more
accessible.

Aaronson 8

Works Cited
Boyd, Janet. "Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in Writing 2 Winter
2016 Reader. Isla Vista: SB Printer, 2016. 63-95. Print.
Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like A Writer." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in Writing 2 Winter 2016
Reader. Isla Vista: SB Printer, 2016. 80-95. Print.
Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpack vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." (n.d.):
n. pag. Rpt. in Writing 2 Winter 2016 Reader. Isla Vista: SB Printer, 2016. 37-50. Print.
Chen, Jen Jun, and Shu Ching Yang. "Promoting Cross-cultural Understanding and
Language Use in Research-oriented Internet-mediated Intercultural Exchange."
Computer Assisted Language Learning 29.2 (2014): 262-88. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
Dewey, Caitlin. "How Airbnb Promotes World Peace." The Washington Post. N.p., 24
Nov. 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
Graff, Gerald, and Russel Durst. "Index of Templates." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in Writing 2
Winter 2016 Reader. By Cathy Birkenstein. Isla Vista: SB Printer, 2016. 106-13. Print.
Hua, Zhu. "Exploring Intercultural Communication: Language in Action Book Review."
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 24.1 (2014): 135-38. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.