Academic Writing

Process-Based Writing

1) Pre-Writing: Brainstorming and selecting ideas: https://asana.com/resources/brainstorming-techniques; Planning and Organizing

2) Writing:

3) Revising: Editing and Proofreading

APT

Audience: Who are you writing for?

Purpose: Why are you writing this text?

Tone: What is the most appropriate tone to convey the message?

Make your contribution as informative as is required. Provide all the information which is necessary for the purpose of the current exchange; don’t leave out anything important.
Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. Leave out any unnecessary details that aren’t important to the current exchange.

Furthermore, there are two more-specific maxims of quality (sometimes referred to as submaxims)

Do not say what you believe to be false. Avoid stating information that you believe might be wrong, unless there is some compelling reason to do so. If you do choose to include it, then provide a disclaimer that points your doubts regarding this information.
Do not say that for which you lack evidence. Avoid including information that you can’t back up with supporting evidence. If you do choose to include such information for some reason, provide a disclaimer that points out your doubts.

Be relevant. Make sure that all the information you provide is relevant to the current exchange; omit irrelevant information.

There are various submaxims of manner:

Avoid obscurity of expression. Avoid language which is difficult to understand, such as because it contains words that the listener doesn’t know.
Avoid ambiguity. Avoid ambiguous language which can be interpreted in multiple ways, and which therefore makes it difficult for your recipient to understand what exactly you’re trying to say.
Be brief. Provide information in a concise manner, that allows your recipient to focus on the key details.
Be orderly. Provide information in an order that makes sense, and makes it easy for your recipient to process it.