Finding your voice in essay writing
At university, many of your responses will be primarily the outcome of an assigned subject or question. To address this issue, you have to gather the information and resources from several origins. This is really likely to only be enough to pass, but in order to increase your knowledge and even your performance, you have to take charge of these sources and integrate them in your own way to come up with your unique expression. If your grade is not up to snuff, it may be because you have not answered the following question correctly. You may have omitted the necessary details, or you may have failed to use this information in your own way. You will notice that in any academic text you read, there are ideas present from other people - different resources including the author. In this blog post, we're going to examine how to find your own voice in essay writing.
My voice?
What does that mean, exactly? In academic writing, your voice is the way you convey your ideas and opinions in your own unique style. It's what makes your writing distinctive and interesting to read. The way you present your ideas, the words you use, and even the way you write are all a part of your voice. It is the combination of their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and personality that makes up your authorial voice. There are many different ways to find your voice, but it is important to remember that it should be authentic to who you are. In academic writing, it is always necessary to make your position clear, whether through your thesis statement or how you write your paper.
Does that mean I don't need to reference?
Any voices that are not acknowledged as being from another author are assumed to be yours, and there is a danger that this voice may not be expressed very strongly. However, there are many things you can do to make your voice clearer, more obvious and more explicit. You can also make it more or less powerful. In any kind of academic writing you do, it is necessary to make decisions about your stance on a particular subject, or the strength of the claim you are making. It is unlikely that the evidence you present will be conclusive enough for you to state that something is definitely true. At the same time, you need to be careful of making sweeping statements which do not consider exceptions.
What steps should I take to make my voice clearer?
There are numerous things you can do to make your voice clearer, more obvious and explicit in your essay writing.
1. It is not enough to simply describe a situation or recall the facts; you need to take a stance or position yourself in relation to the situation or the facts.
2. You can show confidence in your claim by using boosters such as ‘definite’, ‘will’, ‘must’, ‘obviously’, ‘clearly’.
3. You can show caution in your claim though the use of hedges such as ‘probable’, ‘might’, ‘may’, ‘possibly’.
4. You can show your attitude to the viewpoints, sources or the evidence that you have presented. The word that you choose will alter the strength of the claim you are making about the relationship. E.g. 'Research suggests...' vs 'Research has proven...'
5. You can evaluate your statements and show your attitude in either a positive or a negative way, depending on how true you want your claim to be. E.g "Malnutrition causes death." vs "Malnutrition is a frequent cause of death."
Something that you should definitely consider is taking on our Academic Language, Constructing Sentences & Developing Paragraphs modules. These modules will equip you with everything you need to find your authorial voice and write with clarity and confidence.
Conclusion
Purchase access to the modules mentioned above and you too can perfect your writing.