Feature Style for Academic and Scholarly Writing

Abstract

Writing research and other academic papers considered to be technical requires formal style and usage of a language. Moreover, it demands a serious tone and, as such, it does not allow jokes, expressions, and creative or artistic nuances contrary to informal essays and feature articles. Far from being entertaining, then, technical papers, to include research works, have been branded as something boring to read, hence their limited readership in contrast, again, to feature-penned reading materials. Rather than reject an academic paper submission of a college student sampling a deviant style, or feature in particular, this inquiry made use of his paper as an instrument for a case study. Using a qualitative, textual analysis method, this study examined his work in view of feature writing techniques to determine the extent of its departure from formal style, and to weigh its entertainment value that could arouse interest and promote ease of reading. The results indicate a breakthrough in academic paper writing which could make research-based articles more entertaining to read.