Counseling & Human Services Research Guide

Joining the Scholarly Conversation

As a researcher, your writing becomes a way of participating in the scholarly conversation happening in your discipline. Your work may serve the immediate purpose of completing the requirements for a particular degree program, but it is also potentially representing you as an emerging scholar as you proceed with further study.

Conversations within scholarly academic disciplines often happen rather formally taking the shapes of peer-reviewed, published articles or conference presentations. Specific guidelines (such as particular style and format requirements, e.g., APA) govern these conversations. You are already aware of APA formatting expectations as they relate to setting up the proper spacing, margins, font, etc. and to documenting information sources by including in-text citation and a list of references. However, these are not the only aspects of your writing that you may want to consider. 

What is Scholarly Voice?

"Scholarly voice" is the term used to describe the formal writing style you will use when writing in college, especially as you move into more advanced courses. Two important parts of what makes scholarly voice appropriate for writing beyond a basic level are

Purpose and Audience

• Purpose is your reason for communicating or writing--At higher level undergraduate and the graduate levels, your broad purpose is to communicate your findings from having done in-depth research and/or study.
• Audience refers to the readers you are writing for--Although this may be a range covering advanced undergraduate students to experienced scholars and researchers, aiming toward the higher end of this group, while still writing clearly and concisely, is most effective. 

Basic Tips for Effective Academic Writing

• Evaluate all your sources for strengths and weaknesses, even scholarly journal articles.
• Approach source materials in a holistic way instead of just trying to pick out key quotes to insert into your writing.
• Make sure to provide supportive evidence for your statements beyond personal experience.
• Use formal language but avoid excessive wordiness. Make sure the words you use mean what you are intending to say. Sometimes using a thesaurus will provide you excellent choices. Other times, you may see related words that do not mean exactly the same thing as the word you looked up.
• Avoid using contractions, slang, cliches, and some forms of figurative language. Remember that scholarly work can have a global audience; and certain colorful phrases used by Americans may be confusing to readers of different cultural backgrounds (e.g.:"raining cats and dogs").
• Depending on the type of writing and research you are doing, you may be required to write in third person point of view (avoiding first-person pronouns such as I or we).
• Use declarative statements and avoid qualifiers -- Do not use "The researcher thinks" or "The author believes...." 
• Write objectively without adjectives or adverbs that convey emotion, intensity, or inexact amounts.
• Be intentional about using active versus passive voice. Active voice is often preferred.
  • Active: The teacher created an environment in which students could express their feelings in multiple ways.
  • Passive: An environment in which students could express their feelings in multiple ways was created by the teacher.
  • See the "Considering the passive voice" section of USC Libraries' Academic Writing Style web page to read more about when passive voice might be useful.

Basic Format for a Graduate Thesis or Research Project

• If you are writing a graduate-level thesis, SAGE Research Methods (linked below) provides a dissertation format which can be used in cases when no templates are provided by the program or professor.
• Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global (linked below) includes thousands of students' submitted theses and dissertations covering a broad range of topics across disciplines. Reading examples may help you understand the structure of this type of writing.
• Note: Texas A&M University-San Antonio requirements vary based on the type of paper or project submission and the discipline.