Your writing style is unique
What distinguishes the style of your academic prose from that of other students, or from the prose style of the books, articles and blogs you read for study and research?
...
Style is also shaped by your passion for what you are writing, the time you are able to devote to research, writing, editing and proofreading, and the depth of your awareness of your own voice in expressing the ideas and arguments you encounter in your studies.
Technical skills affecting style
The way you write is as important as what you say. In one sense, good academic writing is an expression of the quality of your ideas and arguments. But developing your writing skills requires more than a commitment to developing the richness of your ideas and sharpening the power of your arguments. It requires a commitment to make your written expression as technically correct and stylistically elegant as possible.
...
By trial and error, learn to write more clearly, concisely and persuasively. Attend to various elements of word usage (vocabulary), grammar and syntax. Cultivate an appropriately positive and personal tone in your writing. Understand and respect ethical considerations such as the use of inclusive language to counteract gender and racial bias. Consider adjusting the layout and design of your essay to increase readability. All of these are academic style issues.
Employing prose to communicate well
Writing a fine essay requires different skills from those required to make a good speech. The challenge of shifting from speech to written communication is, in part, a technological problem. In Digital Paper, Andrew Abbott observes that
...
As you write an academic essay, then, cultivate an awareness that you are not engaging in the same form of communication as required for speaking with our physical voice. At the same time, recognise that you are engaging in meaningful dialogue with your readers. Careful attention to matters of style leads to more effective written communication.
Defining academic style
According to theological academic and writing expert Lucretia Yaghjian, style may be functionally defined as “how you write what you write, when you write in a given genre, from a particular stance, for a specific audience.”[9]
...
For example, one lecturer may permit use of sentences beginning with “But…”, or the use of “I” (that is, writing in the first person), while another lecturer may not. In some essays, you are required to include personal subjective reflections and opinions, while in other essays your prose is expected to remain objective and you may lose marks for expressing personal opinions. Always confirm what style rules are expected or allowed for each essay.
Defining theological style
Is there something distinctive about theological writing, or writing theologically? Specific writing conventions do arise in theological and religious contexts. St Augustine argued that theologians need to write well to “win over the antagonistic, rouse the apathetic, and make clear to those who are not conversant with the matter under discussion what they should expect.”[11]
...
First, there is not one “theological style” but a diversity of “theological styles” constitutive of the stylistic conventions of the written genre (pastoral reflection, systematic reflection, constructive theological essay, and so on) and the writer’s individual style and voice (the “personal voice,” the “academic voice,” and various combinations of both of these).
Second, this diversity of theological styles does not imply that theological writing can be done “free style,” since each “theological style” is driven by the conventions of its genre and the expectations of its audience. It thus behooves you to familiarize yourself with both of these when beginning a theological writing assignment …
Third, your mastery of theological style will only be as good as the words, sentences, and paragraphs that you write, for … they are the rhetorics, or purposeful elements, of theological style.[16]