10 different types of writing styles

Do you jot down notes? Keep a diary? In those cases, your writing is only intended to communicate important matters to your future self.

5 types of academic writing

Instead of giving them a bunch of scribbled-down words, you probably strive to use proper grammar and syntax to ensure you're understood and you've presented yourself as credibly as possible. To supplement basic rules of properly written English, academic writing styles provide you with more formal tools and standards to properly make your case and avoid misunderstanding.

Find out more about common academic writing styles—MLA, Chicago, and APA, the most common styles used in the United States—to learn how they're used and why they're so important. As a writing style, it comes from the organization's publication guide. This guide concentrates mainly on citations and style. Because it's mostly used by people in scientific and medical disciplines, the manual also has sections about formatting qualitative and quantitative data.

The Chicago Manual of Style is commonly used in arts, humanities, social sciences, and publishing. While it contains instructions for citations and style, it also covers usage and offers frameworks for proofreading or editing.

Types of academic writing

Because the manual offers comprehensive guidance, you may see this style used in a variety of publications, ranging from blog posts to novels. The MLA Handbook is a guide focused entirely upon source citations. MLA does also publish a companion website to offer assistance with other writing-related topics. Typically, students use MLA for essays in English or fine arts.

Rather than focusing upon citations and other aspects of academic writing, AP offers insight into preferred abbreviations, spelling, capitalization, and which terms to use in certain contexts.