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Academic writing is surrounded by rules that are passed down from supervisor to student, repeated in methods textbooks, and rarely questioned. Some of these rules are legitimate. Others are myths that actively harm your writing.
Myth 1: Academic Writing Must Be Formal, Therefore Complex
The conflation of formality with complexity is perhaps the most damaging myth in academic writing. Formal doesn't mean convoluted. The best academic writers — those who get read, cited, and remembered — write with precision and clarity. George Orwell's rule applies here: never use a long word where a short one will do. A reviewer who has to re-read a sentence to understand it is an annoyed reviewer.
Myth 2: Always Use Passive Voice
The passive voice became entrenched in scientific writing because it appeared to remove the human researcher from the process, emphasising objectivity. But many journals now actively encourage active voice where appropriate. "We measured the temperature" is clearer and more direct than "the temperature was measured." Neither is inherently more scientific. Use whichever is clearer in context.
Myth 3: Never Use "I" or "We"
Related to the passive voice myth: the taboo on first-person pronouns. Many excellent journals — including those in Nature's portfolio — explicitly encourage the use of "we" for research teams. Saying "we argue that..." is often more honest and clearer than the circumlocutory passive constructions it replaces.
Myth 4: Write the Introduction First
Chronologically, the introduction comes first. But cognitively, it should often come last. You don't know exactly what you're introducing until you've written your results and discussion. Writing the introduction first leads to introductions that don't quite fit the paper — then having to rewrite them anyway. Write it last, or write a rough placeholder and return to it.
Myth 5: More References = More Credibility
Citing 80 sources in your introduction doesn't demonstrate expertise; it demonstrates that you haven't done the intellectual work of deciding which sources actually matter. Selective, well-integrated citation of the most relevant literature signals that you understand the field. Indiscriminate citation suggests you're padding to appear thorough.
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