An example of evaluating the academic writing style of an article: on residential care homes: for Housing Studies students
The article examined in this note is:
Liu, S., Ouyang, Z., Chong, A. M.
and Wang, H. (2018) ‘Neighborhood environment, residential satisfaction, and
depressive symptoms among older adults in residential care homes’, The International Journal of Aging and
Human Development, 87(3), pp. 268–288. DOI:
10.1177/0091415017730812.
What are the: (1) research philosophy, (2) research
objectives, and (3) research questions of the article? And does the article
mentions the researcher positionality of the article?
Liu, S., Ouyang, Z., Chong, A. M.
and Wang, H. (2018) ‘Neighborhood environment, residential satisfaction, and
depressive symptoms among older adults in residential care homes’, The International Journal of Aging and
Human Development, 87(3), pp. 268–288. DOI:
10.1177/0091415017730812.
Could you indicate 5 main features of the academic
writing style of this article?
Five main features of the
article’s academic writing style are:
1. Formal and objective tone — it
uses a serious, scholarly voice and avoids casual or personal language.
2. Clear structure — the article follows a
conventional research-paper format with sections such as introduction, method,
results, and discussion.
3. Evidence-based writing — claims are supported by
data, regression results, and references to prior studies rather than opinion.
4. Hedging and cautious language —
the authors use tentative wording such as “may,” “suggest,” “appear,” and “it
is likely,” which is typical of academic writing.
5. Logical, analytical argumentation —
the article builds a step-by-step argument from theory to hypotheses, analysis,
and interpretation, rather than just describing facts.
The
writing is therefore strongly research-oriented,
precise, and method-driven, with very little stylistic emphasis on the authors’
personal voice.
Is the overall academic writing style in this case
appropriate with regard to the research philosophy and research objectives of
the article?
Yes, overall it is appropriate.
The article’s style matches its positivist, quantitative design
because it is formal, structured, objective, and evidence-driven, which suits a
study built around survey data, statistical testing, and mediation analysis.
Why it fits
The
writing is clear and methodical, which is appropriate for research that aims to
measure relationships between variables rather than explore subjective
meanings. It also uses precise terminology, technical measures, and a
conventional IMRaD structure, all of which support the article’s objective of
testing environmental, residential, and mental-health associations. The
cautious language in the discussion, such as “may,” “suggests,” and “partial
mediator,” is also suitable because the authors are making inference from
statistical results rather than claiming absolute proof.
Where it could be stronger
One
limitation is that the paper does not explicitly state a research philosophy or
positionality statement, so the alignment is implicit rather
than fully reflexive. That is not unusual for quantitative health and
social-science articles, but for a dissertation-level critique you could note
that the article would be stronger if it more explicitly linked its
methodological choices to its philosophical stance.
Overall judgment
So
the academic style is appropriate, coherent, and well matched to the research
objectives. It communicates the study in a suitably formal and analytical way,
even though it does not engage in the kind of reflexive writing sometimes
expected in qualitative research.
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