You must have come across the term college homework help service provider. And there is a lot of demand for subject matter experts trying to make their fortune in this field. These people are academic writers with subject-specific knowledge, helping students from around the globe deal with their assignment deadlines.
Now, apart from this, you also might have come across another writers’ community who are, in general, termed content writers/creators. Organizations hire these people to write promotional blogs, articles and essays. Their writings are not bound to any university of educational rules and are mostly entertainment based.
There is more to the concepts of academic writing and content writing. In this article, you will be driven through them all, and by the end, there will be no room for confusion. So, let’s start with the reading part.
What is Academic Writing?
Academic writing is a formal tone of writing used by colleges and universities. Professionals offering online help with assignments and essays follow this particular writing style, enabling students to score adequate grades in class. The following points will explain all the critical conventions in academic writing:
- Formal and straight to the point (completely unbiased)
- Informative
- Subject oriented
- Consistent
- Score based
It is not
- Personal or entertaining
- Creative
- Long-winded
Note: Academic writers are involved in offering Law assignment help, English homework help, Mathematics assignment support and more.
What is Content Writing?
Content writing is about curating and publishing off-page blogs, articles and on-page materials over digital platforms. Also, other than blogs and articles, content includes videos, ebooks and podcast scripts. In addition, some companies make writers come up with product descriptions and brand-specific classifieds or PRs for a fantastic marketing experience.
The following points will explain all the key conventions in content writing:
It is
- Personal or brand-specific
- Creative
- Entertainment-based (most of the time)
- Guideline-specific (brand-wise)
It is not
- Academic oriented
- Formal
What are the Different types of Academic Content?
Here is a list of the different academic content types:
- Essay: It is a short and descriptive piece of content, elaborating on a subject of concern.
- Research Proposal: An outline of a potential dissertation/thesis topic you are about to start working on.
- Research Paper: An independent subject-oriented, well-investigated paper offering the right type of answers to your question. For a research paper, students tend to deal with new topics that have not been explored previously.
- Literature Review: Here, you will conduct a critical analysis of an already concluded research paper, offering your take over the same.
- Dissertation/Thesis: It is the final form of writing you must complete at the end of your semester.
- Lab Report: It includes the aim, methodology, instruction and outcome of an experiment conducted in the lab.
- Annotated Bibliography: A list of all the reference sources with a short description.
What are the Different types of General Content?
Here is a list of the different types of general content:
- Blogs: Blog posts are an essential part of general content. Brands use the same to care for their marketing strategies and product-related essentials. They are easy to write and offer a steady ROI all the time.
- Longform Content: Companies hire writers to build up long-form content and use the same to increase their subscribers. User guides or demonstration build-ups are the general long-form contents that companies usually look out for.
- Case Studies: Case studies describe an individual incident and make people understand the scenario with specific real-life examples.
- White Papers: They are information-rich content offering the right type of know-how on a specific brand or product. The main focus is on the detailing and
- Ebooks: Though it requires a notable amount of time and money to write an ebook, these act as great lead magnets once finished.
- Infographics: They come in image formats but are filled with tons of visually exciting information.
- Checklist and template downloads: They work as lead magnets and are time-consuming. With checklists and handy online templates, companies no longer need to spend most of their time brainstorming newsletter ideas.
- Video: Videos are an exciting form of content marketing and are mostly kept short for wider views. Recently, videos are becoming more famous than long writeups describing a product.
Academic Content Features
This list will help you understand the basic features of academic content:
- Subject-oriented: Academic content is always subject-oriented, trying to help students with their grades in class. Various academic content forms include case studies, essays, dissertations, and assignments.
- Formal: The tone used in academic content is formal. No creative stuff is used in such writeups.
- Precise and accurate: The information included is precise, with accurate figures and listings done all around.
- Planned: There is a fixed structure and relevant citation guidelines defined by various colleges and universities. Therefore, students and professional academic writers need to abide by the same.
General Content Features
This list will help you understand the basic features of general content:
- Keyword stuffed: In SEO-friendly content, keywords are the most important part. They make the writing rank higher on Google and reach out to the target audience accordingly.
- Has a definite structure: Each content piece has a definite structure. It depends on the website’s outlook and target audience to decide on the structural format. For example, there will be blogs on the creative side, while others will be more informative, depending on the audience served.
- Contains catchy titles and promotional phrases: Unlike academic writing, SEO-based general content does comprise catchy titles and promotional phrases. These are always used to generate company leads and work on marketing.
- Header and Subheaders: Headers and subheaders are integral to SEO content. They help the same rank on Google and act as a compact piece of information for the readers even before they have gone through the entire content.
- SEO-friendly small paragraphs: The paragraphs are always within 150 words. One cannot use complex sentences and wordy phrases in SEO content. The main aim is to deliver the right information in simple words.
- Optimized images: Images are an essential part of SEO content. You can rank your articles and blogs by adding the right type of images to them. However, Google cannot read content in images. For that, you need to incorporate relevant alt texts, captions, descriptive titles and filenames.
What are the Key Skills of an Academic Content Writer?
Here are some of the skills that companies/clients mostly look for in an academic writer:
- Well-versed with the subject: Unlike general SEO-based content writers, academic writers must deal with a specific subject. Thus helping students score good grades. You need to be well-versed in the technicalities of writing the assignments and help students with the bibliography part.
- Flexible: Working with international students requires you to be flexible with different working hours. You must be present per the students’ schedules and help them with the final content and reworks.
- Great with the research part: As an academic content writer, you must be a pro in your research game and provide authentic information to individual students. As it will have a straight on effect on their grades.
- Ability to generate authentic content: A writer must always come up with authentic content. As plagiarism (intended/unintended) leads to the deduction of marks and suspension of student IDs.
What are the Key Skills of a General Content Writer?
Here are some skills that companies/clients mostly look for in a writer, writing general content:
- Adaptability: When working for different brands, you must be adaptive to specific guidelines and ensure that they are followed thoroughly. Unable to abide by the specific guidelines will put your accountability into question.
- Has an eye for detailing: You must be sure about every detail mentioned in the content brief and work accordingly. Missing out on brand-specific details will weaken your content and rank less on the SEO table.
- Solid understanding of SEO metrics: SEO, i.e. Search engine optimization techniques, are essential for the content’s reach. Here you will have to take care of the keywords, develop catchy phrases and ensure that the readers get access to the information they need.
- Strong organizational skills: You need to be good with the organizational part and develop clear outlines for your writing content. It will significantly help the execution and make your final work stand out from the rest.
- Good with communications: You need to be a good communicator to make clients understand the type of work you will be able to deliver. On the other hand, try to inculcate your habits of being a good listener and hear them out.
Difference between General Content and Academic Writing
By this time, it can be stated that the difference between general content and academic writing is quite clear. Here are some key highlights that are relevant to the same:
- Academic contents are subject-specific, helping students score adequate grades. Brands usually use general content for their marketing needs and to generate important leads.
- Keywords are the main part of general content, whereas, in academic writing, you need to take care of the citations and include information from authentic sources.
- Academic content is more informative, with no room for creativity. Whereas that is not the case for general content, you need to be great with your creative skills.
Final Thoughts
Academic writing and general content are both unique in their ways. They require thorough attention from the writer for accurate execution. Nonetheless, with so many differences and opposite basic structures, these forms of writing continue to prevail in their way, helping candidates make it through their career goals.
