Academic and Professional Writing in Funeral Science Research Paper

Introduction

For the past few centuries, writing has experienced multiple and significant changes becoming more diverse in its genres, styles, purposes, and requirements. In this regard, robust writing skills are highly required for both the academic settings, where students and researchers do essays or monographs, and professional fields, where numerous reports are an indispensable part of any job. However, the transition from academic to professional writing can appear to be challenging since the goals, target audience, and styles of both types of writing are diverse. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the differences and similarities between academic and professional writings, specifically in funeral science, regarding their styles, formats, purposes, and other characteristics.

Purpose

Academic and professional writings are strictly different in terms of their purposes and target audience. Academic-related writing focuses more on discussing and examining a specific topic and demonstrating in-depth knowledge of the studied subject (Taylor, 2020). On the contrary, writing at work attaches much significance to problem-solving and provides a clear idea and precise information about job tasks, goals, or duties that are to be performed (Taylor, 2020). It suggests work-related decisions and actions that should be undertaken to complete a task. For example, reports in the funeral business are mainly intended to inform about arrangements and procedures that have been followed throughout the preparation and whole mortuary ceremony. Briefs, in this case, are planned to instruct employees, especially funeral directors, about a set of actions that are to be accepted to complete work in a due manner. In addition, business correspondence is an indispensable component of mortician practice, which aims at coordination of actions related to partners and clients, thereby facilitating arranging ceremonial events.

Audience

In addition to the aims of academic and professional writings, they also imply dissimilar audiences. Academic papers target a relatively narrow range of individuals, which is directly related to the subject explored (“Academic vs. business writing,” n.d.). Furthermore, in most cases, works, such as essays, research papers, dissertations, and presentations, are designed for professors or researchers who are experts on the subject matter, not for public use. Unlike academic papers, work-related writing directs at various peoples of different backgrounds, irrespective of their professional affiliation or volume of knowledge in a particular field. The primary audience, in this regard, consists of co-workers or business partners, consumers, managers, employees, and stakeholders, that is, everybody who is directly or indirectly connected with a certain business (Taylor, 2020). In the case of mortuary science, a funeral director should know how to make detailed reports and summaries because he or she tightly cooperates with the family members of a dead and different social and government institutions. Morticians should also be aware of the correct conduct of business correspondence with his or her partners and stakeholders to avoid problems and attract more customers.

Format

The format for business documents varies considerably from the format for academic documents. In academic establishments, students, professors, and researchers are, primarily, required to write an essay, research paper, lab report, dissertation, and monograph (“Differences between academic and business writing,” n.d.). This, in its turn, requires following strict formatting rules and recommendations set by an instructor, including the design of the paper, in-text citations, and reference list, among others. In this regard, the most common format styles are APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, etcetera. In addition, each genre entails its characteristic objectives and goals. For instance, the research paper differs from an essay in terms of the volume of data gathered and systemized concerning a specific subject. The thesis or dissertation also implies a more thorough examination of a particular topic and a more considerable amount of information collected.

On the other hand, common work-related are memos, business reports and letters, and briefs (“Differences between academic and business writing,” n.d.). Seldom do funeral directors use quotes, paraphrases, and reference lists in their daily work. The critical requirements, in this case, are clarity, preciseness, visual attractiveness, and specific recommendations prescribed in the organization’s guidelines or briefs. In funeral practice, morticians are needed to be familiar with general rules of design of instructions, advertisements, explanatory notes, reports, etcetera.

Style

Academic papers imply the expository style of writing when the focus is placed on discussing and analyzing facts and issues rather than providing the writer’s statement or opinion. The sentences and paragraphs, whole academic paper, are generally more extended to provide a comprehensive examination of the studied topic (“Differences between academic and business writing,” n.d.). In contrast, work-related documents focus on the description of particular events or procedures and apply short sentences and sections to provide readers with easy-to-read texts. Regarding formality, the language of business writing is less formal and permits the use of the first-person form. In this regard, the main requirements for funeral directors are to be courteous and professional not to offend consumers or partners.

Furthermore, academic works avoid certainty while discussing different issues. Students and researchers try to modify this aspect, using phrases such as ‘might,’ ‘appear to be,’ ‘evidence suggests’ (Marsen, 2019). On the contrary, business documents describe events with more certainty, not taking into consideration both sides of a specific theory, and frequently offering only one view. In addition, to sound polite and appealing to consumers and other stakeholders, funeral directors should use evaluative adjectives, such as ‘terrible’ or ‘fantastic,’ and other abstractive words that relate to emotions and feelings. Similar words are generally avoidable in academic works, where the main emphasis is laid on factual information and quantity or specificity of data.

Another distinctive feature of professional writing in the style aspect is the requirement regarding using jargon. While utilizing jargon and specialist terminology is mostly permissible in academic papers, because it shows that the writer belongs to the expert society (Marsen, 2019). The use of jargon in the professional field is not recommended for a funeral director since it can cause multiple problems, misunderstandings, and difficulties in mortuary practice. Jargon can be used only between corresponding partners that are acquainted with the commonly used terminology. In other cases, jargon should be interpreted in language that is understandable or explicable for an average reader.

Conclusion

In summary, this paper has provided a discussion about dissimilarities and similarities of academic and professional writings concerning purposes, audiences, formats, and styles. It should be indicated that the most apparent difference between these types of writing is regarding the target audience and style of writing. For example, academic writing is intended for a narrow circle of readers, namely, researchers and students relating to a specific subject, while business papers aim at people of all backgrounds, namely, consumers and work-related partners. The shared feature of these writings is that they both must be formal, but work-related writing implies the first-person use in documents.

References

Academic vs. business writing. (n.d.). Web.

Differences between academic and business writing. (n.d.).

Marsen, S. (2019). Professional writing. Red Globe Press.

Taylor, S. (2020). The difference between academic writing and business writing. Asia Professional Speakers Singapore. Web.