Writing is a skill that is required in many contexts throughout life. However, academic writing does many of the things that personal writing does not: it has its own set of rules and practices.
These rules and practices may be organised around a formal order or structure in which to present ideas, in addition to ensuring that ideas are supported by author citations in the literature.
In contrast to personal writing contexts, academic writing is different because it deals with the underlying theories and causes governing processes and practices in everyday life, as well as exploring alternative explanations for these events.
Academic writing follows a particular ‘tone’ and adheres to traditional conventions of punctuation, grammar, and spelling.
Other Languages and Literature
为了与汉语言文学和英语专业区分开来，在此将“语言文学”定义为除汉、英之外的外国语言与文学专业，即“小语种”专业。小语种是相对英语这类应用面很广用者甚众的外语而言，是只在少数国家应用的外语语种。小语种的定义一般有两种。一种是指除联合国通用语种（英语、法语、俄语、西班牙语、阿拉伯语、汉语）外的所有语种（该定义被多国教育机构采用）；而大多数人通常认为英语是通用语种，其它语种都是非通用语种，因此小语种的另一种定义就是指英语以外的其它语种。按第一种定义统计，目前中国各高校开设的小语种约有30种。
