During your college and professional careers you will be asked to prepare many types of writing. You may write several research papers while you are here as well as argumentative papers, Canvas discussions, transcripts for oral presentations, newspaper articles, or any of a dozen other types of writing. It is critical that you understand what kind of writing the assignment is looking for. You may have to search online for specific elements and examples so that you can focus your efforts.
Once you leave college, writing will also be a major facet of your profession. You may only have to leave a pass-on log for the oncoming shift, but you may also need to make reports, proposals, presentations, or other items. You may also choose to participate in internet activities such as blogs, email, or social media. In all cases, the reader must be able to understand what you are saying. Every one of the types of writing mentioned here and all the types not mentioned have their own standards. You are probably already familiar with the casual language and abbreviations of the social media post, but that is the only place that sort of informal language is acceptable.
This guide is focused on the formal research paper, but the writing style you will use in it is much like the writing style in other types of writing. The real differences lay in formatting and presentation. No matter what type of writing you are doing, you can find examples online to help with presentation.
As you begin any assignment be sure you read all the instructions to understand your goals.