Tips to help you use a good academic writing style: 

1. Be clear and concise in your expression and avoid ambiguity.
2. Use words precisely – only use words if you are sure of their meaning and avoid jargon in an attempt to appear scholarly or to a degree that makes your meaning unclear. Write in a way that readers, not necessarily experts in the discipline, will be able to understand.
3. Avoid unnecessary words and 'long-winded' sentences.
4. Be consistent in spelling, tense (past/present/future), writing style (first or third person as instructed in your marking criteria) and presentation.
5. Do not use slang or conversational language – for example ‘cool’, or language that is too casual, such as ‘pretty awful’. Instead, you might say that a paper was ‘persuasive’ and ‘insightful’, or ‘poorly researched’ and ‘unsubstantiated’.
6. Avoid personal language; for example instead of ‘I think that…’ an alternative might be: 'The literature supports…'
7. Avoid contracting words – for example, ‘doesn’t’, ‘should’ve’ and ‘it’s’ are not acceptable in academic writing. Instead use ‘does not’, ‘should have’ or ‘it is’.
8. Write words in full the first time they are used, followed by the acronym or initialism in square brackets. The acronym or initialism alone can then be used throughout the rest of the assignment; for example: The Queensland Counsellors Association [QCA] is a peak counselling organisation. As a peak organisation, QCA is responsible for ensuring counsellors meet specific ethical guidelines.
9. Spell out all one-digit numbers but use figures for numbers containing two or more digits (unless the number begins the sentence in which case it is spelt out regardless of its size). Always express dates, times, and measures in figures. For example, two participants contributed 25% of the data.
10. Use correct grammar and punctuation. This is the most basic principle in academic writing and Microsoft Word has inbuilt spelling and grammar checkers.

See the formal writing tips resources and useful links below.