Academic Writing vs Data Journalism

Academic Writing

By James Anditis (Journalism)

Write research papers, literature reviews, and grant proposals with proper citations and structure.

Data Journalism

By James Anditis (Journalism)

Turn datasets into stories with cleaning, analysis, and visualization workflows.

Academic Writing

• Structures research papers with proper IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion)
• Manages citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, and Vancouver styles
• Develops research questions using systematic criteria (feasibility, novelty, relevance)
• Organizes literature reviews by theme with database search strategies
• Guides academic writing style including voice, tense, hedging language, and transitions

Data Journalism

• Cleans messy datasets by standardizing formats, handling missing values, and flagging duplicates
• Guides you through the full data journalism process from hypothesis to publication
• Provides templates for methodology documentation and story structure
• Connects you to major public data sources like Census Bureau, BLS, FDA, and state portals
• Handles common data problems like inconsistent dates, outliers, and similar names

Reach for Academic Writing when…

• You're writing a research paper or journal article for publication
• You need to conduct a systematic literature review for your study
• You're drafting a grant proposal or thesis chapter
• You need to properly format citations in a specific academic style

Reach for Data Journalism when…

• You're building a story from public datasets and need to verify your findings
• You have messy data with inconsistent formatting and missing values
• You need to explain your methodology clearly to readers
• You're looking for reliable data sources for research or reporting