Informal vs. Formal Writing

Many of us tend to write the way we normally talk to people; however, in college, your language should take on a more professional, formal tone. See the chart below for differences between informal and formal writing.

Situation	Informal	Formal
Point of view	Using “I” or “you” (1^st and 2^nd person pronouns)	“He” “she” “it” “they” “people” (3^rd person pronouns)
Slang	“crazy” “right off the bat”	“destructive” “first”
Talking to reader	“Let’s move on to talk about climate change”	“Climate change is another highly debated topic today”
Transitions	Writing “The next thing” and “the next thing” repeatedly	“In addition,” “Furthermore,” “Also,”
Generalizing	“Most people believe that…” or “It is obvious that video games…”	“In a recent poll, 10,000 people reported that”
Contractions	“don’t”	“do not”
Vocabulary	“Doctors have come up with”	“Doctors have established”