Language: Hedging and Supporting Evidence

Language: expressing Uncertainty and Purpose

Lesson aims:

To understand what is uncertainty and speculation in text

To understand and practice the use of hedging

To practice supporting position in academic writing

Uncertainty and speculation

Uncertainty and speculation are used in a text by the writer in order for them to provide the reader with possibilities in the past, present or future. When you draw conclusions based on evidence, or the application of a theory, you often need to make statements about your assessment of the likelihood that something:

• might be true now
• may happen in the future
• could have happened in the past

Hedging for uncertainty and speculation

Often in academic writing, a writer may not be sure of the claims that are being made in their subject area, or perhaps the ideas are good but the evidence is not very strong.

Drag each adverb into their relevant function: Certainty or Uncertainty/Speculation.

Clearly

Apparantly

Certainty

Supposedly

Undoubtedly

Evidently

Obviously

Reportedly

Theoretically

Uncertainty/speculation

Controversially

Objectively

Invariably

Presumably

Potentially

Hypothetically

Complete the handout

Presenting supporting evidence

Why do we need to support our arguments?

Academic writing uses evidence and information from sources to support your points and build a critical argument.

• To convince your reader that you know what you’re talking about, you can’t just make a statement and expect them to accept it
• You will need to provide robust evidence to justify your point, show how you have arrived at your conclusions and prove that it’s based on solid grounds.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and we are interested in your ideas, but you need to supply proof and show how it supports your statement, to persuade others of what you think.

Types of Evidence

There are many types of evidence that you may use to support your writing. Below are some examples of these evidence types.

Examples

Facts

an idea from a source used to illustrate a point

information that can be proven and generally agreed to be true.

Statistics

Expert opinion

numerical data, figures, diagrams etc.

formed through research in the field or expertise gained (through study or profession for example

Go to Insendi screen 8.7 and do the exercise "Identifying evidence types"

Go to Insendi screen 8.7 and do the exercise "Reading & research"

Lesson aims check:

I understand what is uncertainty and speculation in text

I understand what is and how to use hedging

I understand how to support my position in academic writing