ACADEMIC WRITING

writing in academic style

start

Formal, academic style has some of the following characteristics:

It uses an impersonal style: with no subject pronoun and often the passive voice (e.g.,“It has been noticed that...”).

Avoid overuse of brackets; don’t use exclamation marks or dashes; avoid direct questions; don’t use “etc”.

It does not use contractions(e.g. it's for it is or it has; would've for would have).

Be careful with your statements - for example, "everybody loves gamification" - no, they don't. You must be specific and provide evidence to support your writing.

It does not use vague expressions and slang words: it's a kind of , it's a sort of X, it's a type of X, or something, thing, stuff:

Use phrases such as It is believed that ... It is thought that ... It is a widely held view that ...It has been reported that ... It has commonly been assumed that ...

It uses complex words and sentences to express complex points (e.g. “state-of-the-art”).

formal vs informal adjectives

Hedging words and phrases

Academic writing should appear to be well-considered, reasonable and cautious.

If it is appropriate for you to be tentative, you can use language techniques to 'soften' your claims to indicate the degree of certainty you want to express. This technique is called hedging.

examples of hedging include:

 Use verbs, when necessary, such as would, could, may, might which ‘soften’ what you’re saying. (If you use verbs such as will then you are saying you know exactly what will happen and that this is always true.)

 Use phrases such as It is believed that ... It is thought that ... It is a widely held view that ...It has been reported that ... It has commonly been assumed that...

reporting verbs:

In academic writing, it will often be necessary to refer to the research of others and to report on their findings.

In order to do so, we have to use reporting verbs such as Chomsky (1982) suggests that....; Brown (2001) argues that.

Each reporting verb has slightly different meaning.

reporting verbs

exercise 1: try rewriting the following sentences in the passive voice

We have to monitor the students' behavior at all times.

We should examine the statistics more carefully before we reach a conclusion.

As teachers of English, we should aim at striving our students' motivation.

We have to take into consideration the school education project in order to design the lesson plans.

exercise 1: try rewriting the following sentences in the passive voice

We have to monitor the students' behavior at all times.

We should examine the statistics more carefully before we reach a conclusion.

As teachers of English, we should aim at striving our students' motivation.

We have to take into consideration the school education project in order to design the lesson plans.

possible key answers

The statistics should be examined more carefully before a conclusion is reached.

The students' behavior needs to be monitored at all times.

The students' motivation should be aimed at and strived for by English teachers.

The school education project has to be taken into consideration when designing the lesson plans.

exercise 2. Replace the contractions in the following sentences with full forms where necessary

1. The results weren't very encouraging.

5. Our questionnaire shows that teachers aren't paid what they're worth.

2. We'll have to conduct another experiment.

6. His response was, "A job's a job; if it doesn't pay enough, it's a lousy job'.

7. He'd rather announce the findings at the conference.

3. She's been all around the world.

4. It's the best solution to the problem.

8. The department's approach didn't succeed.

possible key answers

1. The results were not very encouraging.

5. Our questionnaire shows that teachers are not paid what they are worth.

2. We will have to conduct another experiment.

6. His response was, "A job is a job; if it does not pay enough, it is a lousy job'.

7. He would rather announce the findings at the conference.

3. She has been all around the world.

4. It is the best solution to the problem.

8. The department's approach did not succeed.

Exercise 3 Suggest improvements to the following sentences to avoid use of “you” and “we”

1. You can apply the same theory of learning to small children.

2.You can only do this after the initial evaluatiom has been conducted.

4. In the second section of the report, we will consider the environmental consequences.

3. You should note that local variation...

POSSIBLE KEY ANSWERS

1. The same theory of learning can be applied...

2.This can only be done...

3. it should be noted that...

4. The second section of the report will...

exercise 4. Suggest alternatives to the following to avoid use of personal language

1. In this essay I will discuss the main differences between the English and Scottish educational systems.

2. I have divided my paper into five sections.

4. In the third part of the essay, we will look at the reasons for public hysteria over bilingual education.

3. I will conclude by proposing that all students shoud be catered for.

POSSIBLE KEY ANSWERS

2. The paper has been divided into five sections or there are five sections in the paper...

1.This essay will discuss...

4. The third part of the essay will examine/discuss/analyse...

3. This essay will conclude with...

exercise 5. Which of the two alternatives in bold do you think is more appropriate in academic writing?

1. The government has made considerable/great progress in solving the problem.

2. We got/obtained excellent results in the experiment.

4. The activity was nice/enyojable.

The results of lots of/numerous tests have been pretty good/encouraging.

exercise 6. rewrite the following statements, using a reporting verb

1. Krashen said that comprehensible input was absolutely necessary (temptative).

2. Hymes realised that not everything in language had to do with reading (neutral).

4. Littlewood refused to believe that speaking was not the main priority (strong).

3. Chomsky talked about the language adquisition device (neutral).

possible key answers

1. Krashen posited that comprehensible input was absolutely necessary.

2. Hymes revealed that not everything in language had to do with reading.

4. Littlewood rejected to believe that speaking was not the main priority.

3. Chomsky reffered to the language adquisition device.

possible key answers

1. Krashen posited that comprehensible input was absolutely necessary.

2. Hymes revealed that not everything in language had to do with reading.

4. Littlewood rejected to believe that speaking was not the main priority.

3. Chomsky reffered to the language adquisition device.

exercise 7: rewrite the following text in a formal academic writing style

Primary education is super important for kids. It helps them learn a lot of things for their future education. Teachers in primary schools are really nice and caring. They create a fun and nice environment for the students. Kids love going to school because they get to play with their friends and participate in different activities. Primary education is like the starting point that puts kids on the road to success and gets them ready for higher levels of schooling.

extra practice

https://www.engvid.com/english-resource/formal-informal-english/ https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/Writing%20in%20Academic%20Style%20WITH%20exercises%20(Jonny).pdf https://www.autoenglish.org/writing/formalandinformalexercise.htm