Objectivity can be achieved by:

1. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as you, I, we.

Poor example: You need to conduct the experiment.

Improved version: The researchers need to conduct the experiment.

2. Avoiding rhetorical questions as it marks “closeness” with the reader, and constantly seeks his/her
attention.

Poor example: How can these problems be solved?

Improved version: Certain measures must be discovered to solve the problems.

3. Avoiding emotive language that shows biases and lessens objectivity.

Poor example: The investigators were very shocked to see the outcome of the tests.

Improved version: The investigators did not expect the results.

EXPLICITNESS

Academic writing demands the use of signposts that allow readers to trace the relationships in the
parts of a study.

If you intend to show a change in your line of argument, make it clear by using however.

Example:

It is apparent that the government hopes to provide assistance to the poor. However, giving
dole outs to the “poorest of the poor” does not work in the long term.

The following phrases may be useful in making ideas explicit:

1. This is due to the…

A number of MERALCO consumers trooped to the City Hall to claim a PHP 500 cash incentive.
This is due to the Supreme Court ruling that overcharges must be returned to the end users whose
electric consumption for the April-May period was below 100kw/hr.

2. This resulted in…

With the Supreme Court ordering MERALCO to return overcharges to the end users,
government offices have been tapped to operate as claim centers. This resulted in a number of
MERALCO consumers trooping to the City Hall to claim the PHP 500.00 cash incentive.
When two ideas seem the same, express each one clearly.

The study showed that eighty percent of the 200 participants involved in the study were dissatisfied
with the operations of MERALCO. Similarly, the data revealed that majority of the participants were
not aware of the charges imposed on them by MERALCO.

CAUTION

Academic writing requires care since knowledge is built from proven theories and concepts.
Therefore, caution is needed to avoid sweeping generalizations.

Government officials are corrupt.

The statement is not completely true and the rhetorical impact of the statement may be
misleading. The statement can be improved through the use of devices such as modal verbs, adverbs,
or verbs.

Some government officials may be corrupt. (modal verb).

Corruption is commonly linked to some key government officials (adverb).

A number of government officials tend to be linked with cases of corruption (verb).

STRUCTURE

Aside from language, sentences need to be contructed in such a way that they show a level of
complexity that reflects the sophistication of an academic writer. Combining ideas effectively,
nominalization, and passivization are some ways to achieve structure fit for academic writing.

In combining ideas effectively, you will need to avoid redundancy and at the same time, make sure
that ideas are packed effectively.

Consider the following examples:

--The earthquake caused loss of life.

--The earthquake caused massive property damage.

--The earthquake changed the landscape of the village.

Though the sentences are grammatically correct, they do not possess the sophistication of academic
writing. They can be improved by continuing similar ideas expressing them through a more complex
contruction. Hence, they can be written this way:

The earthquake was a disaster that caused a loss of life, property damage, and permanent
changes in the landscape.
NOMINALIZATION

In nominalization, the verbs are made central as they denote action. Transforming verbs into nouns
helps readers focus on the action and not on the doer of the action.

EX: The company created software to manage the transaction successfully.

The creation of software to manage transactions was a success.

The president announced a three-day holiday this September.

The president’s announcement of a three-day holiday for September was released.

The mall distributed several free items to consumers in the hope to boost sales.

Distribution of free items for consumers was done in the hope to boost sales.

PASSIVIZATION

In passive construction, the results of actions are highlighted. In academic writing, since the writer of
the paper is presumed to have done the collection and analysis of data, it is understood that all results
of the action are a product of the writer’s work.

The researcher conducted experiments to validate the hypothesis.

Experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis.

Experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis.

A saltwater lamp was built to help communities with no electricity.

Several scientists conducted experiment to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of algae on biodiversity.