KEY FEATURES OF ACADEMIC STYLE

Academic writing in English has a distinctive style – it is formal and uses particular
language norms that you need to learn.
Academic style is more than just a writing convention; it can also help you think more
logically and clearly as you work on an assignment.

I. Objectivity
Academic writing presents and evaluates issues and arrives at an objective position; a
position that focuses on and is informed by research and reasoning rather than personal
feelings and opinions. Personal pronouns, especially ‘I’, ‘you’ and ‘we’ are usually
avoided, as these are often associated with subjective views that are influenced by
personal preferences or biases.

Example
You can demonstrate that climate change is a real phenomenon by studying alterations in
Antarctic ice layers.

To help establish an objective distance from the topic, instead of using a personal
pronoun, you could try:
1. Using the topic as the subject
Alterations in Antarctic ice layers demonstrate that climate change is a real
phenomenon.
2. Using a passive verb
The reality of climate change can be demonstrated by studying alterations in
Antarctic ice layers.
3. Using ‘it’ as an empty subject
It can be demonstrated that climate change is a real phenomenon by studying
alterations in Antarctic ice layers.
Avoiding ‘I’ does not mean you cannot express your own opinion. Your own evaluation
of the material is still extremely important; however, you can communicate this by using
evidence or logical argumentation.

II. Formality
Academic writing is very explicit and provides the reader with all the information they
need to understand your meaning. This is in contrast to written or spoken English in less
formal contexts, which often relies on readers or listeners to supply extra information that
completes the message.

To make your writing more formal, one should:

1. Replace informal words that are associated with ‘chatty’ spoken styles ( such as
contractions) with more formal vocabulary;
2. Avoid rhetorical questions the reader cannot answer;
3. Use full words instead of contractions;
4. Avoid unspecified categories;
 5. Avoid colloquial language;

Example
For example, this passage contains some informal words (going, good, tell, though,
really), a rhetorical question (How good…?), a contraction (can’t), a vague category (etc.)
and a colloquialism (first-class, top notch, check out):
 The investigation has been going for four years. How good has it been? At this stage,
researchers can’t tell, because they still need to check out the data to account for
differences in age, gender, socio-economic-status, etc. Once that work is done though, the
information will be really first-class.

 The investigation has been underway for four years. Researchers cannot
yet determine the effectiveness of the project because it is necessary to first analyse the
data to control for age, gender, socio-economic status and other demographic
variables. Despite this, the information collected is expected to be highly valuable for
future studies.

Online learner’s dictionaries that provide examples of how words are used in context can
help you determine the formality of specific words. If a word has many possible
meanings, or appears in many idioms, it is more likely to be informal.

III. Precision
To communicate your meaning precisely, one should try to:
 Include a sufficient high level of detail and specificity
The amount of detail you provide depends on the purpose of your work, but you should
always try to avoid ambiguity.
The following sentence is very broad and general, which makes it sound like a personal
opinion.
 Most people didn’t like changing trains on the way to work, but they still thought it was
better than taking a bus.
How many people are ‘most’? How strong is their dislike of changing trains? In what
way are trains better than buses?
To make it more precise, the writer could specify exactly which group of people they are
referring to, what their preferences were, and the degree of strength of those preferences.
 While the majority of the survey respondents indicated their dislike of changing trains on
their commute to work, they preferred taking two trains to taking one bus, which they
perceived would be slower overall and less comfortable, or both.
The additional detail in the sentence above clearly makes the message more precise.
 Choose verbs that express concepts succinctly
Certain verbs are considered too imprecise for academic writing, in that they do not
provide detailed, exact meaning we require. These include verbs that are commonly used
in less formal contexts, particularly those with many possible meanings and multi-word
verbs.
Verbs with many possible meanings include ‘do’, ‘make’, ‘put’, ‘keep’, ‘have’ and ‘get’.
For example, some of the many possible meanings of ‘get’ are:
 Receive (get an email)
 Obtain (get a better view)
 Bring (get a bucket and mop)
 Buy (get a new shirt)
 Arrive (get there at 7pm)
If you use the single verb that expresses exactly what you mean by ‘get’, your writing will
be more precise.
The researchers got results from a large participant group
Vs.
The researchers obtained results from a large participant group

Multi-word verbs are verbs that require more than one word to create meaning,
including phrasal and prepositional verbs, for example:
Cut off, find out, give up, hand out, let down, pick out.
Again, try to use a single verb with the same meaning instead, such as:
Discontinue, discover, quit, distribute, disappoint, select.
Use a dictionary and/or a thesaurus to find suitable alternatives for imprecise or multi-
word verbs.

IV. Hedging
Hedging language in academic writing is used to express caution and avoid strong,
unqualified statements that may be easily disproven.
To avoid generalisations, one can:
 Use a quantifier (e.g. few, many, some)
 Use adverbs or adverbial phrases (e.g. occasionally, often, usually)
 Use modal verbs (e.g. can, may, might, would, could)
A feature of written academic English is the need to be careful (i.e. to show that you
may not be certain about something). The purpose of this is to show that one is
generalising or desires to be cautious, or even that one might possibly be wrong. The
most usual ways of expressing caution or lack of certainty are by means of verbs and
adverbs.

Verbs: • appears to • seems to • tends to • may • might

Adverbs: • perhaps • possibly • probably • apparent • likely

This sentence is a definite statement: Industrialisation is viewed as a superior way of

life.
To make it more tentative or cautious we can change or add some words:
Industrialisation tends to be viewed as a superior way of life.

Example
The following claim is quite strong:
Leading a sedentary lifestyle causes chronic health conditions.
You could avoid overstating the relationship using the hedging tips above as follows:
Extended physical inactivity can contribute to a range of chronic health conditions
and may have a negative effect on mental health.

Exercise 1
 Formal language makes use of complex sentence structures
(1) In 2001, the bridge was built. This was good politically. Two countries united.
= __________________
(2) The bridge was completed in 2001, which resulted in a positive political move that
united two countries. = __________________
 Formal language does not use contractions
(3) When considering staffing in hospitals in the future, it's difficult not be
concerned. = __________________
(4) When considering staffing in hospitals in the future, it is difficult not be concerned. =
__________________
 Formal language is objective
(5) I think/believe that the issue of global warming will be the primary concern at the
meeting. = __________________
(6) There is little doubt/It is clear that the issue of global warming will be the primary
concern at the meeting. =__________________
 Formal language does not use colloquialisms (language which is common to spoken
English)
(7) Sweden's Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, totally flipped out when he read the
latest report from the press. = __________________
(8) The Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, expressed his concern when he
viewed the most recent report from the press. = __________________
 Formal language focuses more on vocabulary choice
(9) The research assistant checked out the incident and got back to him the next day. =
__________________
(10) The research assistant investigated the incident and reported to him the following
day. = __________________
 Formal language makes use of the discipline specific vocabulary
(11) Germs grow well in dirty and warm temperatures. = __________________
(12) Bacteria thrive in unhygienic and warm conditions.= __________________

Exercise 2
Look at the following sentences. You will see the long formal version. Translate to the
shorter informal version by switching:
Eg: He told me accidentally___________➙_He let it slip.
I asked him questions to see what he was thinking_➙
He persuaded me to sell my car to him__➙
We presented hoping to attract the new client__➙
I told them that the situation was not as bad as they believed__➙
Her only boss is the owner, nobody else_➙

Exercise 3. Look at the informal and make it formal:

Eg: I left out the fact that I was unavailable___➙_____I failed to say that I was
unavailable.
He came up with a brilliant plan__➙
They played down the disaster in the interview_➙
She talked me out of selling_➙
I let it slip that he wasn’t qualified_➙
They pitched for the Medford account_➙

Exercise 4. The following sentences are a mix of formal and informal. Write F or I at the
end.
(a) The project will be completed next year.
(b) I showed that his arguments didn’t hold water.
(c) I wonder why he put up with those terrible conditions for so long.
(d) Five more tests will be necessary before the experiment can be concluded.
(e) It is possible to consider the results from a different viewpoint.
(f) It has been proved that the arguments so far are without foundation.
(g) He’ll have to do another five tests before he can stop the experiment.
(h) It is not clear why such terrible conditions were tolerated for so long.
(i) There are a several reasons why the questionnaire should be revised.
(j) We’ll finish the job next year.

Exercise 5. Now look at the following sentences taken from an economics book.
a) It is also likely to appear in the development of institutions.
b) The ideal of economic development tends to be associated with different policy goals.
c) Perhaps greater clarity can be brought to the meaning of economic development.
How would the above three sentences be written if we wanted to make them definite
and not tentative?

Exercise 6. Write a formal text (about 100 words) on the impact of plastic on wildlife.
Pay attention to the elements that make a text academic.