Academic Writing

Principles & Features

A. Complexity
B. Formality
C. Precision
D. Objectivity
E. Explicitness
F. Accuracy
G. Hedging
H. Responsibility
OBJECTIVITY
 This means that the main emphasis
should be
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http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/objectiv.htm
Being objective suggests that you are
concerned about facts and are not influenced
as much by personal feelings or biases.

Part of being objective is being fair in your

work. Try to show both sides of an argument
if you can and avoid making value judgments
through your use of words such as
“wonderful” or “sarcastically”.

Being objective also makes your work more

professional and believable.
Massey University 
25 October, 2012
Techniques to make your writing
more objective
• Move information around in the sentence to
emphasize things and ideas, instead of people and
feelings.

Example:
Instead of writing "I believe the model is valid,
based on these findings", write "These findings indicate
that the model is valid" or "The following section will
show how the model is validated by the findings".
The University of Sydney
06-Dec-2012
• Avoid evaluative words which are based on non-
technical judgments and feelings, such as "badly",
"disappointment", "amazing", etc.
• Instead use technical evaluations which related to
academic or discipline-specific criteria and values -
such as "valid", "inaccurate", "reliable", "clearly
demonstrates", "rigor", "out-dated", etc.

The University of Sydney

06-Dec-2012
• Avoid intense or emotional evaluative language.
Instead, use more moderate and graded evaluative
language.
Example:
Instead of writing "Parents who smoke are obviously
abusing their children", write "Second hand smoke has
some harmful effects on children’s health."

The University of Sydney

06-Dec-2012
• Use modality to show caution about your views, or
to allow room for others to disagree.
Example:
Instead of writing "I think second-hand smoke
causes cancer", write "Second-hand smoke may cause
cancer", or "There is evidence to support the
possibility that second-hand smoke increases the risk
of cancer."

The University of Sydney

06-Dec-2012
• Find authoritative sources (i.e. authors or
researchers in books or articles) who support your
point of view, and refer to them in your writing.
Example:
Instead of writing "Language is, in my view, clearly
something social", write "As Halliday (1973) shows,
language is intrinsically social."

The University of Sydney

06-Dec-2012
• Be explicit in expressing your ideas.

Example:
“ten” instead of “several”; “70%” instead of “most of
the population”;

“three years ago” or “in 2006” instead of “some time

ago”.
Massey University 
25 October, 2012
• Avoid language that implicitly excludes any group of
people.

Massey University 
25 October, 2012
• Avoid intensifiers which can tend to exaggerate your
writing.

Example:
“awfully”, “very”, “really”.

Massey University 
25 October, 2012
• Avoid the personal pronoun “I” but write more
impersonally.

Example:

“It could be argued that…” instead of “I think…”.

Massey University 
25 October, 2012
• Despite the fact that you are not encouraged to use
the personal pronoun “I” in academic writing, your
viewpoints and opinions will still come through.
• Although they may not be specifically attributed to
you, the fact that the comments you choose to
make are a part of your assignment tells the reader
that you believe what you are writing.

Massey University 
25 October, 2012
• Stating “I think…” or “In my opinion…” weakens
the text and the strength of your argument. In
addition, adding such personal comments almost
seems to emphasize that the writing is just your
opinions or interpretations, rather than positions
that are supported by logic and the evidence.
• However, some lecturers and some styles of
academic writing (e.g. reflective writing) allow or
encourage the use of the personal pronoun.
Massey University 
25 October, 2012
Samples
• Clearly this was far less true of France than ...
• This is where the disagreements and controversies begin ...
• The data indicates that ...
• This is not a view shared by everyone; Jones, for example,
claims that ...
• . . .very few people would claim ...
• It is worthwhile at this stage to consider ...
• Of course, more concrete evidence is needed before ...
• Several possibilities emerge ...
• A common solution is ...

Massey University 
25 October, 2012
• Don't write:" In my opinion, this a very interesting
study."
• Write: "This is a very interesting study."

• Don't write: "You can easily forget how different life

was 50 years ago."
• Write: "It is easy to forget how difficult life was 50
years ago."

Massey University 
25 October, 2012
Activity 1
 Objective or subjective?
Do you think sentence a) or b) is more objective?

a) Qualitative research is the most interesting aspect of the study of malaria.

b) It has been argued by many (Hills, 2003; Smith & Jones, 2004; Andrews,
2004) that qualitative research is the most interesting aspect of the study of
malaria.
the answer is b).
'Interesting' is a subjective adjective (what is interesting for one person is deadly dull
for another). An important point to remember in academic writing is that any views
for which you do not give a citation are assumed to be your own so in sentence a)
you are clearly expressing a personal opinion about qualitative research. In sentence
b), however, you are reporting the fact that many others find it interesting - an
entirely objective observation.
Objective or subjective?
Do you think sentence a) or b) is more objective?

a) Brown's excellent account of the UK economic situation has been widely

distributed.

b) Brown's account of the UK economic situation, which is regarded by many to

be well-researched and accurate, has been widely distributed.

the answer is b). In this context, 'excellent' is a subjective term. In sentence 1)

you are expressing a personal opinion as to the merits of Brown's work while in
sentence b) you are reporting the views of others.

© 2010 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Objective or subjective?
Do you think sentence a) or b) is more objective?

a) The student's excellent exam results enabled her to apply for a postgraduate
course.

b) The student is more agreeable than most of those on the postgraduate

course.

the answer is a).

This one is tricky! - in this context 'excellent' is an objective view. An exam
result of over 70% is regarded as excellent by examination boards worldwide.
Comments about the nature of the individual student as in sentence b) are, of
course, subjective.

© 2010 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

 Objective or subjective?
Do you think sentence a) or b) is more objective?

a) The results are astonishing.

b) The results were unexpected and may potentially change our thinking on this
topic.

the answer is b).

'Astonishing' is a subjective (and emotive) term, although you may have been astonished, other
people reading your protocol may have been unsurprised by your findings. You can, however,
say they were unexpected - this is indisputable.
Objectivity is a particularly important feature which distinguishes academic writing from
many other genres of writing. In scientific academic writing in particular, it is vital that you
present your findings as facts.
In essays where a personal opinion is called for, this should still be expressed in an impersonal
tone and couched in formal language. For example, rather than saying,
'The present UK coalition government has blatantly disregarded the promises made by the
Liberal Democrats not to increase tuition fees.'

© 2010 London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

COMPLEXITY
Complexity in academic writing comes from
the fact that the standard written form of
the English language, which is compulsory to
be used, is different than the language we
speak daily.

The vocabulary used by the written language

is more varied than the one used in
conversations. It also uses more complicated
words that are not normally used when
talking with someone face to face.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
The grammatical aspect of the written
language is also different because we don’t
normally use in speaking so many subordinate
clauses and passives.

The phrases in the written language are

noun-based and those in speaking language
are verb-based. This also makes academic
writing different from face to face
communication or other types of writing.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
FORMALITY
In close connection with complexity is
formality. Under no circumstances will
academic writing make use of colloquial
expression that we consider natural in daily
dialogues we have with friend or colleagues.
The degree of formality should thus be pretty
high.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
PRECISION
Academic writing should be very precise.
Factual information, figures or charts, should
all be provided and nothing written there
should leave room to interpretation.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
EXPLICITNESS
The author of an academic writing is
responsible for make it explicit and for making
clear how different parts of the text are
connected between them and why are they
relevant for the central theme. There are
certain words that can be used in order to
emphasis this connection and they are called
signaling words.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
This is best achieved by anticipating the reader's
questions. When revising your work before
submission, try to think what questions your reader
might want answers to if reading your assignment at
this stage;

Example:

What is the purpose of this work?

What does the author mean by this?
How do these two ideas (or these two paragraphs)
link together?
Where is the evidence for this?
What is the author's view about this issue?
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wdc/learning/academic/explicit.htm
Tips to help you make your writing explicit:

 Explain what you intend to achieve/demonstrate.

 Define key concepts. If you find different
definitions for the same term in the literature,
explain which one you will adopt or what the
word means to you.
 Make sure that links between ideas are clear. Use
linking words and phrases if necessary.
 Ensure that every claim is supported by evidence.
 Take a position in relation to the issues being
discussed. In other words, make sure that your
viewpoint is clear to the reader.
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wdc/learning/academic/explicit.htm
ACCURACY
An accurate use of vocabulary is a must in a
text that wants to be academic. Extra
attention should be paid when using words
with a specific meaning and the writer should
know that there is a clear distinction between
phonetics and phonemics. This distinction is
not so important when it comes to the
general use of English language.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
HEDGING
Some academic writers choose to use a
technique called hedge. This has to do with the
way that writer decides to approach a certain
subject and with how strong the claims he
makes are.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
How factual can you be?
 It is often believed that academic writing, particularly
scientific writing, is factual, simply to convey facts and
information.
 It is now recognised that an important feature of
academic writing is the concept of cautious language,
often called "hedging" or "vague language".
 It is necessary to make decisions about your stance on a
particular subject, or the strength of the claims you are
making.

http://mail.humber.ca/~brett.reynolds/comm200/Hedging.ppt
Language used in hedging
• Certain modal verbs
• Certain modal auxiliary verbs
• Adverbs of frequency
• Modal adverbs
• Modal adjectives
• Modal nouns
• That clauses

http://mail.humber.ca/~brett.reynolds/comm200/Hedging.ppt
Identify the hedges
1. There is no difficulty in explaining how a structure such as an eye or a
feather contributes to survival and reproduction; the difficulty is in thinking
of a series of steps by which it could have arisen.
2. For example, it is possible to see that in January this person weighed 60.8
kg for eight days,
3. For example, it may be necessary for the spider to leave the branch on
which it is standing, climb up the stem, and walk out along another branch.
4. E-coli , when found in conjunction with urethritis, often indicate infection
higher in the uro-genital tract.
5. There is experimental work to show that a week or ten days may not be
long enough and a fortnight to three weeks is probably the best theoretical
period.

http://mail.humber.ca/~brett.reynolds/comm200/Hedging.ppt
Identify the hedges
6. Conceivably, different forms, changing at different rates and showing
contrasting combinations of characteristics, were present in different
areas.
7. One possibility is that generalized latent inhibition is likely to be weaker
than that produced by pre-exposure to the CS itself and thus is more
likely to be susceptible to the effect of the long interval.
8. For our present purpose, it is useful to distinguish two kinds of chemical
reaction, according to whether the reaction releases energy or requires it.
9. It appears to establish three categories: the first contains wordings
generally agreed to be acceptable, the second wordings which appear to
have been at some time problematic but are now acceptable, and the
third wordings which remain inadmissible.
RESPONSIBILIT
Y
Last, but not least, academic writing should
be treated with responsibility. Everything
stated should be accompanied by proofs and
justifications and no assumptions are allowed.
Sources should also be mentioned.

http://mytekah.hubpages.com/hub/8-Characteristics-of-Academic-Writing
 Thank you for listening…

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