Language of Academic

Writing
 Academic Writing
• Different from most types of writing.
• Uses a precise and objective type of language.
Points to Remember
about Academic Writing
 Word Choice
• Choose words that will really express the meaning
you want to convey to your readers.

a. Misused Words
• Avoid using words that do not convey the meaning
the writer think it does.

b. Pronoun Reference
• Avoid using a pronoun that that readers can’t tell
whom/what it refers to.
 c. Jargon
• A strange, outlandish, or barbarous language or
dialect.

d. Wordiness
• Using more than words than necessary within the
sentence.
 e. Cliches
• Expressions that either have a general meaning or
have lost of their meaning overtime.

Signposting
• Academic writing is reader-friendly; it considers
the ability of the reader/s to clearly understand
the content of the writing output. One way of
doing this is by producing an explicit writing
output, which contains signposts (words and
phrases that signal key aspects of the output and
connect sentences and paragraphs).
 Contractions and Colloquial
Words
• Academic writing avoids using contractions and
informal, conventional words.
Rhetorical Questions
• These are interrogatives, which do not intend to receive
any response but is usually asked in writing for their
literary effect.
Hedging Devices
• Words used to lessen the impact and to keep the
politeness of an utterance.