 In an academic essay you need to have a formal tone.  A formal tone is characterized by learned vocabulary, longer sentences, and an avoidance of personal pronouns.  This does not mean excessive flowy language, always be as direct as possible.

 Active voice: the actor acts upon the receiver  The dog bit the man. Rather than: The man was bit by the dog.  Passive should only be used when the actor is unknown or is less important than the receiver.  Use of the passive voice sometimes leads to awkward wording.  It is recommended that this experiment be tested for its effectiveness (who recommended it? Who will be testing it?)

 Do not confuse your reader with unnecessary wording or jargon.  Choose a short word instead of a long one when the meaning is the same.  Cut out any unnecessary words.  Example: Poor living accommodations give promise of incrementing the negative side of the morale balance so far as new personnel are concerned.  Better: Poor living accommodations lower the morale of new personnel.

 Don’t use clichés or expressions.  Avoid ambiguous words or expressions. Your reader must know what you are saying and not be left to question your writing.

 Avoid beginning sentences with: This or that.  This and that pronouns should not be used to refer to whole sentences or concepts in the previous sentence. They should only be used when followed by a noun or when referring to a specific noun in the previous sentence.  Try to incorporate the concept from the sentence before so as not to be vague.  A scientists work has no value unless he shares his thoughts with the scientific community. That is the cornerstone of science.  What is? Try: That communication is…

 Very, quite, fairly.  Often these modifiers are unnecessary and take away from your overall point.  Try using one word instead.  Very large= enormous, gigantic.

 Absolutely clear  Completely surrounded  Conclusive proof  Serious crisis  Once again: this just provides unnecessary wording.

 Have a variety of sentence structures. Make use of semicolons, commas, and conjunctions.

 Not unlikely  Not impossible  Be direct! You are confident in your argument: show it!

 No second person: Never address your reader! Ex. You, your, we, us, our. Etc.  Don’t question your reader, stay focused and direct.  Avoid contractions: don’t= do not, can’t=cannot, etc.  Don’t start sentences with conjunctions: And, But, Because, Nor, etc.  Use academic vocabulary, but only YOUR academic vocabulary. Make sure you know the proper use of the word in context. Don’t just use a thesaurus.