Academic Vocabulary & Style “An Introduction to EAP – Academic Skills in English” Lesson 9

Objective You will learn more about the type of terms and expressions used in academic writing. You will receive guidelines regarding the appropriate style to be used in academic writing. You will practice what you have learnt.

Academic Style There is no correct style of academic writing, and students should aim to develop their own ‘voice’. In general, it should attempt to be ACCURATE, IMPERSONAL and OBJECTIVE. For example, personal pronouns like ‘I’ and idioms (i.e. informal language) are used less often than in other writing.

Components of academic style

Guidelines to help you develop an academic style of your own

Practice

Avoiding repetition and redundancy

Practice

Varying sentence length

Practice

Caution In academic writing we need to avoid absolute statements in order not to make statements that can be contradicted or that are too simplistic. “Crime is linked to poor education.” “English is the greatest language in the world.”

The language of caution Caution may be shown in several ways: “Crime may be linked to poor education.” (modal verb) “Crime is frequently linked to poor education.” (adverb) “Crime tends to be linked to poor education.” (verb)

Modifiers Another way to express caution is to use quite, rather or fairly in front of an adjective: “a fairly accurate summary” “a rather inconvenient location” “quite a significant discovery”

Rewrite the following sentences in a more cautious way 1. Private companies are more efficient than state- owned businesses. 2. Exploring space is a waste of valuable resources. 3. Older students perform better at university than younger ones. 4. Word-of-mouth is the best kind of advertising. 5. English pronunciation is confusing. 6. Some cancers are caused by psychological factors. 7. Global warming will cause the sea level to rise. 8. Most shopping will be online in ten years’ time.

Re-write the following text in a more cautious way A team of American scientists have found a way to reverse the ageing process. They fed diet supplements, found in health food shops, to elderly rats, which were then tested for memory and stamina. The animals displayed more active behaviour after taking the supplements, and their memory improved. In addition, their appearance became more youthful and their appetite increased.The researchers say that this experiment is a clear indication of how the problems of old age can be overcome.