1. ACADEMIC DISCOURSE B. Mitsikopoulou GENERALIZATION, QUALIFICATION AND CAUTION IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

2. How do we talk about percentages and information form a chart or a table?

3. GENERALIZATION

4. When you generalize research findings, you should always try to be as precise as possible. “X is bigger than Y” doesn't really tell you very much: you need to make you terms of comparison clear, and then state exactly how much x is bigger than y. So similarly, stating that “There are 20% more students in Higher Education in the UK than in Japan” only makes complete sense when we know the exact number of students.

5. Note these phrases (Swales & Feak 1994) Almost exactly twice as many boys... A marginally smaller percentage of girls... Slightly over twice as many boys... Close to three times as many boys... Boys exceeded girls... by a ratio of 2.5 to 1.

6. The language of generalization (Jordan 1999) X is considerably a great deal of (very) much (quite) a lot rather somewhat a little slightly scarcely hardly only just smaller bigger cheaper than..

7. X is exactly precisely just virtually practically more or less almost nearly approximately about the same as...

8. X and Y are different dissimilarin every way/respect. totally completely entirely quite different.

9. X is totally completely entirely quite different from Y. X is not quite so/as big expensive etc as...

10. X is not exactly entirely quite the same as...

11. Introductory Sentences: Similarities The mode of processing used by the right brain is similar to that used by the left brain. The mode of processing used by the right brain is comparable in complexity to that used by the left brain. The effects of nitrous dioxide on human health are similar to those of ground level ozone. Both X and Y generally take place in a "safe environment". There are a number of similarities between X and Y. Numerous studies have compared the brain cells in man and animals and found that the cells are essentially identical.

12. Introductory Sentences: Differences X is different from Y in a number of respects. There are a number of important differences between X and Y. X differs from Y in a number of important ways. Smith (2003) found distinct differences between X and Y. Women and men differ not only in physical attributes but also in the way in which they......

13. Comparison within one sentence In contrast to oral communities, it is very difficult to get away from calendar time in literate societies. Oral societies tend to be very much anchored in the present, whereas literate societies have a very definite awareness of the past. Women tend to perform better/worse than men on tests of perceptual speed.

14. Comparison across two sentences Tests show that women generally can recall lists of words or paragraphs of text better than men. On the other hand, men usually perform better on tests that require the ability to mentally rotate an image in order to solve a problem. Speech functions are less likely to be affected in women because the critical area is less often affected. A similar pattern emerges in studies of the control of hand movements.

15. Comparison Commonly used transitions: Likewise, Similarly, Along the same lines, In the same way, 1. _______ and ___________ both show ________________ 2. _______ and _____________ are like in that they both ____________. 3. __________ and _____________ all show _____________. 4. Likewise, both are __________________ 5. Similarly, ___________ and __________ are __________________ 6. In the same way, _______ and __________ are __________________.

16. Contrast Commonly used transitions: Although, but, by contrast, Conversely, Despite the fact, even though, however, in contrast, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, On the contrary, On the other hand, regardless, Whereas, While, yet, 1. _______ is ________, while ___________ is __________________. 2. __________ is___________, but ____________ is _______________ 3. _________ and ____________ are different in that _______________. 4. While ________ shows __________, __________ shows __________. 5. ______ is _______, on the other hand _______ is __________. 6. ________________, yet _______________________. 7.Although _________________, ________________________

17. c QUALIFICATION

18. %QUANTITYFREQUENCYPROBABILITY AdverbsAdjectivesVerbs 100% 0% All, Every Each Most A majority of Many/much A lot of Enough Some A number of Several A minority of A few/little Few/little No/none Always Usual(ly) Normal(ly) General(ly) On the whole Regular(ly) Often Frequent(ly) Sometimes Occasional(ly) Rare(ly) Seldom Hardly ever Never Certainl(ly) Definitely Undoubtedly Clearly Presumably Probably Conceivably Possibly Perhaps May be Uncertainly Certain Definite Undoubted Clear (un)likely probably Possible Uncertain Will Is/are Must/have to Should Would Ought to May Might Can Could Will not Is/are not Cannot Could not A scale of qualification (Jordan 1999: 68)

19. CAUTION

20. Cautious academic style It is wise to use a cautious tone in your writing, because very often you are discussing issues in which there is no absolutely right answer, or absolutely correct definition, or absolutely perfect solution. If you present something as being the best way, it might easily be shown not to be the best way! So it's usually better to 'suggest', rather than 'state.'

21. FeatureExamples Introductory verbse.g. seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, be sure, indicate, suggest Certain lexical verbse.g. believe, assume, suggest Certain modal verbs:e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could Modal adverbse.g. probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably (compare with less tentative adverbs like certainly, definitely, clearly) Modal adjectivese.g. probable, possible (compare with less tentative adjectives like certain, definite, clear) That clausese.g. It could be the case that. e.g. It might be suggested that. e.g. It appears that. e.g. It may be that. e.g. It is likely that. e.g. This suggests that. To-clause + adjective e.g. It may be possible to obtain. e.g. It is important to develop. e.g. It is useful to study.

22. Hedging / Avoiding committment avoid overuse of first person pronouns (I, we, my, our) use impersonal subjects instead (It is believed that..., it can be argued that...) use passive verbs to avoid stating the ‘doer’ (Tests have been conducted) use ‘attitudinal signals’ such as apparently, arguably, ideally, strangely, unexpectedly. These words allow you to hint at your attitude to something without using personal language and without making overgeneralizations.