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Academic Style
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Feb 24, 2024
This video gives information on academic writing style in English, with a list of 10 style 'rules', focusing on formality (rules 1-5), objectivity (rule 6), precision (rules 7-8), tentative language (rule 9) and explicit links (rule 10). ▬ Contents of this video ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 00:00 Intro 00:32 Rule 1: Use formal vocabulary 01:50 Rule 2: Use formal verbs 02:42 Rule 3: Use full form of verbs 03:03 Rule 4: Use formal grammar structures 03:56 Rule 5: Use statements 04:25 Rule 6: Use impersonal phrases 05:15 Rule 7: Be precise 06:07 Rule 8: Cite your sources 06:32 Rule 9: Use tentative language 07:32 Rule 10: Use appropriate transitions 08:26 Example text (for style problems) ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Video created using VideoScribe software [affiliate link]: https://tidd.ly/37VdIB7
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This video is brought to you by eapfoundation.com, the website for all your academic English needs
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Written academic English, like any writing, has its own conventions or style. It's a formal
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written style, which means it has aspects which make it different from spoken academic English
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and at the same time being formal it's quite different from ordinary writing
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which you might be more used to, such as writing in letters or emails or stories
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So in this video we'll look at 10 style rules for writing in academic English
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Rule 1. Use formal vocabulary and avoid less formal or idiomatic vocabulary
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Take a look at these examples. They have some words or phrases which would be considered to
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be fairly informal. In comparison, these sentences contain more formal vocabulary. So the word fathers is more formal than dads. The phrase such as is a better way to give examples
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in academic English than the word like, which is more informal and common in spoken English
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A significant number of is more formal than lots of. And the word three is more formal than the
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number. In fact, generally in academic writing, you should write the numbers 1, 2, up to 10
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in words. Anything more than 10, you can write using numbers. Although the problem with rules
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is there are always exceptions. So if your number is part of a measurement, you should use the
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number, however big or small the number is. So for example, 3kg, 6cm. And if you're mixing numbers
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below 10 and above 10, then just use figures for all of them. For more information on numbers in
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academic writing, you can see this page on the eapfoundation.com website. Rule 2. Use formal verbs instead of multi-word verbs. So there are many verbs in English which
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use two or more words. For example, go up or talk about. Almost always you can use a more formal
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word equivalent of these words. So for example, instead of go up, we have increase. Instead of
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talk about, we have discuss. And there are many other examples of these. Decrease instead of go
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down. Improve instead of get better. Deteriorate instead of get worse. Raise instead of bring up
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Admire instead of look up to. Or enter instead of get into
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Rule 3. Use the full form of verbs and avoid contractions. So in place of don't, use the full
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form, do not. In place of can't, cannot. In place of won't, will not. In place of didn't, did not
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did not, and so on. Rule 4. Use formal grammar structures and try to avoid using too many simple sentences. So simple sentences can be okay now and again
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but it's best not to have too many of them. So here we have two very simple sentences
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which could be combined into one more academic sentence. The increasing pollution of the
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environment is a global concern. This is an example of nominalisation or using noun phrases
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which is a common feature of academic writing. Again, here are two simple sentences which could
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be combined. Notetaking, which is an important skill for EAP students, is difficult to master
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So in this case, the sentences have been combined using a relative clause
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which is an example of complex grammar. Rule 5. Use statements and avoid questions in your writing
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So here are two examples of questions. What were the reasons behind the decline
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How are written and spoken English different? So questions like these are fine if you're giving
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a presentation, but it's not common to use questions in academic writing. Instead, use
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statements. There were four main reasons for the decline. Written English is different from spoken English
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Rule 6. Use impersonal phrases and avoid personal pronouns or adverbs to show feelings
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You should try to avoid personal pronouns like I, we, you and so on, or any adverbs which show
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your feeling. For example, luckily, remarkably, amazingly. So here are three sentences which
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would be considered to be very academic because of phrases like I can think of, or I heated the
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water, or amazingly. It's very common in academic writing to use phrases like there is, or there are
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or it is, as in this first example. Avoiding personal pronouns by using passive voice is also
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very common. The water was heated. And in the case of the adverb amazingly, we can just delete that
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Rule 7. Be precise and avoid vague words. In academic writing, you should try to be as precise
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as possible. So if you have exact figures, you should use exact figures rather than words like
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about or several. And you should try to use precise words like factor, or issue, or topic, or aspect
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or reason, instead of words like thing. So here are three sentences which are not very precise
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And here are three examples which use more precise language. So instead of several reasons, we can say
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there are three main reasons for this. Instead of about 30 years ago, we can say in the late 1980s
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And instead of three things, we can say there were three factors which led to this result
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Rule 8. Remember to cite your sources and avoid making vague claims. So a phrase like this would
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not be considered to be very academic. Everybody knows that most people are unaware of the problem
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This second example with an intake citation is much more academic. Russell, 2001, states that over 50% of the population are unaware of the problem
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Rule 9. Use tentative language and avoid absolute statements. Academic English tends to use more
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tentative language than everyday writing. This means phrases like possibly, probably, may, might
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appears to, seems to, tends to, rather than making absolute statements using words like always or
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rather than making absolute statements using words like always or will. So these two statements
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here are very absolute. Education reduces crime. This is caused by the effects of global warming
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These can be made more academic by using tentative language. For example, education may
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reduce crime. It appears that education reduces crime. Or the second one, this is possibly caused
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by the effects of global warming. This may be caused by the effects of global warming
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If you want to know more about tentative language, also called hedging, there's a YouTube
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video for hedging on the EAP Foundation channel. Finally, rule 10. Use appropriate transition
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signals and avoid numbering or bullet points or basic transitions. So it's important in academic
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writing to make the links between ideas very clear as well as to clearly introduce new sections
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of an essay. This should be done using appropriate formal transition signals. It's not common in
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academic writing to use numbering or bullets except in certain reports and basic transitions like and
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or but or so should definitely be avoided. You should also be careful not to use transitions
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too often so don't put them at the beginning of every sentence. So here's a couple of examples
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of transitions which could be improved and here are some possible improvements. Turning to the
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question of inflation. In addition, inflation is an important factor. So let's finish up by looking
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at a text which has a few style problems. The text comes from this page of the eapfoundation.com
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website. There are a total of 11 problems. What I'm going to do is read the text and underline the
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problems as I go along. See if you can spot the problems before I underline them. At the end I'll
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look at each one, identify the problem and suggest ways in which the style can be improved. Many
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students use poor academic style in their writing like using I, we and you. A simple way to improve
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this is to study good examples of academic style and to follow them. Their writing score will go up
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as a result and it will be useful at university. Style is always a problem for Chinese students
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who make lots of mistakes when they start to write academic English by using, for example
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phrasal verbs instead of more formal verbs. This is something that such students need to learn to
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overcome if they wish to reach a higher grade. What other ways are there for students to improve
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their style? One way is to ask the teacher for advice. A considerable number of students don't
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listen to their teachers and therefore do not improve. This is a terrible situation. It is
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important for students to remember that they are now adults, not kids. If they do not follow
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teacher's advice, their writing style will not improve. So those are the 11 problems. Did you
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manage to find them all? Let's now look at each one more carefully and think how we can improve it
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So the first problem is the word like, which is rather informal. The phrase for example would be
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better here. And this is rule 1. Use formal vocabulary. So the second problem is go up
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This is rule 2. Remember to use single word verbs instead of two word or multi-word verbs
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So a better alternative here is increase. The next problem is and. And this is rule 10. Use
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formal transition signals. So in addition is better here. The next problem is always. This
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is rule 9. Use tentative language instead of making absolute statements. A better word here
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is often. Style is often a problem for Chinese students. The next problem is lots of. This is
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rule 1 again. This is slightly informal. A considerable number of is better. The next
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problem is something. This is rule 7. Use precise words instead of words like thing or something
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A better alternative here is a problem. So the next style problem is this question here. Remember
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to use statements instead of question. This is rule 5. So this statement would be better. There
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are other ways in which students can improve their style. So here's the next problem. Don't
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This is rule 3. Remember to use the full form of verbs. Do not. So here's the next problem. This is
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rule 6. Avoid personal pronouns and phrases which show your feeling. So here we can just delete this
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sentence. So here's the next problem. Rule 1 again. Kids is rather informal. The word children is more
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formal. And here's the final problem. Rule 9 again. Use tentative language instead of absolute
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statements. So is unlikely to is better here than will not. So that's the end of the video
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If you liked it remember to subscribe or visit the website eapfoundation.com. Or if you're feeling
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generous consider donating on patreon.com so that I can continue to make videos like this one
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