My research suggests strong perceptions of the programme as delivering language improvement, friendship and increased world knowledge and I believe that it should be promoted more rigorously within the university. I am convinced that universities should consider participation in such schemes as a prerequisite for student exchange programmes, rather than relying wholly on criteria such as IELTS scores or other scholastic achievements.

The research suggests strong perceptions of the programme as delivering language improvement, friendship and increased world knowledge and the results indicate that it should be promoted more rigorously within the university. It is evident that universities may consider participation in such schemes as a prerequisite for student exchange programmes, rather than relying wholly on criteria such as IELTS scores or other scholastic achievements.

Using second-person pronouns such as ‘you’ or ‘your’ to address the reader is inappropriate and can make an essay read like an informal speech rather than a piece of academic writing. Although the words ‘people’, ‘they / their’ can be used to replace ‘you / your’, using passive voice, as in the example above, is often the best way to avoid using second-person as the ‘doer’ (you / people / they) can be omitted from the sentence and the action can emphasized instead. (It may also be less wordy!)

Good academic writing should not appeal to the readers’ emotions. This makes the writing too subjective. Although writers do build arguments, the language used should be detached and objective and based on evidence rather than emotion.

Compare the following:

Words such as ‘absolutely never’ are too judgmental, emotional and absolute and make the writing very subjective. Eliminating these words and replacing them with hedging phrases such as ‘It seems that’ allows the same argument to be made, but with caution and balance. This makes the text more objective and academic.

Tip 6: AVOID the following judgmental and emotional language in academic writing:

Writers should avoid these words and phrases because they are either too absolute, or lacking in caution, or they are too judgmental and emotional. Instead, hedging is needed in academic writing. (For further practice with hedging, do the exercise in this link:  http://booking.elc.cityu.edu.hk/ELSS/activities/uhiw/index.htm )

Tip 7: Avoid phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs such as build up, go up, go down, go back (etc) are commonly used in spoken English, but seldom in academic writing as they are too ‘conversational’.  Compare the following:

Writing with single word equivalents rather than phrasal verbs makes the text less ‘chatty’, more formal and more academic. Try to use single word equivalents instead.

Tip 8:  Avoid contractions, weak words and slang expressions. Compare the following:

The contractions above are acceptable in daily conversation and informal writing, but too colloquial for academic writing.

Example 9:

The following words are weak because they are unspecific and very basic. Avoid the words on the left and replace them with more specific, academic words on the right.

Tip 9: Your choice of words helps you to portray yourself intelligently to an audience of educated readers. Using formal language in academic writing allows you to communicate accurately and effectively, and to gain credibility and the trust of your audience.