Academic Language
Academic language should be as clear as possible, since it is crucial that your readers understand what you want to convey in your text. In order to achieve clarity in your academic texts, they should be objective, precise and concise.
Objectivity
Your task as a writer is to present information in such a way that you allow the reader to assess and evaluate the information for themselves. You achieve this by providing references and avoiding any emotive language that risks the appearance of bias.
- Example: I think sugar should be banned from school lunches.
- Revision: A recent Public Health report suggests sugar should be banned from school lunches (1).
Would you like to know more?
- Get some additional, general tips for achieving objectivity in your writing.
- Learn how careful use of hedging language can help you avoid sounding biased.
Precision
- Example: It would be of tremendous benefit for patients with malignant diseases.
- Revision: Differentiating between the two patient groups would benefit patients with malignant tumors.
The revision specifies the pronoun ("it"), avoids the kind of adjective that suggests bias ("tremendous") without evidence, and uses a more specific term ("tumor").
Would you like to know more?
- Precise writing is rarely achieved in a first draft. Get some tips for how to revise and edit your writing.
Video tutorial: Creating cohesion and precision: avoid unclear references
Video tutorial: Be precise: avoid writing that something is "important" or "interesting"
Concision
- Example: The term "artificial intelligence" was coined by a group of scientists in 1956, among them John McCarthy who then worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In its broadest sense, the term refers to intelligence exhibited by machines.
- Revision: In its broadest sense, artificial intelligence refers to intelligence exhibited by machines.
The revision focuses on the facts, without distracting the reader with additional information about the history of the term. (If such a historic overview is warranted -- and it rarely is -- such information should appear later in the text.)
Would you like to know more?
- Get additional tips for writing concise sentences, for instance by tidying up wordy phrases
- Learn more about avoiding wordiness
Video tutorial: Making your text more concise: choose very carefully what to include in your text and focus on facts
Ways to improve your texts further
- Participate in peer review with your fellow students.
- Take one of our writing workshops! We offer workshops every year in "Writing Clear and Effective Sentences." To receive individualized help with your writing, make an appointment.
- Check out some of the tips in Angelika H. Hofmann's Scientific Writing and Communication (E-book) or Matthews and Matthews Successful Scientific Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences (E-book).
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