10 STYLE RULES FOR ACADEMIC WRITING 1. Use FORMAL Vocabulary ■ Many dads these days… Many fathers these days… ■ Major urban centres, like London and Beijing… Major urban centres, such as London and Beijing… ■ There are lots of people who believe… There are a significant number of people who believe… ■ There are 3 main reasons for this. There are three main reasons for this. 2. Use Formal Verbs instead of multiword verbs ■ Go up Increase ■ Go down Decrease ■ Get better Improve ■ Get worse Deteriorate ■ Talk about Discuss ■ Look up to Admire ■ Bring up Raise ■ Make sure Ensure 3. Use Full Form of Verbs Avoid contractions ■ Don’t Do not ■ Can’t Cannot ■ Won’t Will not ■ Didn’t Did not 4. Use Formal Grammar Structures Avoid using too many simple sentences ■ The environment is increasingly polluted. This is a global concern.Nominalisation The increasing pollution of the environment is a global concern. (Noun phrase) ■ Note-taking is an important skill for university students. It is difficult to master. Complex Note-taking, which is an important skill for university students, difficult to master. grammar is(relative clause) 5. Use statements 6. Use impersonal phrases avoid personal pronouns & adverbs to show feelings ■ I can think of three main problems. There are three main problems. ■ In the experiment, I heated the water… Passive In the experiment, the water was heated… ■ Amazingly, there were very few errors in the experiment. There were very few errors in the experiment. 7. Be Precise Reduce the use of Vague Words ■ Factor ■ Several ■ Issue ■ Thing ■ Topic ■ Aspect ■ Reason There were three things which led to this result. There were three factors which led to this result. 8. Cite your Sources Avoid Vague Claims ■ Everybody knows that most people are unaware of the problem. ■ Russell(2001) states that over 50% of the population are unaware of the problem. 9. Avoid Absolute Statements ■ Education reduces crime. Education may reduce crime. It appears that education reduces crime. ■ This is caused by the effects of global warming. This is possibly caused by the effects of global warming. This may be caused by the effects of global warming. POSSIBLY PROBABLY MAY MIGHT APPEARS TO SEEMS TO TENDS TO ALWAYS WILL 10. Use Appropriate TRANSITIONS Avoid numbering, bullets, basic transitions ■ 2. Inflation, Turning to the question of inflation ■ And inflation is an important factor. In addition, inflation is an important factor. Cause Main idea Effect Example AS A RESULT FOR EXAMPLE FURTHERMORE IN CONCLUSION
