Academic Versus Non- Academic Language

Advice for Modern Academic Writing

In some fields, young scholars may imitate the often out-dated style of their professors or of
journal articles published many years ago. Nowadays, style is evolving, because of widening
democracy and internationalization, and also increased printing costs.
The KISS Rule is “Keep it Short and Simple,” and less politely: “Keep it Simple, Stupid!”
At a conference of the Association of European Science Editors (EASE), the editor of the
British Medical Journal demanded:
 clarity
 readability
 non-ambiguity

He also wanted articles to be as short as possible. Rather than “Count every word,” we should
“make every word count.” Remove every useless or extra word.

Teacher-editor-author Ed Hull wants “reader-friendly” scientific writing. To achieve this, he says,

authors must realize that they are no longer in school; teachers demand performances greatly
different from texts meant to inform busy readers wanting “nuggets” of precious information.

For linguistic as well as cultural reasons, scientists who have English as a second language tend
to feel more comfortable writing in a more formal style.” Thus, the advice is “Readers of
scientific papers do not read them to assess them, they read them to learn from them. What
is needed is more simplicity, not more sophistication!”. Aim “to inform, not to impress.”

General Advice for Non-Native Writers

1- Never translate. Of course you can use your own language to take notes and write outlines.
But word-for-word translation into English means that anyone’s mother tongue causes
interference. This will damage the grammar of your English and your vocabulary, punctuation,
and everything else.

2- Accept total responsibility for being clear. If an intelligent reader has to re-read any sentence
to understand it, the Anglo-American attitude is not to blame the reader, but to blame the writer.
This may contrast with the direction of blame in your own culture, but think: Who has the time to
re-read sentences? Bad idea!

3- The worst sin is ambiguity. Being ambiguous means accidentally expressing more than one
meaning at one time, as in: “Women like chocolate more than men._” _Does this mean that,
given the choice between a Hershey’s chocolate bar and a man, a woman will prefer the
chocolate? Or do you mean that “Women like chocolate more than men do”?.

4- Use Concise Language: Careful editing will shorten your texts, making them more
publishable. One writer wisely said, “If I had had more time, I would have written you a shorter
letter.

5- Trust your ear. Your ear will tell you when an odd-looking phrase sounds right. Read all your
written texts aloud to yourself.
 Formality Levels

Colloquial spoken, first-draft words with some synonyms, in order of increasing formality:

Avoid these Choose among these

a bit a little, slightly, somewhat
a couple two, a pair, a duo
a lot, a lot of, lots of several, many, multiple (see “plenty of”)
anyhow in any case, in any event, nevertheless
anyway although, thus, however
besides; too also, in addition, likewise; furthermore
enough sufficient (insufficient is also useful)
fix (verb) arrange, manage, handle, repair, renovate
give (verb) supply, furnish, offer, provide, yield
gone; none lacking, absent; missing
hard difficult, demanding, laborious, taxing
let (v) allow, permit, give permission for
little (= few) few, insufficient, lacking, rare, scarce
look for (v) try to find, seek (sought), search for
make/do produce, construct, form, compose,conduct
plenty of abundant, ample, numerous, frequent
pretty; quite somewhat almost, moderately, not uncommon
quite X very (a weak word) rather, considerably, noticeably, notably
so therefore, thus, hence
start (v) begin, initiate, undertake
take (v) adopt (100%), adapt (with changes),
think X is considered to be, judge X to be, deem
though even though, although, notwithstanding
too also, in addition, as well as, likewise
try (to) attempt to / endeavor to
turn out (v) prove/proven to be X
way means, approach, method, procedure, step
work out (v) solve, resolve, determine, devise, clarify
That’s why as a result
(Sources include The Words Between, JM Perttunen, 2000, and many author-editors.)

Language: Needless Words in Parentheses

(already) existing, Mix (together), At (the) present (time),
Never (before), (basic) fundamentals, None (at all),
(completely) eliminate, Now (at this time), (continue to) remain,
Period (of time), (currently) being, Start (out),
Had done (previously), Write (out), Introduced (a new)
(still) persists