Unit 1.

2: Academic Style
This lesson will continue to focus on the concept of ‘Academic Style’. Students
will explore both objective writing and cautious language. Students will also
do some writing practice.

Task 1: Review
In the previous lesson we looked at ‘Academic Style’. Without looking back at your notes,
what do you remember? Discuss in small groups.

Task 2: Writing
Work with a partner and rewrite the sentences below in a more academic style. Use the
guidelines in the previous unit to help you. When you are finished, compare your answers
with another group.

a) Lots of people don’t want to have kids in the future.

__________________________________________________________

b) And it’s difficult for students to decide as every coin has two sides.
__________________________________________________________

c) There are a couple of things students should do like extra listening,

reading, writing etc.
__________________________________________________________

d) Every international student will find it difficult to get good grades.

__________________________________________________________

e) In my opinion, studying abroad is bad for international students.

___________________________________________________________
Unit 1.2: Academic Style
Task 3: Reading
Look at the sentences below taken from a student’s academic essay. What is the problem
with this sentence? What could you do to improve it? Discuss.

From my own point of view, the increase in international students has brought
a large number of benefits for British universities and for me it is really
interesting to study with international students. Therefore, I think these
universities should continue to recruit students from abroad as it will benefit
all of us in the future.
Now read the text below and answer the questions that follow.

Writing can often be divided into two broad categories; objective and subjective.
Subjective writing is based on the author’s own feelings about a subject and is strongly
influenced by emotions and personal opinions. Objective writing, on the other hand, is
based on fact. “This means that the main emphasis should be on the information that you
want to give and the arguments you want to make, rather than you” (Gillett, 2015). In
general, academic writing tends to be objective as the writer should base their arguments
on research and reading rather than the writer’s personal opinion. For this reason,
academic writing tends to avoid the use of personal pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘We’ and also
expressions such as ‘In my opinion’ and ‘From our point of view’. Academic Style generally
uses the third person.

a) What are the main differences between ‘Objective’ and ‘Subjective’ writing?
b) Which type of writing would be most suitable for a written reflection?
c) Which type of writing would be most suitable for an academic essay?
d) Which type of writing would be most suitable for a report/lab report?
e) What type of language should you generally avoid in objective writing?
Unit 1.2: Academic Style
Task 4: Writing from the ‘Third Person’
Look at the sentences below. How has the student changed the sentence to avoid using a
personal pronoun in each case? Discuss.

In this essay, I argue that trains

I have divided my report into
were the most important mode of
transportation in the twentieth five sections.
century.
The following report has been
This essay argues that trains were the divided into five sections.
most important mode of transportation
in the twentieth century.

Therefore, we suggest that a change is needed.

Therefore, it is suggested that a change is needed.
Unit 1.2: Academic Style
Task 5: Writing
Work with a partner and rewrite the sentences below avoiding the use of a personal
pronoun.

a) In this essay I will discuss the main differences between the English and Scottish legal
systems.

_________________________________________________________________________

b) You can apply the same theory of learning to small children.

__________________________________________________________________________

c) We believe that this is the best solution to the problem.

__________________________________________________________________________

Task 6: Cautious Language

Look at the following sentence and discuss why it may be unsuitable in academic writing.

All crime is linked to a poor economy

In academic writing we generally should avoid absolute statements. We do this by using

tentative or cautious language (sometimes referred to as hedging). This includes the use of
quantifiers, modal verbs, adverbs and verb/verb phrases.

A number of crimes are linked to a poor economy. (quantifier)

Crime may be linked to a poor economy. (modal verb)
Crime is frequently linked to a poor economy. (adverb)
Crime tends to be linked to a poor economy. (verb)
Unit 1.2: Academic Style
Task 7: Change the statements below to make them much more cautious.
a) Mature students perform better at university than younger students.

b) English pronunciation is confusing.

c) Women are worse drivers than men.

d) Global warming will lead to the end of the world.

e) People think that Donald Trump should not be president of the USA.

f) There will not be any funds left for pensions in 2058.

g) Everybody agrees that the main cause of the financial crash was mortgage lending.

h) It is certain that Brexit was the wrong decision, nobody can argue with that.

Task 8: Writing
Now it is time to try some writing of your own. Write a paragraph based on the topic
below. The paragraph has to be written in an academic style. (using as much cautious
language as possible; try to use one hedging strategy in each sentence). Use the guidelines
on the previous page to help you.

To be truly successful, students must become independent learners.

Task 9: Writing
Exchange papers with another student and suggest possible changes increasing the
amount of cautious language.