Opinions and attitudes in

Academic writing
Authorial voice
• It is important that your 'academic voice' is
present in your writing.
• The writer's academic voice or argument is
evident in the way he introduces and interprets the
evidence that supports his/her point.
• It is important to realise that it is the interplay
between the words, structures and conventions of
academic writing, rather than the use of any one
 element, that will allow you to develop an
effective piece of academic writing.
Expressing attitudes and opinions
• the use of the personal pronoun (such as; I think, for me…)
• thinking and feeling verbs ( such as; I think, I disagree, I like, I
hate…)
• attitudinal adjectives and adverbs ( such as spectacular results,
unstudied results unfortunately, unexpectedly…
• strong arguments
• emotive language (…The defenseless wolf was violently
attacked by the horrific bear….these irrational findings harm
the reputation of ICTs use
 However,
• These elements contribute to a text sounding informal, and
they also result in the text sounding personal and subjective.
This is because these elements make the reader aware of the
writer’s presence in the text, and the writer’s opinions and
attitudes.
• Academic language typically does not contain these elements,
and as a result it is characterized as impersonal and objective.
• However, you have no doubt heard your lecturers and tutors
say that they want to know what you think about a particular
issue, event, or theory. In other words, your lectures want to
know your opinion. This is evident in essay questions such as:
Expressing attitudes and opinions
 In academic writing
• It is a convention of academic writing to express
arguments and opinions, yet this convention also
requires that these arguments and opinions
incorporate the objective and impersonal style that is
a significant feature of academic writing.
• In academic writing, arguments should imply
impartial and sound judgment through the use of
rational, impersonal and unemotional language.
• This book gave a fairly objective view to the
events surrounding the Rum Rebellion.
• Although the work that is being conducted in
several areas regarding biological sensors
shows significant progress, there is still quite a
lot of work to do in order to understand how
biological sensors in insects and other animals
interact and what effect they have on animal
behaviour.
• The results show that, taken together, at least
17 of the 25 items can form a valid scale
measuring graduate perceptions of their
courses for each of the three data groups. Of
the five sub-scales, Good Teaching and
 Generic Skills are only moderately valid and
reliable for use and interpretation separately
from the main scale. (Source; abstract Waugh,
F (1998),
Voice can be established and manifested in many ways
including :
• Evaluating other points of view,
• Provide support,
• Express the relationship between sources
• Illustrate and exemplify ideas,
• Give reasons and explanations,
• Synthesize,
• Take a stance,
• Compare & contrast,
• Generalize,
• Express degrees of certainty
• Draw conclusions

Example
Communication is probably one of the most important of all human
behaviours. Our use of language may be private - we can think to
ourselves in words or write diaries that are meant to be seen by no one
but ourselves - but language certainly evolved through social contacts
among our early ancestors. Speaking and writing are clearly social
behaviours: we learn these skills from other people and use them to
communicate with them. An effective language system also tends to
abide by certain rules. Although an exact definition is difficult to pin
down, language can be characterised as a system of visual and/or vocal
symbols which have meaning to the user and to the recipient. There are
thought to be around 6000 distinct languages in the world. The world's
largest language is said to be Chinese - it has more native speakers than
any other - followed closely by English, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish and
Arabic. The most popular foreign language is usually claimed (Smith,
2003) to be English.

example
Under the appropriate social and economic conditions, Value Added
Statements (VAS) may become important in presenting additional or
recognized information about an entity to a wider audience. They are
of most use when they can be compared with those of past years or
with other companies. However, if the publication of the VAS is to
become widespread throughout the United Kingdom and in Australia
for that matter, there is the need then for accounting standards on their
 form and content. This is due to the variety of methods that are
currently employed in their preparation.

• https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/