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Academic language: 24 examples

Here are 24 examples of academic language typical of term papers, reports, dissertations and theses.

Establishing a research territory

1. Numerous studies have investigated [what?].
2. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly interested in [what or doing what?].
3. Recent studies have explored the impact of [what/who?] on [what/who?]. Continue reading “Academic language: 24 examples”

Academic language: sentence analysis 1

“At the outset it must be stated that drawing any firm conclusions from the literature is difficult.”

  1. At the outset: A more formal way of saying from the start.
  2. It must be stated that…: Notice how the writer tries to distance him or herself from his or her claim by using the passive voice here.
  3. Drawing any firm conclusions: Draw and conclusion are often used together – i.e., they collocate. Draw a conclusion is slightly more formal than come to a conclusion.
  4. Also, notice the use of the -ing form after draw since it’s the subject of the sentence. Here’s another example:
    It is important to isolate the key variables.
    = IsolatING the key variables is important.

Aim, objective or goal?

These words are often interchangeable in academic writing, but in the set phrase “The ___ of this study”, corpus data suggest “aim” (blue line) appears to be more frequent, with a slight downward trend since the 2000s. Look:

aim, goal, objective

Is “irregardless” a word?

Yeah.
But it’s nonstandard. Use regardless instead:
“I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” Malcolm X  (=no matter what color they are.)
“My mother inspired me to treat others as I would want to be treated regardless of age, race or financial status.”  Tommy Hilfiger

You must use a noun or a noun phrase after regardless of. You can’t say, for example:
WRONG: We will go regardless if it rains.