1. Developing your Academic Language as a
Postgraduate
You will be able to…
Describe and explain what academic language is
Apply techniques for writing with academic language
Rhian Wyn-Williams
Skills@ljmu.ac.uk
“Gong hei fat choy”
“Gong xi fa cai”
2. Original Better Even better
People generally think that
naughty children should be
punished. Is punishment
always a great idea (Smith,
2015)? I think it’s terrible
to only punish them!
It is generally thought that
poor behaviour in the
classroom should be
punished. However, it is
possible that punishment is
not always a suitable
approach to classroom and
behaviour management
(Smith, 2015).
Educationalists have stated
that non-specialists
generally think that poor
behaviour in the classroom
should be punished (Beko,
2005; Ali, 2013). However,
Smith (2015) persuasively
argues that punishment is
not always a suitable
approach to classroom and
behaviour management.
What is Academic Writing?
In pairs, discuss
why and how the
extract is
improving.
How do these
examples help you
to describe and
explain what good
academic
language is.
4. Avoid informality and a conversational tone
Avoid: Incorrect Correct
Slang, colloquialisms This theory is dead hard This theory is difficult to
understand
Sensational & emotional
language
There has been blatant
abuse of equipment
It would appear that the
equipment has been misused
Contractions wouldn’t would not
The use of “I” (unless it is a
reflection)
In my essay I will discuss… This essay will discuss...
Metaphors It was a different ball game It was a different situation
Cliché If you read between the
lines….
It can be inferred that…
5. Developing a more formal style
In pairs, talk through how you would re-write
each of the phrases on your worksheet, using
alternative words that would be better suited
for a academic essay.
6. Hedging: caution in academic writing
In the academic world nothing is a 100% certain. Use
language to show that you understand that.
Rather than rushing in with ‘the’ answer, stop and add
some caution.
• use impersonal subjects (It is believed that ..., it can
be argued that ...)
• use verbs such as would, could, may, might, which
‘soften’ what you’re saying.
• use qualifying adverbs such as some, several, a
minority of, a few, many to avoid making
overgeneralisations.
• Globalisation is a positive development
for nations.
• Globalisation is perhaps beneficial for a
number of countries in several areas
(Smith, 2006; Chen, 2008).
7. Function and strength
NEUTRAL: verbs used to say what the writer
describes in factual terms, demonstrates, refers to,
and discusses, and verbs used to explain his/her
methodology.
Example verbs
describe, show, reveal, study, demonstrate, note,
point out, indicate, report, observe, assume, take
into consideration, examine, go on to say that,
state, believe (unless this is a strong belief),
mention, etc.
Function and strength
TENTATIVE: verbs used to say what the writer
suggests or speculates on (without being
absolutely certain).
Example verbs
suggest, speculate, intimate, hypothesise, moot,
imply, propose, recommend, posit the view that,
question the view that, postulate, etc.
Function and strength
STRONG: verbs used to say what the writer makes
strong arguments and claims for.
Example verbs
argue, claim, emphasise, contend, maintain, assert,
theorize, support the view that, deny, negate,
refute, reject, challenge, strongly believe that,
counter the view/argument that, etc.
Don’t forget the power of the reporting verb. In the table below, the main reporting verbs are classified
in terms of their function and their strength. Using these help you to show critical reading of other work
and can usefully help you synthesise your research with that.
8. but, however, on the
other hand, yet
CONTRAST
for example, that is ILLUSTRATION
similarly, moreover,
furthermore, in addition
EXTENSION
therefore, consequently,
as a result, thus
CONCLUSION
then, after that,
ultimately
THE NEXT STEP
Signposting and transition phrases help clarity
As discussed above,…
It is also important to consider…
Before proceeding to
examine X, it will be
necessary to …
When considering all the points
outlined above …
A contrasting approach is ….
On your worksheets, you have a paragraph about
age and decision making but there are some gaps.
In pairs, can you fill in the gaps with appropriate
signposting and transition words and phrases?
9. Although Thunholm (2009) found no difference between age and decision-making style,
the focus of his study was to determine if there were relationships between team leaders
and non team leaders in the military, so his age demographic was fairly limited. In contrast,
several researchers did find relationships between age and decision-making style. Loo
(2000) found older respondents displaying a more rational decision-making style when
compared to younger respondents. Similarly, Baiocco, Laghi & D’Allesio (2009) found
difference in age in that adults were more rational, and less intuitive. Sadler-Smith (2004)
found difference in that intuitive decision-making style was negatively correlated with the
number of year’s management experience. Therefore, it is expected that there are
significant correlations to be found between age and decision-making style.
Next, it is important to discuss possible cultural differences between the research on the
correlation between age and decision-making styles.
Possibly…..
10. Generalisations:
Many writers agree that…
Omit rhetorical questions:
How can this problem be addressed without
the appropriate support?
Remove redundant words and phrases:
Looking at the evidence, It seems that
further protection of woodlands is not
needed.
Past history
Writing with academic language is about precise and accurate word-usage. So watch out
for these ….
Avoid overly complicated and meaningless language:
A multipronged tool was utilized to process a starch
resource.
= A fork was used to eat a potato.
11. Review: Using what you know about academic writing, highlight and
correct the errors in academic style and expectations. How else could
this PG student improve their use of academic language?
Patients at end of life often think that ANH is the provision of food and water rather
than a medical intervention. Attitudes of physicians can influence the less informed
patient about the potential benefit versus burden of interventions and their impact on
survival and quality of life. Bito and Asai (2007) did a survey on health care
professionals (HCPs) to find out their approaches and attitudes toward end of life care
interventions - HCPs themselves faced uncertainty with decisions regarding ANH which
I agree with because these situations are heart-breaking. Although the professionals
who sought clinical ethics consultations could communicate much better and were
more likely to consider withdrawal of tube feeding. Some writers have said that HCPs
opinion or choice of treatments could be altered in conflict avoidance with families
wishing to ditch a patient’s advance directive. Broeckaert et al (2009) said a HCP can
influence decisions with their own opinions on interventions, including religiosity and
life experiences of withholding and withdrawal of ANH. Although HCPs trained in
Palliative Care, with more clinical experience in dying and alleviation of palliative
symptoms, would be significantly more likely to support dehydration and starvation in
the terminal phases of life, as opposed to acute care physicians and the families of
patients in the end stage of disease (Van der Riet et al 2008).
12. Reflection…..
• On your worksheets, identify one area of your
academic writing you feel confident about and
one that you would like to improve.
• How will you make those improvements?
13. Next steps
Tuesday 28th January:
Academic Writing: critical analysis
(Use language to show your critical analysis)
Wednesday 29th January:
Dissertations: writing your literature review
(Use the language of hedging, evaluation, comparison and
synthesis in your literature review)
The following week:
Writing your aims and proposal
Using your reading in PG assignments
Writing reports
Editor's Notes
Up to 10 minutes as it’s the foundation of the class – their self-identification of academic language with the rest of the session validating and developing their responses.
Q and A for feedback on how and why it is improving – keep pushing for explanation as well as identification of points. If any very quiet, ask them to repeat something they said in their group discussion that you overheard to build up some confidence. How can we use this to describe and explain what good academic language is? Get as precise a definition as possible from them.
This is to summarise the key points from the first task and discussion and relate it to the structure of the class.
Could get them to exemplify with examples from their own subjects. Introduce this with the reminder that their language needs to be academic but that that doesn't have to mean they need to start writing as a professional academic, but following some basic conventions will help them to achieve an academic style and tone. Could add something about why that is important as often students say that they don't see why they have to write like this or that their lecturers just want them to ‘sound fancy’.
5 minutes for last slide and this – quickly ask for at least one alternative for each. Make sure each student has given at least one alternative to assess their progress to this point. If any still appear very reticent and it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask them directly for an alternative, could ask them whether they agree with the appropriateness of one of the other student’s.
5 minutes: Link back to the opening activity and once the idea is established get them to relate this to an aspect of their own subject to open up a brief discussion and to help them relate it to their own work (e.g. Some of the scientists could say ‘the unexpected results of the experiment may have been due to…’, Humanities could use ‘The source suggests that a minority of women in the nineteenth century…’)
5 minutes. Again, relate back to the best of the three original versions here (persuasively suggests). Briefly explain what they are and how to use them to add variety to their style but also to demonstrate understanding and criticality (E.g. ‘Jones (2012) asserts that…’ to show you do not deem Jones’s evidence sufficient, or to show that they know the difference between, eg., a hypothesis, an argument and a conclusion).
10 minutes inc activity and feedback. To help them see the point of these, remind them that any academic piece of writing consists of more than one paragraph that don’t stand in isolation, so they need to be linked. Also, shows the development of a point within a paragraph. These help them to show the clear nature of academic language (refer back to earlier key components), as well as a flowing style, by demonstrating clarity of thought and argument– don’t expect the reader to make the connection between your ideas but make those connections explicit. Could refer them to Manchester Phrasebank too. Activity could be done individually if they seem to prefer, in pairs or even larger groups if they appear to be a pretty lively and discursive lot.
To exemplify after their feedback – NB, not the only words that could be used, so validate their appropriate alternatives.
If time, it is worth spending a few minutes explain the reasoning behind these by returning to their initial descriptions of academic writing and the opening activity to exemplify how the poorer version used some of these, but the best version didn’t and kept a relatively straightforward but accurate and formal use of language (it didn’t use too many words or overly complicated language).
3 minutes individually doing - it’s their chance to check their own learning.
2 minutes - Go round and ask each person for one example of where this student could change their writing to make their language more academic (e.g. use of ‘ditch’, over-use of ‘said/did’ as reporting verbs, ‘some writers’), and how they could change it.
2-3 minutes Go around the class and ask each student for their areas (feel confident about [to acknowledge that there are good things about their own writing] and one to improve on) – push them on how they will action their improvement to assess their learning and make the plenary action-focused.
