ACADEMIC STYLES

1. The UK’s European university
STUDENT LEARNING
ADVISORY SERVICE
Kasia Senyszyn
StudentLearning Advisor
To do:
- Call Mum
- Laundry
- Check out
SLAS
Using Appropriate
Academic Style

2. Welcome
 What is academic style?
 Thinking about your audience
 Objective vs. subjective
 Language
 Formality, precision and accuracy
 Top tips

3. What is ‘academic style’?
• Considers audience conventions (knowledge,
language and purpose)
• Objective (scientific) / subjective (persuasive)
• Use of language
• SPAG
• Formal
• Precise and accurate
• Explicit
• Assertive

4. Educated, non-specialist,
audience: higher education
(formal or informal) - higher levels
of linguistic and cognitive
development
Specialist, professional
audience: advanced knowledge of
the subject and the tools, theories,
vocabulary, origins, and relevance
of the subject
Understanding your audience
Demonstrating understanding
Demonstrating expertise

5. Compare the examples
Extract 1
‘Corporate philosophy’. What’s that? When I heard about this term,
I had to laugh. Can a corporation have a philosophy? What does
the term corporate philosophy stand for?
Extract 2
Corporate philosophy is a term that needs to be defined in terms
of what is meant by philosophy in a corporate environment.
However, it is important to clarify whether or not a corporation can
actually have a philosophy.
Reader can’t respond to the
writer, but questions present a
shared interpretation -
conversational
First person pronoun; use of this and that; emotional
reaction; prominent use of I draws attention to the response
rather than the argument
Writer’s voice integrated into
traditional academic style

6. Two types of discourse
Journals for Practitioners
A personal and engaging style – the aim is readability
Journals for Academics
Use more traditional academic conventions to present
objective and impersonal accounts
Can lead students to develop a confused style that blends
‘academic’ and ‘professional’ speak

7. Objective vs. subjective
The use of ‘I’ can imply a personal perspective rather than engagement
with a wider academic debate
Can draw attention away from the phenomenon under examination and
interrupt the flow of information
Some disciplines are moving away from the idea that the views of the writer
and researcher should remain invisible
Students need to develop a voice whereby they control the personal
and the impersonal, the subjective and objective
Need to focus on the goals of the:
• writing
• discipline
• methodology
The best practice is by writing – but pay attention
as you read. Imitate the style best suited to your
purpose

8. Objectivity
It is totally obvious that wealth needs to be distributed
more fairly.
The accumulation of capital by a small segment of the
population correlates negatively with GDP growth.
It is clear from the above discussion that without greater
redistribution of wealth, world economic growth will slow.

9. Language
Avoid colloquial language
no stuff or things or and so on
Avoid Latin abbreviation
e.g. i.e. etc. >> such as
Avoid phrasal verbs
come up with >> suggest
Do not use contractions
can’t >> cannot

10. Language
Avoid clichés
in this day and age, at the end of the day, the bottom line…
Avoid sexist language
Every student is responsible for his learning
>> Students are responsible … (use plurals)
No imperatives/ instructions
You have to agree that …
>> …appears to be the most logical conclusion
Avoid questions (incl. rhetorical ones)
Will the ever be peace in Gaza?
>> Currently, peace in Gaza seems to be an unlikely prospect

11. Language
Noun based
25% more cars have been produced in China since 1990
>> Car production in China has increased by 25% since 1990
Avoid numbers (amounts or years) at beginning of sentence (or at least
spell them out)
>>Twenty-five percent…
Spell out abbreviations or acronyms at first use (unless they are widely
understood, e.g. the BBC)
Remember SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar)

12. Exercise: Replace with more appropriate verbs
1. Researchers have been looking into the problem for 15
years
2. This issue was brought up during the seminar
3. It is assumed that the management knows what is
happening and will therefore step in if there is a problem
4. Schools cannot altogether get rid of the problem of
truancy

13. Formality
It’s clear that the CEO of RBS’s rushed decision to buy ABN Amro
wasn’t the smartest move.
The combination of a domineering chief executive, an overly compliant
management team and a false sense of urgency were crucial in RBS’s
disastrous decision to acquire ABN Amro.
The synthesis of solipsism with sycophancy within RBS’s climate of
elusory exigency evinced an impolitic acquisition of ABN Amro.

14. Many young people drink too much.
Twenty three percent of people aged 16-25, consume
>140ml of ethanol alcohol (C2H6O) per week.
One in four 16-25 year-olds consume more alcohol than
the Government’s recommended weekly maximum.
Precision

15. Explicitness
There are quite a few reasons why micro-SMEs often
fail during their first year of operating.
There are three main reasons why micro-SMEs can
fail during their first year of operating: lack of capital;
external market factors; and poor business planning.
Whilst micro-SMEs can fail for a number of reasons,
during their first year of operation – lack of capital,
external market factors, etc. – the most significant
factor is inadequate and inaccurate business
planning.

16. Assertiveness
This proves that the banking crisis of 2007 was caused
by subprime mortgages.
This seems to suggest that subprime mortgages
might possibly be partly responsible for some
aspects of the banking crisis of 2007.
This (strongly) suggests that subprime mortgages
were a (key) factor in precipitating the banking crisis
of 2007.

17. Explanatory
Based on the above discussion, it seems reasonable
to claim that…
As Marx explained: ‘the bureaucrat has the world as
a mere object of his action’ (Marx 1843).
As Marx explained: ‘the bureaucrat has the world as
a mere object of his action’ (Marx 1843). In other
words, that…

18. Narrative thread (/flow)
Having discussed the scale of the problem, a possible
solution can now be presented
Viewing this from the perspective of Smith’s (2012)
model, what becomes clear is that…
Whilst many studies have considered the relationship
between profitability and environmental responsibility,
few have do so from an ethnological perspective.

19. The Pareto Principle, was first suggested, by the management consultant and quality control
pioneer Joseph Juran. Also known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle states that for
many phenomena eighty percent of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes. As a
rule-of-thumb principle, it’s useful in achieving efficiency and effectiveness in business
organisations, for example, in occupational health and safety, by categorising and rectifying
the 20% most-reported hazards, 80% of total hazardous incidents can be avoided. Similarly,
in commerce, 20% of customer’s will typically be responsible for 80% of total sales.
Furthermore, the Pareto principle is considered to be recursive. 64% of consequences –
positive or negative – will arise from just 4% of causes. Focussing attention on the ‘vital few’,
rather than the ‘trivial many’, can be an effective means for improving organisational
performance.

20. Top tips
• Consider your audience – what is the ‘appropriate’ style?
• What is the purpose of the writing?
• Persuasive?
• Scientific?
Vocabulary/terminology, objectivity, formality
• Don’t go ‘too’ academic – keep it accessible
• Clear, concise, accurate, confident (but not arrogant)
• Find your voice
• Practice

21. Royal Literary Fellows
Published authors
Writing tutorials (1:1)
Develop your style,
authority, voice, confidence
Book appointments online
www.kent.ac.uk/learning

22. Get in touch!
Book 1-2-1s and workshops via SLAS
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study and skill guides
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www.kent.ac.uk/learning

23. THE UK’S
EUROPEAN
UNIVERSITY
www.kent.ac.uk