5 Tips on Academic Writing

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1. Do not use contraction in academic writing.

A contraction is the short form of a verb, example: don’t, won’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, can’t, isn’t, haven’t.

2. Avoid “There is/are”. Why?

We want to write concisely and to the point.

Example: There are many issues that students face at university. (not good)

Change to: Students face many issues at university. (more direct and to the point)

Example: There are many projects that the UN support. (not good)

Change to: The UN supports many projects.

3. Avoid using “really, very, a lot, so” because these words weaken your writing.

Example: Many students think university is very hard. Change "very hard" to difficult.

Example: “really controversial” is fine to use in a conversation, but not in academic writing. Writing “controversial” is fine.

Example: A lot of students… Change “a lot” to many

Example: A lot of time is wasted.. Change “a lot” to much.

4. Avoid using “passive voice”. Use “active voice”.

Using passive voice takes away the person who performs the action as the subject and thus makes the sentence weak.

Example: Healthcare reform was implemented by Obama. (weak sentence)

Change to “Obama implemented healthcare reform." (stronger)

5. Strong vs weak verbs.

Using a weak verb + noun will make a weak sentence.

What are weak verbs? See below for some examples.

Weak strong

Gave assistance assisted

Made an objection objected

Conducted an investigation investigated

Did an audit audited

Good luck on your next essay!

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