Academic writing style
What makes writing academic: formal and precise vocabulary, an impersonal voice, careful claims and clear paragraphs, with typical calques to avoid.
When you need it
You need an academic style for university essays, reports, lab write-ups, a bachelor's or master's thesis, and for the written parts of exams such as IELTS Academic. The reader is a tutor or examiner who wants a clear argument supported by evidence, expressed precisely and without exaggeration. Academic style is not about long words or complicated sentences. It is about being exact, careful and easy to follow.
Structure
Most academic texts are built from paragraphs with the same inner order. Each paragraph develops one idea.
- Topic sentence. The main point of the paragraph, stated in one sentence at the start.
- Explanation. Define a term, narrow the point, or say why it matters.
- Evidence. Data, an example or a source, with a reference in the format your department uses.
- Evaluation. What the evidence shows, how strong it is, and where its limits are.
- Link. A sentence that connects the point to your overall argument or to the next paragraph.
Across the whole text, the tone moves from everyday wording to formal, precise wording:
| Everyday | Academic |
|---|---|
| It's, don't, can't | It is, do not, cannot |
| look into, find out | investigate, examine, establish |
| get better | improve |
| things, stuff | factors, issues, aspects |
| a lot of, big | a great deal of, considerable, substantial |
| You can see that | The data indicate that; It can be seen that |
| This proves that | This suggests that |
| So, … | Therefore, … ; Consequently, … |
| like | such as |
| But at the start of a sentence | However, … |
Two points need judgement. First, phrasal verbs are not forbidden; many, such as carry out and point out, are normal in academic prose. Avoid only the informal ones. Second, the use of I depends on the field: common in the humanities and social sciences, rarer in the natural sciences. Check your department's guidelines. Whatever you choose, keep the spelling consistent: British analyse, programme, behaviour, or American analyze, program, behavior, not a mixture.
Hedging, that is, making claims as strong as the evidence allows and no stronger, has its own lesson: hedging and register.
Useful phrases
| Purpose | Phrases |
|---|---|
| stating the aim | This essay examines … ; The aim of this paper is to … ; This report focuses on … |
| referring to sources | According to …, … ; As … points out, … ; Previous research has shown that … |
| presenting an argument | It can be argued that … ; There is strong evidence that … ; A key factor is … |
| adding | In addition, … ; Furthermore, … ; A further point is that … |
| contrasting | However, … ; In contrast, … ; Although …, … |
| being cautious | This may indicate that … ; It seems likely that … ; The results suggest that … |
| concluding | In conclusion, … ; Overall, the evidence suggests that … ; It can therefore be concluded that … |
Model text
An everyday version of the paragraph below might read: Lots of people work from home now and they say they get way more done. But you can't really trust that, because it's just what they say. The academic version keeps the same ideas and adds precision, caution and structure.
Remote work has become a permanent feature of many organisations, yet its effect on productivity remains disputed. Several surveys suggest that employees who work from home report higher output and fewer interruptions. However, most of these studies rely on self-reported data, which may overstate the benefits. Research that measures output directly presents a more mixed picture: productivity appears to rise in tasks that require concentration, but to fall in tasks that depend on close collaboration. It therefore seems likely that the impact of remote work depends less on location itself than on the nature of the task. This distinction is examined in more detail in the following section.
Notice the order: a topic sentence, evidence, an evaluation of that evidence, a cautious conclusion and a link forward.
Common mistakes
- ✗ This problem is very actual nowadays.
✓ This issue is highly relevant today. / This is a topical issue.
Актуальний / актуальный means relevant or topical. English actual means real, as opposed to imagined, so the sentence does not say what you intend. - ✗ In this work we will consider the reasons of the crisis.
✓ This essay examines the causes of the crisis.
English names the genre: essay, paper, report, thesis, not work (робота / работа). The authorial we of Ukrainian and Russian academic prose sounds odd in an essay with one author. Note also the causes of or the reasons for, not the reasons of. - ✗ The consideration of the question of the increase of the efficiency of the use of resources is necessary.
✓ It is necessary to consider how resources can be used more efficiently.
Ukrainian and Russian academic style allows long chains of nouns in the genitive. English readers find them hard to follow, so turn some nouns back into verbs and keep sentences shorter. - ✗ So we can make a conclusion that the method works.
✓ It can therefore be concluded that the method is effective.
Make a conclusion is a calque of зробити висновок / сделать вывод. English says draw or reach a conclusion, or uses the verb conclude. - ✗ The results prove that social media causes depression.
✓ The results suggest that heavy social media use may contribute to depression.
One study rarely proves anything, and a correlation does not show a cause. An overstated claim is the quickest way to lose a reader's trust.
Try it
- Make it academic: "Scientists looked into the problem."
- Make it academic: "There are a lot of reasons for this."
- Correct the calque: "We made a conclusion that the plan failed."
- Replace the false friend: "This topic is very actual."
- Make the claim cautious: "This proves that the policy works."