ENGLISH FOR TEACHERS 11

PDED 0021

Academic Writing

Formal English Writing

Mr. Msellem M. Ali

• First year university learners often use
vocabulary which is too informal for
academic writing. Eg nowadays, as we all
know,
• These words are appropriate for daily
conversation, but not for formal writing

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• Developing your writing capabilities is an
important part of your study at university.
• You need to understand the different types of
academic writing you’re required to use and
how to plan and structure your work and
appropriately acknowledge your references.

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• Academic writing is generally quite formal, objective
(impersonal) and technical.
• It is formal by avoiding casual or conversational
language, such as contractions or informal vocabulary.
• It is impersonal and objective by avoiding direct
reference to people or feelings, and instead
emphasising objects, facts and ideas
• It is technical by using vocabulary specific to the
discipline.

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• Different disciplines also have different styles
and structures of writing. For example, some
disciplines, such as in the humanities, expect
longer paragraphs, which include topic
sentences to show how your argument is
structured.
• Other disciplines, for example in the sciences,
expect short paragraphs, with no topic
sentences, which are denser in factual
information.
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• To be a good academic writer, you will need to
learn the specific styles and structures for your
discipline, as well as for each individual writing
task. Some ways to do this are to:
•  ask for more information from your
lecturer/supervisor/tutor
•  study the writing style of the academic articles
in the most prestigious journals in your discipline
•  look at the successful writing by other students
in your subject area.
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Formal language
• You can make your writing more formal
through the vocabulary that you use. For
academic writing:
•  choose formal instead of informal
vocabulary. For example, ‘somewhat’ is more
formal than ‘a bit’, ‘insufficient’ is more
formal than ‘not enough’.

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• avoid contractions. For example, use ‘did not’
rather than ‘didn’t’.
•  avoid emotional language. For example,
instead of strong words such as ‘wonderful’ or
‘terrible’, use more moderate words such as
‘helpful’ or ‘problematic’.
•  instead of using absolute positives and
negatives, such as ‘proof’ or ‘wrong’, use more
cautious evaluations, such as ‘strong evidence’
or ‘less convincing’.

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• Although academic writing usually requires
you to be objective and impersonal (not
mentioning personal feelings), often you may
still have to present your opinion. For
example you may need to:
•  interpret findings
•  evaluate a theory
•  develop an argument
•  critique the work of others.

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• To express your point of view and still write in an
objective style, you can use the following
strategies.
•  Move information around in the sentence to
emphasise things and ideas, instead of people
and feelings. For example, instead of writing ‘I
believe the model is valid, based on these
findings’, write ‘These findings indicate that the
model is valid’.

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• Avoid evaluative words that are based on non-
technical judgments and feelings. For example,
use ‘valid’ or ‘did not demonstrate’ instead of
‘amazing’ or ‘disappointment’.

• Avoid intense or emotional evaluative

language. For example, instead of writing
‘Parents who smoke are obviously abusing their
children’, write ‘Second hand smoke has some
harmful effects on children’s health’.
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• Use modality to show caution about your
views, or to allow room for others to
disagree. For example, instead of writing ‘I
think second hand smoke causes cancer’,
write ‘There is evidence to support the
possibility that second hand smoke increases
the risk of cancer’.

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• Find authoritative sources, such as authors,
researchers and theorists in books or articles,
who support your point of view, and refer to
them in your writing. For example, instead of
writing ‘Language is, in my view, clearly
something social’, write ‘As Halliday (1973)
argues, language is intrinsically social’.

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• Different disciplines often have quite
different expectations about how objective or
subjective your writing can be. For example,
in some fields it is fine to use first person,
such as 'my view is that...', while in other
fields this is not acceptable.
• You should look at the convention used in
published articles in your discipline area, and
check with your lecturer.

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APOLOGISING FORMAL INFORMAL

I would just like to apologise I'm really sorry I forgot your birthday.
for forgetting your birthday.

 EXPLAINING FORMAL INFORMAL

The first step would be to What you need to do is...

 THANKING FORMAL INFORMAL

I just want to express my sincere Thanks a lot for everything you did for us.
thanks for all you have done.

 EXPRESSING PREFERENCES FORMAL INFORMAL

I would rather visit... I'd really prefer to visit...

 SUGGESTING FORMAL INFORMAL

I recommend going to a Spanish You really must go to a Spanish restaurant.

restaurant.
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Practice
• https://webapp.ln.edu.hk/ceal/elss/sites/def
ault/files/exercise/cate/writing/Summer%20
Act6%20Replacing%20Informal%20Words/in
dex.htm

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• Technical language
• As well as using formal language, you also
need to write technically.
• This means that you need to develop a large
vocabulary for the concepts specific to the
discipline or specialisation you’re writing for.
• To do this, take note of terminology used by
your lecturer and tutor, as well as in your
readings.

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• Be careful about the meaning of technical terms.
Often the same word has a different meaning in
another discipline. For example, ‘discourse’ is a
technical term used in multiple disciplines with
different meanings.
• Make sure you also understand and use the key
categories and relationships in your discipline, that
is, the way information and ideas are organised
into groups.
• For example, in the discipline of education, science
, language. This will help you structure your writing
and make it more technical and analytical.
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Technical vocabularies and phrases in the
field of Education
• Education is of relevance to everyone but it
involves a specialised vocabulary and
terminology which may be opaque or
unfamiliar to those new to the field. 
• Eg. Teacher’s guide, in-service teacher

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Education technical words
• https://www.teachervision.com/dictionary-e
ducational-jargon
• Exercise
• Think of 10 Technical words mostly used in
the field of Education

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Corrections
• Letter mistakes
• Video mistakes

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Common mistakes in Letter writing
• Margin line
• Sender’s address
• Date
• Positioning the Salutation (Dear sir/Madam)
• Positioning signature in Letter end
• Letter length
• First paragraph
• Second paragraph
• Third paragraph
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