1. NAUGHTY WORDS TO AVOID IN ACADEMIC WRITING
Academic Writing 101: In this segment of American Lifestyle, we review some of the basic dos and don’ts that both American and international students often overlook when writing academic essays. Writing essays may seem like a daunting task when you don’t know how to do it properly. Just like anything else, if you gain the skills, you’ll enjoy the process of using them.
1. Naughty Words to Avoid in Academic Writing
↳ 2. Color Your Sentence With Words
You’ve spent a decade or two learning how to construct English sentences. You integrated all the writing skills you’ve learned from grade school up only to find red marks all over your essay. Welcome to the world of academic writing. You’re tested on the quality of the ideas and research you share with readers instead of how grammatically accurate you write and your mastery of vocabulary.
Before advancing to that level, know that certain rules apply in academic writing. We’ll review all the basics in this segment.
In our first article, we’ll start off with some of the naughty words you need to scratch out from the paper — or shall we say “highlight and hit delete” in this day and age.
1. Be/Have Verbs
Replace be verbs (am, are, is, was, were, been, and being) with stronger verbs in academic writing. While perfectly acceptable in casual writing and speech, be verbs weaken sentences. Often times, the presence of a be verb could indicate that the writer failed to address a 5W1H question.
See what we did there in the paragraph above? We haven’t used a single be verb to construct these sentences. Let’s rewrite the above paragraph with the naughty be verbs and see what happens.
Be verbs should “be replaced” with stronger verbs in academic writing.
↪ In this sentence, the “be” weakened a perfect verb, “to replace.”
“It is” perfectly acceptable in casual writing and speech,
↪ The “is” unnecessarily sets a casual tone.
Similarly, avoid have and having as well. Let’s continue with the rest of the paragraph by unnecessarily adding have.
“having” be verbs weakens sentences.
↪ The “having” here took the position of the subject when we really want the readers to focus on “be verbs.”
Alternatively, if you really want the reader to focus on the action of “having,” use a stronger word.
Often times, “having” a be verb could indicate that…
↪ “the presence of” sounds much stronger in lieu of “having” in this sentence.
Now, let’s go back to the usage of be verbs and see what we meant by it possibly meaning a lack of a 5W1H question.
The presence of a be verb could indicate that a 5W1H question “was not” addressed.
↪ By asking ourselves “who” wasn’t asking the 5W1H question, we notice that the “writer” failed to do so. At the same time, we see that “failed” sounds much stronger than “was not.”
In an ideal ten page essay, use no more than ten be verbs.
We’ll translate that into one be verb per page of double spaced 12 point font essay at most.
2. I, You, We
The instruction may tell you to talk about your opinions on a given subject, but it does not mean that your college professor wants to read a personal diary.
Only use I, you, and we in informal writing. An academic essay is not a series of a hundred Tweets put together. We want to see a formally written research paper with facts and not opinions. Sure, you can make a biased argument, but it will only seem convincing when you prove them as facts.
Most of the times, we can avoid the “I” and the “we” by simply omitting them and the words that immediately follow them.
I think that be verbs weaken sentences.
↪ Be verbs weaken sentences.
Take a look at any political article in the newspaper as an example. Journalists certainly lead to one side or the other, but they would present their arguments without saying “I think that the POTUS is…” or “in my opinion, the POTUS is…”
(*POTUS = President of the United States)
With that said, we, as in American Lifestyle, are always of using the be verbs and the naughty “we.” We’re not writing an academic essay though, so we’re given a free pass to all the rules.
American Lifestyle writes in a conversational manner. We talk to our readers like our friends. That’s our style. We want to see our readers take something from our two cents without the formality, so we gladly call you, “you.”
Be prepared to see some red lines in your essay if you say “you” in academic writing though. Because writing a formal essay is not having a conversation with friends over a cup of coffee, don’t worry about the reader’s opinion (with all due respect).
What do you think about the…?
Have you ever noticed that…?
Did you know that…?
You should really think about the…
Delete them all.
3. Ambiguity: Society, Humanity, Community, People…
College professors haven’t asked you to solve every single problem in the world by reaching a solution that satisfies every single person in the world in a single essay. If you have somehow successfully completed such an assignment, we’ll guarantee you the Nobel Prize in every category.
As the arguments of an academic paper should focus on specifics in depth, vague terms like society, humanity, community, and people suggest that you’re trying to cover a generalized group of people with minimal focus. We don’t need you advocating for the entire world, let alone a certain community.
Stay on track with the purpose of your writing, and include examples from credible sources which will lead your readers out of a random group of “them.”
4. Unspecified Pronouns
Speaking of “them,” we often see novice writers floating around pronouns in their sentences. Assume that your readers don’t have the luxury of psychic abilities. If you haven’t mentioned who or what you’re talking about, we have no way of knowing who or what you’re talking about.
Gun violence is a problem in America. They should do something about it.
↪ Yes, we certainly see that be verb in there that we need to edit, but the larger issue here is that we have no clue whoever on Earth “they” refers to.
Ask yourself who you mean by the random “they” that need to come up with a solution for the gun violence.
Is it the Americans? If so, which Americans?
People in the government or common citizens?
If so, of which political party? Are there specific people within that party?
What led you to think that the person should take responsibility?
Are there counterarguments to what the person said?
Where’s the source?
Then, you’ll know who the random “they” is. Your readers will too. Not only will you know who the unspecified pronoun is, but you’ll probably have lots at hand you wish to talk about to continue elaborating on your argument.
Readers will understand pronouns within a sentence or two but not two paragraphs later. When in doubt, use the actual noun.
5. Always Follow “This” With a Concrete Noun
Let’s go straight into the example.
This is what we’re telling you not to do.
Perfectly acceptable in everyday conversations, this usage of “this” sets an informal tone. Let’s rewrite this informal sentence by following “this” with a noun and also asking ourselves a few 5W1H questions.
This sentence shows what a writer should avoid so that readers clearly understand what the writer wants to argue.
That’s better, but the corrected sentence is probably the style the writer should *not* avoid. 😉
This is an example of…
This is why…
This happened when…
Go ahead and cross all of these “this” out.
6. Obviously
You write a research paper to let your readers know the things they didn’t. By stating that what you’re writing is obvious, you’re degrading your essay.
So obviously, …
It’s easy to understand that…
Everyone knows that…
We’ll take anything that suggests what you’re about to write is obvious as a boring alert. — Fine. It’s not that horrible, but don’t do it.
7. However
Wondering where to stick in “however” in a sentence and starting to move around the semicolon? Wonder no further in academic writing.
Just like the be verbs, we’re not worrying much about the correct use of however. We need to focus on how many of these howevers float around in your writing.
Because an ideal academic essay should remain on topic and gradually escalate, the excessive use of “however” implies that you’re frequently jumping from one side to the other, or even worse, from one topic to another.
Group your points together. Elaborate on one idea before jumping onto the next. If you don’t know how to elaborate on a given idea, then we go back to the 5W1H questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Academic Writing 101
1. Naughty Words to Avoid in Academic Writing
↳ 2. Color Your Sentence With Words
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