CHECKLIST OF LANGUAGE TO AVOID IN ACADEMIC WRITING

1. Phrasal or prepositional verbs:

Research expenditures have gone up to $ 350 million. → have increased

2. Contractions:

The experiment won’t be over until the end of the year. → will not

3. Informal negative forms:

not…any → no

not…much → little

not…many → few

This approach does not promise many innovations. → few

4. Adverbs in the initial or final positions:

The result can be seen easily. → can be easily seen

5. Direct questions:

What should we do to improve the ecological situation? → We need to consider what we should do to improve the ecological situation.

6. “Run-on” expressions (“and so forth”, “etc.”):

These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD-players, etc. → These semiconductors can be used in robots, CD-players, and other electronic devices.

7. Colloquial abbreviations and shortened words:

TV→ television,’ cause → because, fridge→ refrigerator.

8. Meaningless, vague, simplistic and/or weak words:

”very”, “really”, “pretty much”, “sort of”, “kind of”, “it is interesting to note”, “you know”, “well”, ”good”, “bad”, “thing”.

9. Addressing the reader directly, especially in more formal papers:

“as you know”, “as you can see”.

10. Personal pronouns (I, we), especially in more formal papers.

11. Conversational vocabulary (euphemisms, jargon, slang, clichés).

Compare the following two paragraphs: although the ideas expressed in the paragraphs are the same, one presents them in a much more formal, academic way.

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