LESSON 4: ASPECTS
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OF PROFESSIONAL
AND ACADEMIC
LANGUAGE
PREPARED BY: JHANSEN REY M. OBISPO, MAED-ENGLISH
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INTRODUCTION
You were taught that academic writing is about what
you think as the writer and that you need to consider
your topic, your purpose, and your audience.
On the other hand, academic writing requires
sophisticated use of language. Since your tasks as
students includes writing for assignments, exams, and
reports, there is an expected quality in your use of
language and structuring of texts.
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ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL AND
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
FORMALITY
OBJECTIVITY
EXPLICITNESS
CAUTION
STRUCTURE
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FORMALITY
Formality reflects your dignified stance in your
writing as a member of the academic
community. This means that since your
audience are fellow members of the
academic community, the language you use
requires precision to make it a “legitimate”
piece of academic writing.
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FORMALITY CAN BE ACHIEVED
THROUGH:
1. Choosing expanded modal forms over contracted forms, such as
using cannot instead of can’t, do not instead of don’t
2. Choosing one verb form over two-word verbs, such as damage
instead of mess up
3. Choosing expanded terms over their abbreviated equivalents,
such as as soon as possible instead of ASAP
4. Avoiding colloquial/slang/idiomatic expressions (used in creative
writing), such as kind of like, as a matter of fact, chillaxing, emo,
kicks, etc.
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OBJECTIVITY
Academic writing requires special knowledge
and use of more complex language and
objectivity. This means that the writing must
be impersonal and maintains a certain level of
social distance.
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OBJECTIVITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY:
1. Avoiding the use of personal pronouns such as you, I
and we.
Poor example:
You need to conduct the experiment.
Improved version:
The researchers need to conduct the experiment.
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OBJECTIVITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY:
2. Avoiding rhetorical (stylistic, to produce an effect)
questions as it marks “closeness” with the reader, and
constantly seeks his/her attention.
Poor example:
How can these problems be solved?
Improved version:
Certain measures must be discovered to solve the
problems.
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OBJECTIVITY CAN BE ACHIEVED BY:
3. Avoiding emotive language that shows biases and
lessens objectivity.
Poor example:
The investigators were very shocked to see the
outcome of the tests.
Improved version:
The investigators did not expect the results.
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EXPLICITNESS
Academic writing demands the use of signposts that
allow readers to trace their relationships in the parts of a
study.
If you intend to show a change in your line of argument,
make it clear by using however or other transitional
words/phrases for contrasting your point.
The following phrases may be useful in making ideas
explicit: This is due to, This is resulted in, Similarly, In
addition, For example.
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CAUTION
Academic writing requires care since knowledge is
built from proven theories and concepts. Therefore,
caution is needed to avoid sweeping generalizations.
Example: Government officials are corrupt.
The statement is not completely true and the
rhetorical impact of the statement may be misleading.
The statement can be improved through the use of
devices such as modal verbs, adverbs or verbs.
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CAUTION
Poor example:
Government officials are corrupt.
Improved versions:
Some government officials may be corrupt. (modal)
Corruption is commonly linked to some key government officials.
(adverb)
A number of government officials tend to be linked with cases of
corruption. (verb)
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CAUTION
Since academic writing draws on the previous
writings done related to your topic (in the case
of research writing), it is important that
creating knowledge is expressed through
means that do not lead to sweeping
generalizations that may directly attack other
writers’ point of view.
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CAUTION
If your results show something different from
another author’s ideas, there are possible
ways in writing these points:
1. The results contradict Meyer’s findings.
2. The results appear to be different from
Meyer’s findings.
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CAUTION
While both sentences essentially mean the same thing, sentence 1
expresses an explicit difference between your findings and of
Meyer’s. This may be interpreted by readers as an attempt to
highlight your findings as superior compared to Meyer. On the other
hand, sentence 2 shows that you are distancing yourself from your
work (basing conclusions on what is observed) and comparing it to
previous works done by other researchers relating your contributions
to toher ideas in the discipline.
Remember that in academic writing, since you are a part of a
community, it is important that you express your ideas with openness,
striking a balance between being concise and cautious.
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STRUCTURE
Sentences need to be constructed in such a
way that they show a level of complexity that
reflects the sophistication of an academic
writer. Combining ideas effectively,
nominalization, and passivization are some
ways to achieve structure fit for academic
writing.
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COMBINING IDEAS EFFECTIVELY
In combining ideas effectively, you will need to avoid
redundancy and at the same time, make sure that ideas
are packed effectively.
Consider the following examples:
The earthquake caused loss of life.
The earthquake caused massive property damage.
The earthquake changed the landscape of the village.
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COMBINING IDEAS EFFECTIVELY
Though the previous sentences are grammatically
correct, they do not posses the sophistication of
academic writing. They can be improved by continuing
similar ideas expressing them through a more complex
construction. Hence they can be rewritten this way:
The earthquake was a disaster that caused loss of life,
property damaged, and permanent changes in the
landscape.
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NOMINALIZATION
In nominalization, the verbs are made central as they
denote action. Transforming verbs into nouns helps
readers focus on the action and not on the doer of the
action.
Example: The company created software to manage the
transactions successfully.
Nominalization: The creation of software to manage
transactions was a success.
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NOMINALIZATION
Example: The president announced a three-day holiday this
September.
Nominalization: The president’s announcement of a three-day
holiday for September was released.
Example: The mall distributed several free items to
consumers in the hope to boost sales.
Nominalization: Distribution of free items for consumers was
done in the hope to boost sales.
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PASSIVIZATION
In passive construction, the results of actions are highlighted.
In academic writing, since the writer of the paper is presumed
to have done the collection and analysis of data, it is
understood that all results of the action are a product of the
writer’s work.
Example: The researcher conducted experiments to validate
the hypothesis.
Passivization: Experiments were conducted to validate
hypothesis.
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PASSIVIZATION
Example: An engineer built a saltwater lamp to help
communities with no electricity.
Passivization: A saltwater lamp was built to help communities
with no electricity.
Example: Several scientists conducted experiment to examine
the effects of algae on biodiversity.
Passivization: An experiment was conducted to examine the
effects of algae on biodiversity.
