Academic language
Academic integrity
This guidance supports planning and revision of your own work. It does not offer ghostwriting, invented sources, or a guarantee that a journal will publish a manuscript.
Prefer the verb that names the action: the study compares, the teacher marks, the paragraph claims. Hedge when the evidence is partial, not out of habit. “May” and “suggest” are meaningful only if you could also have written “shows”. Define a term when your field uses it in more than one way, then keep to your definition.
If you write in a language you are still strengthening, clarity is the scholarly virtue to protect. A reader should not have to translate your sentence into a simpler one to find the point. Read one paragraph at a time and ask what it decided.
A practical sequence
- Underline the main verb in each sentence.
- Replace a vague noun with the action it hides.
- Check every hedge against the evidence.
- Ask another person to restate the paragraph.
Examples
- Vague: “There is a utilisation of group work.”
- Clearer: “The teacher asks learners to compare two openings in pairs.”
