Some useful phrases for writing an academic paper

Introduction: “It is now generally accepted that…”, “Many recent studies have focused on…”, “One of the most promising aspects of… is…”, “However, few investigations have focused on…”, “No studies support the…”, “However, little is known about…:, “Further investigations are needed to…”, “It remains unclear whether…”, “It would be of interest to investigate…”, “In this paper, we report on…”, “This paper focuses on…”, “This study seeks to understand…”.

Describing the results: “As can be seen from the data…”, “As can be seen in Table 1…”, “As it has been proved in Chapter 1…”, “Figure 1 illustrates…”, “The main difference between X and Y is that X is…, whereas Y is…”, “The data clarify the relationship between…”, “The errors may be due to…”, “The results have failed to explain…”, “The findings of the study need to be treated with certain caution, since…”

Conclusion: “In general, this analysis shows…”, “These results are consistent with…”, “However, the results described are fairly general…”, “The question remains whether…”, “Further research is needed to verify…”

English Academic Style and Language

The style of English academic writing is formal. Its main characteristics are the absence of conversational features and the use of appropriate academic vocabulary. Formal academic English will normally avoid:

• contractions: isn't → is not, can't → cannot, won't → will not
• interjections and hesitation fillers (well, um, you know, etc.)
• addressing the reader directly: You can see the data → the data can be seen
• adverbs in initial position: Then it will be shown → It will then be shown
• short form of the words or slang: lab → laboratory
• phrasal verbs (although not always): Researchers have found out → r. have discovered
• figures at the beginning of the sentence: 17 experiments were carried out last year →

Seventeen experiments were carried out, or:

Last year 17 experiments were carried out.

While creating in English a piece of academic writing in one of the major academic genres described above, keep in mind the useful information concerning them, and keep at hand the list of useful phrases for writing a research paper in English.

Check your knowledge of these words and phrases:

cognitive, adj – пізнавальний

subsidiary, adj – другорядний

in a random way = on a random basis – довільно

counterpart, n – двійник; противник; колега

convention, n – умови, правила

acknowledgement, n – визнання, подяка

contraction, n – стягнення

interjection, n - вставне слово

hesitation filler - заповнювач паузи (в розмові)

TASKS

1. Consider the pair of research paper titles given below. Which of the titles in this pair, in your opinion, could be written by an English or an American professor, and which – by their Ukrainian colleague?
1. On the Problem of Mastering Academic Writing in Foreign Languages.

2. Mastering Academic Writing in Foreign Languages: Problems, Solutions and

Costs.

2. Analyze ten strategies of Academic writing in English given above in the text of the

lecture. Which, in your opinion, are useful for Ukrainian writers, and which do not seem

to be useful. Supply arguments in favour of your choices.

1. Match the names of the English academic genres in the left column with their definitions in the right column. Translate the names of the genres into Ukrainian. Do you see any English-Ukrainian mismatches?

1. Summary a) a research project proposed for funding.

2. Review b) a short account of a research paper placed before it.

3. Conference abstract c) a short account of a conference paper

4. Abstract d) an article that critically examines a new book or any

other piece of writing

5. Research paper e) a relatively short piece of research usually published in a

journal or a volume

6. Grant proposal f) a shortened version of a text aimed at giving the most

important information or ideas of the text

1. In the text which you are reading individually, look for the phrases which may be useful

for your English academic writing, and try to use them in future.

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