formality

• No colloquial expression or slang;没有口语表达或俚语
• No contractions; 没有缩写
• No or very careful use of 1 s t 1^{st} 1st person pronoun “I”, “we”. 尽量少使用第一人称代词

尽量避免

• colloquial words and expressions： stuff, a lot of, thing, sort of
• abbreviated(缩写) forms: can’t, doesn’t, shouldn’t
• two‐word verbs: put off, bring up
• asking questions.

formal words往往是这样的…

• longer than informal words;
• single words, not multi‐words;
• of French/Latin origin rather than their informal equivalents which
  are of Anglo‐Saxon origin.

formal VS informal

• 
• 

complexity

• Technical terms, nominalizations and lexical variations(词汇变体);
• Complex sentence structures, more subordinate or embedded sentences.
• 与口语比较而言：
  • Scientific language is relatively more complex than spoken language.
  • Scientific language are lexically dense compared to spoken language.
    • proportionately(相应地) more lexical words than grammatical words词汇词多于语法词
    • shorter in length, yet longer, more complex words and phrases
    • more noun‐based phrases , more nominalizations, and more lexical variation

举例

• Noun‐based phrases (nominals and nominal groups)：
  • Like all other forms of life, we human beings are the product of how we have evolved.
  • Like all other forms of life, we human beings are the product of evolution.
• Nominalizations
  • This information enables us to formulate precise questions.
  • This information enables the formulation of precise questions.
• Lexical variation
  • The level of inequality differs widely around the world. Emerging economies are more unequal than rich ones. Scandinavian countries have the smallest income disparities, with a Gini coefficient for disposable income of around 0.25. At the other end of the spectrum the world’s most unequal, such as South Africa, register Ginisof around 0.6.

Precision

• In academic writing, all the data, such as tables, dates or figures, are precisely reported. This demonstrates the scientificity and authenticity of the study. It also enables other scholars to replicate(复制) the research.
• Do not use “a lot of people” when you can say “50 million people”.
• Avoid using non‐quantifiable（非量化的） descriptions, such as :
  • The company’s production rate was high.
  • →The company produced 16,00 units per week.
  • The wind was strong.
  • →The wind measured 6 on the Beaufort scale.
• 举个例子：
  • The volatile oily liquid beta‐chloro‐beta‐ethyl sulphidewas first synthesized in 1854, and in 1887 it was reported to produce blisters if it touched the skin. It was called mustard gas and was used at Ypres in 19I7, when it caused many thousands of casualties.

Accuracy

• 写作中，要格外注意词汇与语法的使用
• 

Objectivity

• The main emphasis should be on the information that you want to give and the arguments you want to make, rather than you. This is related to the basic nature of academic study and academic writing, in particular.
• Nobody really wants to know what you “think” or “believe”. They want to know what you have studied and learned and how this has led you to your various conclusions.

举例

• In general, avoid words like “I”, “me”, “myself”.
  • Don’t write: In my opinion, this a very interesting study.
  • Write: This is a very interesting study.
• void “you” to refer to the reader or people in general.
  • Don’t write: You can easily forget how different life was 50 years ago.
  • Write: It is easy to forget how difficult life was 50 years ago.

Explicitness/Logic flow

• to make it clear to your reader how various parts of the text are related.
• These connections can be made explicit by the use of different signaling words.
• For example, if you want to tell your reader that your line of argument is going to change, make it clear.
  • The Bristol 167 was to be Britain’s great new advance on American types such as the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC‐6, which did not have the range to fly the Atlantic non‐stop. It was also to be the largest aircraft ever built in Britain. However, even by the end of the war, the design had run into serious difficulties.

///

• If you think that one sentence gives reasons for something in another sentence, make it explicit. e.g.
  • 
• If you think two ideas are almost the same, say so.
  • 
• If you intend your sentence to give extra information, make it clear.
  • 
• If you are giving examples, do it explicitly.
  • 
• It is explicit in its acknowledgment of the sources of the ideas in the text.If you know the source of the ideas you are presenting, acknowledge it. Do THIS in academic writing
• 

Hedging

• It is often believed that academic writing, particularly scientific writing, is factual, simply to convey facts and information.
• However it is now recognized that an important feature of academic writing is the concept of cautious language, often called “hedging” or “vague language”.
  • In other words, it is necessary to make decisions about your stance on a particular subject, or the strength of the claims you are making. Different subjects prefer to do this in different ways.
• 

Responsibility

• In academic writing you are responsible for demonstrating an understanding of the source text.
• You must also be responsible for and must be able to provide evidence and justification for, any claims you make.
• Reporting ‐paraphrase, summary & synthesis
• 你要引用别人的ideas，要么打上引号，要么用自己的话整理输出，切记不能把他们的东西当做自己的那样说出来，这是剽窃！！to present ideas you have learned in your own way.
• In all cases you need to acknowledgeother people’s work.
• 

paraphrase

• your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else,presented in a new form.
• one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
• a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.