Organized from 《Academic Phrasebank（A compendium of commonly used phrasal elements in
academic English)》, written by Dr John Morley

The very first things of academic writing we should know about are its characteristics, which have determined all the demands of writing style and where the writing patterns are stemmed from.

• 1.Evidence-based
• 2.Objectivity
• 3.Precise,logical and detailed

1. The demands determined by evidence-based feature

Why references are essential and compulsory?

Perhaps the most important distinguishing feature of written academic style is that it is evidence-based. Writers support their arguments and claims with evidence from the body of knowledge relevant to their discipline. In addition, any research that is undertaken must make reference to previous work in the field. As a result, academic texts are rich in attributions to other writers and references to previous research, as seen in the examples below:

Previous studies have shown that ...
These sources suggest that from the fifth century onwards ....
According to the 1957 Annual Medical Report, the death of the 960 inhabitants of ...
However, as has been shown elsewhere (e.g. Smith, 1992), the increase in ...

2. The demands determined by objectivity feature

Why tend not to use I or We? & Why past tense and passive voice are preferred? &Why avoid using questions to introduce significant new ideas?

In the interests of objectivity, academic writers tend to remove themselves from the writing. The
focus is on 'what' happened, 'how' it was done, and 'what' was found. The 'who' (the writer) is not
normally given very much attention. This is one of the reasons why personal pronouns ('I' and 'we')
tend not to be used.

Since the absence of 'I' or 'we' in subject, also, in order to show objectivity, the subjects of the academic sentences commonly are neutrally objectives which are to be described. Furthermore, most of the events or objects described in articles have happened before they are written in academic writings . This is why past tense and passive voice are preferred.

Questions to introduce significant new ideas are avoided. That is because questions are proposed by the authors, which should be removed from the sentence to keep the objectivity of the article. The sentences are replaced with statements in the following, in the place where a question or a notice should be given.

Is the welfare system good or not?
→
It is important to consider the effectiveness of the British welfare system.

In addition, academic texts rarely address the reader directly and the pronoun normally used for this, 'you', is avoided. The second sentence is in academic style:

You could say that Churchill made some catastrophic decisions early in the War
→
It can be said that Churchill made some catastrophic decisions early in the War

There are some exceptions: in certain disciplines, it may be appropriate for a writer to explain their
personal interest in the research area. In some disciplines, the researcher may participate in the
research as a participant-observer. In these cases, 'I' will be used. The example below, which
illustrates the former situation, is taken from a dissertation in History.
"I became interested in X after reading …… I hope to convey some of my fascination for the
subject, as well as expressing my admiration of the artistic achievements of those involved"

In research undertaken by teams, for example in medicine and science, it is common for the research to be reported using the personal pronoun, e.g. 'we'.

3. The demands determined by precise, logical and detailed features

The main purpose of academic writings is to pioneer and spread knowledge.

Since the articles are mostly explorations of knowledge boundaries, it is hard to ensure the authority and correct of the articles. The key action taken to ensure the correct of the researches is demanding the research work satisfied logic, which is the only thing we can rely on when exploring the unknown scientific world. However, it is regretted to point out that this most important characteristic is unnoticed and under-emphasized in many Chinese universities. Logic might be even more important than the context in a research paper.

The academic writers are careful about the claims they make: they take care not to appear certain where some doubt may exist, and they are careful not to over-generalize. An example of this kind of transformation can be seen below. The second sentence is in academic style:

Drinking alcohol causes breast cancer in women.
→
Some studies suggest that drinking alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer

In order to let other researchers justify or use your researches , it is demanded to write the articles in detail, which means all the possibly related and supportive facts should be offered.

Contracted forms (e.g. it's, don't, isn't, aren't) should not be used in academic writing. The only exception would be if you are quoting a conversation or interview.

The academic writing are hard to master, because it relates to the setting out and development of the thinking and the ideas, as well as to the language used in the writing, which only can be mastered by massive learning and practice.