{"id":627,"date":"2014-02-17T05:16:36","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T05:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/?p=627"},"modified":"2015-01-13T21:08:49","modified_gmt":"2015-01-13T21:08:49","slug":"a-writing-vocabulary-academic-writing-part-vi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/a-writing-vocabulary-academic-writing-part-vi\/","title":{"rendered":"A Writing Vocabulary: Academic Writing Part VI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/vocabulary.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-629 alignright\" alt=\"vocabulary\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/vocabulary-300x192.gif\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" \/><\/a>It\u2019s time to stock up on words! Now that you\u2019ve become more familiar with the mechanics of academic writing (check out my recent blog posts on <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/02\/sorting-your-sources-writing-academically-part-iv\/\">Sources<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/02\/citation-101-writing-academically-part-v\/\">Citations, <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/01\/structuring-your-essay-academic-writing-part-iii\/\">Structure<\/a>), we\u2019re going to focus on the most basic aspect of the essay: the words themselves.<\/p>\n<p>How exactly can you make your academic essay sound \u2018intellectual?\u2019 Believe it or not, by trading out a few of those boring verbs and adjectives, avoiding some common mistakes, and boosting your overall vocabulary, you can be sure to end up with a polished, professional, and truly <i>academic <\/i>\u2013sounding essay!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><b>Verb Attack<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The strongest words in your essays will always be your verbs. That\u2019s because these little guys carry the action of your essay; they move your arguments forward. Your goal is to choose action-packed, concrete verbs that make your essay sound sure of itself and convincing. Remember these gems:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When describing what other authors are saying about a particular work, poem, or idea:<\/strong> <em>suggest, argue, imply, propose, introduce, engage, consider, acknowledge, gesture, indicate, illustrate, analyze, emphasize, confirm, expose, establish, evince, declare<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>When describing what a certain author\u2019s idea does:<\/strong> <em>complement, augment, contradict, complicate, challenge, elucidate, explicate, alleviate, elaborate, connote\/denote, determine, clarify, underscore, undermine<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Nouns and Adjectives<\/b><\/p>\n<p>You might find yourself resorting to the same nouns after some time (I know I do!). These helpful synonyms for commonly-used nouns in essays may spice it up a bit:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When describing a \u201csource,\u201d or \u201carticle:\u201d<\/strong> <em>evidence, reference, text, work, criticism, literature, explication, analysis, critique, perspective, acknowledgment, reference<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>When describing an author\u2019s \u201cargument:\u201d<\/strong> <em>consideration, suggestion, portrayal, typification, implication, acknowledgment, attestation, affirmation, complication<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>When talking about a problem: <\/strong><em>conflict, issue, complication, tension, divergence, dilemma, contradiction, antagonism, contention<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Although you do not want to bog your essay down with too many adjectives, feel free to sprinkle in some of these when discussing certain aspects of the literature you are analyzing or the arguments of other authors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Certain, particular, especial<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Peculiar, concerning, conflicted, complicated<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Sinister, grievous, sober, troubling<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Rich, illuminating, insightful, astute, shrewd, apt<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Evocative, telling, poignant<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>\u00a0Words to Avoid<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Some words you should just leave out of your essay altogether. Why? They are over-used, clich\u00e9, or generally too weak and flat to serve any purpose in the confines of good academic writing. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>\u201cempty\u201d words<\/b>: g<em>ood, stuff, bad, interesting, get, got, gotten, it, can\u2019t (and any other contractions), pretty, ugly, worse, better, best, people, they<\/em><\/li>\n<li><b>clich\u00e9s<\/b>: <em>\u2018everyday life,\u2019 \u2018in today\u2019s society,\u2019 \u2018pros and cons,\u2019 \u2018people,\u2019 \u2018society,\u2019 \u2018this day and age,\u2019 \u2018all walks of life,\u2019 \u2018from time immemorial,\u2019 etc.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Final Tips:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Avoid passive voice and always opt for active voice. <\/b>Passive voice is always a roundabout way of saying something; usually over-wordy and vague, it makes the direct object its subject, as in the following sentence: \u201cThe door was opened by her.\u201d Compare this sentence to its counterpart written in active voice: \u201cShe opened the door.\u201d Active voice is always much more direct, strong, and, well, <i>active<\/i>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Opt for shorter, concise sentences.<\/strong> Nobody likes to follow a roundabout argument or wade through a wordy paper!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t use thesaurus.com to look for words that sound smarter, especially if you do not know really what these words mean.<\/strong> A teacher or professor will know when you are simply trying to sound more \u201cacademic\u201d by generating synonyms, but this method doesn\u2019t work\u2014always make sure you know what the word means, or ask someone who may help you choose a more appropriate term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This series on Academic Writing is not quite at its end&#8211;stay tuned for next week&#8217;s discussion on <a title=\"\u201cHello, my name is Essay:\u201d Writing a Gripping Introduction\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/02\/hello-my-name-is-essay-writing-a-gripping-introduction\/\">fashioning a fashionable introduction<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Additional Reading:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Check out the next posts in this 8 part series on writing academically:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"\u201cHello, my name is Essay:\u201d Writing a Gripping Introduction\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/02\/hello-my-name-is-essay-writing-a-gripping-introduction\/\">Writing Academically Part 7 &#8211; Introductions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Writing Academically (Part VIII): Wrapping Things Up\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/03\/writing-academically-part-viii-wrapping-things-up\/\">Writing Academically Part 8 &#8211; Wrapping things up<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Check out the previous posts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Writing Academically: What\u2019s the Point? (Part I)\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2013\/12\/writing-academically-whats-the-point-part-i\/\">Writing Academically Part 1 &#8211; What&#8217;s the Point?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Writing Academically Part II: A Lexicon\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/01\/writing-academically-part-ii-a-lexicon\/\">Writing Academically Part 2 &#8211; Lexicon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Structuring Your Essay: Academic Writing (Part III)\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/01\/structuring-your-essay-academic-writing-part-iii\/\">Writing Academically Part 3 &#8211; Structure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Sorting your Sources: Writing Academically Part IV\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/02\/sorting-your-sources-writing-academically-part-iv\/\">Writing Academically Part 4 &#8211; Sources<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Citation 101: Writing Academically Part V\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.princetontutoring.com\/2014\/02\/citation-101-writing-academically-part-v\/\">Writing Academically Part 5 &#8211; Citation 101<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>About the author: <em>Kathleen McGunagle is a senior in Princeton University\u2019s English department and Interdisciplinary Humanities Certificate Program. Concentrating in British Renaissance Literature, she will be writing a thesis this spring on Shakespeare and epistolary culture. Kathleen is an Academic Peer Adviser at Princeton, tutor through Princeton Tutoring, and avid performer. She has recently returned from a year of study at Worcester College, Oxford.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time to stock up on words! Now that you\u2019ve become more familiar with the mechanics of academic writing (check out my recent blog posts on Sources, Citations, and Structure), we\u2019re going to focus on the most basic aspect of the essay: the words themselves. How exactly can you make your academic essay sound \u2018intellectual?\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[54,55],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":889,"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627\/revisions\/889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.princetontutoring.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}