Useful phrases for academic writing, but also for debating

 

Here are suggestions for using words and phrases which could improve your academic writing structure and style as well as your debating prowess significantly.

 

1. Introduction

This essay will deal with the following aspects of the question...

The aim of this essay is ...... 

2. Giving an overview of the essay content

In order to link.... with ...., the background to ... will be briefly outlined.

The first part of the analysis will examine....

The second part of this analysis will consider...

The final level of the analysis consists of...

3. Making a point

It is clear/ noticeable that...

It is necessary/ important/ useful/ interesting/to note/point out/ highlight/ emphasise that

4. EMPHASIS MARKERS show clearly what you think is most important but allow you to avoid personal language such as 'I think'

 

Adjectives: main, crucial, important, significant, key, essential

 

Nouns: focus, element, concept, theory, aspect, part, idea, point, argument, discussion, debate

 

Verbs: to emphasise, to summarise, to focus, to highlight

 

Examples:

The key aspect of this argument is

The most crucial point made so far

It is worth noting that

Another relevant point is that

 

5. Introducing a new idea

Turning now to the question of

Bearing in mind the previous points,

Having considered (X)

With regard to

As far as ....... is concerned                               

 

6. Hedging

The group of 11 words called modals can help you avoid over-generalisation as they express degrees of certainty and possibility, thereby avoiding making statements which claim too much or suggest you know everything about a subject.

The 11 modals are:

CAN           MAY         COULD     MIGHT          WILL    

WOULD     SHALL      SHOULD, OUGHT TO   MUST  NEEDN'T

 

By far the most useful modal verbs are CAN, MAY, COULD and MIGHT.  If you say something IS true you may well be guilty of over-generalisation.  If you say something MAY or MIGHT be true you avoid this problem.

It could/might be said that .... 

It seems/appears ...

It is generally thought/considered ......

Some/many people think/believe ......

7. CITING RESEARCH

It has been found that

Research has shown that

8. MAKING HYPOTHESES

If, then

Assuming that

9. STATING CONDITIONS

Given that

Provided that

Granted that

If it is the case that& then,

10. GIVING EXAMPLES

For example/instance

In this situation/case

To illustrate

 

11. ADDING INFORMATION

Again/ besides/ equally important/ in addition/ further/ furthermore/ moreover

It must also be noted/ remembered that

12. DISCUSSION MARKERS

On the one hand, on the other hand

Although it may be true that....however

Whilst it is generally agreed that

There exists a contradiction between ..... and

Those in favour of/ Supporters/Advocates of

Those opposed to/ Critics of

13. RE-PHRASING

In other words

To put it another way

That is to say

14. EVALUATIVE LANGUAGE.

This is used  to show more clearly what you think about different points. Do you already use these words? Could you use them more?

 

Positive adjectives:  remarkable, innovative, complex, interesting, profound, comprehensive, powerful, rigorous, systematic, useful, sensitive, reliable, logical,

 

Negative adjectives: flawed, modest, unsatisfactory, inadequate, limited, restricted

 

Nouns: synthesis, survey, topic, study, review, history, concept, area, theme, overview, analysis, system

 

Verbs: explain, discuss, study, present, describe, bring into focus, consider, explore, illuminate, introduce, analyse, constitute

 

Examples:

The UNO has published an interesting survey...

It presents a useful concept...

However, the study is limited in that...

 

15. REPEATING

In general, DON'T!  Try to organise your writing so that you stick to one point at a time.  But if you must, you can use phrases such as:

To return to an earlier point

As noted before/above

16. SUMMING UP

Briefly, we can say/ it can be said that

To sum up

Hence/therefore/accordingly/ consequently

The evidence suggests, therefore

In general what this means/ suggests/ indicates is

It is clear from the above that

 

17. CONCLUSION

To conclude/In conclusion, 

Rhetorical Patterns:

Introducing your work

The study will begin by outlining...

This study addresses a number of issues...

Chapters X and X concentrate on...

The following section sets out...

...to examine the research problem in detail

...to shed light on a number of problem areas in current theory

The paper presented here is based in part on an earlier study

Defining the scope of your study

The focus of the study is...

The central question to be examined in this paper is...

The study is important for a number of reasons:

Present understanding of...is limited.

Many authors would agree that...

Previous studies have shown or suggested that...

The problem has been much discussed in recent literature.

This approach has a number of advantages: firstly,...

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that...

A fuller discussion of...will appear in a later publication.

Arguing for and against

This point is particularly relevant to...

This becomes clear when one examines...

This lends weight to the argument that...

Support for this interpretation comes from...

To put it another way…

This raises the question whether...

While it may well be valid that..., this study argues the importance of...

This begs the question why... 

A serious drawback of this approach is...

One of the prime failings of this theory or explanation

Reviewing other work

X's study is a textbook example of...

X's work has had a profound influence on...

X takes little or no account of...

There is little evidence to suggest that...

It is very much an oversimplification to...

The study offers only cursory examination of...

X gives a detailed if not always tenable analysis of...

The authors' claim that...is not well founded.

X's explanation is not implausible, if not entirely satisfactory

Analysis and explanation

One tentative proposal might be that...

If, for the sake of argument, we assume...

One of the most obvious consequences of...is...

This would appear to be supported by...

There is some evidence to suggest that...

The importance of...is demonstrated clearly by...

Although it may well be true that..., it is important not to overlook...

It is important to distinguish carefully between...

It is not necessarily the case that...

 The extent to which this reflects...is unclear.

A more plausible explanation for or of...would...

The reason for...is unknown, but...has been suggested by X as a possible factor.

 

Summary and conclusions

Concluding this section, we can say that...

Chapter X draws together the main findings of the paper.

The study has gone some way towards understanding...

A number of key issues have been addressed in this study.

The results lend strong support to...

This study has highlighted a number of problem areas in existing theory.

While the initial findings are promising, further research is necessary.

This raises a number of questions for future research.

The results of this study suggest a number of new avenues for research.