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Using Appropriate Words in an Academic Assignment
Main Considerations When Working on Your College Paper
It is important to think carefully about the choice of words while developing an academic essay. Needless to say, with the help of the words to use in an assignment, you will have a better chance to submit an A+ paper. Apart from that, if you choose the appropriate vocabulary, you will make a written paper more convincing for the target audience. In turn, your readers may be confused regarding the content of your college assignment. That’s the reason why you should pay significant attention to the issue of word choice. We also suggest reading how to do a 500 word assignment.
- Use Formal Vocabulary.
It is a well-known fact that some words that you may use in your everyday speech are not appropriate to be used in an academic writing assignment.
In most cases, the concept of formal vocabulary implies avoidance of using the contractions, slang words, abbreviations, colloquialisms, and clichés. Another critical recommendation is to use strong words rather than the phrasal ones. In addition, you should have a certain knowledge of some specific verbs that can be found in the following section of this publication.
- Avoid Redundancy.
In this case, you are required to be precise and concise in order to submit a good academic writing assignment. Hence, consider the use of prepositions, suffixes, and prefixes while writing your college paper.
- Use Appropriate Transitions.
Usually, transitions play a significant role in developing a good college paper. All the transitional words are used with the aim to make the text coherent as well as help the readers follow the author’s flow of thought. The transitional words can also be regarded as the linking words to use in assignment, and they are discussed in the following part of this particular publication.
- Take into Account a List of Commonly Misused Words.
In this case, make sure that you have a good knowledge of verbs that are commonly confused. Below you can find the examples of such verbs.
a) Suspect/ Doubt
Suspect means “imagine or suppose something to be true.”
For instance, “Although everyone believes him, I suspect that he is lying.”
Doubt means “disbelieve, question, or lack of confidence in something.”
For instance, “I doubt she is telling you the truth.”
b) Access/ assess
Access means “be able to approach, use, or enter something.”
For instance, “At present, the majority of people have access to the Internet.”
Assess means “to fix a value or to evaluate”.
For instance, “It is required to assess the existing phenomena.”
c) Personal/ Personnel
Personal is an adjective that means “private or individual.”
For instance, “He was famous for his personal influence.”
Personnel is a noun that means “people employed in an organization, business, or service.”
For instance, “It is highly recommended to boost the self-esteem of the company’s personnel.”
Key Verbs Used in Your Writing Assignment
The list of keywords to use in assignment includes: to analyze, to compare, to contrast, to criticize, to define, to examine, to evaluate, to illustrate, to review, and to summarize.
- Analyze – Describe different parts of the research and explain their relation to one another.
- Compare – Explain the differences and similarities between several issues discussed in the paper.
- Contrast – Focus on the differences between the two items discussed in the paper.
- Criticize – Identify the weaknesses, as well as the strengths, of the issues you have to discuss.
- Define – Give the precise and concise meaning of a certain concept.
- Examine – This notion is considered to be a synonym of the concept ‘to analyze.’
- Evaluate – Make the emphasis on a judgment in the conclusion of your paper.
- Illustrate – Provide concrete examples for a certain statement.
- Review – Analyze the issue and discuss its main points briefly.
- Summarize – Provide the main points of any issues or sources discussed in a paper.
Linking Words Used in an Academic Writing
First of all, it is important to mention that linking words are used to join clauses, sentences, and even paragraphs. As a result, you have a great chance to submit a coherent paper.
In general, all the transition words can be divided into four main groups: enumeration, addition, transition, and summary.
- Enumeration
This group includes all the words to use in assignment that imply cataloging of everything said by the author.
For example: First, furthermore, moreover, to begin with, firstly, secondly, thirdly, finally, to conclude, first and foremost, last but not least, and so on.
- Addition can be subdivided into reinforcement and comparison.
Reinforcement: above all, indeed, actually, in addition, additionally, moreover, again, not only…but also, also notably, as well (as), obviously, besides, particularly, especially, specifically, further, then, furthermore, too, what is more, and so on.
Comparison: also, in the same way, both . . . and…, likewise, correspondingly, similarly, equally, too.
- Transition
These words usually lead to a new stage of the author’s thought.
For instance: now, regarding, turning to, with respect/regard to.
- Summary
The list of these transitional words implies the generalization of everything said in the previous sections of a certain paper.
For instance: altogether, then, hence, therefore, in brief, thus, in conclusion, to conclude, in short, to sum up, overall, to summarize.
General Tips: How to Write in an Academic Style
a) create an objective and confident voice;
Any academic writing implies the objectiveness. Hence, you are highly recommended to use the third person while writing your research paper.
For instance, “This research shows that…”, “It can be concluded that…”, “It can be justified that…”, “The research shows the importance of…”.
Another critical tip is to consider the use of tenses. It is highly important to give the readers a clear understanding of the issues happened in the past as well as of the events happened in the past that have a certain impact on the present.
b) use appropriate language for your target audience;
It is common knowledge that academic writing should have a certain element of formality. Hence, you should choose your vocabulary carefully while writing a college paper.
– Avoid using contractions;
Contractions are considered to be the main feature of informal writing. Hence, you should avoid using such words as “don’t,” “shouldn’t,” “needn’t,” and the others in your academic writing. However, there are some cases when you may use contractions in your college paper:
- a) when you use a direct quote from someone;
- b) when you want to use an idiom that includes a contraction (e.g., “don’t judge a book by its cover,” “it’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings”).
- c) when you write about contractions themselves (in this case you will need to provide the examples);
- d) when you need to display a personal voice as well as a personal writing style.
– Attempt to use full forms of words;
Do not use the words like “TV,” “quote,” or “memo.” Instead of using these short forms, you have to write “television,” “quotation,” or “memorandum.”
The important thing that should be mentioned is the fact that the issue of objectivity includes the avoidance of using taboo words, stereotypes, generalizations, and assumptions. Apart from that, while writing a college paper, you should use the neutral language (e.g. “police officer” instead of “policeman,” “humankind” instead of “mankind,” etc