Academic Writing - Conventions

Academic Writing: Conventions
One of the main objectives of academic writing is to present ideas in an orderly manner, by focusing on clear and concise expression. The writing
style followed in academic papers helps authors achieve this objective. Attention to stylistic requirements like tense, capitalization, and voice
facilitates clear communication.
In this article, we will discuss some of the stylistic and language-related conventions used in scholarly writing.
Formal Language
Academic writing requires a markedly more formal and professional tone to be maintained. Writers need to avoid slang and colloquial expressions
because these will reduce the impact of an academic paper. It is especially important to pay attention to the following focus areas for maintaining a
formal tone:
Introductory words
Grammar experts have long argued whether a sentence can begin with conjunctions such as But and And. Excluding some literary papers in which
these introductory words might be acceptable, in scientific writing, these words should be preferably replaced with more formal alternatives such as
However and Moreover.
Verbs
Another distinctive feature of academic style is choosing the more formal alternative when selecting an action verb. Action verbs, as the name
suggests, express an action that can be performed.
Contractions
Contractions such as wasn't, isn’t, and don’t are shortened forms of words such as was not, is not, and do not. Contractions are considered too
informal and conversational for academic writing. They should be replaced with their fully spelled out versions.
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Note: Academic styles differ in terms of what is acceptable from one area of study to another. In some exceptional cases, like literature, contractions
are acceptable.
Voice in academic writing
The voice of a verb indicates whether the subject is performing the action (active) or receiving the action (passive). Below is the first sentence of an
abstract. Note the difference in clarity between the active and passive versions.
• Passive: The economic effects of international brain drain migration were analyzed.
• Active: We analyzed the economic effects of international brain drain migration.
The first question that occurs to a reader after reading the passive version is “Who analyzed these effects?” Using the active voice solves the problem.
Most experts in academic writing and even reputed journals such as Nature and Science encourage the use of active voice because it is direct, clear,
and natural. It makes the sentences less wordy and ambiguous. However, passive expressions are not completely without use. Many writers find it a
useful structure to convey an impersonal tone. Below are five situations when the use of passive voice is appropriate and correct:
• When the person who is performing the action is unimportant, not known, or not to be mentioned
• When the receiver of the action should be emphasized
• When the sentence is abrupt in active voice
• When variety is needed in an active voice passage
• When a weak imperative is needed, for example, “The figures should be corrected quickly” instead of “You correct the figures quickly.”
To summarize, both active and passive voice are used in academic writing; it is important to understand when and why to use one or the other.
Use of personal pronouns
Another misconception in academic writing is that it is impolite to use the first-person pronouns—I and We. As a result, scientists typically use
wordy and imprecise statements as “It was found that…” instead of the short “I found….” There are no rules concerning the use of I and We in
academic writing. The use of “We” to jointly refer to the readers and the authors is accepted by some journals so long as it does not create ambiguity.
Awkward: We classify bird songs on the basis of frequency and temporal structure.
Better: Researchers classify bird songs on the basis of frequency and temporal structure.
Overuse of I and We: Although the use of I and We is permitted, overusing these pronouns should be avoided. As a substitute for I and We, the phrase
“the authors” can also be used. To avoid confusing “the authors” with those who have been recently cited “the present authors” can be used. This
phrase clearly refers to authors who have published papers.
You: Unlike I and We, the use of you in academic writing is best avoided. In academic writing, authors rarely address the readers directly. This is why
you will rarely find the use of you in any scientific paper or journal.
Capitalization
“Capitalizing” a word means to uppercase the first letter of that word. In academic writing, there are two main styles of capitalization. These styles
are applied to titles, subheadings, and figure and table captions.
Headline style
In this style, all words are capitalized except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. In conjunctions, note that only coordinating conjunctions (for,
and, not, but, or, yet, so) are not capitalized. This style is mostly used in titles.
Sentence style
In sentence style, only the first word and proper nouns, if any, are capitalized. This style is used commonly in reference lists, section headings, and
table and figure captions.
Names of sections
Besides titles and subheadings, names of sections are also capitalized. While referring to a “section” of the paper in the paper itself, the section name
is capitalized. For example, see the word “Results” in the phrase “presented in Results.” It refers to the results section. [Source: Scientific Style and
Format (CBE)]
Note: When the name of a section is modified or is used as an adjective, it is not capitalized (e.g., “in the chapter Animal Diet” or “in the chapter that
describes the diet of the animals”; “in the Discussion” or “in the discussion section”).
Abbreviations
An abbreviation is a shortened version of a word or phrase and is often followed by a period, e.g., publ. NASA, IRA. Apart from the standard
abbreviations, if a particular word is repeated many times in a study, authors often abbreviate it. Some points on abbreviations that you should keep
in mind:
1. Abbreviations are introduced or spelled out when they are mentioned for the first time in a paper, usually in the introduction section. Very
common abbreviations such as FBI and BBC may not be introduced but those specific to a discipline are.
2. Typically, only very well-known abbreviations from a particular discipline or those permitted by the journal are accepted in the abstracts and
titles.
3. Names of methods and devices are often abbreviated. In their spelled-out forms, the individual words are usually not capitalized.
4. In most papers, figures are abbreviated as Fig. and followed by a numeral.
Numbers in Academic Writing
There are certain basic rules to be kept in mind with regard to numbers in academic writing.
1. When the sentence begins with a number, it is always spelled out.
2. Different journals and subject areas adopt different practices to represent single-digit numbers and numbers beyond 10: many recommend
spelling out only single digit numbers (1–9) and using numerals for all others (above 10), while others have very specific conventions with regard
to numbers. If there are no journal guidelines or no recommendations on numbers, follow the style used by the author.
Note: When editing documents that fall within the purview of medical and life sciences literature, always use numerals for all numbers (exceptions:
use words for idiomatic expressions like “on the one hand,” at the beginning of sentences, and in sentences where consistency demands the use of
words, e.g., “Fifty-five female volunteers and thirty-two male volunteers…”)
Avoid: Thirty-five out of 68 homegardens were randomly chosen as samples.
Better: Thirty-five out of sixty-eight homegardens were randomly chosen as samples.
SI units
The International System of Units (Le Système International d’Unites), commonly known as SI units is considered the universal measurement
standard and has been adopted as the official measurement system by most nations. SI units simplify international communication, promote
uniformity of quantities and units, minimize the number of units and multiples used in other measurement systems, and unambiguously express
virtually any measurement in science, medicine, industry, and commerce.
There are seven base units in this system.
Quantity Base Unit Name SI Unit Symbol

Length Meter m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time Second s
Electric current Ampere A
Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
Luminous intensity Candela cd
Amount of substance mole mol
Based on these units, there are several other derived units that are used by the scientific community (e.g., square meter).
Symbols Used in Scientific Writing
Symbol How to get it Usage

•The prime (′) is generally used in mathematics and chemical structure nomenclature. For
structures, it is used to indicate the position to which a molecule is attached, for example, 5′-
monophosphate. It is also used to denote the positions of carbon on a ring of deoxyribose or
Prime (′) Insert >> Symbol or ALT + N + U ribose, for example, 5′ end.
•It is also used in geology to represent minutes of arc.
•The double prime (″) is used in geology to represent seconds of arc.
•The use of the apostrophe (‘) instead of the prime sign is incorrect.
•General usage: Used to mean “approximately” (e.g., ~10 would be “about 10”)
•Language and linguistics: Placed over a letter to indicate a change in pronunciation, such as
nasalization
Tilde (~) Shift + ` (the key next to the number 1) •Mathematics: Used to denote an equivalence relation between two objects, for example, x ~
y means x “is equivalent to” y (Note: this is quite different from stating that x equals y).
•Logic: Used as one way of representing negation: ~ p means “it is not the case that p...”
•Computing: Used for different reasons in many computing languages
Tense
Tenses can vary according to the information to be presented.
Existing knowledge
Once published, the information contained in a paper transforms into knowledge. Thereafter, whenever the work is quoted, ethics dictate that the
work be treated with respect. This is done by using the present tense.
Example
Streptomycin inhibits the growth of M. tuberculosis (Peters, 1991).
The present tense indicates that you’re quoting “established or existing knowledge.” An established fact or a universal truth is always stated in the
present tense (e.g., “The sun rises in the east”). Similarly, other facts that have been scientifically proven are also stated using the present tense.
However, if this published knowledge has been proven false by other studies, the use of past rather than present tense would be appropriate
Example
Pier et al. (1997) reported that stem cells in the bone marrow could lodge in the heart and repair muscle damaged by a heart attack. However, in a
recent issue of Nature, researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine report that the cells are unable to replace heart muscle after a heart attack,
which refutes earlier findings.
Present study
The past tense is used for the author’s present study because it is not treated as established knowledge until after it has been published. Thus, if the
author determined that the optimal growth temperature for the culture was 37˚C, he/she should say “The culture grew best at 37˚C.”
Previous research
Many options are available for citations, and the choice of tense is quite flexible. However, studies on tense usage in academic papers have shown
that most of the citation statements follow one of these 3 patterns:
1. The researcher is identified as the agent (doer), usually using past tense, e.g., “Jones (1997) investigated the causes of illiteracy” or “The causes of
illiteracy were investigated by Jones (1997).”
Usually used for referring to a single paper.
2. The researcher is not explicitly identified as the agent, but the involvement is hinted at, usually using the present perfect tense, e.g., “The causes
of illiteracy have been widely investigated (Jones 1977; Sands 2000)” or “Several researchers have studied the causes of illiteracy.”
Usually used for referring to areas of inquiry or investigation.
3. There is no mention of the researcher’s involvement; typically, the present tense is used for this purpose, e.g., “The causes of illiteracy are
complex (Jones 1997; Sands 2000)” or “Illiteracy appears to have a complex set of causes.”
Usually used for presenting the current state of knowledge or established facts. The first two patterns emphasize what the researchers did, while the
third pattern focuses on what has been found. Further, the first two are more common in humanities than in engineering or medical research.
Note: These are the most commonly found patterns, but they are not the only ones. Also, the three tenses are not exclusively used to report one kind
of information. Authors actually use them interchangeably to add variety to the text.
Reporting Verbs
Stating what previous researchers did is one way of citing previous work. Another way is to describe what the previous researcher wrote or thought
(stated, concluded, claimed, etc.). Such verbs are called “reporting verbs” and the same three tense options are possible:
1. Past—Jones (1997) concluded that illiteracy can be related to
2. Present perfect—Jones (1997) has concluded that]
3. Present—Jones (1997) concludes that
How are these statements different? The difference among these three tenses is quite subtle. In general, the move from past, to present perfect, to
present indicates that the research reported is increasingly close to the writer in some way: close to the writer’s own opinion, close to the writer’s
own research, or close to the current state of knowledge.
The present tense (also known as the citational present) is also used with famous or important sources: for example, “Plato argues that…” or “The
Constitution states that…”
Note: Since all three tenses are correct, be careful while changing to another.
Referring to succeeding sections of a paper
For referring ahead, the future tense is used if the writer is thinking of the reader (“in Section 7, we will see that...”), and the present tense if the
writer is thinking of how the paper is set out (“in Section 7, it is shown that...”). For referral immediately ahead, will can be omitted: “We now show
that....”
Here are some guidelines for tense usage in various sections of an academic paper:
1. Most of the abstract is in the past tense because the author briefly describes his/her experiment. The aim (purpose) of the study, though, is in the
present tense.
2. The methods and results sections are also written in the past tense as the author describes experiments and findings in detail.
3. In the introduction and discussion sections, the tense switches between past and present because authors alternately refer to previous research
in the field and their present work, to draw comparisons.
4. Because tables and figures are placed beside the text that is relevant to them, the present tense is used for references to tables and figures in text.
Flow
Flow refers to the logical progression of ideas within a piece of text. In scientific papers, progression from one idea to the next assumes importance
because it imparts clarity to the proceedings. Clarity in communication is vital in academic writing. Imagine reading the results before the methods
section!
In fact, it is to prevent such confusion and maintain flow that an academic paper is divided into sections like Introduction, Methods, etc. This
technique of dividing text into sections to ensure flow is called Signposting. In this section, you will be introduced to three techniques used in
academic papers for maintaining flow.
• Signposting
• Transitions and Connectives
• This + Summarizing Word
Signposting
Signposting is dividing your content into distinct sections. It is an effective technique to let the audience know where they are going and where they
have been. Dividing an academic paper into different sections is actually creating signposts for the audience. For example, an introduction will
outline the key areas to be covered, and the conclusion will summarize these points in the context of the research.
An academic paper is already divided into predetermined sections. However, in long research articles, these sections are divided into further
subsections.
Transitions and Connectives
Dividing the paper into sections, although effective, is not enough to connect every section of a paper and create a unified argument. An effective way
of communicating the relation between two successive ideas or sentences is using transition words or phrases. Transitions words (such
as however, moreover, therefore, in addition, thus) or phrases (such as for example, on the other hand) help position one idea in relation to another.
They usually occur at the beginning of a sentence and prepare the readers for what to expect in that sentence.
Below are some transition words sorted by purpose:
• Opposition: Transition words of opposition signal to the reader that they are about to read something that opposes the previous idea. They
can also be used to draw the reader’s attention to the difference between two successive ideas. Examples: however, on the other hand, on the
contrary, and in contrast.
• Reinforcement: Also known as transition words of “addition,” they are used to highlight new information about the topic discussion.
Examples: moreover, in addition, additionally, and furthermore.
Tip: Use transition words only if there is a clear relationship between two ideas. In the absence of such a relationship, transition words just
end up making the sentence wordy and confusing the reader.
This + Summarizing Word
Another technique to maintain flow is to use this/these + a noun to join ideas together. Consider the following sentence:
In recent years, the number of students applying to PhD programs has increased steadily, while the number of places available has remained
constant. This situation has resulted in intense competition for admission.
The phrase in italics contains a summary noun or word that refers back to the idea in the previous sentence. This phrase summarizes what has
already been said and pick up where the previous sentence has left off. Thus, it helps in tying the ideas together. The summarizing noun helps the
reader keep in mind what has been read previously, and continue further.
Note: A summarizing word should be chosen carefully. Choosing an incorrect noun will result in a meaning change.
Style Guides
A style guide is a handbook or manual that recommends stylistic guidelines. Because writing styles vary across disciplines, every discipline has a
unique style guide. Typically, these guides describe conventions for virtually every aspect of writing, ranging from spelling, punctuation, and word
usage to structural and formatting issues. Some also focus on design elements such as graphics, typography, and white space. Although these guides
are primarily used by academia and publishers, some like the Chicago Manual of Style are designed for use by the general public.
Most style guides are written by university presses or academic institutions, such as American Institute of Physics and American Medical
Association, which also publish a number of journals. Like the English language itself, many style guides undergo changes and are updated to include
more details. For example, the Associated Press Stylebook is updated every year.
Different disciplines follow different conventions for punctuation, grammar, presentation, and citation. Hence, one of the major purposes of a style
guide is to ensure consistency (in style) among papers belonging to a single discipline. A science journal cannot publish a paper that follows the
humanities style. This is why journals often ask authors to use a style guide while preparing their manuscripts. As an editor, you are expected to
ensure uniform presentation of written material by focusing on formatting-related aspects as dictated in a style guide prescribed by a
journal/author.

Academic Writing - Conventions

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Academic Writing: Conventions

Voice in academic writing

• Active: We analyzed the economic effects of international brain drain migration.

• When the receiver of the action should be emphasized

• When the sentence is abrupt in active voice

• When variety is needed in an active voice passage

4. In most papers, figures are abbreviated as Fig. and followed by a numeral.

1. When the sentence begins with a number, it is always spelled out.

Avoid: Thirty-five out of 68 homegardens were randomly chosen as samples.

Better: Thirty-five out of sixty-eight homegardens were randomly chosen as samples.

Quantity Base Unit Name SI Unit Symbol

Symbol How to get it Usage

Tenses can vary according to the information to be presented.

Streptomycin inhibits the growth of M. tuberculosis (Peters, 1991).

Usually used for referring to a single paper.

1. Past—Jones (1997) concluded that illiteracy can be related to

2. Present perfect—Jones (1997) has concluded that]

3. Present—Jones (1997) concludes that

• Transitions and Connectives

• This + Summarizing Word

Transitions and Connectives

Below are some transition words sorted by purpose:

contrary, and in contrast.

Examples: moreover, in addition, additionally, and furthermore.

This + Summarizing Word

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