3.2 Identifying specific features of academic style
The next activity follows on from your work in Activity 6. You will look at the two lists of phrases in your table and identify specific features of academic and formal style.
Activity 7
Looking at your table from Activity 6, compare the formal and informal expressions, and any other differences you may have noticed while reading the two texts. Here are some of the things you may have noticed:
- use of contractions, such as ‘it’s’, ‘don’t’
- use of personal pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘we’, ‘they’
- expressions used to introduce information or ideas
- number of words used to describe an idea
- length and complexity of sentences
- overall structure of the text
- choice of words.
Write your observations in the box below before comparing them to mine.
Answer
| Formal texts | Informal texts |
Use of expanded forms it is, cannot | Use of contractions it’s, can’t, doesn’t |
Texts are impersonal I is rarely used. Formal texts more commonly use: it, he, she, they, the organisation | Informal texts tend to use: I, we, you, ours |
Writers strive to be objective and use research findings to support the points they make Studies…support the position that… it has been observed …was found to be greater Porter and Lawler (1964) observed | Writers make subjective statements. They state personal views and experiences I think I feel that It’s obvious |
Use of technical terms and very concise expressions employee satisfaction propensity to leave | Use of less concise everyday expressions staff are satisfied many of us want to quit |
Complex sentences Contradicting the mainstream trend in literature, Zeist (1983) reported a greater degree of job satisfaction in more highly structured roles since role clarity reduced anxiety and served as a basis for reward seeking activities. | Simpler sentences I think that there are more opportunities and staff should be more satisfied in big companies like ours. |
Texts are structured in paragraphs Texts move from general to specific | Texts follow an informal structure There may several short paragraphs and a less logical progression |
Word choice Formal vocabulary: one long word instead of two or more short words; words of Latin or Greek origin, e.g. oriented, adversely, autonomy, hierarchical, propensity Formal verbs such as to arrive, to obtain | Word choice Informal vocabulary: short words do, make, get Idiomatic expressions: at the end of the day Use of phrasal verbs such as come up, goes on Phrasal verbs, which consist of a verb and a preposition or an adverb, are more commonly used in informal texts and informal conversation. |