10 Academic language – useful phrases
The Academic Phrasebank [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] is a valuable online resource developed by John Morley at the University of Manchester to support academic and scientific writing. Phrases and the headings under which they are listed can be used to help you to think about the content and organisation of your own writing. The resource covers general language functions in the following key areas:
- being critical
- being cautious
- classifying and listing
- comparing and contrasting
- defining terms
- describing trends
- describing quantities
- explaining causality
- giving examples
- signalling transition
- writing about the past.
You can read more about the Academic Phrasebank. We suggest that you do this after you have completed this course. For now, continue to the following section and then complete the final activity of this session (Activity 5).