The majority of academic writing is objective and evidence-based, so avoids personal and emotive language.
Using objective language means adopting an impartial and impersonal approach that prioritises factual information and research over your own viewpoints. Objective language is not influenced by personal feelings or biases.
Impersonal language is characterised by the avoidance of personal pronouns and the use of a tone that refrains from referencing the author or the audience directly. This type of language creates a sense of detachment from the presented research, with the aim of making it even more objective.
Judgemental language consists of words or expressions that convey the writer's personal judgements, opinions, criticisms, or evaluations. Such language often embodies a sense of disapproval, superiority, or bias.
It suggests that conclusions are drawn based on the writer's pre-existing beliefs or values, rather than drawing upon impartial evidence or analysis to support the argument.
Academic writing thrives on objectivity and evidence-based conclusions. Judgemental language can undermine this by suggesting bias or preconceived notions.
Using judgemental language may cast doubt on the writer's impartiality and professionalism, potentially diminishing the argument's credibility.
Rather than creating an inclusive academic environment, judgemental language can actively alienate or even offend readers.
"The results from this study make the most wonderful contribution to the field."
"The results from this study provide an important contribution to the field."
"This treatment method will have enormous implications for the future."
"This treatment method will likely have significant implications for the future."
"The response rate for the questionnaire was awesome."
"The response rate for the questionnaire was higher than expected."
Replace emotionally charged orevaluative words with specific, neutral descriptors:
Avoid absolute and extreme judgements by qualifying statements:
Usually you're not the focus of the writing, so using personal pronouns can make the important aspects of your writing harder to identify. We also know that you wrote the work, or that you did the research, so you don't need to tell us this.
Academic writing therefore usually uses an impersonal tone, which means avoiding the use of personal pronouns to refer to oneself as the doer of an action. This includes avoiding pronouns like 'I,' 'you,' and 'we.'
Personal pronouns are words that replace the name of a person, place, thing, or idea in a sentence:
Using a third person rather than the first person makes your text more impersonal.
Third person pronouns:
‘We discovered that…’
‘The study revealed that…’
‘I can see that…’
‘It is evident that…’
‘I will discuss…’
‘This report will discuss…’
Prioritise referring to things like studies or reports (rather than people) as the subjects of your sentences. This will help transform personal assertions into evidence-based statements.
‘We show…’
‘The report shows…’
‘I interpret the findings as…’
‘The findings indicate…’
It's very important to use inclusive language so you can discuss people and communities sensitively and appropriately.
Explore our EDI glossary to improve your awareness and make sure you're using the right terminology:
Emotive language is words or phrases specifically designed to elicit an emotional response from the reader. While it might be persuasive, it does not ask the reader to consider the evidence on its own merits but instead relies on emotional 'shortcuts' (the linguistic equivalent of giving somebody a cute puppy). It is characterised by the use of superlatives, exaggerations, and subjective expressions.
Evidence is everything in academic writing. It's all about analysis and establishing the truth as we understand it. It therefore relies on neutrality and objectivity. Personal bias or emotional influence needs to be removed as much as possible from the analysis of evidence and the construction of arguments.
Using emotive language can undermine the writer’s credibility, suggesting a reliance on emotional manipulation rather than a rational argument.
Because emotive language doesn't rely on evidence, it can obscure the facts and lead to misinterpretation.
“These really lucky people may be advantaged by healthcare services.”
“These individuals may benefit from healthcare services.”
“York represents an incredibly vivacious school market.”
“York represents an active and dynamic school market, as demonstrated by...”
“Our children’s success in school may be framed in ecological terms...”
“The potential for children’s success in school may be framed in ecological terms.”
As with most things, there'll be exceptions to some of these principles depending on context.
Present findings and ideas based on evidence, avoiding personal beliefs:
“I believe this model is valid.”
“These findings indicate the model is valid.”
Describe sources and results using academic standards rather than personal opinion:
“The source she got the information from is absolutely amazing.”
“She found that information from a reliable academic source.”
Present potential effects or outcomes using measured terms rather than intense emotional descriptors:
“Parents who smoke are obviously abusing their children.”
“Second-hand smoke has some harmful effects on children’s health.”
Indicate possibilities and probabilities rather than absolute certainties, backed by authoritative sources:
“I think second-hand smoke causes cancer.”
“There is evidence to support the possibility that second-hand smoke increases the risk of cancer.”
The passive voice is a grammatical structure in which the object comes before the verb, shifting the focus from the subject performing the action to the recipient or the action itself.
Using passive voice means you would not need to use a subject in your sentence, allowing you to avoid using a personal pronoun.
“I administered the questionnaire and…”
“The questionnaire was administered and…"
"We analysed the data…"
"The data was analysed…"
It's very rare that we can be completely certain about our statements, so we use hedging (or cautious language) to avoid making statements that are too strong.
Take a look at the hedging language here in bold - how does it soften the statements?
When authentic assignments are evaluated through grades or citation analysis, online self-study resources seem to be more effective at supporting writing than face-to-face instruction (Anderson & May, 2010; Mery, Newby & Peng, 2012). Students also tend to prefer online resources over face-to-face skills sessions (Craig & Friehs, 2013; Gerogas, 2014). This could be because online resources are available at the point of need, and so may be more useful while writing assignments.
Find out more about hedging:
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