232 – Conventions of academic writing
often be other justifications for a convention. Your immediate task is
less to worry about these justifications than to find out (sometimes by
trial and error) which of these rules are quite rigidly enforced in a
given department and which not.
2
A skeleton key to stylistic conventions
2.1
Formal and informal language
Academic language need not be stuffy. Even so, the colloquialisms of
conversation and the informalities of advertising copy and of certain
newspapers and magazines are best avoided. Good language thrives
on variety and freshness, but what is fresh and acceptable in one
context might be simply gauche in another. Here are a few pointers
which are fairly reliable in all your academic writing.
Contracted speech forms
Contractions like ‘don’t’, ‘didn’t, ‘haven’t’, ‘I’ll’, ‘she’s’ and ‘they’re’
should be kept for talking about your work with your tutor or friends.
(I have used them in this book, which is less formal than an essay.)
You, we, I
Unlike a guide such as this, an academic essay does not directly
address the tutor. ‘You’ should be kept out of an essay. Use it for a
seminar, a tutorial delivery or a conversation with friends and tutors.
‘We’ will usually do as a substitute for the colloquial ‘you’. On the
uses of ‘I’ and ‘we’, see the discussion on pp. 148–51.
Abbreviations
Practice with abbreviations varies considerably. Even common ones,
like NATO or MP, should be approached warily, though widely
known acronyms like Unesco or Anzac which have passed into the
language – indicated by the use of lower case after the initial letter –
are usually acceptable. With a less well-known one (judgement on this
often be other justifications for a convention. Your immediate task is
less to worry about these justifications than to find out (sometimes by
trial and error) which of these rules are quite rigidly enforced in a
given department and which not.
2
A skeleton key to stylistic conventions
2.1
Formal and informal language
Academic language need not be stuffy. Even so, the colloquialisms of
conversation and the informalities of advertising copy and of certain
newspapers and magazines are best avoided. Good language thrives
on variety and freshness, but what is fresh and acceptable in one
context might be simply gauche in another. Here are a few pointers
which are fairly reliable in all your academic writing.
Contracted speech forms
Contractions like ‘don’t’, ‘didn’t, ‘haven’t’, ‘I’ll’, ‘she’s’ and ‘they’re’
should be kept for talking about your work with your tutor or friends.
(I have used them in this book, which is less formal than an essay.)
You, we, I
Unlike a guide such as this, an academic essay does not directly
address the tutor. ‘You’ should be kept out of an essay. Use it for a
seminar, a tutorial delivery or a conversation with friends and tutors.
‘We’ will usually do as a substitute for the colloquial ‘you’. On the
uses of ‘I’ and ‘we’, see the discussion on pp. 148–51.
Abbreviations
Practice with abbreviations varies considerably. Even common ones,
like NATO or MP, should be approached warily, though widely
known acronyms like Unesco or Anzac which have passed into the
language – indicated by the use of lower case after the initial letter –
are usually acceptable. With a less well-known one (judgement on this