Academic language phrasebank
This resource has been developed to assist you with common phrases used in academic writing, in particular while you are working on your assessment tasks. The response to any assessment task will vary based on the type of assessment and the task instructions that are specified by your unit. Depending on the type of assessment, you need to use the relevant phrases that will assist the structure of that assessment (for example, essay, reflection, literature review, etc.) and help you communicate your ideas more effectively.
All students at all levels can use this phrasebank to help them identify alternative phrasing they can use in their academic writing.
General phrases to use while writing an essay
The following common phrases can be helpful to substantiate your ideas with examples and evidence, and show connections between ideas.
Compare and contrast
When analysing various sources (for example, while writing a literature review or an essay), you might need to compare and contrast multiple studies or readings to develop and support your argument. In your assignments, comparison explores things that are similar, and contrast analyses parts that are dissimilar.
Phrases for writing about arguments
While writing, you may need to use your comparing and contrasting skills to take a position or create and expand arguments. This skill is an essential aspect of critical thinking.
Arguments are used in almost any kind of writing at university. Arguments have many purposes in writing. Sometimes, you might need to create an overarching argument stating your position on the topic at the very onset of an assignment. Also, sometimes there will be arguments developed as you give recognition to facts, or support or oppose other viewpoints in relation to your topic.
You need to consider what you are required to do as you are progressing through your writing.
Discussing process and results
Whether you are conducting your own research, or discussing the research undertaken by existing studies, you will often need to describe specific processes and present the results of those processes.
Processes and their resulting findings can be complicated, so clear signposting is vital for helping your readers understand what has happened.
