Hi there, my name is Emma
and in today's video
We are going to look at, five ways
to improve academic
essay writing
Okay? Or TOEFL writing, IELTS writing.
This doesn't have to do with
when you write a letter to your friends.
Okay? We're talking specifically about
formal writing, maybe business writing,
or academic writing.
Okay, so let's get started.
My first tip on how to improve writing
is do not use contractions. Okay? And again this is for academic writing.
Awesome
don't, can't
shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't ,
isn't, haven't, hasn't.
Okay so it's the short form of, (Two Words Put Into One)
for example, don't is the contraction of do not.
Okay?
So, it's better to actually write out the word in full
in academic and formal business writing.
So, instead of don't, use do not. Instead of can't, use cannot.
And notice how with do not, it's actually two words.
Cannot is just one word.
Shouldn't becomes should not.
Couldn't becomes could not.
Wouldn't — would not.
Isn't — is not.
Haven't — have not
Hasn't — has not. Okay.
So don't use these,
use these.
Okay. So now let's look at Tip #2.
So Tip #2
is avoid there is or there are.
Okay?
So why do we avoid there is or there are ?
Well one of the reasons is
when we write, we want to write our ideas clear and concise,
meaning we don't want these long sentences,
we want our sentences to be to the point.
There are adds extra words that are not needed.
So let's look at some examples.
a) There are many issues that students face at university.
So, that's an okay sentence, but if I wanted to make it a better sentence,
that is more appropriate for academic writing,
I would change it. I'd get rid of there are
and I would say instead
Students face many issues at university.
So you don't need there is or there are.
A second example
There are many development projects that the UN supports.
Okay?
Again, we don't need there are.
We can just change it
to The UN supports many development projects.
By getting rid of there is and there are
your sentences become stronger, and to the point.
So tip number three, is
Avoid words
so don't use words
in academic writing
such as really, very, a lot,
I'm gunna add another one, so.
Okay?
This weakens your writing.
Your writing isn't as strong if you use these types of words.
So let's look at some examples.
Many students think university is very hard.
Ok, so now, we have very.
How could I improve the sentence?
Well, instead of using very hard,
Just use a stronger word in the first place.
say,
Many stuents think university is difficult.
There are many cars...
well there, I just broke a rule
many cars speed very fast you get rid of the very in that sentence
come up with a stronger word for it
so let's look at number B sentence be
bill 399 is very
oh sorry is really controversial
so again an academic writing avoid the usage of really we get to say built 39
is controversial
the sentence sounds better it sounds more formal him see a lot of the
students
I didn't finish the sentence I could say a lot of the students live on campus now
instead of using a lot
we could use the word many students so we use many if we can count the noun if
it's countable
instead of using a lot use many or if our noun is not countable if it's a
non-count noun
we can use much
get rid of a lunch instead of a lot of the students now we have many students
many students face problems in their first year of University much time is
wasted because of procrastination
ok so many and much are both words that are better to use than a lot and again
the rule is avoid the usage of really vary a lot and so so our fourth tip when
it comes to academic writing is unless so if you are in the sciences
it's ok to use the passive don't use it too much but it's it's okay and normal
to use the passive voice and i'll explain what that is in a second but if
you are studying the humanities social science history psychology these types
of subjects do not use the passive voice use the active voice so for most
University Writing we use the active voice
so what is the passive voice and what is the active voice
so here is an example of the passive voice health care reforms were
implemented by Obama
ok so notice first we have a form of the verb to be and then we have the past
participle of implement in this case implemented C and E and then oftentimes
we have the word by someone so this is
an example of a passive voice sentence health care reforms were implemented by
Obama
so what is the problem with using the passive voice well it takes away the
fact that Obama is the one who implemented the reforms
the sentence is sort of weak a little bit awkward it would be much better if
we had the actor who is Obama's of the person the verb and the object
Obama implemented health care reforms
so this is the active voice ok so if you can have the subject and the verb than
the object instead of the passive voice
so here is another example of this if I wrote in the passive voice I would write
the war was over here we have the form of the be verb 1
here's the past participle a win by another keyword the French the war was
won by the French
so this is again a passive voice sentence in the passive sentence but
it's still a little bit weak in academic writing we want strong scent and food
and a strong sentence has the actor or the person performing the action at the
beginning of the sentence
so instead a better sentence would be the French won the war
so the final tip in this video is when you write academically use strong verbs
ok so what is the strong verb and what is a week
herb i'm going to give you an example I could say he gave assistance to my
friend
ok this is a very weak way of saying he gave assistance to my friend and a
stronger way I could instead just say he assisted my friend
so what is the difference between these two sentences
well in this sentence assistance is a noun
so a better way to write this sentence
anytime you have a verb a noun and you look at the noun and it could be its own
verb use this in a verbal form instead
so for example he gave assistance should become he assisted
ok so this is stronger let's look at another example
so
I have a week verb made an objection
he made an objection ok so again we have a verb and then a noun
objection but objection can be its own verb
so to make it stronger we get rid of made and we turn
objection into its verbal form objected he objected so he objected is better
than he made an objection
hey another example here we have our example of the week verb
she conducted an investigation
she conducted an investigation but when I look here I see the word investigation
and i think does investigation does this town have a verb form
well yes it does investigate
so instead of saying conduct an investigation
she investigated something a lot better it's stronger
ok finally for a fourth example the week
verb is did an audit
they did an audit on Wesley Snipes I don't know important maybe they did an
audit on someone
so again I see the word audit
so here's a verb and here's a noun
I look at this now and I think audit is there a verb form of the word audit
yes there is Wesley Snipes was audited
but again I told you not to use the passive so i could say
the government audited Wesley Snipes
ok so there you have it five tips that will quickly improve your academic
writing so if you would like to practice some of these tips
come visit us at our website at www.engvid.com until next time