Academic Vocabulary

There have been many attempts to define what exactly academic vocabulary is. Many people think that academic vocabulary is more “difficult” than general English vocabulary. However, academic vocabulary is not necessarily “difficult vocabulary” – using academic words is more a question of finding appropriate language, in a suitable style, than anything else.

An important feature of English academic writing is a tendency to choose more formal alternative when selecting words of different parts of speech.

Verbs

English academic style makes use of formal verbs, often of Latin origin. In Ukrainian textbooks, such verbs are usually referred to as "general scientific verbs" (загальнонаукова лексика). Among the most frequently used verbs are as follows:

to apply – make practical use of to affect – have an influence on, act on to clarify – make clear to complete – finish to emerge – appear to focus on – concentrate on to indicate – point to neglect – pay no attention to to obtain – get to occur – happen to perform – do to produce – make to require – demand to suppose – guess, take as a fact

Collocations

Collocations are relatively stable word-combinations that occur regularly. Their knowledge and appropriate use is very important for successful academic writing in English:

to give rise to burning issues to take into account to shed light to submit the paper preliminary results integral part hotly debated issue theoretical framework reliable sources and data

Logical connectors

Logical connectors (transitional expressions) are linking words and phrases which establish the logical relationship between ideas within a sentence or between sentences. They also improve the flow of writing, that is a smooth movement from one idea or piece of information in a text to the text. Logical connectors are thus guideposts for readers that help them to better follow the text. As transitional expressions show various kinds of logical relations, they may be grouped according to their meaning and function. For example, they may perform functions of comparison, concession, conclusion, contrast, enumeration, illustration, intensification.

Latin Expressions

Like other European languages, academic English makes use of Latin abbreviations and expressions. You must have also met some of them while reading Ukrainian academic texts, where such expressions are easy to notice, because they are often written in the Roman alphabet. In English texts, such expressions (rather than abbreviations) are sometimes given in italics.

Latin Abbreviations

Expression	Full form	Modern meaning
A.D.	Anno Domini	in the year of our Lord
a.m.	ante meridiem	before noon
cf.	confer	compare
e.g.	exempli gratia	for example
etc.	et cetera	and other things; and so on
i.e.	id est	that is to say
N.B.	nota bene	take note
p.m.	post meridiem	after noon

Latin Expressions

Expression	Meaning
a priori	reasoning that precedes the experience
a posteriori	reasoning based on past experience
ab ovo	from the beginning
ad infinitum	without limit; forever
errata	list of errors, misprints, etc. in a printed book
post factum	after something has happened