Useful Academic Expressions

Useful Academic Expressions

These are some useful expressions used in academic writing:

1. Stating your own position on a Subject or Topic

• This paper aims at...
• This paper will be concerned with...
• The aim of this paper is to…
• The point of this article is to…
• It shall be argued in this paper/essay/review that…
• The view presented in this paper/essay/review is that..

2. Presenting your own point of view

• I strongly believe that...
• To my mind...
• As I see it....
• It seems to me evident/obvious that...
• I feel that...
• I think/contend that...
• There are many reasons why…
• It is important/necessary to point out that…
• The first thing to be considered is…
• It is a fact that…

3. Supporting your view and adding more information:

• The first/second reason why…is…
• Firstly/Secondly...
• not only ...but also...
• The most important…
• In addition, …
• Furthermore, …
• What is more, …
• Another reason is …
• A further point is …

4. Stating the view of Another Person on a Subject or Topic

• Harris's approch (1970, p. 1) can be described as follows...
• Chomsky (1965, p. 133) maintains/argues/asserts/claims/points out that...
• Th authors views ca be stated as follows...
• The opinion of Chomsky (1965, p. 133) is that…
• Chomsky (1965, p. 133)) has suggested that ….
• According to Smith (1992, p. 123), …
• It is thought by some theorists, for example, Chomsky (1965, p. 133) and Harris (1970, p. 1) that…

5. Agreeing with the Views of Others

• I don't agree with the authors ideas/thoughts...because...
• I don't think the author's views are accurate...because...
• Chomsky (1965, p. 133) is certainly/may be correct/accurate in saying that … because…
• As Chomsky (1965, p. 133) says/states …
• Like Chomsky (1965, p. 133), it can be agreed that …. because…

6. Disagreeing with the Views of Others

• Chomsky (1965, p. 133) fails to address the issue when he says "…" because …
• When Chomsky (1965, p. 133) argues that …. his reasoning is questionable because….
• One of the main arguments against Chomsky (1965, p. 133) and Harris (1970, p. 1) is that …
• Harris (1970) approach/position/methods is/are somewhat inadequate/inaccurate/insufficient because…
• There is some doubt that…

7. Indicating a Lack of Knowledge in a Particular Topic or Subject

• Despite the book's attempts to... it lacks a accuracy...
• What I find lacking in the research is...
• Although the research has tended to focus on…..rather less attention has been paid to…
• Most studies, such as Harris (1970, p. 1) and Chomsky (1965, p. 133) have emphasized/concentrated on/focused on inadequate /insufficient….

8. Drawing a Conclusion Using the Work of Others

• To sum up, ...
• In a nutshell, ...
• As a conclusion, ...
• As a summary, ...
• All in all, ...
• To conclude, ...
• Based on these authors, a connection can be made between…
• It can be concluded from what Jones (2004, p. 2) and Smith (2002, p. 1) have stated that... is …
• When Smith’s (2001, p.52) work/paper is looked at closely, it is seen that…
• One outcome of Smith’s (2001, p.52) work/paper/research is …