Can I use the word "perplexed" in academic writing? If not, would you please suggest another word?
Example sentence: When numerical examples provide different results, audience will be left perplexed on how the issue is solved.
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2Why couldn't you? It's proper English, not informal, and not rude or a colloquialism. Is there a reason you believe it to be inappropriate?– Roddy of the Frozen PeasCommented May 23, 2016 at 11:11
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Context please, eg sample sentence.– Max WilliamsCommented May 23, 2016 at 11:18
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@RoddyoftheFrozenPeas I usually search the literature I have if I am not sure about a specific word. However, I only found one academic article in my database that used the word "perplexed", hence, I wasn't sure of using it.– salhinCommented May 23, 2016 at 11:26
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@MaxWilliams I added an example sentence to the question.– salhinCommented May 23, 2016 at 11:27
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1You can also leave the "audience" out and say "Examples which yield different results will be perplexing". That is, they will perplex.– TimRCommented May 23, 2016 at 12:15
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2 Answers
While you can use perplexed or confused (or other synonyms), you may wish to consider terms such as un/clear or un/certain as well. These are more objective, in that they simply carry the meaning of a lack of understanding (clarity, certainty), and they thus lend themselves well to academic writing. Choose your words around whatever term you select, though - an audience may be left with a lack of clarity or understanding is less judgemental than could confuse an audience.
Yes, I think one can use perplex in academic writing but to make it sound better you can use confuse.
More than using a different word, I think you can change the sentence construction to make it sound more academic.
"Numerical examples providing different results can be confusing and would make issue too complex to be solved."