Questions tagged [academia]
Questions related to academic English or English for academic purposes, i.e. the English used in higher education.
194
questions
0
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0answers
21 views
Should we not use abbreviations at all in academic writing? [duplicate]
I submitted a paper to a computer science conference, and the reviewer mentioned that I should correct grammar/writing issues throughout the paper.
Some of the things he/she mentioned:
don't -> do ...
-1
votes
0answers
34 views
Less intensive way of saying “negate/nullify”
I am trying to revise the following statement:
A negate/nullify the contribution of B.
The nullify or negate seems too strong. I want to imply the fact that A will make, say, 80% of B's contribution ...
0
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0answers
31 views
More formal way of saying “taking almost all”
I am trying to revise the following statement:
A takes almost all the rewards which are usually given to clients contributing important attributes.
The takes almost all seems not very formal and ...
2
votes
1answer
40 views
“The problem under consideration” vs “The considered problem” vs “The problem considered”
I'm writing a research essay.
Is there any difference between the provided three variants? If there is, which is best to use?
0
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2answers
47 views
Looking for a verb that means division into multiple branches
I am looking for a verb that describes division into multiple branches. The context is an academic report that describes a graph that contains four curves over the range of -3 to 3. Over half the ...
1
vote
0answers
53 views
What are the rules for pluralising abbreviations?
Especially in academic writing, pluralisation of abbreviations is a very handy device: ‘p’→‘pp’¹ is ‘page’→‘pages’, ‘ed’→‘edd’ becomes ‘editors’, ‘ll’ is ‘lines’, ‘nn’ is ‘notes’.² The rule (given ‘ed’...
2
votes
2answers
65 views
“Consent” in passive voice to refer to subject giving consent?
I noticed a usage I consider odd while copy editing, and I'm hoping someone can explain it. Here are two examples from published academic work:
Participants were consented to the study between 13 ...
0
votes
2answers
36 views
Is there a more popular alternative to the term 'flexibilization'?
Flexibilization refers to the changing work practices by which firms no longer use internal labor markets or implicitly promise employees lifetime job security, but rather seek flexible employment ...
0
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4answers
62 views
Violence incidents or violent incidents? [closed]
In an academic paper I discuss violent situations. Is it correct to refer to this as 'violence incidents'? Or should I refer to it as 'violent incidents' instead?
0
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0answers
22 views
Saying a period of time of -ties (ex: the 80s to 90s) for a research paper correctly
I'm trying to write a sentence that mentions a specific period of time, though I'm not sure if I wrote it correctly or not. Here's what I have.
We have succeeded in the era of the 1960s to 1980s
...
1
vote
0answers
29 views
Using “Sequence” in music context
As a part of my academic paper, I wish to use the "Sequence" word.
Here is the problem:
As you can see in the picture, the "Start Time" of each note is mentioned on the time axis. ...
2
votes
2answers
74 views
left arrow, left-pointing arrow, or leftwards arrow? [closed]
In the context of a figure caption referencing a left-pointing arrow in the figure in the following parenthetical way:
Fig. 1 | ... Here I describe some process (left arrow). ...
A colleague ...
0
votes
2answers
43 views
How to say that something doesn't get divided?
For my work, I cluster genes in a way that some genes can be in a cluster of size 10, and others in a cluster of 1, i.e. the gene is a singleton and has no other genes to cluster with. After that, I ...
0
votes
5answers
75 views
Choosing the right title for my academic publication [closed]
I'm writing a computer science paper where the concept is "many small pieces would work better that a single big one". Basically the collaboration of multiple small entities would be better ...
0
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0answers
38 views
“What is x?” as a non-question title
I am working on my PhD thesis. I would like to have section title like "What is x"? (Specifically, "What is Information Flow Security?") However, I wish to avoid rhetorical ...
0
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0answers
139 views
“In the preceding paragraph” vs “in the last paragraph”
I am writing an academic paper.
After finishing paragraph A, I want to refer to A in paragraph B, which follows A.
I am confused with choosing "in the preceding paragraph" or "in the ...
0
votes
0answers
94 views
“Represent” vs “stand for” vs “means”
I am writing an academic paper.
I wrote the following sentences
Notation A ↔ B stands for that A corresponds to B. Qualid and ident
stand for qualified identifiers and simple identifiers,
...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
“During the proof search” vs “during searching the proof”
I am writing an academic paper and use "during searching the proof" in my paper.
But my friend suggested me to use "during the proof search".
I also feel "during the proof ...
0
votes
1answer
62 views
Founding father/mother or founding figure?
I'm quoting an author who is known as the "founding father" of a scientific discipline. However, I feel that I want to make it sound less patriarchal. Of course, many disciplines had women ...
0
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0answers
54 views
Could we say “discuss future work”?
I am writing my thesis. I have a sentence
Finally, we conclude the thesis and discuss future work in Section 6.
My friend told me that "discuss future work" was not appropriate, and I ...
0
votes
0answers
47 views
“one is … another is … ” and “the first is … the second is …”
I am writing an academic paper. I use the following representations:
However, up to now, far too little attention has been devoted to two
problems of the state-of-the-art proof automation systems. ...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
“make them widely used” and “lead to them being widely used”
I have two alternatives in an academic paper. The first is
Additionally, the expressive logic foundations of ITPs lead to them
being widely used
The other is
Additionally, the expressive logic ...
0
votes
0answers
30 views
“constructing proofs directly by hand” or “directly constructing proofs by hand”
There are two alternatives for a sentence
Nevertheless, developing automatically verifiable proofs by proof assistants usually takes more time than constructing proofs directly by hand.
and
...
0
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0answers
35 views
How to express the “multiple” of one thing's advantage over another？
For example, car A runs at a speed of 30 km/h, and car B at a speed of 90 km/h. How can I express the multiple of B faster than A?
B has 3 times advantage over A in speed.
B has 2 times advantage ...
0
votes
1answer
67 views
Whilst or while, etc - Oxford Spelling
I am writing an academic paper and would like to use the Oxford spelling throughout (I am native British). I read that Oxford spelling generally follows British English other than a few exceptions, ...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
worry vs worries
I saw them go through unemployment and worry about putting food on the table.
I saw them go through unemployment and worries of putting food on the table.
Which is grammatically correct?
0
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0answers
23 views
Is this sentence correct? ( adj+noun order)
"...possibly generated by the damages intensification of the hexagonal lattice caused by the repeated impact of the steel balls during the milling process."
First of all, from my point of view, damage ...
0
votes
2answers
83 views
Is this sentence correct? Could you please help me?
This process has been used to aggregate CNTs into metal matrices such as silicon, copper, aluminum and nickel.
It sounds ambiguous to me since I cannot tell by who, when or to what extent has this ...
1
vote
0answers
21 views
Is this collocation correct?
"This process was used to identify..."
I am not sure if "used" is correctly used here along with the word "process". Do you think it is correct, or should I replace it with "performed" or "carried out"...
1
vote
0answers
31 views
Is this sentence correct in the way that “and” is used?
"It is a relatively inexpensive process, and also preserves the involved materials in the solid-state, avoiding possible phase limitations."
It doesn't sound so good to me, but I am not a native ...
0
votes
1answer
442 views
Convention of writing percentage range
I am writing to inquire the convention of writing the following percentage range in academic writing:
We reduce the extra cost from 99.9% to 12%--24% (depending on different configuration schemes).
...
0
votes
0answers
53 views
Is “get stuck” a proper term in academic writing?
I am writing to inquire the usage of "get stuck" in academic writing. Here is my draft:
this design could get stuck in a bad local minima and therefore is not desired.
I use Google Scholar to ...
1
vote
1answer
145 views
The phrase “too simple”
I've seen three different peer reviewers criticize parts of scientific manuscripts as being "too simple", with little elaboration as to what changes are desired or what it means to be "too simple". ...
4
votes
3answers
288 views
What can I call a longer passage in an academic work (text equivalent to “Figure”)?
I want to number blocks of texts in my work (parts of a movie script or something the creators said) so that I can refer to them throughout the essay. Is there an equivalent to 'Figure' to label these ...
0
votes
1answer
417 views
What does “is seen to be” mean?
I am writing an academic article and to give conservative opinion, I am thinking to use the following statement:
XXX is seen to give worse results and therefore excluded in our report.
I am ...
0
votes
1answer
117 views
Looking for single word to represent “degree of completion”
I am writing a paper. There is a term used in my work that represents "the degree of completion", i.e., 32% in the phrase "32% was completed". I tried "progress" but think it's not intuitive and "...
0
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0answers
35 views
capitalization of the word section, theorem,… if refering using both number and adjective/name
I have a question related to Capital letters in "Theorem", "Conjecture" etc, Capitalization of "Theorem 1" in mathematics papers, https://mathoverflow.net/questions/27693/...
1
vote
2answers
56 views
A better word/phrase to describe “a more…” in a scientific paper
I am writing a scientific paper on how a cancer staging system may be improved. However, I am a non-native English speaker, and I am concerned that my current title reflects that too much.
Please, ...
0
votes
2answers
256 views
Does “corroborate” in a scientific context imply confirmation rather “either confirmation or rejection” of findings from previous studies?
I am a non-native English speaker writing a scientific paper.
I have question concerning the word corroborate. In my native language, one might say that a research project aim to corroborate ...
0
votes
1answer
45 views
Should I use a hyphen in “patient tailored” vs “patient-tailored”?
Being a non-native English speaker, I was wondering which is most correct?
(1) Patient-tailored staging of xx carcinoma, or
(2) Patient tailored staging of xx carcinoma?
It is for a scientific ...
1
vote
0answers
51 views
Tense in Academic Writing
What is the correct tense when writing an academic paper? For example, assuming [1] is a reference, are the following sentences correct?
Alice et al. [1] showed that ...
[1] shows that ...
We show ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
word usage in academic writing - possesses, beyond, ability [closed]
Could you help me to check if this sentence is ok?
Beyond having similar osmosis potential to polymer sponges, it is desirable that the covering material possesses the ability of being dispersed by ...
1
vote
1answer
137 views
What are typical “emotional absolutes” and why we should avoid them in academic writing?
I am working on a revision of an academic research paper. We performed some empirical studies and wrote a paper to demystify some common misunderstanding of certain techniques.
One reviewer gave me ...
-1
votes
1answer
106 views
What are the synonum of “This is accepted” for academia writing
I'm looking for an academic synonym for "This is accepted with". For example, I want to say This is accepted with the measure X or This is accepted when the X measure increases or this is accepted ...
0
votes
1answer
91 views
Can I use alma mater before graduating?
I'm currently writing cover letters for my next position, and I want to refer to the institution I will graduate from. Can I use the term alma mater despite not graduating yet?
Thanks!
2
votes
6answers
157 views
Noun opposite of a theoretician?
What do you call someone who is concerned with / active in practice and application rather than theory? That is, what is the noun opposite of "theoretician"?
I've looked on thesaurus.com, WordHippo....
1
vote
1answer
38 views
Single verb to refer a reader to the source of information in academic English
I would like to refer a reader in my research text to the source of information. I wrote in my thesis: "confer Proposition X" or "confer Section A". However, the reviewers suggested I should use ...
1
vote
2answers
132 views
Use of present tense in academic writing
I'm a graduate theology student, and I'm having some trouble with verb tenses. In my first chapter I explore the life and work of the author who is the subject of my study. I am often narrating in the ...
0
votes
1answer
70 views
“Many” as a pronoun at the beginning of a sentence
I am unable to decide if I should use 'many' to express "many people" in an academic writing. It goes like:
Many claim that ambiguity is a result of an inefficient parsing.
Do you see any problem ...
0
votes
1answer
59 views
Formal way of saying “dig it out”
I am writing an academic manuscript to describe the action of "digging certain stuff out." For instance, given an image containing several pedestrians, my image analysis techniques can extract those ...
