12 Common Errors in Academic English – and how to fix them!

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca. And in today's lesson, I'll explain twelve common errors that students make in academic English. Now, what's academic English? It's the English that you need to use in school, college, or university when you're reading, writing, listening, and speaking -- okay -- ideally, but most importantly, when you're writing. Now, what's the difference between academic English and general English? Well, academic English in general -- there are many differences, but in general, academic English is more formal; it's more objective, and also, it has to use a lot of referencing. You always have to let people know where you got your information from. You have to cite the source. You have to give the source. You can't claim to write something and claim it as your own. Okay? If you do that, that's called "plagiarism". It's a very serious offense in academic circles. But today, we're not going to talk about how to reference a source. We're going to talk about the two other aspects: How to write more formally and objectively, and what are the ten common errors that students make when they are not formal enough. Okay? So not ten, twelve. Here we go.

So first of all, using contractions. All of these are what you should not do, okay? So avoid using contractions. Sorry. In this case, don't use contractions at all. So don't say "don't"; say "do not". Don't say "isn't"; say "is not". All right? That's academic English.

Next, avoid phrasal verbs. So for example, instead of saying "go up" -- "Prices went up. -- say, "Prices increased." Instead of saying "take away", say "removed". Avoid these multi-part verbs. All right? It's not as formal.

Next, avoid idioms. Instead of saying, "It was A1", say, "It was excellent." All right? Avoid slang. Don't say "kids"; say "children". Use the proper terminology for various subjects.

Avoid pronouns. So for example, instead of saying, "You can see from the graph..." -- all right. We use the pronoun "you". Instead of that, say, "The graph shows..." all right?

Next, avoid negatives. For example, instead of saying, "Something is not effective", just say, "It is ineffective." Instead of saying something is "not positive", say, "It's negative." So avoid these kinds of negatives.

Next, avoid clichés. Now, what are "clichés"? "Clichés" are a kind of idiom, basically -- commonly used expressions. All right? And so on. Kind of a common wisdom about different things. And so you want to avoid these kinds of expressions. For example, instead of saying, "When all is said and done" -- all right? We use that in conversation, but you don't want to use it in your academic writing. Instead of saying that, you'd probably use an expression like "in conclusion". All right?

So next, there are certain kinds of punctuation -- there are actually lots of rules about punctuation. And the kind of punctuation, the style of punctuation that you use in academic writing depends on the style guide that you have been asked to follow in your school, college, or university. Some very well-known style guides are the MLA or APA. These are certain style guides, and they tell you everything about how you need to write, what rules you need to follow, what are the rules of punctuation and of quotations marks, of this and that. Okay? A lot more than what I'm covering here. But in general, I can just tell you that we don't see that many exclamation marks in academic writing, okay? We do see a lot of semicolons. All right? That's kind of -- when do we use a semicolon? Do you remember? Okay. What's the difference between a period and a semicolon? A period clearly divides two sentences. And a semicolon has one sentence which is a complete sentence; then you put the semicolon. You do not capitalize the next letter, and the next sentence is connected, and you want to show that it's connected to the first sentence, which is a very academic, intellectual, philosophical thing to do. So learn to use semicolons if you're in university especially.

[xucanman]

Rebecca is a very nice teacher. I am a postgraduate, and I am preparing myself for writing an Engligh paper. This lesson is very good for me.

[Andee]

you are a real teacher mam;best among all other engVid faculties.

[lisawirsig]

This video is also helpful for native English speakers who want to improve their Academic English. Thanks Rebecca!

[samanthalatulippe]

I will definitely use this next week to help teach academic writing to my students. Thank you!

[PianistaPeralta]

It is difficult to find a great lesson like this! Thank you very much! Lot of hugs from Brasil!

[annecezuna]

You are very good at teaching and giving the the knowledge to all learners.
This VDO is really useful. Thank you Rebecca.

[jennychinny]

oh my goodness thank you for this information even though it will be difficult in my first semester

[farahfazli]

Thank you much ma'am.
Shortly I am going to start with university, these are very helpful tips.
can you please make some more videos for the aspirant students of university

[hunkydude]

this is pretty neat, how elavate your grammar . thanks Rebecca.

[dhh]

This video is fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

[ZuleynerMoreno]

Great lesson. The test was easy to do and I got 100%
Your explanation is very clear.

[jhonatansepulveda]

This is a good video, and we can try to use this advices when we are speaking. All our ideas should have  a reason or a way of argue our way of think.

[alvarofernandes]

Rebecca, you are the best teacher in the world. Thank you very much. Alvaro from Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL.

[kwokwingsum]

Thank you.Its amazing of you to upload this free video, learn so much from it.

[christersvensson]

Dear Rebecca, could you explain the use of single quotation marks and normal ones, fairly common in older academic texts the use of single ones and they do express a useful distinction when normal ones feel too bulky. Best regards Chris

[bluesky]

hello, thank you for the video. i have my thesis to write it and i'm so afraid to fall in such errors

[felicianohernandez]

Excellent lesson, as always! Thank you!

[ritasahna]

Excellent teaching way of teaching is very good and simple

[AllForManKind]

Two thumbs for Mrs Rebecca for the clues.Thank you Mam!

[lavieenrose]

Thank you for the amazing lecture, I have an upcoming essay and I will definitely be using these tips