COMMENTS

  1. 164 Phrases and words You Should Never Use in an Essay—and ...

    Use: "This essay will introduce the idea that…". Not: "This essay will introduce the new idea that…". Joint collaboration. Use: "This paper describes a collaboration between…". Not: "This paper describes a joint collaboration between…". Knowledgeable expert. Use: "Kotler is an expert in the field of marketing.".

  2. Words and Phrases to Avoid in Academic Writing

    Words and Phrases to Avoid in Academic Writing. Published on February 6, 2016 by Sarah Vinz.Revised on September 11, 2023. When you are writing a dissertation, thesis, or research paper, many words and phrases that are acceptable in conversations or informal writing are considered inappropriate in academic writing.. You should try to avoid expressions that are too informal, unsophisticated ...

  3. 125 Words and Phrases You Should Never Use in an Essay

    Use "approximately" instead. absolute best. "Absolute" is redundant—just use "best." absolute worst. For the same reason as above, just use "worst." absolutely. Eliminate unnecessary adverbs in academic writing. absurd. Don't say something is absurd; show that it is by using logical argumentation.

  4. 33 Words not to use in your Essay (2024)

    I'll break these 33 words up into three sets: Set 1: Exaggerated Words not to use in an Essay. Set 2: Assertive Words not to use in an Essay. Set 3: Emotional Words not to use in an Essay. One major place where many students fall down is that they don't realize that the ideal essay writing format is very different from other writing styles.

  5. 20+ Words to Avoid Writing in Your Essay

    Not all words are useful. Some are clunky and redundant, while others make your writing mumbling. Some you use for word count rather than meaning, and they make essays sound complicated yet empty. For concise and meaningful writing, do your best to avoid these words and phrases in your admission essays. 1) Contractions. In essays, avoid ...

  6. Words and Phrases to Avoid in your College Essays

    10. Grammatical Errors, Fragments, and Run-on Sentences. When your college essay draft is complete, make sure to proofread it thoroughly. And have a teacher or talented writer proof it again for you. Avoid any spelling and grammatical errors, but also avoid fragments and run-on sentences.

  7. 8 Types of Words You Must Not Use in Your Essay

    Words such as "can't" and "mustn't" should not appear in your academic paper, even in the case where you have to write a persuasive essay in your own voice. You should write the words in full instead. 2. Personal Pronouns. Personal pronouns are okay for college admissions essays, persuasive essay writing, and opinion essays but bad ...

  8. The Most Important Words To Avoid in Academic Writing

    To recap, here are some phrases and words to avoid in academic writing: Personal Pronouns: Putting yourself in a paper weakens your research-based evidence. Cliches: Cliches are overused and aren't formal enough for a college essay. Contractions & Abbreviations: Shortening words is not appropriate for academic writing.

  9. Words to Avoid in Academic Writing

    Here are some imprecise words to avoid in academic writing. Vague word (s) Replacement (s) Example. a bit. Specify the exact amount. The experiment required a bit 10 mg of catalyst. a couple of/some. Specify the exact amount or replace with many, several, a number of.

  10. 15 Words you Should Never use in a College Admissions Essay

    Hate: instead of explicitly saying how you felt, you should paint a picture of the circumstance that led you to feel that way. Swag: Slang is not "lit" in a college admissions essay. Lachrymose (or other SAT words you don't really know): Don't use big SAT vocab to impress your reader.

  11. Words To Avoid In Writing (Including Rules and Phrases)

    Very, really, quite, rather, extremely. These filler words are really, very, quite, rather, extremely frustrating to read. At the end of the day, at this point of time, at this present time. These are empty phrases that don't add value to your piece. Use specific words like "ultimately", "now", "today", etc., instead.

  12. Words to Avoid in an Essay

    Though such situations occur rarely, it is better to know the words that should not be used in writing. For example, avoid such words in essay writing: Think (you can replace it with argue, brainstorm, consider, suppose, find, analyze); Big (replace with huge, immense, large, colossal, considerable, substantial, vast, gigantic)

  13. Avoid These Words and Phrases in Your Academic Writing

    Avoid using this vague phrase, because your academic writing should be specific and informative. Instead of saying a great deal of, provide exact measurements or specific quantities. "A lot". Similar to the previous phrase (a great deal of), a lot is too vague and informal for an academic paper. Use precise quantities instead of this overly ...

  14. Writing Resources

    This guideline includes almost all slang and almost all contractions. Note, however, that an essay should sound "smooth" when it is read aloud. (3) "judgmental" words such as stupid, dumb, awful, terrible, great, amazing, and so on, unless you explicitly defend your judgment. Some demeaning words such as dumb can almost always be specified ...

  15. 10 Words to Avoid in Academic Writing

    9. In Excess Of. This sentence appears in a lot of essays lately. It's a pompous, newly popular way of saying "more than" or "over.". It distorts the information and broadens the scope, which isn't ideal for academic writing that relies on research and data. 10.

  16. Words to Avoid in Essay for Effective Writing

    Avoid using words that are too exaggerated so as not to sound overbearing. It would be best to avoid words like " sure ," " absolutely ," " obviously ," "of course," "absolutely," "perfectly," or adjectives like "brilliant," "wonderful," and "terrific.". These words are used for emphasis but are often dramatic.

  17. How To Avoid Using "We," "You," And "I" in an Essay

    Maintaining a formal voice while writing academic essays and papers is essential to sound objective. One of the main rules of academic or formal writing is to avoid first-person pronouns like "we," "you," and "I.". These words pull focus away from the topic and shift it to the speaker - the opposite of your goal.

  18. 17 Weak Words to Avoid in Your Writing

    Exact Words to Avoid. 1. "really," "very". These words are usually unnecessary and can be cut out. If you need a stronger adjective, find one rather than adding "really" or "very" to it. (Exception: can be used sparingly in dialogue because it makes a character more realistic.) 2. "just". "Just" is another word similar ...

  19. Words NOT to Use in an Essay and Replacement Options : r/studytips

    Here they are: 1. Using informal language. For instance, you cannot use words like "cool," "okay," "so," yeah/nope," "stuff," "kinda," "gonna," "pretty sure," and others of that kind. In general, this rule applies to slang words, contractions (don't, I'm), and sometimes separable transitive phrasal verbs ...

  20. 40 Useful Words and Phrases for Top-Notch Essays

    4. That is to say. Usage: "That is" and "that is to say" can be used to add further detail to your explanation, or to be more precise. Example: "Whales are mammals. That is to say, they must breathe air.". 5. To that end. Usage: Use "to that end" or "to this end" in a similar way to "in order to" or "so".

  21. What are some words that we should avoid using in writing?

    There are times when they should be used, just like any other exception to a rule, but those words should be avoided with gusto. Obviously something started because that's how causality works. Obviously it's immediate because actions are not made in molasses. The exceptions, interestingly, are diametrical. You use started/began to indicate that ...

  22. Words to Use in an Essay: 300 Essay Words

    If you're struggling to choose the right words for your essay, don't worry—you've come to the right place! In this article, we've compiled a list of over 300 words and phrases to use in the introduction, body, and conclusion of your essay. Contents: Words to Use in the Essay Introduction. Words to Use in the Body of the Essay.

  23. 17 academic words and phrases to use in your essay

    4. Moreover; furthermore; in addition; what's more. These types of academic phrases are perfect for expanding or adding to a point you've already made without interrupting the flow altogether. "Moreover", "furthermore" and "in addition" are also great linking phrases to begin a new paragraph. Here are some examples:

  24. 10 Practical Ways to Improve Your Essay Writing Skills

    As you improve your essays, you'll learn when to use each type of voice to make your writing better. 7. Don't Repeat Things. It's important not to use the same words or ideas over and over in your essay. Try to use different words and sentence types to keep your reader interested and make your writing sound nice.