Summary Academic Writing phrasebank

Academic Writing: Manchester phrasebank sum

General language functions
 Being cautious
o Devices that distance the author from a proposition
o Being cautious when giving explanations
o Being cautious when explaining results
 Being critical
o Highlighting inadequacies of previous studies
o Identifying a weakness in a single study or paper
o Offering constructive suggestions
 Classifying and listing
o Classifying a topic
o Describing a specific system of classification
o Commenting on a system of classification
 Compare and contrast
o Introducing differences
o Introducing similarities
o Comparing within one sentence
 Defining terms
o Introductory phrases
o General meanings or application of meanings
o Indicating varying definitions
 Describing trends
o Describing trends
o Highlighting a trend in a table or chart
o Describing high and low points in figures
 Describing quantities
o Describing fractions
o Describing proportions
o Describing percentages
 Explaining causality
o Verbs indicating causality
o Verbs indicating contributive agency
o Nouns indicating causality
 Giving examples
o Examples as the main information in a sentence
o Examples as additional information
o Reporting cases as support
 Signalling transition
o Previewing sections of text
o Introducing a new topic
o Reintroducing a topic
 Writing about the past
o Time phrases associated with the use of the simple past tense: specific times or periods
of time in the past