hi there my name is Emma and in today's
video we are going to look at five ways
to improve academic essay writing okay
or TOEFL writing IELTS writing this
doesn't have to do with when you write a
letter to your friends okay we're
talking specifically about formal
writing maybe business writing or
academic writing okay so let's get
started my first tip on how to improve
writing is do not use contractions okay
and again this is for academic writing
so what is the contraction don't can't
shouldn't couldn't wouldn't isn't
haven't hasn't okay so it's the short
form of for example don't is the
contraction of do not okay so it's
better to actually write out the word in
full in academic and formal business
writing so instead of don't use do not
instead of can't use cannot and notice
how with do not it's actually two words
cannot is just one word shouldn't comes
should not couldn't be comes could not
wouldn't would not isn't is not haven't
have not hasn't has not okay so don't
use these use these okay so now let's
look at tip number two so tip number two
is avoid there is or there are
okay so why do we avoid there is or
there are
well one of the reasons is when we write
we want to write our ideas clear and
concise meaning we don't want these long
sentences we want our sentences to be to
the point there are ads extra words that
are not needed so let's look at some
examples
a there are many issues that students
face at university so that's an okay
sentence but if I wanted to make it a
better sentence that is more appropriate
for academic writing I would change it I
get rid of their art and I would say
instead students face many sorry the
students face many issues at university
so you don't need there is or there are
a second example there are many
development projects that the UN
supports okay again we don't need there
are we can just change it to the UN
supports many development projects by
getting rid of there is in there are
your sentences become stronger and to
the point so tip number three is avoid
words so don't use words in academic
writing such as really vary a lot I'm
going to add another one so okay this
weekend's you're writing your writing
isn't as strong if you use these types
of words so let's look at some examples
many students think University is very
hard okay so now we have very how could
I improve the sentence well instead of
using very hard just use a stronger word
in the first place say
many students think university is
difficult okay there are many cars well
there are just broke rule sorry many
cars speed very fast you get rid of the
very in that sentence come up with a
stronger word for it so that's like a
number B sentence B bill 399 is very or
sorry is really controversial so again
an academic writing avoid the usage of
really we could just say bill 399 is
controversial the sentence sounds better
it sounds more formal okay see a lot of
the students I didn't finish the
sentence I could say a lot of the
students live on campus now instead of
using a lot we could use the word many
students so we use many if we can count
the noun if it's countable so instead of
using a lot use many or if our noun is
not countable if it's a non-count noun
we can use much
get rid of a lot so instead of a lot of
the students now we have many students
many students face problems in their
first year of university much time is
wasted because of procrastination okay
so many and much are both words that are
better to use than a lot and again the
rule is avoid the usage of really very a
lot and so so our fourth tip when it
comes to academic writing is unless so
if you are in the sciences it's okay to
use the passive don't use it too much
but it's it's okay and normal to use the
passive voice and I'll explain what that
is in a second but if you are studying
humanities social science history
psychology these types of subjects do
not use the passive voice use the active
voice so for most university writing we
use the active voice so what is the
passive voice and what is the active
voice so here is an example of the
passive voice healthcare reforms were
implemented by Obama okay so notice
first we have a form of the verb to be
and then we have the past participle of
implement in this case implemented CC
and Edie and then oftentimes we have the
word by someone so this is an example of
a passive voice sentence healthcare
reforms were implemented by Obama so
what is the problem with using the
passive voice well it takes away the
fact that Obama is the one who
implemented the reforms the sentence is
sort of weak a little bit awkward it
would be much better
if we had the actor who is Obama so the
person the verb and the object Obama
implemented healthcare reforms so this
is the active voice okay so if you can
have the subject then the verb then the
object instead of the passive voice so
here is another example of this if I
wrote in the passive voice I would write
the war was here we have the form of the
be verb 1 so here's the past participle
of win by so another keyword the French
the war was won by the French so this is
again a passive voice sentence it's a
passive sentence but it's still a little
bit weak in academic writing we want
strong sentences and a strong sentence
has the actor or the person performing
the action at the beginning of the
sentence so instead a better sentence
would be the French won the war so the
final tip in this video is when you
write academically use strong verbs okay
so what is the strong verb and what is a
weak verb so I'm going to give you an
example I could say he gave assistance
to my friend okay this is a very weak
way of saying he gave assistance to my
friend in a stronger way I could instead
just say he assisted my friend so what
is the difference between these two
sentences well in this sentence
assistance is a noun so a better way to
write this sentence anytime you have a
verb and a noun and you look at the noun
and it could be its own verb use this in
a verbal form instead so for example he
gave assistance
he assisted okay so this is stronger
let's look at another example so here I
have a weak verb made an objection
he made an objection okay so again we
have a verb and then a noun
objection but objection can be its own
verb so to make it stronger we get rid
of made and we turn objection into its
verbal form objected he objected so he
objected is better than he made an
objection Hey another example here we
have our example of the weak verb she
conducted an investigation she conducted
an investigation well when I look here I
see the word investigation and I think
does investigation does this noun have a
verb form well yes it does investigate
so instead of saying conduct an
investigation she investigated something
it's a lot better it's stronger okay
finally for a fourth example the weak
verb is did an audit they did an audit
on wesley snipes I don't know for a joke
maybe they did an audit on someone so
again I see the word audit so here's a
verb and here's a noun I look at this
noun and I think audit is there a verb
form of the word audit yes there is
Wesley Snipes was audited but again I
told you not to use the passive so I
could say the government audited Wesley
Snipes okay so there you have it five
tips that will quickly improve your
academic writing so if you would like to
practice some of these tips come visit
us at our website at wwlp.com until next
time