ACADEMIC DISCOURSEB. Mitsikopoulou

GENERALIZATION, QUALIFICATION AND CAUTION

IN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

How do we talk about percentages and information form a chart or a table?

GENERALIZATION

When you generalize research findings, you should always try to be as precise as possible.

“X is bigger than Y”

doesn't really tell you very much: you need to make you terms of comparison clear, and then state exactly how much x is bigger than y.

So similarly, stating that

“There are 20% more students in Higher Education in the UK than in Japan”

only makes complete sense when we know the exact number of students.

Note these phrases (Swales & Feak 1994)

Almost exactly twice as many boys ... A marginally smaller percentage of girls ... Slightly over twice as many boys ... Close to three times as many boys ... Boys exceeded girls ... by a ratio of 2.5 to 1.

The language of generalization (Jordan 1999)

X is

considerablya great deal of(very) much(quite) a lotrathersomewhata littleslightlyscarcelyhardlyonly just

smallerbigger

cheaperthan..

X is

exactlypreciselyjustvirtuallypracticallymore or lessalmostnearlyapproximatelyabout

the same as ...

X and Y are

differentdissimilar in every way/respect.

totallycompletelyentirelyquite

different.

X istotallycompletelyentirelyquite

different from Y.

X is not quite so/asbigexpensive

etc

as...

X is notexactlyentirelyquite

the same as ...

Introductory Sentences: Similarities

The mode of processing used by the right brain is similar to that used by the left brain.

The mode of processing used by the right brain is comparable in complexity to that used by the left brain.

The effects of nitrous dioxide on human health are similar to those of ground level ozone.

Both X and Y generally take place in a "safe environment". There are a number of similarities between X and Y. Numerous studies have compared the brain cells in man

and animals and found that the cells are essentially identical.

Introductory Sentences: Differences

X is different from Y in a number of respects. There are a number of important differences between

X and Y. X differs from Y in a number of important ways. Smith (2003) found distinct differences between X

and Y. Women and men differ not only in physical attributes

but also in the way in which they ......

Comparison within one sentence

In contrast to oral communities, it is very difficult to get away from calendar time in literate societies.

Oral societies tend to be very much anchored in the present, whereas literate societies have a very definite awareness of the past.

Women tend to perform better/worse than men on tests of perceptual speed.

Comparison across two sentences

Tests show that women generally can recall lists of words or paragraphs of text better than men. On the other hand, men usually perform better on tests that require the ability to mentally rotate an image in order to solve a problem.

Speech functions are less likely to be affected in women because the critical area is less often affected. A similar pattern emerges in studies of the control of hand movements.

Comparison

Commonly used transitions:

Likewise,Similarly,Along the same lines,In the same way,

1. _______ and ___________ both show ________________ 2. _______ and _____________ are like in that they both ____________.  3. __________ and _____________ all show _____________. 4. Likewise, both are __________________ 5. Similarly, ___________ and __________ are __________________ 6. In the same way, _______ and __________ are __________________.

Contrast

Commonly used transitions:

Although, but, by contrast, Conversely,Despite the fact, even though, however, in contrast, Nevertheless,Nonetheless,On the contrary,On the other hand, regardless,Whereas,While,yet,

1. _______ is ________, while ___________ is __________________. 2. __________ is___________, but ____________ is _______________ 3. _________ and ____________ are different in that _______________.  4. While ________ shows __________, __________ shows __________. 5. ______ is _______, on the other hand _______ is __________. 6. ________________, yet _______________________.  7.Although _________________, ________________________ 

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QUALIFICATION

% QUANTITY FREQUENCY PROBABILITY

Adverbs Adjectives Verbs

100%

0%

All, EveryEachMostA majority ofMany/muchA lot ofEnough

SomeA number ofSeveral

A minority of

A few/littleFew/little

No/none

Always

Usual(ly)Normal(ly)General(ly)On the wholeRegular(ly)OftenFrequent(ly)SometimesOccasional(ly)Rare(ly)Seldom

Hardly ever

Never

Certainl(ly)DefinitelyUndoubtedlyClearlyPresumablyProbably

ConceivablyPossiblyPerhapsMay beUncertainly

CertainDefiniteUndoubtedClear(un)likelyprobably

Possible

Uncertain

WillIs/areMust/have toShouldWouldOught to

MayMightCan Could

Will notIs/are notCannotCould not

A scale of qualification (Jordan 1999: 68)

CAUTION

Cautious academic style

It is wise to use a cautious tone in your writing, because very often you are discussing issues in which there is no absolutely right answer, or absolutely correct definition, or absolutely perfect solution. If you present something as being the best way, it might easily be shown not to be the best way! So it's usually better to 'suggest', rather than 'state.'

Feature ExamplesIntroductory verbs e.g. seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, be

sure, indicate, suggest

Certain lexical verbs e.g. believe, assume, suggest

Certain modal verbs: e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could

Modal adverbs e.g. probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably (compare with less tentative adverbs like certainly, definitely, clearly)

Modal adjectives e.g. probable, possible (compare with less tentative adjectives like certain, definite, clear)

That clauses e.g. It could be the case that .e.g. It might be suggested that .e.g. It appears that .     e.g. It may be that .e.g. It is likely that .e.g. This suggests that .

To-clause + adjective

e.g. It may be possible to obtain .e.g. It is important to develop .e.g. It is useful to study .

Hedging / Avoiding committment

avoid overuse of first person pronouns (I, we, my, our) use impersonal subjects instead (It is believed that ..., it

can be argued that ...) use passive verbs to avoid stating the ‘doer’ (Tests have

been conducted) use ‘attitudinal signals’ such as apparently, arguably,

ideally, strangely, unexpectedly.   

These words allow you to hint at your attitude to something without using personal language and without making overgeneralizations.