Introduction to Academic Writing

Developing your voice and authority

Try to be discerning in your writing. It is necessary to use judgment. Sometimes it is better to be direct to convey authority if you are certain of facts or the evidence base. There is often no need to state 'I believe'; the reader can determine your stance by how you position yourself with relation to reading.

There are a number of techniques you can use to signal your position:
 

Add a sentence to support a point of view

Sirois (2019) suggests procrastination functions as a mood-repair tactic; poor emotional self-regulation is indicated in poor achievement (Andrijou, 2019).

Disagree with a point of view and introduce another theory to explain phenomena:

Sirois (2019) claims procrastination functions as a mood-repair tactic. However, there are other functions of procrastination beyond the emotional regulation model. Beizmenne (2019) suggests identity theory is also at play as the procrastinator has a stronger belief in the current self and has not yet formed a convincing view of their future ideal self.

Introduce a critique (leading with the view of another author to signal your disagreement with a view):

Felddottir (2019)challenges the view of Sirois (2019) and argues that procrastination functions as a mood-repair tactic is limited and is based on negative assumptions of the human psyche.

Expressing certainty

If you use lots of qualifiers such as ’it seems to me’, 'I think', 'I believe' or 'it could be likely that' the message you are trying to convey could be diluted. Occasionally 'I think', 'I believe' used sparingly, could signal you stand behind or promote a key idea.

When evaluating evidence, you may wish to express doubt, hesitancy or be tentative in your conclusions. In such cases, it may be appropriate to include hedging language: adverbs such as possibly, probably, potentially and phrases which convey doubt. Hedging language can be more sophisticated in style:

Girls may appear to be more competent than boys in primary school according to SATS results (Johns, 2018).

This could be used when tentatively drawing a conclusion from reading research.

vs.

Girls are more competent than boys in primary school according to SATS results (Johns, 2018).

 The voice of the author is more certain, and it is suggestive that competence is more proven.