Why is it important to observe appropriate language in writing a research report

Q: What does it mean to say you should use language appropriately in your speeches and in your writing?

Using appropriate language means that a speakers language is suitable or fitting for themselves, as the speaker; our audience; the speaking context; and the speech itself. Vivid language helps listeners create mental images.

Many enter academic writing due to a passion for knowledge or to conduct independent research. Impactful writing in the academic world requires communicating ideas by using appropriate academic language, clarity, and grace. Most forms of writing such as email, texting, letters, etc. make use of informal language. Academic and scientific writing, however, requires the use of appropriate academic language. A good flow of writing leaves a lasting impression on the readers. Thus, it is essential to convey information and views concisely and clearly. This article offers insights on how to improve academic language in a paper.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Bloated language is not academic language
Get rid of redundant or wordy phrases
Everyday spoken language is not an academic language
Use varying sentence structure
Use sufficient referencing and citation
Refer to the right sources of secondary information
Importance of grammar check in academic language
Why appropriate language should be observed in using a particular speech style and the importance of it in the hospitality industry?
What does it mean to say you should use language appropriately in your speeches and in your writing?
Why is it important to consider the language used by the writer?
Why it is important to use appropriate language in the workplace?

Bloated language is not academic language

This misconception among writers is that supplementary words or sentences add more smartness and show in-depth knowledge about the subject. However, this unnecessary fluffing of words frustrates the reader and makes the content unnecessarily complex. A good academic paper is clear and concise. Wastage of words and repetition are avoided as many journals regulate a word limit. Some examples showing the difference between ‘bloated’ and concise sentences are shown below.

Bloated sentence	Reduced sentence
A social media influencer is an influencer who helps to integrate the credibility of a specific industry in order to increase the rate of the audience who are active on distinctive social networking websites.	Social media influencers are users of social media who use their credibility to increase engagement for a specific product/ service.
In the novel, A Farewell to Arms, written by Ernest Hemingway, the author presented a courageous theme. This theme displays honourable courage and difficult war in every instance.	Ernest Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms, features characters enduring difficult wars and displaying honourable courage.

Table 1: Reduction of bloated language

Get rid of redundant or wordy phrases

In the English language, there is the presence of many phrases that have multiple words. Although a writer needs to be cognizant of wordiness, a fine line exists between rambling and expressing. Therefore the use of these phrases must be avoided if they can be expressed in lesser words. For example:

Redundant words	Effective words
In the event that	If
Pandemic times	pandemic
A majority of	Most
Due to the fact that	because/since
Subsequent to	After
Have the capability to	Can
A lot of job cuts	considerable downsizing
With regard to	concerning/about
Keeping the workplace retained in the organization	retain employees
Most specimens were blue in colour	most specimens were blue
Roots penetrate into the soil to a depth of 5 meters	roots penetrate

Table 2: Reduction of redundant phrases

Even, the word “etc.” should not be paired with “including”, “such as”, or “for example” because these words specifically mean that list is indicative and not exhaustive.

Everyday spoken language is not an academic language

Use appropriate academic language that is organized, and logical and avoids a detached tone. Usually, writers adapt to everyday spoken language, but the use of casual language should be avoided.

Casual language	Formal words
Mellow and good	Mild-mannered and kind
Get to her	Affect her spirit
Current and most suitable	Efficient/effective
A lot of	Enhanced/numerous/higher
Get in touch with	Contact
Give the go-ahead	Authorize/authorize
The person is addicted to work	Workaholic
Disgusting	Unpleasant

Table 3: Reduction of everyday speech-language to formal

Use varying sentence structure

Sentence structure represents the physical structure of a sentence. For making an impactful research paper, it is important to use variegated words but avoid their overuse. Furthermore, repeating longer sentences may overshadow the argument and inundate the reader. Even frequent usage of short sentences makes arguments stunted or rushed. Therefore try to keep the length of sentences short and up to 20 words.

Inappropriate sentence	Varying sentence
In actual fact, every single nurse in the hospital worked for treating their patients from 3 am in the morning to twelve at the night.	Every nurse in the hospital worked from 3 am to midnight
The mean age value for group A is 30 years while for group B mean age is 26 years, thus, there is a presence of a statistically significant difference between both groups.	With the mean age of group A > group B, there is a significant difference between both groups.

Table 4: Using varying sentence structure

Use sufficient referencing and citation

Academic papers to a great extent rely on the review of existing information in the form of secondary research. When reviewing secondary studies, references must be provided. It helps to establish the validity and credibility of the information. Although there is no standard rule for the number of references to use in a study, as a hand rule consider an average, of 1 reference per 100- 150 words.

EXAMPLE

Today, a vast number of elements contribute towards creating work-life balance in employees. The findings of Yadav & Dabhade (2014) identified rewards, mentally challenging work, favourable working conditions, supportive coworkers, and employee-friendly policies as some of the factors leading to work-life balance and job satisfaction. (Chaitra, Kumar, & Renuka, 2016) also identified some of the factors that impact work-life balance. The study collected data from 60 respondents and applied descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique for analyzing the data. It was found that over time, meetings, travelling to work, and training after working hours influence the work-life balance of the employees. (Sharma & Shekhawat, 2017) assessed the association between employee performance and work-life balance in the hotel industry of Rajasthan in India. The main aim of their analysis was to determine the factors affecting the work-life balance of the employees.

Refer to the right sources of secondary information

The type of secondary sources referred to while writing greatly affects the quality of the paper. For example, if you refer more to blogs and web pages then your content is likely to be ambiguous. This is because web pages are written to target the masses. For example –

Figure 1: Use of casual language in a blog article which makes academic content less impactful

The above figure shows that the flow of sentences is informal with the usage of first-person pronouns and the exclusion of references to validate the information. Thus, this article is less suitable for academic writing, whereas the below study is a more suitable source of information.

On the other hand, referring to more academic sources such as journal papers and books academic journals are more structured and precise with clear content. It is likely to make your content more technically sound with less redundant information.

Figure 2: The presence of refined language in journal articles helps produce better quality content

Importance of grammar check in academic language

Making grammatical mistakes while writing is common but avoidable. Eliminating grammatical errors improves the quality of the paper. Fortunately, there are many applications available that help to track and correct these errors instantly. Grammarly is one of the most popular and convenient applications. Installing the Grammarly plug-in helps remove mistakes while writing.

The figure below presents an example of the use of Grammarly for grammar and spell check while writing. It shows that the phrase “in the event that” is redundant and can be reduced to “if”.

Figure 5: Grammarly example 1 for this article

Academic writing is an organized and information-oriented work, that requires a clear, concise, powerful, and graceful representation of ideas. Though often due to lack of practice or knowledge, writers tend to make mistakes. However, for impactful study, it is essential to empower yourself with knowledge, mix the sentence structure, and write to express not impress.

References

Lokhande, N., & Gundimeda, H. (2021). MGNREGA: The Guaranteed Refuge for Returning Migrants During COVID-19 Lockdown in India. The Indian Economic Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/00194662211023848
Natali, D., & Terlizzi, A. (2021). The impact of Covid-19 on the future of pensions in the EU. ETUC SociAll Project 2018/08 Thematic Report, 4–7.
Spicer, A. (2020). Organizational Culture and COVID-19. Journal of Management Studies, 57(8), 1737–1740. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12625
Takyi, P. O., & Bentum-Ennin, I. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on stock market performance in Africa: A Bayesian structural time series approach. Journal of Economics and Business, 115(xxxx), 105968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconbus.2020.105968

Why appropriate language should be observed in using a particular speech style and the importance of it in the hospitality industry?

Answer: Appropriate language should be observed in using a particular speech because you are using a "CERTAIN" speech. It is just not like any speech that can be easily written. And sometimes, when a wrong one was given to them, the definition would not be the same that may confuse people.

What does it mean to say you should use language appropriately in your speeches and in your writing?

Using appropriate language means that a speaker's language is suitable or fitting for themselves, as the speaker; our audience; the speaking context; and the speech itself. Vivid language helps listeners create mental images.

Why is it important to consider the language used by the writer?

One of the most important functions of language is to build "homophily" or a sense of commonality with one's readers. Language which is foreign and unfamiliar to the reader tends to emphasize the differences between writer and reader, and makes the message difficult to understand.

Why it is important to use appropriate language in the workplace?

Inappropriate language, whether spoken or written, can negatively affect your credibility and put off or even offend those you work with. Both in speech and in writing, take the time and make the effort to use appropriate language.