Choosing the correct tense for academic writing is not always easy. When you are writing about everyday happenings it’s generally a fairly simple task for native speakers, but not always so if English isn’t your first language. Here are some examples, with the relevant tense shown in brackets: • What I did a year ago: […]
What is ‘Harvard referencing’?
If you’ve ever struggled with Harvard referencing (and the small but annoying differences imposed by your university or department), you may have wondered what it really is and where it comes from. Next time you’re halfway through a piece of writing and wondering why you still can’t remember whether something’s italic or roman, “quoted” or […]
Numbers in written work – what are the rules?
Even the most non-scientific academic writing will contain numbers, and there are a series of rules and conventions about how they should be presented. Knowing the rules and applying them consistently will help to make your work look mature and academic – and will save you some head-scratching! Have a look at these sentences: 59% […]
Should, must, could, need to, ought to … those confusing ‘modal verbs’
In academic work, you often need to make recommendations about things that people, organisations or other researchers should do. If English isn’t your first language, you may find it difficult to work out which of these words (called ‘modal verbs’) you should use. Their meanings can seem to be very similar. Using the wrong one […]
A Language and Writing Resource for Students
This page is where I plan to post useful writing tips and language articles to help students with their work. Watch this space!