Home PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English
EnglishforResearch.com | EnglishforStudents.com
 Help | Site Map
Store University Bookstore | PhraseBooks for Writing English | English Language Editing Search
     

PhraseBook
How to buy
Buy paperback
Download digital version
Digital version for multiple users
Upgrades

Read More
Download sample pages
Example phrases
Writing help
Our customers

Research groups and teaching
PhraseBook for research groups, departments and universities
Using the PhraseBook in teaching

FAQ and Help
Trade orders
Contact us

 

About the PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English

'this material, prepared by experienced editors, is certainly very useful'
Photosynthetica (2002)

 

Phrases

The PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English provides you with a corpus of 5000 words and phrases. The PhraseBook is designed to be used in a wide range of subjects and is suitable for all types of university papers and research publications. Phrases are divided into around 30 main sections that follow the structure of university and research writing, such as Introducing a study, Defining the scope of a study, Arguing for and against, Reviewing other work, Summarizing and Conclusions. Many sections are further divided, for example the Relationship to previous work, the Relationship to current work, Contrasting work and the Limitations of current knowledge.

The PhraseBook is available in both paperback and digital versions. All versions are identical in content and can be ordered online on our website.

The digital version allows you to search the PhraseBook for a specific word or phrase and paste it into your text. For instance, by searching for 'theory' you find:

Search for any word or phrase - digital version
In theory,...
One possible theory is that...
...to put forward a theory of or for...
...to shed light on a number of issues or problem areas in current theory
the or a cornerstone of...theory
X's theory is obviously of relevance or applicable here
Current theory, as it stands, does not adequately account for...
...is neglected in current theory
X's statement or theory...requires some qualification
X highlights a number of problems in current theory

 

Writing Help

The ability to write well at university and research level is a valuable skill: good writing lends credibility to a text, just as poor writing can detract from it. The PhraseBook therefore includes Writing Help sections with advice on grammar, style and punctuation in university and research writing. These sections help you avoid many common errors in English before submitting your text, for instance for examination or publication.

The PhraseBook has been written very much with international use in mind. It suggests ways to make your writing standard worldwide, avoiding national shibboleths:

Worldwide English
British and American spellings given throughout
British and American differences in punctuation and vocabulary
Writing Help on z- and s- spellings in words such as recognize, analyse, organization, compromise.
Also suitable for Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Irish and South African English

British and American alternatives are marked throughout the PhraseBook, and a detailed list of British-US spelling differences is given in the Writing Help section. The PhraseBook is also suitable for writing in or for other English-speaking countries, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa.

British and American spellings
behaviour - behavior, tumour - tumor, leukaemia - leukemia, paediatrics - pediatrics, oesophagus - esophagus, fulfilment - fulfillment, sceptic - skeptic, defence - defense, litre - liter etc.
 
Irregular plurals
analysis, appendix, basis, continuum, corpus, formula, hypothesis, matrix, maximum, synopsis etc.

English spelling is notoriously inconsistent, and although computer spelling checkers highlight spelling mistakes, they often do not detect words written correctly but used in the wrong context - principle and principal or causal and casual for example. Misspellings and malapropisms such as Jane Austen's heroin, currant research or the human gnome project might amuse your readers but would detract from your credibility. The PhraseBook therefore includes a number of sections on commonly confused words in university and research writing, for example:

Commonly confused words
anti - ante
criterion - criteria
discrete - discreet
effect - affect
hyper - hypo
inter - intra
medium - media
precede - proceed
principle - principal etc.

 

Style

English, as all languages, has variations of style, from the most colloquial to the most formal. Informally you may have a hunch, but in a paper, thesis or research report you put forward a hypothesis. While colloquial forms can sometimes be used for stylistic effect, in university and research writing more formal style is the norm, and this helps your writing to be taken seriously.

The PhraseBook includes a number of Writing Help sections on university and research style, for example:

Style
How to refer to yourself in writing
Avoiding bias and prejudice
Avoiding slang
Avoiding contracted forms
Avoiding clichés
Avoiding tautology

 

Punctuation

Punctuation is governed by rules, but these rules are in some cases arbitrary and inconsistent. A number of Writing Help sections in the PhraseBook give advice on punctuation in university and research writing, including differences between British and American English:

Punctuation
Full stop or period
Comma
Semicolon
Colon
Dash
Hyphenation
Exclamation mark or point
The possessive
Punctuating quotations
Single or double quotation marks
Capitalization
Abbreviations
Parenthesis and ellipsis

 

Numbers

The PhraseBook also includes help sections on writing numbers:

Numbers
When to write figures or words
Avoiding beginning a sentence with a figure
Avoiding mixing words and figures

As well as Roman numerals and Greek and Latin numerical affixes:

Roman numerals and Greek alphabet
I, II, III, IV, L, C, M etc.
 
Greek and Latin numerical affixes
mono-, di-, tri-, quadr-, penta-, hexa-, sept-, oct-, nona-, dec-, semi-, proto-, poly- etc.

 

University and research thesaurus

A thesaurus helps you build a richer vocabulary and avoid using the same expressions over and again. However, a conventional thesaurus has the drawback that it includes synonyms that are unsuitable for university and research writing. Similarly, thesauruses included with computer word processors are often inadequate: for example, for insight the most common word processor suggests just around the corner.

The PhraseBook thesaurus, on the other hand, is specifically compiled for university and research writing, and contains both synonyms (words with a similar meaning) and antonyms (words with the opposite meaning). It has been designed to make it easy to find related words.

Key words have umbrella headings, for example:

Study
work, paper, report, review, survey, thesis, dissertation, book, volume, monograph, collection of papers, research, analysis, inquiry, investigation, examination
 
Theory
principle, framework, system, model, scheme, idea, notion, concept, reasoning, hypothesis, proposition, assumption
 
Argue and argument
argue for, argue against, maintain, reason, point to, dispute, question, polemic, the case for or against, the grounds for, reasoning, premise
 
Find out
discover, determine, establish, learn, realize, identify, detect, locate, pinpoint, verify
 
Prove
show, demonstrate, confirm, establish, verify, is borne out by, corroborate, testify to, attest, proof of, evidence of or for, demonstration of, confirmation of, corroboration of, verification of, disprove, fail to demonstrate

 

Glossary

A great deal of English academic vocabulary derives from Latin and Greek. Much has also been borrowed from or via French, as well as from other languages such as German, Italian and Arabic in subjects such as Psychology, Music, Science and Mathematics. In addition, many of the abbreviations common in university and research writing (such as e.g., i.e. and etc.) and many everyday academic terms (such as campus, school and curriculum) derive from Latin or Greek.

Given the large number of foreign elements in English university and research vocabulary, it can be difficult to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word, and Greek and Latin elements - such as tele-vision - are still used to coin new scientific terms today. Knowledge of some Greek and Latin helps to decipher the meaning of many terms, not least for speakers from parts of the world with other classical languages.

The PhraseBook therefore includes a glossary with:

University and research terminology
a priori
de facto
festschrift
inter alia
pace
passim
prima facie
sic
etc.

University and research abbreviations such as:

Abbreviations
ABD
cf.
CV
et al.
ff.
Hons.
ibid.
i.e.
MPhil
N.B.
etc.

And Greek, Latin and other elements:

Greek, Latin and other elements
dys-
ecto-
endo-
exo-
iso-
meso-
meta-
neo-
-nomy
onto-
etc.

 

Reference section

Finally, the PhraseBook includes a reference section with SI prefixes and SI and British-American units:

SI prefixes
giga, tera, pita, exa, zetta, yotta etc.
 
SI and British-American units
inches, feet, yards, pints, gallons, pounds, ounces etc. and SI units

 

Click here for example phrases from the PhraseBook

 

Download sample pages
Download sample pages from the PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English

Example phrases
Read example phrases from the PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English

Writing help
For writing help sections from the PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research in English, click here

Our customers
Subjects, universities and organizations where our English language publications and services are used

University bookstore
Visit our store for university books in English, dictionaries, books on research, teaching and more

 

 

 

--> Top of page
  

Terms of Use

 All rights reserved worldwide
EnglishforResearch.com is a trading name of The Whole World Company Limited
PhraseBook for Writing, Helping Researchers Publish Worldwide, EnglishforResearch.com, EnglishforStudents.com and EnglishforSchool.com are worldwide trademarks and/or service marks of The Whole World Company Limited
Copyright (c) 1996-2008 The Whole World Company Limited, Cambridge, CB7 5EQ, England
Incorporated in England. Company registration number 3241673

EnglishforResearch.com | EnglishforStudents.com

 Contact Us | Feedback