Academic Word List (AWL)

one of two or more possibilities that can be chosen between

Purists argue that the Latin root allows only two options, but academic usage happily takes three or more. The pattern is 'an alternative to', never 'of'. As an adjective it also means non mainstream (alternative medicine, alternative energy), and 'alternatively' is a standard sentence connector for offering a second reading of the same evidence.

a fact or condition that affects a situation and lies outside anyone's control

Almost always plural in academic prose. British writing prefers 'in the circumstances', American 'under the circumstances', and both use 'under no circumstances' for absolute prohibition. Fixed pairs worth learning: exceptional, extenuating and unforeseen circumstances. The adjective 'circumstantial' means indirect, as in circumstantial evidence.

to give a spoken or written opinion about something

The verb needs 'on': you comment on the findings, never comment the findings, which is a common transfer error from French and Spanish. The noun is countable and 'commentary' names a whole genre of scholarly writing. In software the noun means an explanatory note left in the source, a sense that never appears in essays.

to pay someone for a loss, or to balance out an unwanted effect

Two senses, distinguished by the preposition frame: you compensate someone for a loss (money), or something compensates for a weakness (offsetting). The second is the one statistics writing uses. The noun 'compensation' carries both meanings, so the surrounding words have to disambiguate it.

one of the parts that together make up a whole system or thing

Countable and almost always followed by 'of'. It implies an assembled whole, which is why it is preferred to the vaguer 'element' when describing models, scores and machines. 'Principal component analysis' is a fixed statistical term, and 'component parts' is a tolerated redundancy in engineering prose.

permission for something to happen, given freely by the person affected

In research writing this is nearly always 'informed consent', a procedural requirement rather than a description of a mood. The verb takes 'to': patients consent to treatment. Ethics committees reserve 'assent' for children who cannot legally agree, and 'by common consent' is a fixed phrase meaning generally accepted.

large in amount, extent or degree

It means large, not thoughtful, which is 'considerate'. It attaches to quantities you cannot count exactly: considerable variation, considerable evidence, considerable attention. With countable nouns you need 'a considerable number of'. The adverb is the standard way to size a comparative: considerably higher, considerably fewer.

staying the same over time, or happening without pause

Two senses pull in different directions: unchanging (holding income constant, at constant prices) and unceasing (constant interruptions). Only the first is normal in quantitative writing. As a noun it names a fixed value such as the gravitational constant. Do not let it blur into 'constrain', which looks similar and means something else entirely.

to limit what someone or something is able to do

Usually passive in academic prose: the study is constrained by sample size. The noun 'constraint' is the form you will write most, in budget, time and data constraints. It is stronger than 'limit': a constraint is a boundary you cannot cross rather than a point you have merely reached. It is not related to 'constant'.

Takes 'to', not 'in'. 'A contributing factor' is deliberately weaker than 'a cause' and is the safe phrasing when the evidence is associational. The noun names what a thesis must claim to make: an original contribution to knowledge. Journals list 'author contributions' as a formal section.

to call people together for a formal meeting, or to gather in that way

Works both ways: a committee convenes, and a chair convenes it. Strictly formal, so it suits boards, panels and tribunals rather than a chat with a supervisor. In British universities a 'convenor' runs a module. Its lookalikes share the root and have drifted: a convention is a practice or a large gathering, and convenient means handy. None of them will substitute for this verb.

to organise separate parts or people so that they work well together

The verb means to make parts act as one (a coordinated response, coordinating across departments). The plural noun is a different thing: a pair of numbers fixing a position on a grid. British sources also spell it 'co-ordinate', with the hyphen optional and now in retreat.

central and most important, forming the essential part of something

As a modifier it means central and non negotiable: core curriculum, core values, core assumptions, core funding. As a noun, 'at the core of' is the analytical cousin of 'at the heart of'. Geology and medicine use the concrete sense (a core sample, the Earth's core). Do not confuse it with 'corps', which is spelled quite differently but sounds the same: the p and the s are both silent.

relating to a large company, or to a group acting as a single body

The business sense dominates: corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, corporate tax. An older institutional sense survives in phrases such as corporate identity and the corporate life of a college, where it means acting as one body. The noun is 'corporation'; the adjective 'corporal', as in corporal punishment, comes from the same Latin corpus and means bodily, while the military rank is a different word entirely.

to match or be equivalent to something else

Two senses that almost never overlap: to match (the figures correspond to those in table 2) and to exchange letters (they corresponded for years). Equivalence takes 'to', letter writing takes 'with'. Used as a modifier it means matching: a corresponding increase, the corresponding author on a paper.

the standards or rules by which something is judged or selected

This is the plural form; a single one is a criterion. 'A criteria' and 'this criteria' are among the most heavily marked errors in student writing, and 'criterias' does not exist. Standard collocations: inclusion and exclusion criteria, selection criteria, and to meet, satisfy or fail the criteria.

to reach a conclusion by reasoning from facts already known

In logic, deduction reasons from the general to the particular and induction runs the other way, so the choice of verb signals what kind of argument you are making. It takes a that clause: we deduce that demand fell. Beware the noun 'deduction', which also means an amount subtracted from a total.

to prove something with evidence, or to show clearly how something works

Stronger than 'show', because it claims proof rather than display. Reviewers object when one small study is said to demonstrate rather than suggest or indicate, so reserve it for results that really settle the point. Second sense: to display a method or device. Third: to march in protest, which is where 'demonstration' can mislead.

to record something carefully in writing or with evidence

The stress stays on the first syllable throughout, and it is the final one that shifts: a reduced DOC-u-munt for the noun against a full DOC-u-ment for the verb, which means to put on record with supporting detail. 'Well documented' is the phrase a literature review lives on: recorded often enough by enough sources to be taken as settled. The everyday noun and 'documentation' are the same family but far less demanding.

to be the largest, strongest or most influential part of something

Neutral in academic prose: a theme dominates the interviews, two firms dominate the market. It describes proportion and influence, not bullying, which is the everyday overtone. The adjective 'dominant' is the commoner form in results sections, and 'predominantly' is the hedged adverb for a majority that is not total.

special importance or attention given to one thing rather than another

The noun; the verb is 'emphasise' (American: emphasize) and the plural is 'emphases', not 'emphasises'. You place, put or lay it on something, and 'with particular emphasis on' is the standard way to narrow a scope. 'Emphatic' belongs to speech and manner, not to data.

to make certain that something happens or is the case

Usually followed by 'that'. Three near neighbours are kept apart in careful writing: ensure means make certain, insure means buy insurance, and assure means tell someone confidently. Methods sections run on it, in the steps taken to ensure anonymity, comparability or consistency.

to leave something or someone out, or to keep them from taking part

Half of a fixed methodological pair: inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a participle it works as a preposition meaning not counting: excluding weekends. And 'cannot be excluded' is the careful hedge that leaves a possibility formally open without endorsing it. In social policy, exclusion names a form of disadvantage.

a structure of ideas or rules used to organise thinking about something

In academic use this is a structure of ideas, not of steel: theoretical framework, conceptual framework, analytical framework, and in policy work regulatory or legal framework. A thesis chapter is usually required to set one out. 'Within the framework of' means working from that set of assumptions.

to provide the money needed for a project or activity

Academic careers run on the verb and its participle: funded by, funding body, funding council, a funded post. The plural noun means money available to spend. 'Fundamental' shares the same Latin root, fundus meaning bottom or base, but it has settled on the sense of a foundation and never means money.

to make something clear by giving an example or using a picture

In writing it usually means to make a point clear with a case, not to draw. It collocates with example, case, point and figure, and 'as figure 3 illustrates' is a standard signpost. Note that a case can illustrate a claim without proving it, which is exactly why it is safer than 'demonstrate'.

to come into a country in order to live there permanently

Direction is the whole difficulty: you immigrate to a country and emigrate from one, and 'migrate' is neutral about both. American English uses the verb readily, while British writing prefers 'migrate' or 'settle in'. Academic prose in any variety reaches far more often for the nouns 'immigration' and 'immigrant'.

to suggest something without stating it directly, or to have as a consequence

A speaker or a piece of evidence implies; a reader or a researcher infers. Getting this backwards is one of the most corrected errors in academic English. A second, logical sense means to have as a necessary consequence: lower costs imply higher margins. The noun 'implication' covers both senses.

happening at the beginning, before later stages

It sets up a contrast that a later sentence has to complete: initial findings that were later revised, an initial assessment followed by a full one. 'Initially' opens that move so reliably that examiners expect a 'however' within a sentence or two. The plural noun means the first letters of a person's name.

a single case or occurrence of something

Most often met inside 'for instance', which is fully interchangeable with 'for example'. Alone it means one occurrence of a general thing: an instance of fraud. 'In this instance' means in this particular case, and 'in the first instance' is British administrative English for 'as a first step', not 'firstly'.

to act on each other, or to communicate and deal with one another

Takes 'with'. In statistics two variables do this when the effect of one depends on the level of the other, which is what an interaction effect names and why the word is not just a synonym for 'be related to'. In social research it keeps its everyday sense of people dealing with each other directly.

Every methods section has to do this for its sample, its measures and its exclusions, so it is a verb examiners look for. 'Justified in doing something' means having sound grounds. The noun is 'justification'. In typesetting, justified text is aligned to both margins, an unrelated sense that can confuse.

a sheet or thickness of material lying over or under another, or a level of something

Concrete in the sciences (layers of sediment, the ozone layer, layers of a network) and figurative everywhere else (layers of meaning, a layer of management). The participle 'layered' is the usual way to call an argument or a text complex. It is the noun of the verb 'lay', and shares a distant root with 'lair', an animal's den; neither connection helps you use it, so keep to the two senses above.

a connection between two things, especially one that has been observed

The cautious word for a relationship you have found but not explained, which is why epidemiology and journalism both reach for it. Deliberately weaker than 'cause'. Collocates: a link between X and Y, closely linked to, a causal link. The web sense is everyday but now the most frequent one in general English.

to find where something is, or to put or place something somewhere

Mostly passive in academic writing, and often padding: 'is located in the north' usually just means 'is in the north', and editors cut it. It has a useful figurative use, though, in locating a study within a tradition or debate. The active sense of finding something survives in 'we could not locate the records'.

to make something as large or as effective as possible

Kept here in the British spelling (American: maximize); both appear in international journals and neither is an error. Because it already contains 'as possible', 'maximise as much as you can' is redundant and nothing is 'very maximised'. It pairs with 'minimise' in the standard ethics formula: maximise benefit, minimise harm.

small, or not very important compared with other things

The opposite of 'major', and about importance rather than size alone: minor changes, a minor role, minor injuries. Do not use it where you mean 'smaller'. Three noun senses can trap a reader: a person under legal age, a secondary university subject in the American system, and a musical key.

to cancel out the effect of something, or to state the opposite of a proposition

Everyday academic use is 'cancel out': the gains were negated by inflation. In logic it has the precise sense of asserting the opposite of a statement, which is what 'negation' names in both logic and grammar. It never means to deny having said something, which is simply 'deny'.

the result or effect that something produces, especially one that was measured

The standard word for what a study measures at the end: primary outcome, outcome measure, health outcomes, learning outcomes. Preferred to 'result' when the thing was planned in advance, and to 'consequence', which hints that the effect was unwelcome. Trials must name their primary one before data collection starts.

a person or organisation that someone shares a life or an activity with

Survey design is why this word matters: it covers spouses and unmarried couples alike, so questionnaires prefer it to 'husband' or 'wife'. In business it means a joint owner of a firm or a collaborating organisation, and 'partnership working' is public sector jargon. The verb, 'partner with', is corporate register.

the study of knowledge, reality and existence, or a set of guiding beliefs

Two uses sit far apart: the academic discipline (philosophy of science, moral philosophy) and an organisation's guiding principles (the company's philosophy, a teaching philosophy). The adjective 'philosophical' has a colloquial third sense of being calm about a setback. Spelling trap: 'ph' twice, one 'l', and 'sophy' not 'sophie'.

relating to the body, or to material things that can be touched

In academic prose it most often marks a contrast rather than the body alone: physical against mental health, the physical against the social environment, the physical sciences against the human ones. A second sense is material rather than digital: a physical copy. 'Physically' frequently hedges what is possible at all.

a part of a whole, considered in relation to the whole

Strictly a fraction between 0 and 1, while a percentage is the same figure multiplied by 100, so 'a proportion of 40 percent' mixes the two. 'A large proportion of respondents were' takes a plural verb because the following noun governs it. Related forms carry the ratio sense: in proportion to, directly proportional.

to make something available to the public, especially in print or online

The career verb of academic life: published in a journal, peer reviewed, publish or perish. It also covers official release of information, as in published figures and published guidance. 'Publication' names both the act and the article itself, and 'publicise' is a different word meaning to draw attention to something.

to behave in a particular way in response to something, or to undergo a chemical change

Preposition tells you the field: people react to news, substances react with each other. The noun 'reaction' covers both. In social research, 'reactivity' names the problem of people changing their behaviour because they know they are being observed, which is why 'react' turns up in method limitations.

to record a name or fact on an official list

Three senses converge in academic English. To record officially (a registered charity, registering a trial before recruitment). An official list itself, as in the electoral roll sense. And in linguistics, the level of formality of a piece of language, which is what this pack's own field of that name records for each word, alongside the variety it belongs to and any technical flag.

Never used bare: it takes 'on' or the more formal 'upon'. The forms a methods section actually needs are 'reliable' and 'reliability', and the technical meaning is narrow: a reliable measure gives the same answer when repeated, which says nothing about whether that answer is right. Being right is validity.

to take something away from a place, or out of a set of things

In method sections it means to take out of a dataset: outliers were removed, duplicates were removed. More formal than 'take away' and more precise than 'delete', which suggests destruction. As a participle it also means distant: 'far removed from everyday practice'. The noun is 'removal'.

an organised plan or system for doing something

A genuine transatlantic trap. In British English this is neutral and official (a pension scheme, a pilot scheme, a funding scheme), while in American English it usually implies a dishonest plot, so an American reader can misread a perfectly innocent sentence. The research senses are 'coding scheme' and 'classification scheme'.

a set of things arranged one after another in a fixed order

Order is the whole point: a sequence is ordered, a set is not, and that distinction matters in maths, genetics and research design alike. Collocations: in sequence, a sequence of events, a DNA sequence. 'Sequential' describes a design in which one phase must finish before the next can be planned.

the biological category of male or female, recorded as a variable

A register trap for learners, because the everyday sense is not the academic one. In papers it is almost always a variable: adjusted for age and sex, matched by sex. Careful writing keeps it distinct from 'gender', which names the social role rather than the biological category, and journals increasingly require authors to say which they measured.

a change in position, direction or emphasis, usually gradual

Gentler and slower than 'switch', which is why writers choose it for trends: a shift towards prevention, a marked shift in attitudes, a paradigm shift. Two everyday senses live alongside it: a period of work (the night shift) and the keyboard key. The verb works both with and without an object.

The verb of precision: the protocol specifies the dose, the guidance specifies who is eligible. 'As specified in' cites a rule, and 'unspecified' quietly reports that a detail was withheld, which is a criticism in a review. The related noun is the engineering document, and 'specific' is the everyday adjective.

as much as is needed for a particular purpose

The formal word for 'enough', but it also carries a logical sense that 'enough' cannot: a necessary but not sufficient condition is one that must hold yet does not settle the matter alone. It takes 'for' or a to infinitive. 'Suffice it to say' is the fixed verb phrase, and 'insufficient' is the standard negative.

a piece of work that has to be done, especially one set for someone

Psychology narrows this word considerably: a task is the specific activity a participant performs under experimental conditions, as in a memory task or task performance. 'Tasked with' is bureaucratic register for 'given the job of', and 'take someone to task' is an unrelated idiom meaning to criticise them.

relating to the specialised knowledge or skills of a particular subject

First of three family members that learners routinely swap: this is the adjective (a technical term, technical support, technical difficulties), a technique is a method, and technology is applied knowledge and equipment. A second sense means strictly by the rules, as in a technical breach or a technical fault.

a particular practical method of doing something, usually one requiring skill

Second of the three: countable and concrete, as in sampling techniques or a new technique for measuring blood flow. Narrower than 'method', which can cover a whole approach, and quite distinct from the equipment sense of 'technology' and the adjective 'technical'. In the arts it also names an artist's craft.

the practical application of scientific knowledge, and the equipment it produces

Third of the three: uncountable when it names the field (the impact of technology on learning), but the plural is standard for several distinct kinds (emerging technologies). Keep it apart from a technique, which is a method, and from the adjective 'technical'. 'Tech' is informal and out of place in an essay.

well founded and sound, or genuinely measuring what it claims to measure

The research sense is technical and narrow: a measure is valid when it really captures the thing it claims to, which is a different question from whether it is reliable, meaning consistent on repetition. In logic an argument is valid when the conclusion follows from the premises, even if those premises are false.

an amount or quantity of something, or the space that something occupies

Three academic senses and one everyday one. Quantity, as in the volume of trade or high volume data. Space occupied, measured in cubic units. A single book within a series, as in volume 3 of the journal. Loudness is the fourth. 'Voluminous' is rare and mostly describes writing that is long rather than large.