The PhraseBook for Writing Papers and Research gives you a bank of over 5000 words and phrases to help you write, present and publish at university and research level in English.
Phrases are divided into around 30 main sections, such as Introducing a Study, Arguing For and Against, Reviewing other Work, Summarizing and Conclusions. Many sections are further divided, for example the Relationship to Previous Work and the Limitations of Current Knowledge (see below for example phrases).
Writing Help sections give advice on university and research writing in English, helping you to avoid many common errors. Main chapters include Style, Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar, Vocabulary, Numbers and Time. These include subsections on for example Referring to Yourself, British and US Spellings, and Punctuating Quotations.
The 4th edition also includes a University and Research Thesaurus to help you improve your academic vocabulary, as well as a Glossary of University and Research Terminology.
The PhraseBook is used in more than 30 countries in subjects ranging from Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology to Law, Business and Economics, Geography, History, Sociology, Psychology, Language and Education.
- Over 5000 words and phrases to help you write, present and publish in English
-Written by PhD authors
- Specially designed for non-native speakers
- Suitable for university and research writing from student to researcher and faculty level
- Includes most frequent words in academic English
- Exercises for individual and classroom use
- British and American English
Example phrases
Introducing your work
The study will begin by outlining...
This study addresses a number of issues...
The following section sets out...
...to examine the research problem in detail
...to shed light on a number of problem areas in current theory
The paper presented here is based in part on an earlier study
Arguing for and against
This becomes clear when one examines...
This lends weight to the argument that...
Support for this interpretation comes from...
While it may well be valid that..., this study argues the importance of...
A serious drawback of this approach is...
One of the prime failings of this theory or explanation is...
Reviewing other work
X takes little or no account of...
There is little evidence to suggest that...
The study offers only cursory examination of...
X gives a detailed if not always tenable analysis of...
The authors' claim that...is not well founded.
X's explanation is not implausible, if not entirely satisfactory.
Analysis and explanation
If, for the sake of argument, we assume...
One of the most obvious consequences of...is...
Although it may well be true that..., it is important not to overlook...
It is important to distinguish carefully between...
The extent to which this reflects...is unclear.
A more plausible explanation for or of...would...
The reason for...is unknown, but...has been suggested by X as a possible factor.
Summary and conclusions
Concluding this section, we can say that...
Chapter X draws together the main findings of the paper.
A number of key issues have been addressed in this study.
This study has highlighted a number of problem areas in existing theory.
While the initial findings are promising, further research is necessary.
The results of this study suggest a number of new avenues for research.
About the Author: Stephen Howe, BA, PhD, is an associate professor at the Department of English at Fukuoka University in Japan. He gained his doctorate in Languages and Linguistics at the University of London and is an experienced editor of English university and research writing. Kristina Henriksson, MSc, PhD, is executive director of executive education and adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada. She was awarded her doctorate at Lund University in Sweden and was a visiting scholar at Stanford University.
