The Academic English Errors That Hold Strong Work Back

A doctoral researcher once came to us frustrated that excellent research kept attracting feedback like “unclear” and “awkward phrasing”. The ideas were sound; the English was getting in the way. This is one of the most common situations we see, especially with non-native writers: strong thinking obscured by a recurring set of language mistakes that are easy to fix once you can name them.

This guide collects the academic English errors students make most often and shows you how to correct your own writing so the substance shines through.

Mistakes of tone and register

Academic English is more formal than everyday speech, but “formal” does not mean “complicated”. Two opposite errors are common.

The first is too informal: contractions (“don’t”, “it’s”), conversational phrases (“a lot of”, “kind of”), and casual connectors (“So,”, “Plus,”). The second is overcomplicated: long Latinate words and tangled sentences used to sound clever, which usually just sounds unclear.

Tip from practice: Aim for precise and plain. The goal of academic writing is to be understood exactly, not to impress with vocabulary. If a simpler word carries the same meaning, use it.

Mistakes of grammar and structure

Some grammar errors appear again and again in student drafts, and most cluster around a few patterns. The table below pairs the typical mistake with a clearer version.

Common mistake	Clearer version
”The data is conclusive."	"The data are conclusive.” (data is usually plural)
“Researches show that…"	"Research shows that…” (research is uncountable)
“It depends of the sample."	"It depends on the sample."
"The results was significant."	"The results were significant.” (subject–verb agreement)
“In nowadays society…"	"In today’s society…” / “Currently…"
"Literatures suggest…"	"The literature suggests…”

None of these are signs of weak thinking; they are habits, and habits respond well to a focused checklist.

Mistakes of clarity

Clarity problems are subtler than grammar slips because the sentence may be technically correct yet still hard to read. Watch for three patterns:

• Overuse of the passive voice. “It was found that…” hides who did what. Where your discipline allows it, “We found that…” is clearer and more direct.
• Nominalisation. Turning verbs into nouns (“make an investigation of” instead of “investigate”) bloats sentences. Prefer the strong verb.
• Vague reference. Starting sentences with “This shows…” leaves the reader guessing what “this” refers to. Name it: “This pattern shows…”.

In our coaching practice we often see that fixing these three habits alone transforms how “fluent” a thesis reads, even when no individual sentence was wrong.

Mistakes of word choice

English has many near-synonyms with different academic weight, and the wrong choice signals imprecision:

• “Affect” vs “effect” — affect is usually the verb, effect usually the noun.
• “Significant” — in a results section this means statistically significant. Use “important” or “substantial” for everyday emphasis to avoid confusing your reader.
• “Prove” — research rarely “proves” anything. Prefer “suggests”, “indicates”, or “supports”, which is also more honest about what your evidence shows.

This last point connects to a wider skill: hedging your claims appropriately is central to good academic writing style, and getting it right protects you from over-claiming.

How to catch your own language errors

You cannot fix what you cannot see, so build a system rather than relying on a single read-through:

1. Keep a personal error list. Note the mistakes feedback keeps flagging and check each one deliberately.
2. Search and verify. Use your word processor to find your known trouble words (“data”, “this”, “prove”) and check each instance.
3. Read aloud. Awkward phrasing and missing articles are easier to hear than to see.
4. Separate the language pass from the content pass, the same principle behind any reliable proofreading routine.

Remember: Language mistakes rarely reflect the quality of your research. They are surface issues, and surface issues are the most fixable part of any thesis.

When to bring in a second reader

After several careful passes, the errors that remain are usually the ones your ear has stopped noticing, especially if English is not your first language. A fresh expert reader closes that gap fast.

Our proofreading and editing coaching helps you polish your own English, explains why each correction works so you improve for next time, and keeps every idea and word firmly yours. Clear language is not a luxury; it is what lets examiners see how good your work really is.