Academic Vocabulary for IELTS, TOEFL and University Writing

Knowing these words helps you read academic texts far more easily.

Word families

Learn words as families, not single items. Analyse (verb), analysis (noun), analyst (person), analytical (adjective), analytically (adverb). Being able to shift forms is key in academic writing.

Formal verbs versus everyday ones

Everyday	Academic
show	demonstrate, indicate
look at	examine, investigate
find out	determine, identify
use	employ, utilise
get	obtain, acquire
think	consider, argue
need	require
help	assist, facilitate
start	initiate, commence
end	conclude, terminate

Use them where they read naturally, not to sound clever.

Linking words and phrases

Academic writing needs clear links between ideas:

• Adding: furthermore, in addition, moreover
• Contrasting: however, nevertheless, whereas, in contrast
• Cause and effect: therefore, consequently, as a result, thus
• Giving examples: for instance, such as, namely
• Concluding: in conclusion, overall, to summarise

Hedging

Academic writers avoid absolute claims, using cautious language:

• This suggests that...
• It appears that...
• The results may indicate...
• tends to, is likely to, to some extent

Hedging shows careful thinking rather than uncertainty.

Noun-heavy style

Academic writing often turns verbs into nouns (nominalisation): The government decided to reduce taxes becomes The decision to reduce taxes... This makes prose dense, so use it sparingly.

Avoid these in academic writing

• Contractions (don't, can't)
• Slang and idioms
• Vague words like thing and stuff
• Emotional or exaggerated language (amazing, terrible)

How to build academic vocabulary

1. Read academic material in your subject: journal abstracts, textbooks and articles.
2. Highlight recurring words, and look them up.
3. Learn word families and collocations.
4. Use new words in your own writing, and get feedback.
5. Keep a notebook with word, meaning, example and family.
6. Review with spaced repetition.

Use a monolingual dictionary

A dictionary that explains words in English, with example sentences, teaches how words behave in context: what partners they take and what register they carry.

Practice

Take a paragraph from a textbook, list the words you don't know, and look up each. Write your own sentence using each word.

Look up academic words with meanings and examples in English Dictionary →