Hedging and Voice in Writing

Using cautious or tentative language in academic writing to express claims based on available evidence.

Words or phrases used to make claims less definitive. Examples: 'seem,' 'tend,' 'look like,' 'believe,' 'doubt'.

A sentence structure where the subject performs the action. e.g. "The cat ate the fish."

A sentence structure where the subject receives the action. e.g., "The fish was eaten by the cat."

A formal tone often used in academic writing, that is objective and less judgmental.

Formal writing adopts a precise and objective tone, avoids slang, and is structured carefully. Informal writing uses a relatable tone, conversational language, and may employ slang.

Language free from personal bias and emotions, focusing on factual information.

Expressing disagreement with a teacher's assessment in a polite, respectful, and formal way while citing specific details.

A writing technique to express uncertainty or caution, like saying, "I'm fairly confident, but I might not be completely correct."

Strategies used in academic writing to make statements cautiously instead of boldly.

Statements made with forceful verbs like "prove," "equals," or "establishes."

Statements made with less assertive verbs, showing caution and uncertainty.

Evaluating other authors' work to identify its strengths, limitations, and areas needing improvement.

Using hedging selectively, only when making bold claims that could be misconstrued or argued against.

Sections of research papers benefiting from hedging.

Using hedging to avoid confidently presenting ideas that might be met with reader opposition.

Examples include "appears to," "seems to," "tend to," "possibly," and "may." They express degrees of certainty.

Presenting ideas in a neutral and unbiased way, avoiding strong opinions and personal feelings.

Hedging improves academic writing by increasing objectivity, allowing for nuanced discussion, and avoiding claims of certainties that may not be supported by facts.

The way a writer expresses themself and their ideas in academic writing, which includes formal language.

The way a sentence structure emphasizes the subject or action. It can be active or passive.

Identify the subject, verb, and object in an active sentence.

Swap the object and subject of the active sentence to create the passive sentence.

Change the verb in the active sentence to the past participle form in the passive sentence.

Using cautious language in academic writing to avoid making overly strong claims, especially when there is uncertainty or limited evidence.

Words and phrases like 'may', 'seems', 'suggests', 'likely', 'it is possible that', 'could' – they soften your statements.

Hedging helps you avoid absolute claims, acknowledge uncertainty, and show you've considered different perspectives, building credibility in your writing.

Take a strong claim and rewrite it using hedging language, making it less definitive and more cautious.

Use passive voice when you want to emphasize the thing or person acted on, or when the performer of the action is unknown or unimportant.

Avoid passive voice when it makes your writing vague or unclear, or when you want to be more direct and forceful.

When converting active voice to passive voice, the pronoun used in the sentence often changes. For example, "She prepares dinner" becomes "The dinner is prepared by her."

Passive voice sentences require the use of auxiliary verbs (is/am/are/was, etc.) depending on the tense of the sentence.

Avoid common errors when forming passive voice sentences, such as using incorrect tenses or including unnecessary "ing" endings.

Transform a sentence from active to passive voice by changing the subject and object, using appropriate auxiliary verbs, and adding a preposition like "by".