When you write a paper for school, you're doing more than sharing your thoughts. You're joining a conversation with other scholars, your professor included. To be taken seriously in that conversation, the right tone and voice matter.
What academic tone is
Academic tone is the way you express ideas when you write for school or for a scholarly audience. It's a little more formal than the way you talk with friends, but it doesn't have to be stuffy or robotic.
Why academic tone matters
Your tone affects how your ideas are received. Writing in an academic tone shows your reader, usually your professor, that you're thoughtful, serious, and respectful of the topic. It also builds your credibility.
Four marks of an academic tone
- Clarity. Say what you mean as clearly as you can. Avoid vague or overly complex language meant to sound smart.
- Objectivity. Focus on facts, evidence, and logic, rather than personal opinion or emotional language.
- Formality. Write in complete sentences, skip the slang, and generally steer clear of contractions like can't or won't. Write cannot and will not instead.
- Evidence. Support your claims with reliable sources, which is exactly why notes and the bibliography matter so much.
Common mistakes
- Slang or informal language, like gonna, cool, or totally.
- Generalizations, like "Everyone knows…" or "All people think…"
- Emotional or exaggerated claims, like "This was the most amazing discovery ever!" In academic writing, show how the discovery changed the field or what others thought of it, and point to the evidence.
Before and after
Here are those mistakes fixed in sentences from the sample Bigfoot paper. Each "after" says the same thing with the evidence in view, and the note number points to the source.
| The slip | Instead of | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Slang | Those Bigfoot hair samples were a total bust. | The hair samples attributed to Bigfoot all matched known animals.1 |
| Generalization | Everyone knows Bigfoot sightings are just bears. | Many reported Bigfoot sightings may be misidentified black bears.2 |
| Exaggeration | This was the most amazing study ever! | The study matched every hair attributed to Bigfoot to a known animal.3 |
| Contraction | Researchers can't ignore the hair evidence. | Researchers cannot ignore the hair evidence. |
Developing your academic voice
Your voice is your own perspective and the way you engage with the material. Academic tone is formal, but you don't have to hide your personality. You can have a clear, confident voice that's all your own. Just make sure it's thoughtful, respectful, and grounded in evidence.
This takes practice, and nobody gets it perfect the first time. Your tone will improve with every paper you write and every source you read. Aim to be clear, respectful, and honest about what you know, and about what you're still learning.
Quick checklist
- Clear, specific sentences
- Claims backed by sources, each with a note
- No slang, no contractions
- No sweeping generalizations or exaggeration
How PERRLA helps with tone
Tone is yours to set, but PERRLA catches one of the most common slips. Before you submit, Suggested Fixes reads the whole paper and lists every contraction it finds, with a one-click fix for most of them.
"can't" to "cannot"Fix
"won't" to "will not"Fix
"it's"Go to
A contraction that could go two ways, like it's, gets Go to, so you can decide. Words inside a quotation are left alone.