Before You Hit Submit, Fix These 7 Academic Writing Mistakes
These small changes instantly make your arguments sharper, your structure cleaner, and your work more citable.
Three years into my PhD, I had collected so many rejections, I could have started a bonfire big enough to see from outer space. Not the cute, motivational kind of rejection that makes for inspiring LinkedIn posts either. The soul-crushing, career-questioning kind that makes you wonder if you should have listened to your dad and become an B2B sales person or accountant instead.
My research was solid. My methodology was bulletproof. My findings were genuinely nothing to scoff at. Yet somehow, Reviewer 2 always found a way to tear my work apart with comments like “unclear argumentation” and “difficult to follow the logic.” W. T. F.
I was that researcher. You know, the one with killer research trapped inside academic prose so convoluted that even I couldn’t understand what I’d written six months later. What was I doing wrong?
Then I met one of my future mentors at a conference coffee break. She had just published yet another paper in CHI (the top publication venue of my field), and I cornered her like a desperate fan at a comic convention. “What’s your secret?” I practically begged.
Her answer changed everything: “Stop writing like you’re trying to impress your English teacher. Write like you’re explaining your research to your smartest friend.” Gotcha.
That conversation led me down a massive rabbit hole of writing research, workshops with editors, and innumerable hours analyzing what separated published papers from rejected ones. What I discovered over time wasn’t just a set of writing tips but a complete mindset shift that really changed my writing approach and academic career.
Here are the seven writing secrets that took me from rejection pile pusher to published researcher.
Let’s walk through each one, so reviewers can focus on your research instead of deciphering your prose.
1. Use active voice whenever possible to create stronger, clearer sentences
Most academic writers default to passive voice because it sounds more “scholarly,” but this actually weakens your writing and confuses readers.
Instead of writing “It was decided that the experiment should be conducted on a random sample,” write “We conducted the experiment on a random sample.” The active voice tells readers exactly who did what, when they did it, and how — making your methodology crystal clear.
Here’s the simple test: if you can add “by zombies” after your verb and the sentence still makes sense, you’re using passive voice and should probably switch to active.
2. Eliminate unnecessary word pairs that add bulk without adding meaning
Academic writers love redundant phrases that make their work sound more impressive, but these actually dilute your message.
Cut these common offenders from your writing immediately:
“In order to” → “To”
“Many in number” → “Many”
“Due to the fact that” → “Because”
“A large number of” → “Many”
“Red in colour” → “Red”
“Big in size” → “Big”
“Take into consideration” → “Consider”
“The reason why” → “Why”
“At this point in time” → “Now”
“Exact same” → “Same”
“Utilize” → “Use”
“It is important to note that” → (Eliminate this completely, or rephrase to emphasize directly)
Every word in your paper should earn its place by adding specific meaning — if it doesn’t, delete it. Simple as that.
3. Replace noun-heavy constructions with their stronger verb equivalents
Academic writing tends to pile on abstract nouns when simple verbs would be clearer and more direct.
Instead of “We gave much consideration to the various means of distributing the questionnaire,” write “We considered how to distribute the questionnaire.” The verb form cuts your word count and creates a stronger, more actionable sentence.
Look for phrases with “give,” “make,” “take,” or “do” followed by a noun — these are usually opportunities to use a more precise verb instead.
4. Never start sentences with the meaningless word “it” unless absolutely necessary
“It” sentences often create confusion about what you’re actually referring to, forcing readers to work harder to understand your meaning.
“It was found that students performed better” becomes “Students performed better.” “It is important to note that” becomes “Importantly” or just gets deleted entirely. “It has been shown that” becomes “Research shows” or “Studies demonstrate.”
These changes make your writing more direct, so readers follow your logic without stumbling over vague pronouns. Move those booby traps out of the way.
5. Use specific, precise language instead of vague qualifiers and outdated terms
Words like “nowadays,” “various,” “numerous,” and “several” give readers no useful information and make your writing sound imprecise. This is writing like you’re eating McDonald’s food. It may taste good for a hot second, but it bloats you and makes you fat in the long term.
Specifics are like eating salad instead. Replace “nowadays” with specific timeframes like “since 2020” or “in recent studies.” Replace “tall subjects” with “subjects over 2 meters tall.” Replace “heavy participants” with “participants weighing more than 90 kilograms.”
Use precision so that readers understand exactly what you studied. Precision makes your findings more credible and replicable.
6. Move citations, references, and technical details to the end of sentences whenever possible
Interrupting your main point with parenthetical citations breaks the flow of your argument and forces readers to restart their comprehension mid-sentence.
Instead of “The results (see Table 3) showed significant improvement (p < 0.05) in student performance,” write “Student performance showed significant improvement (p < 0.05; see Table 3).” This keeps your main point clear and accessible while still providing necessary technical details.
Your readers will thank you for letting them finish a complete thought before hitting them with supporting information.
7. Focus on your key points and delete everything else
Every paragraph, every sentence, and every word should directly support your research question and findings. Let those drive everything else in the paper.
Ask yourself: “If I removed this sentence, would readers still understand my study and its implications?” If the answer is yes, delete it. Academic papers aren’t novels — readers want to extract your key insights as efficiently as possible, not admire your comprehensive literature review.
The best academic papers feel inevitable: every section builds logically toward the conclusion, and nothing feels extraneous or out of place. You trim the fat wherever you can.
These seven tips will immediately improve the clarity and impact of your academic writing. Start implementing them in your next paper, and watch how much easier it becomes for reviewers to focus on your awesome research instead of struggling through murky prose.
P.S.: Curious to explore how we can tackle your research struggles together? I've got three suggestions that could be a great fit: A seven-day email course that teaches you the basics of research methods. Or the recordings of our AI research tools webinar and PhD student fast track webinar.