C6.16 Academic Phrasebank for Theses

Essential Academic Phrase Library for English Essays

I recommend an English academic phrase library: Academic Phrasebank

This is a resource library of English academic phrases for writing essays, reports, etc., but all content is for reference only. It is simply used to help you think about your own writing content and structure. Of course, some parts can also be directly used in your English essays, reports, etc.

For example, teachers at the University of Manchester in the UK basically recommend the Academic Phrasebank (searchable on the university’s official website) to every new student.

Link to Academic Phrasebank:http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/about-academic-phrasebank/

In addition to international students studying in the UK, this Academic Phrasebank is suitable for anyone who needs to write English essays, reports, or prepare presentations.

This English academic phrase library is free to access online. Besides viewing it on the web for free, you can also download the PDF (note: the PDF is not free—the full 150-page 2018 version requires a paid download, currently priced at £5, while only a small 9-page PDF is free). It is also available on Kindle (note: the Kindle version is paid, currently priced at £6.52). Of course, you can also organize your own personal library of commonly used English academic phrases.

All phrases in the Academic Phrasebank are sourced from real academic materials. The original corpus from which these phrases are "collected" includes 100 postgraduate theses completed at the University of Manchester. In most cases, the phrases have been simplified and, when necessary, "extracted" from their specific academic contexts. Content words are included for illustrative purposes, and these are replacements for the original words.

As shown in the picture below, the library contains a wealth of content, including:

1. introduction work

2. referring to sources

3. describing methods

4. Reporting results

5. Discussing findings

6. Writing conclusions

7. Being Cautious

8. Being Critical

9. Classifying and Listing

10. Compare and Contrast

11. Defining Terms

12. Describing Trends

13. Describing Quantities

14. Explaining Causality

15. Giving Examples

16. Signalling Transition

17. Writing about the Past

Here, I’ll give a simple example. Basically, all essays, reports, etc., require a conclusion. So just click on the "Writing conclusions" section in the menu, and the page will automatically jump to the academic phrase library for conclusions, as shown in the picture below:

The conclusion is a relatively short section in academic writing and typically serves two functions. The first is to summarize and integrate the main areas covered in the writing, which can be referred to as a "recap"; the second is to provide final comments or judgments. These final remarks may also include suggestions for improvements and speculations on future directions.

In essays or research papers, conclusions are often more complex and may also cover the implications of the research findings and recommendations for future work. Conclusions are optional in research articles where the consolidation and general significance of the study are included in the discussion section. However, they usually appear in dissertations and theses.

The "Writing conclusions" section is further divided into 8 subsections as follows:

（1）Restating the aims of the study

（2）Summarising main research findings

（3）Suggesting implications for the field of knowledge

（4）Explaining the significance of the findings or contribution of the study

（5）Recognising the limitations of the current study

（6）Acknowledging limitation(s) whilst stating a finding or contribution

（7）Making recommendations for further research work

（8）Setting out recommendations for practice or policy

As shown in the picture below, click on any two of the above subsections—for example:

(1) Restating the aims of the study(2) Summarising main research findings

Then the phrases shown in the picture below will appear:

As shown in the picture above, (1) "Restating the aims of the study" includes 11 academic sentences that can be used as reference phrases for "restating the research aims of the essay or report" in the conclusion section.

This study set out to…

This paper has argued that…

This essay has discussed the reasons for…

In this investigation,the aim was to assess…

The aim of the present research was to examine…

The purpose of the current study was to determine…

The main goal of the current study was to determine…

This project was undertaken to design…and evaluate…

The present study was designed to determine the effect of…

These condaim of this study was to investigate the effects of…

A reminder from Shishengmiao:

Try not to copy large amounts of original content from the Academic Phrasebank directly in academic writing. Of course, some phrases are neutral and general—like universal sentences—and can be used as they are. But for other phrases or sentences, it’s better to paraphrase or rephrase them instead of copying verbatim. If most of your content is too similar to the original, your Turnitin similarity score will be very high.

Some content in the Academic Phrasebank may not be suitable for highly rigorous writing such as certain theses. However, it can help you generate ideas and broaden your thinking when you’re stuck.

Specific requirements for essays, reports, etc., vary across UK universities—and even across different programs within the same university. Some professors may require their students to follow a specific reference format they provide. So be sure to check with your professor about any special instructions or precautions.

In general, relevant writing guidelines are available on the university’s official website, in the library, or shared by professors during classes. Some universities also introduce these requirements during orientation week for new students.

Well, I recommend using this English academic phrase library wisely. I believe it will help you write essays and other academic content with greater ease. If you can summarize and refine your own personalized version, it will be even more beneficial.