English for Writing Research Papers

5.7   Choose the shortest words
If you have a choice of two words that mean the same thing, choose the shortest. 
However, if the short word is too informal, then don’t use it. For example, dear and 
cheap
 are synonyms for expensive and inexpensive but they would not usually be 

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5 Being Concise and Removing Redundancy
appropriate in a research paper. There is even a thesaurus, called Thsrs, which will 
find shorter synonyms for you!
short
long
short
long
advise, urge
recommend
now
currently
aim
objective
potential
potentiality
also
furthermore
show
demonstrate
but
however
spread
proliferation
end
termination (n), terminate (v)
thus
consequently
have
possess
use
utilization (n), utilize (v)
improve
ameliorate
usual
customary
keep
maintain
very
extremely
later
subsequently
5.8   Choose the shortest expressions
Try to use the expression that requires the least characters.
X is large in comparison with Y. (26 characters)
X is larger than Y. (15 characters)
The following link words could be replaced by since:
considering that, given that, due to the fact that, on the basis of the fact that, notwithstanding the 
fact that, in view of the fact that, in consequence of the fact that
Occasionally, you may want to draw the reader’s attention to an important point. 
You will do this more effectively if you use two words rather than ten. This will 
produce a short sentence. Short sentences tend to stand out from the rest of the text, 
and thus get noted more.
All the phrases below could be replaced by Note that …
It must be emphasized / stressed / noted / remarked / underlined …
It is interesting to observe that …
It is worthwhile bearing in mind / noting / mentioning that …
It is important to recall that …
As the reader will no doubt be aware …
We have to point out that …

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5.10 Avoid pointless introductory phrases