Academic Vocabulary

a comparison between two things to help explain or illustrate one or both of them.

not to be confused with subject, these are the topics or ideas that become the focus for a literary or informational text when a reader traces the details and patterns.

the means of acknowledging the source of evidence; this refers to both in-text parenthetical citations, as well as the works cited section at the end of the paper.

to quote or refer to a source, as used to support a statement or claim.

the action of creating a unified whole.

a concise review of a text (e.g., article, book, digital text) that combines an objective summary (to convey main ideas) and a critical comment that involves analysis and evaluation of the text.

a measure of quality, not quantity; accomplishing a task well.

style characterized by complex, objective, and precise use of language.

explanations of meanings; they depend on inferences (perceptions of meanings that are unstated) and on stated meanings.

when used in writing and/or research, this includes sorting information, developing relationships to existing texts, and, ultimately, conveying new meaning through the synthesis of ideas.

the primary message expressed by a passage; the "key concept" being expressed.

a particular format for conveying information (for example, a digital medium could include blogs, podcasts, and a variety of platforms for communication).

a conveying of the main ideas of a text (or part of a text) that remains neutral and unbiased (i.e., does not convey the writer's opinion).

to express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using one's own words, especially to achieve greater clarity.

the reason for writing a text, and/or author intent and message. It is the varied purposes of a rhetorical situation that determine how an author communicates a text and how audiences receive a text. Most texts are written to fill a broader purpose (e.g., to persuade, to inform, to argue, to define, to describe, etc.).