Virtuous English AcademyAcademic & Research — B2 English Vocabulary
This B2 vocabulary list gathers 50 upper-intermediate English words about academic & research — theses, evidence and rigorous study. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
- #B2
- #DailyLife
- #Flashcards
- #Definitions
- #Examples
- #Pronunciation
Using academic & research words in English
Academic English is the register where borrowed plurals still survive, and getting them wrong is one of the few errors a marker will always notice. Thesis, hypothesis and analysis all change to -es in the plural, and criterion and phenomenon are singular no matter how plural they sound. This page also settles the quantitative and qualitative pair, which describes the fundamental division in research methods.
What to watch out for
Greek and Latin plurals survive in this register
Thesis becomes theses, hypothesis becomes hypotheses, analysis becomes analyses — all pronounced with a final -eez. Criterion becomes criteria and phenomenon becomes phenomena, so a criteria and this phenomena are both wrong. Curriculum allows either curricula or curriculums, and appendix takes appendices in a book but appendixes in a body.
Quantitative counts; qualitative describes
Quantitative research produces numbers you can measure and compare — surveys, experiments, statistics. Qualitative research produces descriptions of meaning and experience — interviews, case studies, observation. Note that empirical is different again: it means based on observation or experiment rather than on theory, and it applies to both kinds.
British dissertation and thesis are the reverse of American
In British universities a dissertation is usually the long piece written for a bachelor’s or master’s degree, and a thesis is the doctoral one. In the United States the two are reversed. Because both systems are widely described online, it is worth stating which you mean. Citation is the reference in the text; the bibliography is the full list at the end.
Words learners mix up
Academic writing is judged on precision about what you are claiming and how strongly. These three clusters cover the verbs of reasoning, the names for parts of an argument, and the adjectives a marker actually reads as praise.
Five verbs that are not "think" and not each other
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| infer | To work something out from evidence. The reader infers; the writer implies. Takes from. | We can infer from the data that uptake fell. |
| deduce | To reach a conclusion that follows necessarily from what you already know. Stronger than inferring. | From these two premises we can deduce the third. |
| derive | To obtain something from a source — a figure, a formula, a word’s origin. Always takes from. | The estimate is derived from census returns. |
| refute | To prove false with evidence — not merely to deny or disagree with. This is the most misused verb in academic English. | The follow-up study refuted the original claim. |
| validate | To confirm that something is sound or works as intended. Applies to methods and instruments more than to opinions. | The questionnaire was validated on a pilot sample. |
The refute trap is worth dwelling on: writing he refuted the allegations when you mean he denied them credits him with having disproved them. If no evidence was produced, the words are deny, reject or dispute. Keep refute for when the case is actually made.
The parts of an argument have names
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| premise | A statement assumed to be true, from which the argument proceeds. Singular; the plural premises in this sense is rare and easily misread. | The argument rests on a questionable premise. |
| assertion | A claim stated confidently but not yet supported. The word quietly signals that evidence is missing. | That is an assertion, not a finding. |
| implication | What follows from a claim without being stated outright. Also used for practical consequences: policy implications. | The implication is that the policy failed. |
| synthesis | Combining several sources or ideas into one coherent account. What a literature review is for. Plural syntheses. | The chapter offers a synthesis of thirty studies. |
Calling something an assertion is a criticism in academic prose, and markers use it deliberately. The neutral words for a supported claim are finding, argument and conclusion. A criterion is different again: the standard against which you judge, and it is singular — the plural is criteria.
The adjectives that are actually praise
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| rigorous | Carried out with strict, careful method. The highest routine compliment a marker gives. | A rigorous analysis of the sampling error. |
| coherent | Holding together logically, each part following from the last. About structure, not about being correct. | The chapter is coherent but under-evidenced. |
| comprehensive | Covering the whole of a field, leaving nothing significant out. A claim about scope. | A comprehensive review of the literature since 1990. |
| preliminary | Early and provisional — a hedge, not a compliment. Signals that conclusions may change. | Preliminary results suggest a small effect. |
Substantial means considerable in size or importance and is a genuine compliment; be careful not to reach for it when you mean substantive, which means relating to the substance rather than the form. And ambiguous — open to more than one reading — is a fault in academic prose, where vague is the related but different fault of not being specific enough.
Collocations that sound natural
Academic English is more formulaic than any other register, and that is a gift: these pairings can simply be learnt and reused, and they signal to a marker that you know the conventions.
scrutiny
come under scrutinyclose scrutinywithstand scrutinypublic scrutiny
Uncountable. A claim that does not withstand scrutiny is the polite academic way of saying it collapses.
correlation
a strong correlationa correlation betweena positive correlationno significant correlation
The preposition is between, and the standard warning — correlation does not imply causation — is itself a fixed phrase worth knowing.
criteria
meet the criteriathe criteria for inclusiona key criterionfail to meet the criteria
You meet or satisfy criteria; you do not fill or reach them.
framework
a theoretical frameworkwithin the framework ofdevelop a frameworka conceptual framework
variable
a dependent variablean independent variablecontrol for variablesa confounding variable
Control for — with for — is the fixed research phrase, and it means removing a factor’s influence from the result.
plagiarism
commit plagiarismaccused of plagiarismavoid plagiarisminadvertent plagiarism
The verb is commit, which places it among offences. The related verb for the act is plagiarise.
Formal, neutral or informal?
The words below all belong to academic writing, but they carry different risks: two have a specialised second meaning, one is so overused it has become a warning sign, and one is simply spelt differently either side of the Atlantic.
- academiaUncountableThe academic world as a whole: a career in academia. Never pluralised and never takes an. The older word academe now sounds literary or ironic.
- discourseTwo sensesIn general use, serious discussion of a subject: public discourse. In linguistics and social theory it means a whole system of language and assumptions about a topic, which is why discourse analysis is a technical field. Uncountable in the first sense, countable in the second.
- paradigmOverusedA framework of shared assumptions within which research is done, from Kuhn. Paradigm shift has been so heavily borrowed by business writing that in an essay it now needs to be earned — use it only for a genuine change of framework.
- hypothesiseSpelling · BritishBritish academic writing uses -ise: hypothesise, analyse, categorise. American uses -ize for most of these, though analyze is the one that changes its consonant too. Oxford style uses -ize in British English, so consistency matters more than the choice.
- scholarlyApprovingRigorous and properly grounded in research: a scholarly edition. Note that academic as an adjective has an unhelpful second sense meaning irrelevant — the question is now academic.
- empiricalNeutral · technicalBased on observation or experiment rather than theory alone. It does not mean simply true or objective, and both quantitative and qualitative work can be empirical.
- datasetNow one wordWritten as a single word in most current style guides, though data set survives. It refers to a structured collection of data prepared for analysis, not to data in general.
- terminologyUncountableThe set of specialist terms a field uses: the terminology is inconsistent. Never terminologies in ordinary use, and not a synonym for a single term.
Sentences to try
Four frames from a methods section. Check each plural before you say the sentence aloud.
- The study tested three hypotheses using quantitative methods.
- These criteria were applied to every case in the sample.
- Her methodology combined interviews with empirical observation.
- Every claim is supported by a citation in the bibliography.
Questions about academic & research vocabulary
What is the plural of thesis and hypothesis?
Theses and hypotheses, both ending in a sound like -eez. Greek nouns ending in -is take this pattern, which also gives analyses, crises, diagnoses, parentheses and syntheses. Note that the singular and plural differ by only one letter in writing but are clearly distinct in speech, so reading academic English aloud is a useful way to fix them. The related trap is criteria and phenomena, which are already plural — the singulars are criterion and phenomenon.
What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative research?
Quantitative research measures and counts: it produces numerical data through surveys, experiments and statistical analysis, and it answers questions about how much, how many and how often. Qualitative research explores meaning: it produces descriptive data through interviews, observation and case studies, and it answers questions about why and how. Many studies are mixed-method and use both. Note that empirical is not a third type — it simply means based on observed evidence, which either approach can be.
Is a dissertation the same as a thesis?
It depends on the country. In British universities, a dissertation is normally the extended piece of writing submitted for a bachelor’s or master’s degree, while a thesis is written for a doctorate. In American universities the terms are the other way round: a thesis is for a master’s and a dissertation for a PhD. Because both conventions appear in international sources, it is worth naming the degree as well: my master’s dissertation is unambiguous anywhere.