Here’s a quick Q&A to help you decide whether or not to download The Only Academic Phrasebook You’ll Ever Need:
Q: I know what I want to say, but I can’t find the right words - or the right tone. Will a phrasebook like this be useful?
A: Yes. It will enable you to express yourself with more precision and clarity. For example, you will learn how to write “This study addresses the issue of…” rather than “This study talks about…”. Or “While there is wide agreement that…” instead of “A lot of people agree that…”. Think of this book as a practical, no-nonsense databank of sentence frames to help you write essays, term papers, reports, dissertations and theses using the right words and the right style.
Q: Great! I don’t even know what an academic paper looks like!
A: So maybe you shouldn’t download The Only Academic Phrasebook You’ll Ever Need. This book assumes that you are also learning/have also learned the basics of academic writing. It will NOT teach you how to write thesis statements, develop and refine your arguments or create coherent paragraphs, just to name a few key academic writing skills. The Only Academic Phrasebook You’ll Ever Need is, as the title suggests, essentially a phrasebook. It is NOT a comprehensive textbook or research guide.
Q: English is not my first language. Can I use this book?
A: It depends on your level of proficiency. Ideally, you should be at an upper-intermediate or advanced level to make the most of it.
Q: I’m a native speaker of English, but I keep getting things like “there/their/they’re” or “affect vs. effect” wrong. Will this book help me?
A: Yes. As well as 600 sentence frames, you will find 80 grammar, vocabulary and punctuation tips, written with both native and non-native speakers in mind.
I hope you enjoy using this book as much I
enjoyed writing it.
Special thanks to Dr. Patricia Friedrich, from Arizona State
University, for her feedback on the final manuscript.