Unit 6: Formality Filter

The formality filter is arguably the easiest filter to use. Academic, research and business writing uses a formal register. The belief is that formal writing is trustworthy — this is also why newscasters use formal language to read the news. Readers of research articles written using informal language or slang may not trust the content of the research.

This view may be biased, but the convention is unlikely to change soon. When checking your draft using the formality filter, there are five error types to look out for:

1. Apostrophes
2. Abbreviations
3. Slang
4. Informal terms
5. Rhetorical questions

Introduction to the formality filter

Corpus example: To be more precise, XXX doesn't directly cause the effect (E).

There are two informal uses of apostrophes to avoid:

1. Contractions — doesn't should be written as does not.
2. Possessives — the experiment's rate should be rephrased as the rate of the experiment.

Users of non-Latin scripts should also note that some character sets (such as Japanese) use a visually similar but technically different apostrophe character (` vs. '), which may cause formatting issues.

Click each corpus example to see the suggested revision.

Corpus example: This is the RQ of this paper.

Unknown or undefined abbreviations should be avoided. If the author introduces an abbreviation in brackets after the full form (e.g. research question (RQ)), then the abbreviation may be used later in the paper. However, if the abbreviation is neither standard nor common within the field, it should be spelled out each time or introduced at first use.

Note also that there is no need to introduce an abbreviation for a term that will not be referred to again later in the paper.

Corpus example: A bunch of IT engineers collaborated and launched…

Slang describes language used only in specific social circles, which may be related to age or social status. It may creep into scientific writing through lack of awareness of register or poor proofreading. Non-native English speakers who have developed their English primarily through spoken communication may not realize that certain lexical choices, such as bunch, are inappropriate in formal writing.

Revised: A team of IT engineers collaborated and launched…

Corpus example: They launched the website right after the earthquake...

Informal terms differ from slang in that their usage is more widespread. In the corpus example, the informal adverb right is used to mean immediately. Informal terms can be replaced with more formal equivalents:

• Revision a
• Revision b

Click each corpus example to see the suggested revision.

Corpus example: The key question to ask is: how can we XXX?

Rhetorical questions are frequently used in magazine articles and blogs as a way of engaging the reader. However, they are less common in scientific research articles, where they may be seen as a device for engaging with readers of a less formal genre. Novice writers would be advised to avoid them.

Rather than posing a question, the author should state the answer or reformulate it as a declarative sentence:

Revised: XXX can be achieved by XXXX.