Definitions Academic Writing Wizard

Backward Reference

The use of a word or a pronoun referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition, such as "He" in "John's car is fast. He bought it last year."

Forward Reference

The use of a pronoun or other linguistic unit to refer ahead to another word in a sentence (i.e., the referent). Adjective: cataphoric. A few weeks before he died, my father gave me an old cigar box filled with faded letters.

Connecting Words

Conjunctions like "and," "but," "also," etc.

Simple Word Repetition

Same word is repeated in text, such as school-school.

Complex Word Repetition

Synonyms are used in text, such as teacher-tutor-instructor.

Phrasal Word Repetition

Same phrase is repeated, such as at the conference-on campus-beyond belief.

Academic Lexical Phrases

Academic Lexical Phrases are the most frequently used phrases in academic discourse. These phrases are based on academic corpora, millions of words used in academic writing.

Click here to get the Lexical Phrasal list