Academic writing

Writing tools can augment your own careful checking and understanding of the spelling, punctuation and grammar in a document. As well as resulting in better communication overall, getting spelling right will give your work a professional finish.

• Check your spellchecker is set to UK English (in Word > Review Tab > Language > Set proofing language).
• US and UK spellings are slightly different; UK spelling is generally preferred.
• E.g., foetus rather than fetus, labour rather than labor, unravelled rather than unraveled.
• Note that the guidelines and advice in this section refer to UK English spelling.

If there are alternative correct spellings of a word (and there are lots of variant spellings and quirks in English), pick one and stick with it throughout your piece of work.

• In MS Word, the find and replace tool can help you bulk correct errors or changes quickly across a document.
• MS Word Editor will also help you to check for common spelling and grammar errors, as well as provide more general writing advice (found under the review tab).
• Use a grammar guide like Peck and Coyle (2012) or Palmer (2003) to explore entries on spelling, or look online for lists of commonly misspelled words, especially if you are trying to proactively improve. These types of quick reference resources can also help with identifying spelling patterns and rules if you notice an error recurring in your work. You may want to try keeping a list of vocabulary for your own reference.

Some common spelling errors in academic writing to be alert to include:

A and an

Whereas ‘a’ is used before a consonant sound (e.g. ‘a boy’, ‘a party’, ‘a situation’), ‘an’ is used before a vowel sound, i.e. before a word that begins with the letter a, e, i, o, or u (e.g. ‘an army’, ‘an old man’).

It is easy to see the practical reason for putting an ‘an’ before a vowel: try saying ‘a army’ aloud – it soon becomes apparent that is it incorrect.

i before e

You may have learnt the rule ‘i before e, except after c’ (e.g. receive, perceive) and this is generally useful, just watch for exceptions (example - either, their, seize, height, society, science). Most likely the spellchecker will catch these, but worth being aware of when it comes to proofreading.

Homophones are words that sound the same (or similar) but are spelled differently. Some examples of the most common errors include: there, their and they’re; your and you’re; of and off; as and have; accept and except.  Spellchecking tools may catch these, and of course you will be avoiding contraction (such as they’re or you’re). If you are not sure about a word, never be afraid to look it up in an online dictionary.

Commonly confused words and spelling queries in academic writing

Here are some of the spelling queries that come up often; unfortunately not all of them will be caught by a spellchecker.

Cite, sight and site

In the context of essays, ‘cite’ is most common of these three homophones (words which are pronounced the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings): ‘to cite’ means to quote or mention (e.g. ‘citing references’); ‘sight’ refers to the ability to see (e.g. ‘she had bad eyesight’); ‘site’ refers to a location (e.g. ‘the building site’).

Accept and except

‘To accept’ means ‘to receive’ (e.g. ‘he accepted the award’); ‘except’ means ‘all but’ (e.g. ‘everyone except Peter went to the Summer Ball’).

Affect and effect

‘affect’ either refers to influence (e.g. ‘his presence affected the whole class’) or emotional response (e.g. ‘he showed little affect’); ‘effect’ refers to result (e.g. ‘he had some serious side effects’).

Complement and compliment 

‘complement’ is used when something completes or finishes something else, or provides a balance (e.g. ‘the wine complemented the meal’); a ‘compliment’ is an expression of praise (e.g. ‘the lecturer complimented his work’).

Than and then

‘than’ is used in a comparison (e.g. ‘Tim is faster than Tom’); ‘then’ refers to a point in time (e.g. ‘it happened then’).

There and their

‘there’ refers to place (e.g. ‘over there’); ‘their’ indicates possession (e.g. ‘their books’ – i.e. the books that belonged to them).

Until and ‘till’, ‘til’, or ‘untill’

Just until please.  For example: Until a solution is found, the problem will continue to frustrate mathematicians.

Some words are just not spelt in the way that they sound: this is perhaps why ‘definately’ often appears in place of the correct ‘definitely’ in essays.

(You might have also noticed in this section that ‘spelled’ and ‘spelt’ are both acceptable in UK English.)

If in doubt, consult a dictionary (or the relevant style guide).