academese
University writing style
Academese is the jargon-laden, often impenetrable prose style characteristic of scholarly writing.
The term is mildly pejorative, suggesting that academic language obscures rather than clarifies: The paper was buried in academese that even specialists struggled to parse.
Like legalese or bureaucratese, it names a style more concerned with sounding authoritative than communicating clearly.
Evaluated by field experts
- publicationIssued written material
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
- dissertationExtended academic treatise
- footnotesMarginal citations below text
bibliography · citations · monograph · journals · abstract · methodology · theoretical · framework
Following strict protocol
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
- detachedApart or uninvolved
- dispassionateFree from emotional involvement
- hedgingNoncommittal maneuvering
qualifications · passive voice · nominalization · depersonalized · cautious · measured · distancing · objectifying
Impossible to pass through
- opaqueImpassable to light
- convolutedExcessively complex or twisted
- abstruseDifficult to comprehend
- arcaneUnderstood by few
turgid · incomprehensible · unintelligible · inscrutable · dense · inaccessible · murky · verbose
Subject-specific vocabulary
- neologismsNewly invented words
- buzzwordsTrendy technical jargon
- phraseologyManner of verbal expression
- discourseFormal communication on subjects
problematize · theorize · positionality · intersectionality · hegemony · paradigm · praxis · dialectic
peer-reviewed
Evaluated by field experts
- publicationIssued written material
- thesisAcademic argument requiring defense
- dissertationExtended academic treatise
footnotes · bibliography · citations · monograph · journals · abstract · methodology · theoretical · framework · literature review
formal
Following strict protocol
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
- detachedApart or uninvolved
- dispassionateFree from emotional involvement
hedging · qualifications · passive voice · nominalization · depersonalized · cautious · measured · distancing · objectifying · authoritative
impenetrable
Impossible to pass through
- opaqueImpassable to light
- convolutedExcessively complex or twisted
- abstruseDifficult to comprehend
arcane · turgid · incomprehensible · unintelligible · inscrutable · dense · inaccessible · murky · verbose · overwrought
terminology
Subject-specific vocabulary
- neologismsNewly invented words
- buzzwordsTrendy technical jargon
- phraseologyManner of verbal expression
discourse · problematize · theorize · positionality · intersectionality · hegemony · paradigm · praxis · dialectic · hermeneutics
- jargonjargon, lingo, legal jargon, slang, buzz words
- blatherbabble, balderdash, baloney, blarney, blather
- language varietiesdialect, idiolect, sociolect, vernacular, accent
- invented speechgibberish, gobbledygook, double-talk, jabberwocky, mumbo jumbo
academeseplain English
Unadorned, accessible wording
plain speech · plain language · everyday language · layman's terms · common parlance
academesestraight talk
Honest, direct communication
clear prose · simple English · clarity · concise writing · brevity