{"id":3864,"date":"2016-08-08T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/blog\/?p=3864"},"modified":"2020-07-31T12:32:27","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T19:32:27","slug":"ultimate-guide-perfect-word-choice-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kibin.com\/essay-writing-blog\/ultimate-guide-perfect-word-choice-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Word Choice for Your Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite what our mothers may have told us when we were testing the more \u201ccolorful\u201d side of language as children\u2014raise your hand if you know what soap tastes like<\/i>\u2014there’s no such thing as a \u201cbad word.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are, however, words that are inappropriate for a given situation.<\/p>\n

This not only means that you should avoid dropping certain\u2014*ahem*<\/i>\u2014bombs in front of Grandma or your boss, but it also means that you should choose your words with care when writing an essay, a cover letter, or any other document.<\/p>\n

Obviously, you know better than to include explicit language in an academic paper. But other nuances of word choice in essay writing are not so obvious.<\/p>\n

Ideally, the words you select should not only convey your meaning and argument, but they should also do so with the right tone and the right connotation\u2014without offending or confusing anyone.<\/p>\n

If this sounds like a tall order, then you\u2019re in luck. In this post, I’ll provide helpful tips and strategies to help you choose the best words to make your point while sidestepping any linguistic faux pas.<\/p>\n

Why Is Word Choice Important in an Essay?<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve certainly heard the phrase \u201cwords matter\u201d before. But in an essay, they really, REALLY matter.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

In an essay, you have a goal in mind. You might be trying to persuade a university to admit you, to convince your readers that tomatoes are indeed fruits and not vegetables, to inform your readers about the importance of squirrels, or to describe each painstaking step of building a Pokemon card deck.<\/p>\n

Regardless of your topic or the rhetorical situation, your goal\u2014your purpose for writing\u2014is important, and the right words help you achieve it.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, solid word choices improve your credibility as a writer. They let your readers know that YOU are a knowledgeable, confident authority on your topic and that you’re professional enough to gauge the formality of the rhetorical situation.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a fancy way of saying you know how to say just the right thing.<\/p>\n

Finally, careful decisions about your word choice help you avoid alienating, annoying, or confusing your readers\u2014even when you totally didn\u2019t intend to!<\/p>\n

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Careful decisions about word choice help you avoid alienating, annoying, or confusing your readers.<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

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Avoiding the most common problems with word choice boils down to a few simple guidelines:<\/p>\n

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  1. Avoid redundancy<\/li>\n
  2. Ditch flowery language<\/li>\n
  3. Choose the right level of formality<\/li>\n
  4. Sound credible and confident<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Let\u2019s look at some examples of these principles on word choice in action.<\/p>\n

    1. Avoid Redundancy<\/h2>\n

    When I was in high school\u2014and later in my undergrad\u2014whenever the teacher assigned essays, there were always predictable groans among my classmates. What was it that stressed us out the most? The subject matter? The due date?<\/p>\n

    No, dear reader. Our shared anxiety was about the word count. I can remember thinking, \u201c1,500 words?! THAT\u2019S SO MANY WORDS!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

    Facing this challenge as a fledgling writer, I chose (less than ideal) tactics to hit word count requirements: make things as complicated as possible, repeat myself, over-explain everything, and use flowery language.<\/p>\n

    As time went on, I slowly realized that these techniques were hurting my grades and making it harder for me to organize my thoughts.<\/p>\n

    Not sure what I mean?<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s an example I found from this post on excessive wordiness<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    National Park Service regulation: <\/b><\/p>\n

    “When the process of freeing a stuck vehicle that has been stuck results in ruts or holes, the operator will fill the rut or hole created by such activity before removing the vehicle from the immediate area.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Let\u2019s break it down:<\/p>\n

    \u201cWhen the process of freeing a stuck<\/b> vehicle that has been stuck<\/b>\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    This is what\u2019s known as redundancy<\/b>. Sometimes, redundancy is great.<\/p>\n

    Building a bridge? You probably want extra support beams in case one of them breaks. Flying to Mars? Maybe build some extra life support systems in case something goes wrong with the primary one.<\/p>\n

    While redundancy is a GREAT idea in engineering (thanks, engineers!), it\u2019s not a good idea in writing.<\/p>\n

    Why not? Redundancy gets in the way. It takes up unnecessary space, so you don\u2019t have as much room to develop your argument, show off your ideas, and say things that actually matter.<\/i><\/p>\n

    Redundancy also makes it hard to understand what your point is because the reader has to work harder to figure out what you\u2019re getting at. You might even confuse yourself.<\/p>\n

    And when your prof gets to your paper after marking 20 others and having a couple glasses of scotch, redundancy will make him grumpy and\/or sleepy. NOT GOOD! You want to make your prof\u2019s life easy \u2026 not make him feel like this:<\/p>\n

    Okay, let\u2019s look at that sentence again. This time, let’s pay closer attention to word choice:<\/p>\n

    “When the process of freeing a stuck vehicle that has been stuck results in ruts or holes, the operator will fill the rut or hole created by such activity before removing the vehicle from the immediate area.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u201c\u2026that has been stuck\u201d is redundant with the first part of the sentence,\u201cWhen the process of freeing a stuck vehicle.\u201d Why repeat it? It\u2019s just confusing.<\/p>\n

    Here’s the sentence without redundancy:<\/p>\n

    “When freeing a stuck vehicle results in ruts or holes, fill them before removing the vehicle from the area.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Ahh, much better, yes?<\/p>\n

    Here are some other common examples of redundancy (with corrections):<\/p>\n

    Example #1:<\/p>\n