CONCEPT NOTES It is often believed that academic writing, particularly scientific writing, is factual, simply to convey facts and information. However it is now recognised that an important feature of academic writing is the concept of cautious language, often called "hedging" or "vague language". This is necessary to emphasize ones decisions or stand on a particular subject, and to strengthen the claims. The following are examples of hedging expressions used in academic text. 1. Introductorye.g. seem, tend, look like, appear to be, think, believe, doubt, verbs:be sure, indicate, suggest 2. Certain lexical e.g. believe, assume, suggest verbs 3. Certain modal e.g. will, must, would, may, might, could verbs: 4. Adverbs of e.g. often, sometimes, usually, likely frequency 4. Modal adverbse.g. certainly, definitely, clearly, probably, possibly, perhaps, conceivably, 5. Modal adjectives e.g. certain, definite, clear, probable, possible 6. Modal nounse.g. assumption, possibility, probability 7. That clausese.g. It could be the case that e.g. It might be suggested that. e.g. There is every hope that.
