Many exam essay writers need to write formal or academic essays. Some fundamental rules for these essays exist which many students don’t seem to be able to understand clearly. There are many questions about what they can and can’t use in these essays, such as if they can use shortened verb forms or not (contractions). Here are the dos and don’ts of formal essay writing for those of you who are confused.
According to Björk, Knight and Wikborg (1992), the use of ‘I’, ‘we’, ‘you’ are generally the informal choice. However, some disciplines may accept the use of these pronouns or recommend that they only be used in the introduction and conclusion of the text.
As far as I am concerned, using ‘I’ is acceptable in the introductions and conclusions to formal essays when writing essays for exams such as IELTS Writing Task 2, or Cambridge B2, Cambridge C1 and C2 Task 1, while ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘you’ are not acceptable because they pull the reader into the same thought process as the writer when more detachment is needed.
The following is a chart showing some guidelines to what you should and should not do when writing a formal essay.
| What not to do | What to do |
| Do not use slang, jargon, colloquialisms, or sexist language. | Use formal language |
| Do not use shortened verb forms (contractions), such as they’re, isn’t, can’t. | Use the full verb form instead, e.g., they are, is not, cannot |
| Do not use common vocabulary, such as have got, a lot, nice, the other thing. | Make more formal vocabulary choices, e.g., have found, a great deal, attractive/ advantageous, the other issue/problem/notion/idea/topic etc. |
| Do not use conversational opening phrases, such as Well, you see, Yes…, Let’s move on. | Leave out conversational phrases. Use appropriate connectors and introductory phrases. |
| Do not write I think – especially not at the beginning of a sentence, i.e., do not write, for example, I think James (2008) believes that global warming will… | Leave out I think, e.g., James (2008) believes that global warming will… |
| Do not use personal pronouns e.g. I, you, we (unless specifically required), i.e. do not write We think that you should be able to compete. | Be non-personal, e.g. It should be possible for everyone to compete. |
| Do not use sweeping generalisations | State main ideas clearly and concisely in your own words in topic sentences. |
| Do not use bullet points or lists, unless it is in a report. | use complete sentences and link these into logical paragraphs. |
| Avoid making assumptions or giving your opinion (unless specifically asked). | Be objective. |
| Avoid waffling or repeating yourself. | Be clear and concise. |
| When practicing, do not take for granted that the spell check on your computer is accurate or will spot all spelling mistakes, since for example, your spell check will not pick up on whether vs weather. | Check spelling, grammar and punctuation etcetera. Proofread and use a dictionary. Ask somebody to proofread your text for you. |
| Do not pose (direct) questions in the running text, that is, do not write, for instance Can carbon emissions be reduced? | Convert questions into statements, for example, The possibility of carbon emissions being reduced is questionable. |
| Do not mix words and numbers unsystematically. | Use words for numbers nine and below and numbers for 10 and above. |
Some of the information in the table above is from Björk, Knight, & Wikborg (1992), some from Lund University website.