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When science meets cluttered writing: adjectives and adverbs in academia revisited

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  • Lei Lei

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

Okulicz-Kozaryn (Scientometrics 96:679–681, 2013) examined the readability issue in terms of the proportions of adjectives and adverbs in research articles. The results showed that natural scientists used the lowest proportion of adjectives and adverbs, while social scientists employed more adjectives and adverbs than natural scientists. Based on the findings, he argued for killing much of the adjectives and adverbs in academic writing for brevity and conciseness. However, adjectives and adverbs serve different functions in academic writing. Thus, the present study investigated the use of adjectives and adverbs separately with a much larger set of academic writing of various genres and a subsample of only research articles. The results indicated that the proportions of adjectives in natural science and applied science are higher than those in arts and humanities and social science, while the proportions of adverbs in natural science and applied science are lower than those in arts and humanities and social science. The results seemingly complemented Okulicz-Kozaryn’s (2013) findings. It is accordingly suggested that researchers in arts and humanities and social science should use less adverbs in academic writing. Issues concerning readability and impact of articles are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Lei, 2016. "When science meets cluttered writing: adjectives and adverbs in academia revisited," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1361-1372, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:107:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-016-1896-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-016-1896-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, 2013. "Cluttered writing: adjectives and adverbs in academia," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(3), pages 679-681, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ju Wen & Lei Lei, 2022. "Adjectives and adverbs in life sciences across 50 years: implications for emotions and readability in academic texts," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 4731-4749, August.
    2. Omar Mubin & Dhaval Tejlavwala & Mudassar Arsalan & Muneeb Ahmad & Simeon Simoff, 2018. "An assessment into the characteristics of award winning papers at CHI," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(2), pages 1181-1201, August.
    3. Lei Lei & Sheng Yan, 2016. "Readability and citations in information science: evidence from abstracts and articles of four journals (2003–2012)," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1155-1169, September.
    4. Amnah Alluqmani & Lior Shamir, 2018. "Writing styles in different scientific disciplines: a data science approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 1071-1085, May.
    5. Amon, Julian & Hornik, Kurt, 2022. "Is it all bafflegab? – Linguistic and meta characteristics of research articles in prestigious economics journals," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).

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