Academic collocations are word combinations commonly used in essays, assignments, reports, and research papers. Examples include conduct research, provide evidence, develop an argument, draw conclusions, and compelling evidence.
These combinations help you express ideas clearly, but word choice also affects what your writing claims. Saying that evidence supports an argument, for example, is not necessarily the same as saying it proves the argument.
Academic collocations can combine a verb and noun (conduct research), an adjective and noun (compelling evidence), or an adverb and verb (critically evaluate). Academic writing also uses longer established expressions, such as draw a distinction between two ideas.
Common Academic Collocations and Example Sentences
Academic collocations help you develop arguments, discuss evidence, describe research, and explain findings. The examples below cover several academic subjects, although particular disciplines may prefer different terminology.
Developing Arguments and Discussing Ideas
| Academic collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Develop an argument | The essay develops an argument that public parks should be treated as essential urban infrastructure rather than optional amenities. |
| Present an argument | The author presents an argument for preserving historic buildings rather than replacing them. |
| Support a claim | The student uses newspaper reports from the period to support the claim that public attitudes were changing. |
| Challenge an assumption | The essay challenges the assumption that technological progress always improves working conditions. |
| Raise a question | The novel’s ending raises a question about whether justice and forgiveness can coexist. |
| Consider an alternative explanation | The discussion considers an alternative explanation for declining town-centre sales, focusing on changes in shopping habits. |
| Draw a distinction | The writer draws a distinction between legal responsibility and personal responsibility. |
| Play a significant role | Access to affordable transport can play a significant role in people’s employment choices. |
| Broader implications | The essay considers the broader implications of restricting access to public information. |
Research and Methods
| Academic collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Conduct research | The department conducted research into how residents use public parks at different times of day. |
| Carry out a study | Researchers carried out a study examining the durability of several traditional building materials. |
| Formulate a hypothesis | Before the experiment, the students formulated a hypothesis about how light exposure might affect plant growth. |
| Collect data | Volunteers collected data on bicycle traffic at four busy intersections. |
| Analyse data | The team analysed the data to compare water consumption across different months. |
| Adopt an approach | The researcher adopted a qualitative approach to exploring how families experienced relocation. |
| Apply a method | The laboratory applied the same method to every sample to maintain a consistent procedure. |
| Select a sample | The historian selected a sample of newspaper advertisements published over a twenty-year period. |
Sources, Evidence, and Academic Discussion
| Academic collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Review the literature | The researcher reviewed the literature before developing the interview questions. |
| Existing literature | The existing literature offers several competing explanations for the historical event. |
| Cite a source | The essay cites a contemporary source to support its description of the city’s expansion. |
| Provide evidence | The surviving letters provide evidence of regular trade between the two towns. |
| Compelling evidence | The dated correspondence offers compelling evidence that the artist visited the region. |
| Empirical evidence | The discussion distinguishes theoretical arguments from empirical evidence gathered through observation. |
| Relevant evidence | The writer includes relevant evidence from the novel to support the interpretation. |
| Critically evaluate | The assignment asks students to critically evaluate the arguments made by two historians. |
Findings, Relationships, and Conclusions
| Academic collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Report findings | The researchers reported their findings in a paper about household water use. |
| Preliminary findings | The preliminary findings suggested that participants preferred the revised booking process. |
| Identify a pattern | The historian identified a pattern in how seasonal work was described in family diaries. |
| Reveal a trend | The annual records revealed a trend towards later flowering dates in the plants observed. |
| Draw a conclusion | The authors avoided drawing a conclusion from the limited observations. |
| Reach a conclusion | After examining the documents, the historian reached the conclusion that the building had served several purposes. |
| Strong correlation | The analysis reported a strong correlation between daily temperature and electricity demand. |
| Causal relationship | The authors explained why their observational study could not establish a causal relationship. |
| Statistically significant difference | The analysis found a statistically significant difference in average response times between the two groups. |
Limitations and Further Research
The examples below illustrate how these expressions are used in academic writing. They are not findings from actual research studies.
| Academic collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Acknowledge limitations | The authors acknowledged the limitations of interviewing participants from only one neighbourhood. |
| Small sample size | The small sample size limited how confidently the findings could be generalised. |
| Methodological limitations | The report discussed methodological limitations associated with self-reported information. |
| Potential bias | The researchers considered potential bias arising from the way participants were recruited. |
| Alternative explanation | The discussion offered an alternative explanation for the observed changes. |
| Research gap | The literature review identified a research gap concerning access to public services in remote communities. |
| Further research | The authors recommended further research involving participants from several regions. |
| Interpret with caution | Because the measurements covered only one season, the findings needed to be interpreted with caution. |
Some combinations, such as strong correlation and statistically significant difference, are especially useful when discussing quantitative research. They should only be used when the evidence and analysis support them.
How Academic Collocations Affect Meaning and Claims
Two academic expressions can be equally grammatical but make different claims. These distinctions matter when you’re presenting an argument, describing evidence, or discussing research findings.
Provide Evidence, Support a Claim, or Prove a Claim?
Suppose a history student is examining whether a nineteenth-century harbour supported international trade.
The student provides evidence from shipping records and merchants’ letters.
This identifies the information used.
The records support the claim that merchants from several countries used the harbour.
The evidence gives reasons to accept the claim.
Now compare:
The records prove the claim beyond doubt.
This is much stronger. It suggests that the evidence establishes the claim conclusively.
Provide evidence means supply information relevant to a question or argument.
Support a claim means the evidence gives reasons to accept it.
Prove a claim expresses a stronger conclusion, which may not be justified if other interpretations remain possible.
For many academic arguments, supports the claim is more appropriate when the evidence is persuasive but not conclusive. Stronger wording is appropriate when the nature and strength of the evidence justify it.
Develop an Argument or Present an Argument?
These expressions describe related activities, but they emphasise different parts of academic writing.
The essay presents an argument that public libraries contribute to community life beyond lending books.
The writer puts forward a position.
The essay develops the argument by examining access to technology, study spaces, and community programmes.
The writer builds that argument through explanation and evidence.
Present an argument focuses on introducing or communicating a position.
Develop an argument emphasises expanding and supporting it through reasoning, examples, or evidence.
A well-written essay can do both.
You can also challenge an assumption by questioning an idea that has been widely accepted or taken for granted.
The writer challenges the assumption that older buildings are necessarily less useful than new ones.
Challenging an assumption doesn’t automatically mean disproving it. The writer may be showing why it deserves closer examination.
Findings Suggest, Indicate, or Demonstrate?
These combinations help describe what research results show and how confidently they can be interpreted.
Imagine a hypothetical study comparing waiting times at a railway station before and after a change in boarding arrangements.
The findings suggest that the revised arrangements may have reduced waiting times.
This presents a possible interpretation.
The results indicate that average waiting times were lower during the second observation period.
This points to a pattern in the results.
The recorded figures demonstrate that average waiting times were lower at the monitored entrances during the second period.
This makes a firmer claim about what the measurements showed.
There is no universal certainty scale in which indicate must always be stronger than suggest. Demonstrate often introduces a more definite statement, but its appropriateness depends on the evidence and the claim.
In this example, the figures might establish that waiting times decreased without establishing that the revised boarding arrangements caused the decrease.
Choose the expression that matches what the results actually support.
Strong Correlation or Causal Relationship?
Suppose a survey finds that students who report reading more frequently also tend to report higher examination marks.
A careful description might be:
The survey found a positive association between reported reading frequency and examination marks.
If the statistical analysis supports it, the writer might describe the relationship as a strong correlation.
But this statement goes further:
Reading more frequently caused the higher marks.
The survey alone may not establish that. Other factors could contribute to the relationship.
A correlation describes how measured variables vary together.
A causal relationship means that a change in one factor contributes to producing a change in another.
A strong correlation does not, by itself, establish causation. The research design and supporting evidence must justify a causal claim.
Significant Difference or Statistically Significant Difference?
In ordinary academic discussion, significant can mean important, substantial, or worthy of attention.
The new timetable made a significant difference to how residents planned their journeys.
This describes an important effect in everyday language.
In quantitative research, statistically significant difference has a technical meaning.
The researchers reported a statistically significant difference between the groups.
This refers to a result that met a statistical significance criterion under the analysis used. It does not necessarily mean the difference was large or important in practical terms.
A statistically significant difference can be small. A practically important difference might not meet a particular significance threshold.
When reporting results, it is also useful to describe the size of the observed difference rather than relying on the word significant alone.
Use statistically significant only when the relevant analysis supports that description.
Research Gap or Study Limitation?
These expressions describe different problems.
The literature review identified a research gap concerning how older residents use digital public services.
This points to something that existing research has not adequately examined.
A major limitation of the study was that every participant came from the same town.
This identifies something about the study itself that restricts what its findings can tell us.
A research gap concerns an area that remains insufficiently explored or understood in the available literature.
A study limitation concerns the scope, methods, data, or interpretation of a particular investigation.
A limitation does not automatically establish a research gap. Before claiming that little research exists on a subject, a writer needs to examine the relevant literature.
Using Academic Collocations Correctly
Academic collocations often have familiar grammatical patterns. Knowing which noun, preposition, or verb form belongs in a combination helps you build natural sentences.
Research, Evidence, and Study: Countability
In standard academic English, research is generally uncountable when referring to investigation as an activity or body of work.
The department conducted research into patterns of local rainfall.
The researchers carried out a study of rainfall patterns.
The researchers carried out three studies over ten years.
Incorrect: The university conducted a research into rainfall patterns.
Correct: The university conducted research into rainfall patterns.
Correct: The university conducted a study of rainfall patterns.
Study is countable when it refers to an individual investigation. You can also use a research project or a piece of research.
Evidence is normally uncountable in general academic writing.
The archaeologists found evidence of earlier settlement.
The documents provided several pieces of evidence.
Avoid several evidences when referring generally to pieces of evidence.
Complete Patterns with Academic Collocations
| Expression | Common pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Conduct research | Conduct research into/on something | They conducted research into language use in online communities. |
| Support a claim | Support a claim with evidence | The writer supported the claim with records from the period. |
| Provide evidence | Provide evidence of/for something | The excavation provided evidence of earlier settlement. |
| Base an argument | Base an argument on evidence | The argument was based on contemporary accounts. |
| Draw a conclusion | Draw a conclusion from something | The historian drew a conclusion from the surviving documents. |
| Be consistent | Be consistent with something | The findings were consistent with earlier observations. |
| Contribute | Contribute to something | Several factors may contribute to differences in attendance. |
| Draw a distinction | Draw a distinction between two things | The essay draws a distinction between intention and outcome. |
| Take account | Take account of something | The analysis takes account of differences in participants’ ages. |
The expressions evidence of and evidence for are useful to distinguish.
The researchers found evidence of earlier flooding.
This refers to signs that flooding occurred.
The writer presented evidence for the proposed interpretation.
This refers to information supporting an explanation.
You can also present evidence against a claim.
The choice depends on what relationship the sentence is describing.
Increase In, Increase By, or Increase To?
These combinations describe different parts of a numerical change.
The report recorded an increase in passenger numbers.
In identifies what increased.
Passenger numbers increased by 12%.
By identifies the amount of change.
Daily passenger numbers increased to 4,500.
To identifies the final value.
You can combine them:
Daily passenger numbers increased by 12% to 4,500.
Each construction communicates different information. The same general distinction can help when describing a decrease, rise, or fall.
Relationship Between and Associated With
You can use these expressions to describe a relationship without necessarily saying that one factor caused the other.
The study examined the relationship between household size and water consumption.
Higher reported commuting times were associated with lower satisfaction scores in the survey.
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| Relationship between A and B | The relationship between income and spending was examined. |
| Association between A and B | The study found an association between the two measured variables. |
| A is associated with B | Regular attendance was associated with higher reported confidence. |
The prepositions matter. We say a relationship between two factors and one factor is associated with another.
Choosing Natural Academic Language
Academic writing doesn’t require replacing every familiar verb with a more formal one.
Compare:
The researchers used interviews to explore residents’ experiences.
The researchers employed interviews to explore residents’ experiences.
Both are acceptable. Employed is more formal, but used is not incorrect or unsuitable for academic writing.
Choose the combination that fits what you’re trying to say. A familiar expression used accurately is better than a technical-sounding one that changes or exaggerates your meaning.
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