This means you use words and expressions like “It may be”, “Mitchell’s work appears to say”, “It could be concluded that”. Academic writers use careful words so that they don’t make claims that are definite when the evidence is uncertain. This may be particularly useful when you want to criticise another writer’s work. You don’t want your assertion that their work is wrong to sound like a personal attack, so writing something like “Mitchell’s work seems to ignore the changing economic circumstances” is not as combative as “Mitchell’s work completely ignores the changing economic circumstances”.

Writing incomplete sentences is becoming common. The informal nature of written communication on the internet means that there are many times when you can construct an incomplete sentence and yet – in context – it makes sense. However, in an essay, informal writing can damage your grade.