Academic writing: which tone is best?
Hello everyone, a PhD student in biology (vertebrate zoology) writing her thesis here.
When it comes to writing academia-related stuff, I adhere to the principle that it is the writer's job to make the reader's job easy and pleasant. At the same time, most of the "proper academic" texts are atrocious, heavy, and cumbersome. So, in my thesis, I try to write as naturally as possible.
The problem is, both my peers and supervisors find my language "too informal/colloquial", and, by now, I am questioning whether I am too delusional in my approach.
Here is an example of "too informal" phrases:
- "Also, during batch data processing, it allowed us to collect and cache all relevant metadata in a dedicated Python class object after addressing it for the first time, so we didn’t have to circle back to it downstream, which improved the overall performance of the pipeline."
- We used the moment when the animals were immobilised for feeding to mount the sensors on the individual of interest.
What is your stance on "where is the line between professional and colloquial"? Would be happy to read any opinions on "how academic language should be" as well.
Thanks!