Plain English, 30 terms
Academic writing glossary
Every term a brief, a rubric or a marking sheet throws at you — defined in one or two sentences, with a pointer to the tool or guide that fixes it. Tap a term to open it.
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Executive summary
A one-page, stand-alone overview of a long document that states the problem, the approach, the key findings and the recommendation so a decision-maker never has to read the full report. Write it last, even though it appears first. See the case-study guide →
Thesis statement
The single sentence that states a paper's arguable claim and previews its main reasons, usually at the end of the introduction. If reasonable people could shrug at it, it is a fact, not a thesis. Draft one in seconds →
Case study
An in-depth examination of one real or simulated situation — a company, person, decision or event — used to analyse problems and justify recommendations. Full explainer →
SWOT analysis
A 2×2 framework sorting internal Strengths and Weaknesses against external Opportunities and Threats. Every point needs evidence from the case, not adjectives. Build one →
PESTLE analysis
A scan of six external forces — Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental — that shape an organisation's context. Each factor should end with a "so what" for the case. Build one →
Porter's Five Forces
Michael Porter's framework rating competitive rivalry, buyer and supplier power, threat of substitutes and threat of new entrants to judge how attractive an industry is. Rate an industry →
Literature review
A structured synthesis of published research on a topic that maps what is known, where studies disagree and what gap your work fills. Synthesis means grouping by idea, not listing paper by paper.
Annotated bibliography
A reference list where each source is followed by a short paragraph that summarises it, assesses its quality and reflects on how it supports your project. Build one →
Abstract
A dense 150–300 word paragraph at the head of a research paper summarising purpose, method, results and conclusion. No citations, no abbreviations, no suspense.
Methodology
The section explaining how data was collected and analysed — design, participants, instruments, procedures — precisely enough that another researcher could repeat it.
Qualitative research
Research working with words, meanings and observations — interviews, case studies, thematic analysis — rather than numbers. Small samples, deep context.
Quantitative research
Research working with measurable data — surveys, experiments, statistics — to test hypotheses at scale. Big samples, narrow questions.
Primary source
First-hand, original material: raw data, interviews, company reports, historical documents, or the study that ran the experiment itself.
Secondary source
A work that interprets or summarises primary material: textbooks, review articles, commentaries and most news analysis. Fine to lean on; cite the primary when it matters.
Peer review
Quality control for scholarship: independent experts evaluate a manuscript's method and contribution before the journal publishes it. "Peer-reviewed" is a floor, not a guarantee.
In-text citation
The short parenthetical or narrative marker in a sentence — (Smith, 2020) or Smith (2020) — pointing to the full entry in the reference list. Generate APA 7 → · MLA 9 → · Harvard →
DOI
A Digital Object Identifier: a permanent https link that reliably lands on one specific paper. Prefer it over a volatile URL whenever a reference style offers the choice.
Paraphrasing
Restating a source's idea in your own words and sentence structure, with a citation. Swapping three words is patchwriting, and detectors and markers both spot it fast.
Plagiarism
Presenting someone else's words, ideas or structure as your own — copied, badly paraphrased or simply uncited. The fix is boring and reliable: cite as you write, not after. Keep quotes honest and run drafts through the readability checker to catch messy source handling.
Rubric
The marking grid listing assessment criteria and performance levels. Reverse-engineering your draft from the rubric is the highest-leverage hour you will spend on any assignment.
Word count tolerance
The informal ±10% margin many departments apply around a stated length. Folklore varies wildly, so the brief always wins. Check your draft →
Appendix
The section after references holding bulky material — raw tables, transcripts, consent forms — referenced from the body but not counted in the argument or the word count.
Counterargument
The strongest reasonable objection to your claim, addressed and answered in the paper. Skipping it reads as fear; answering it reads as confidence.
Topic sentence
The first sentence of a body paragraph stating its one point. If you cannot write the topic sentence, the paragraph does not know what it is doing either.
Transition
A word or phrase signalling logical movement — contrast, cause, sequence, concession. Sprinkle, do not pour; one per seam is plenty. See where sentences jar →
Flesch Reading Ease
A 0–100 readability score built from sentence length and syllables per word — higher is easier, and 60+ is the usual plain-English target for student work. Score your draft →
Passive voice
A construction where the subject receives the action — the survey was distributed. Legitimate in methods sections, dead weight in arguments. Find yours →
Harvard referencing
An author–date citation family used widely by UK universities. Variations between institutions are real, so the local style guide always beats any generator. Generate a starter →
Capstone project
A final-year integrative project that applies programme learning to a practical problem, typically ending in a report and a presentation. Full walkthrough → · Idea generator →
Research proposal
The short document that argues a research question is worth answering and sets out how you will answer it — problem, gap, method, timeline. Draft one →
IRAC
A legal-analysis structure — Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion — that keeps law case answers disciplined. The Application half is where the grade lives. Business-law guide →
No term matches — try a shorter fragment like “cite” or “SWOT”, or search the whole site.
How to use this glossary without living in it
Definitions are the cheap half of academic writing. The expensive half is using the term correctly under time pressure, which is why almost every card above links to the tool or guide that does the work — build the SWOT instead of re-reading what SWOT means, generate the citation instead of memorising punctuation rules. When a marker writes “weak thesis” in the margin, the thesis generator and its guide do more for you than any definition will.
A practical loop for a new assignment: skim the brief once and open every term it uses from this page, then work through the matching tool for each. Ten minutes of setup buys you the assignment's vocabulary, which is exactly the language the rubric grades in. If a term you need is missing, tell us via the contact page — the list grows by request, and the ones that arrive most often get full guides of their own.
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