{"id":5599,"date":"2016-11-30T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T14:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=5599"},"modified":"2021-01-22T19:07:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T13:07:34","slug":"article-usage-in-academic-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/article-usage-in-academic-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Articles in Academic Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Articles function as limiting adjectives that help us understand which person, place, thing, or concept is being discussed. Despite their simplistic rules, articles and commas are the most difficult to tackle for non-native English speakers. Article usage can be quite idiosyncratic in academic writing, and when writing manuscripts, one has to be particularly aware of the context of usage. In this post, we shall systematically categorize article usage in academic writing.<\/p>\n

Native usage of articles<\/a> develops over time as a result of extensive reading, observation, contextual understanding, and, of course, participation in conversation. However, in most cases, the proper article to be used can be determined by asking a few simple questions.<\/p>\n

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\"academic-writing\"<\/p>\n

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Hence, the first step is to determine whether the noun is a proper noun (definite article or no article) or common noun (indefinite articles). Next, in case of a common noun, it is important to determine whether the reference is generic or specific. Generic references would mean that a noun represents all examples without mentioning a specific category (e.g., policies vs. economic policies).Specific references would include introducing a common noun in a text (with an indefinite article or no articles) and using the definite article in consequent references. Article usage may then vary with the context.<\/p>\n

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Use of the Definite Article<\/h2>\n

Proper Noun<\/h3>\n

1.\u00a0The<\/em> United Nations, founded in 1945, is currently made up of 193 Member States.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Tumor resection with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is still disputable in the field of oncology.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contextual (specific) Reference<\/h3>\n

The method<\/em> introduced in H1 yielded the same results as the other method used in H2.<\/em> (where the method has already been introduced; thus, it is a noun that has already been defined and can be referred to using the definite article)<\/p>\n

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