Academic Writing:Conventions:Do not overclaim

Do not overclaim

Academic writing requires your claims to be specific and precise rather than general. Therefore, claims need to be qualified; that is, information on the conditions and situations to which the claim applies need to be explicitly stated.

Unqualified 'blanket statement':

Age can never be irrelevant.

Opinion is qualified:

It appears likely that age is rarely an irrelevant factor in clinical pharmaceutical trials because this factor can impact on the dosage required.	The modality of the claim has also been lowered. Qualification limits the claim to a certain situation and provides a reason for the claim.

The following statement involves a claim of 'greater than ...' yet the reader is not told what this claim is in comparison to. The claim must be qualified by defining 'greater than what'.

Unqualified statement:

Species that occur in xeric habitats generally produce leaves that have a greater thickness, specific mass, internal-to-external leaf area ratio, and stomatal density.

Opinion is qualified:

Species that occur in xeric habitats generally produce leaves that have a greater thickness, specific mass, internal-to-external leaf area ratio, and stomatal density compared to species in moist or shaded habitats.	The claim is qualified by defining the object that is being used as the standard of comparison.

In the following example, a qualification to the claim exists but it is much less explicit than in the previous examples:

Many plant species have structures on their seeds that enhance their dispersal, an event that is considered to be necessary for a plant species’ reproduction and subsequent survival.

These words imply a qualification to the claim that proceeds it: 'given our current understanding, the research suggests this is necessary'.

Further information upon techniques used to include qualifying information in your sentences is provided in extending nominal groups.