Academic Word List: 10 Essential Words (B2)
B2 ⏱ 5 minutes
Academic Word List: 10 Essential Words
🎯 Aim: Master 10 high-frequency Academic Word List (AWL) words that appear regularly in IELTS, Cambridge exams, and academic writing.
What is the AWL? The Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000) contains 570 word families that appear frequently across academic texts in all subjects. Knowing these words will help you understand university lectures, read academic articles, and score higher in IELTS and Cambridge exams.
The 10 Words
| Word | Part of speech | Definition | Key collocations |
|---|---|---|---|
| analyse | verb | examine something in detail to understand it | analyse data, analyse results, analyse a text |
| assess | verb | judge the quality, importance, or value of something | assess the impact, assess performance, assess risk |
| concept | noun | an abstract idea or general principle | a key concept, a basic concept, the concept of… |
| conclude | verb | reach a decision or opinion after considering evidence | conclude that…, it can be concluded that… |
| evidence | noun | facts or information that prove something is true | provide evidence, strong evidence, evidence suggests |
| factor | noun | one of several things that influences a result | a key factor, a contributing factor, several factors |
| indicate | verb | show or suggest that something is true or likely | indicate that…, the data indicates…, results indicate |
| obtain | verb | get or acquire something, especially through effort | obtain information, obtain permission, obtain results |
| require | verb | need something; make something necessary | require attention, require evidence, be required to… |
| significant | adjective | important or large enough to be noticed | a significant difference, significant evidence, significantly |
Words in Academic Sentences
- “The researchers analysed the data from 500 participants.”
- “It is difficult to assess the long-term impact of climate change.”
- “The concept of supply and demand is central to economics.”
- “The study concluded that exercise reduces stress levels.”
- “There is strong evidence that diet affects mental health.”
- “Diet is a key factor in long-term health outcomes.”
- “The results indicate a significant improvement over the baseline.”
- “Permission must be obtained before publishing the data.”
- “Academic writing requires precise and formal language.”
- “There was a significant drop in temperature during the experiment.”
Practice Task: AWL Gap-Fill (5 sentences)
Fill each gap with the correct AWL word from today’s list. Change the form if necessary.
- The survey ________ that most students prefer online learning. (show / suggest)
- A significant number of participants dropped out before the study ended. (large and important)
- Students are ________ to submit their essays by midnight on Friday. (must / need)
- The team ________ their results and published a report last month. (examined in detail)
- Lack of funding was the main ________ in the project’s failure. (reason / cause)
Show answers
- indicates
- significant
- required
- analysed
- factor
IELTS Writing Tip
Tip: In IELTS Task 1, use indicate and significant to describe graphs: “The graph indicates a significant increase in…” — this language is precise, academic, and impressive to examiners.
🏠 Takeaway: Choose 3 words from today’s list and write one original academic sentence for each. Then look at an IELTS or Cambridge reading text and try to find these words in context.
Independent project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.