Referring to other work and sections in academic writing and speaking

english
grammar
Do exercises and extend
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Hung

Cambridge Advance Grammar in Use

Published

July 28, 2025

1 Referring to other work: as + passive / past participle

In academic writing and speaking we can make references to other people’s work using a clause with as + passive

The first approach should be discarded as it makes wrong predictions about word order, as is argued in Frascarelli and Hinter (2007).

Past usage experience had a major impact on consumer decision behaviour, as has been shown in a number of recent studies.

Tip

Note that we don’t use it in this type of clause. (not … as it is argued by … or as it has been shown …)

More commonly we use a reduced passive form - as + past participle:

As noted by Kerr (2004) these figures were a significant underestimate.

Both temperature and moisture were important in explaining the abundance of fungi, as demonstrated in previous studies (e.g. Lam, 2002; Rich at al., 2014)

Tip

Also: __as + argued, described, discussed, illustrated, indicated, mentioned, pointed out, shown, suggested_

Using a passive or reduced passive to refer to the work of others often indicates, in an impersonal way, that we agree with them:

  • The basic communicative goal of scientific research articles, as suggested by Bird (2009), is to convey the results of scientific inquiry.

Using an active verb is more neutral and may be followed either by agreement or disagreement:

  • Bird (2009) suggests that the basic communicative goal of scientific research articles is to convey the results of scientific inquiry.

2 Referring to other parts of a written text: as + past participle

As + past participle is also commonly used by writers to refer to tables and figures in their own texts, and is referred to more personal forms:

  • As (is) seen in the following chart, interest rates are lower now than in the last 30 years. (rather than As you see in the following chart …)
  • During her first 32 weeks of talking, Keren acquired 337 words, as shown in Figure 2-2.
Tip

Also: demonstrated, depicted, described, discussed, explained, given, illustrated, indicated, outlined

As + past participle is also used to refer to other sections of a text with adverbs such as above:

As discussed above, exploration of the Moon will provide insights into the formation of the Solar System

Tip

Also: earlier, previously; below, later, next; elsewhere (= in another part of the text)

3 Referring to other parts of a spoken presentation

When we refer to other parts of a presentation we are giving, we tend to use time adverbs, not location adverbs:

  • As I said before, … (not As I said above …)
  • … as I’ll come back to later on. (not … as I’ll come back to below)

Also: already, earlier, previous; next

Other grammatical structures commonly used in referring backwards and forwards in spoken presentations include what-clauses and -ing-clauses. Examples are highlighted in these extracts from a presentation:

Coming back to the earliest development of language, it’s been estimated that it originated around 40,000 years ago … What I want to go on to next is the development of written language … Language gave people the ability to think and plan, as I pointed out previously … Returning to my point about the development of written language … What we’ll do next weeks is begin to look at non-verbal communication…

4 Exercises

4.1 Match a sentence from (i) with a sentence from (ii) and combine them into one sentence beginning As + past participle or As + passive form.

(i) (ii)
1 The use of neonicotinoid insecticides has led to a decline in bee populations. a this opportunity has been suggested by writers such as Eli (2015) and Koros (2017)
2 Globalization is associated with more efficient food production b This advantage was shown in research by Connors (2019).
3 The Moon may be a source of materials for use on Earth. c This problem was first identified by Cortez in 1998.
4 Small group learning can reduce motivation. d This tendency has been noted in many recent studies, including Hale (2020) and Kim (2021).
5 The number of people adopting a vegan diet has increased rapidly since 2015. e This improvement has been reported in a number of studies. (e.g. Manuel, 2015; Reith, 2018)

1(+ c) As first identified by Cortez (1988), the use of neonicotinoid insecticides has led to a decline in bee populations.

2(+ e) As (has been) reported in a number of studies (e.g. Manuel, 2015; Reith, 2018), globalization is associated with more efficient food production.

3(+ a) As (has been) suggested by writers such as Eli (2015) and Koros (2017), the moon may be source of materials for use on Earth.

4(+ b) As (has been) showed in research by Connors (2019), small group learning can reduce motivation.

5(+ d) As has been noted in many recent studies, include Hale (2020) and Kim (2021), the number of people adopting a vegan diet has increased rapidly since 2015.

Reflection: Look at an example of your own academic writing. Where you have referred to other work or other parts of your text, have you used an as + past participle or as + passive form? If not, can you express yourself better by using one?

4.2 If necessary, suggest corrections or improvements to these extracts from academic writing and spoken presentations

  1. Radioactive decay can be plotted in a linear form, as outlined in Figure 3.
  2. Many friendships were formed between students on the same course, as you can see as (can be) seen in the following table.1
  3. As was noted above, the majority of graduates do not go on to work in the area in which they were trained.
  4. “It’s essential nuclear power is expanded, and I’ll be explaining why that is below later”2
  5. As I have already explained As previously explained3, institutions like the World Bank are crucial in global governance.
  6. “As I’ve indicated elsewhere already/ earlier/ previously 4, most of the teachers involved in online education responded.”
  7. Public health education may be organized at local, community or national level, as it was outlined previously as (was) outlined previously.
  8. “As I pointed out above previously/ earlier/ before 5, without a brand name a company can’t distinguish its products.”

4.3 Reword the bracketed parts of this presentation, including an as-, -ing- or what-clause in each answer

[1 I said earlier that] there are many factors affecting the health of a community, include physical, social and cutural factors.[2 In this talk I plan to] consider physical and social factors, and then in the next one look at cultural factors.

[3 I have already pointed out that] a community’s health is directly influenced by its climate… [4 I will now turn to social factors. There arise] from the interaction between individuals and groups in the community. To illustrate, [5 I am going to] show you a short video.. [6 I will now come back to other social factors. It is clear that] the economy is an important influence on the prevision of health care and social services…

1 As I said earlier, 2 What I plan to do in this talk is (to) 3 As I’ve already pointed out 4 Turning now to social factors, these arise 5 What I’m going to to is 6 Coming back now to other social factors, it is clear that

Footnotes

  1. in academic writing, unusual to address the reader as ‘you’, But in some textbook, we can see that because the reader is likely to be a student and the writer/ teacher adoptsa more personal tone.↩︎

  2. In speech, location adverbs are avoided for referring forward↩︎

  3. Academic writers tend to avoid referring to themselves with ‘I’ and instead use an impersonal form↩︎

  4. ‘elsewhere’, meaning in another part of the presentation, is unlikely here. If it means ‘earlier in the presentation’↩︎

  5. In speech, location adverbs are avoided for referring back↩︎