Key academic vocabulary

Academic Word List

The Academic Word List (AWL) contains 570 academic word families. These are general academic words, so aren't specific to a particular subject area.

What's a word family?

A word family is the root word, and all the words that are derived from it - nouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs etc. The words are used in different ways, but all relate to the same basic meaning. See the Word building section below for help with understanding how word families are built.

For example:

root: analyse (v)
derived words: analysis (n), analyst (n), analyser (n), analytic (adj), analytical (adj), analytically (adv) + other verb forms, plurals & US spellings

AWL sublists

The AWL is split into 10 sublists, most of which contain 60 word families. These are organised by frequency - Sublist 1 has the most common words, followed by Sublist 2 etc. Many academic words have a very low frequency, so it's probably enough to learn only Sublists 1, 2, 3 and maybe 4.

You can view the sublists online on the AWL sublist families website, or view Sublists 1 - 4 on the document below.
Quizlet lists: Sublist 1 | Sublist 2 | Sublist 3 | Sublist 4

AWL Sublists 1-4

Word building: prefixes & suffixes

Word families are built by adding prefixes and/or suffixes to the root word to word alter the meaning (e.g., positive to negative) or change it into a different word form (e.g., noun to verb). Understanding prefixes and suffixes is therefore an efficient way to expand your academic vocabulary.

Prefixes

Prefixes go at the start of the word. They change the meaning, but usually don't change the word form.

Common prefixes

re-, dis-, over-, un-, mis-, out-

Examples

cover (v) -> discover (v), uncover (v), recover (v)
use (v/n) -> underuse (v/n), overuse (v/n), misuse (v/n), reuse (v/n)

Suffixes

Suffixes go at the end of the word. They usually change the word form as well as the meaning.

Common suffixes

-ise, -en, -ate, -(i)fy, -ment, -ness, -(i)ty

Examples

stable (adj) -> stabilise (v), stability (n)
employ (v) -> employer (n), employment (n), employable (adj), employed (adj)

Words can be formed using both prefixes and suffixes, and words can have more than one prefix or suffix.

Examples

cover (v) -> unrecoverable (adj) | stable (adj) -> instability (n) | employ (v) -> unemployed (adj)

More detail & practice

See the UEfAP page on Affixes & Suffixes for a detailed list of the prefixes (which UEfAP call affixes) and suffixes used in academic English.

UEfAP also have Affixes & suffixes exercises for you to practice.

Subject-specific terminology

In addition to general academic vocabulary, you also need to know the specific terminology for your subject. These are the words that are only used in your subject, or have a special meaning in this context.

Reading

You can identify subject-specific terminology by reading about your topic. You can find these words in:

lecture slides & notes
course textbook & readings
media related to your field

Subject lists

You can find lists of words that may be realted to your field:

the EAP Foundation has word lists for many subjects
list of prefixes & suffixes for science subjects
Business English has word lists for business and management

Quizlet lists

Pedagogical terms
Science prefixes & suffixes
Key science terminology
go to Quizlet and search for your own subject

tinycards lists

Marketing
Introduction to economics
Basic computer science
go to tinycards and search for your own subject

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