Phrasal Verbs in Research Papers

Have you been told that phrasal verbs are informal words?

Have you been told that you should avoid using phrasal verbs in formal/ academic writing?

Many English learners and international grad students often think that phrasal verbs are informal and not appropriate for a manuscript, a research paper or an essay.

Phrasal verbs, in fact, are neutral and there are many that are widely used in academia, research and other formal settings.

In this post I will share with you a list of common phrasal verbs that are commonly used when writing a research paper.

Phrasal verb	Meaning	*Example
account for	to form the total of something	…that coding RNA accounted for the largest proportion
allude to	to mention someone or something without talking about them directly	Finally, we allude to potential interventions…
arrive at	to reach an agreement about something	The emphasis is on the convoluted pathway that was actually used by immunologists to arrive at understanding compared to the direct pathway that could have been used given the knowledge at that time. ..
attribute to	to think that someone or something has a particular quality or feature	The participants attributed as little blame as to the environmental factors.
base on	if you base something on facts or ideas, you use those facts or ideas to develop it	Most definitions of quality are based on products….
bear out	to support the truth of something	Studies bear out early reports of mexiletine…
bring about	to cause something to happen	This receptor is required for calcitrol to bring about its action…
build on	to use a success or achievement as a base from which to achieve more success	Papers that build on very recent ideas are NIH funded less often than are papers that build on ideas that have had a chance to mature for at least 7 years
carry out	to do or complete something	Nursing research is usually carried out by registered nurses…
come about	to happen or to start to happen	The current theme issue came about by chance.
compare to/with	to consider how things or people are similar and how they are different	Results demonstrate massage therapy is effective for treating pain compared to no treatment/ The effect of adding glargine was compared with intensification of lifestyle
consist of	to be formed or made from two or more things	Each light chain consist of one variable domain…
contribute to	to be one of the cause of an event or a situation	… genetics contributes significantly to the weight-gain susceptibility
devote (something)to	to use time, energy or resources for a particular purpose	Devoting time to teaching even the most basic management skills…
dispense with	to stop using something or someone, or to get rid of something or someone, usually because you don’t need them	Could Psychiatry Dispense with Involuntary Medication?
expands on	to give more details about something that you have said or written	… the authors expand on the frequency occurrence proportions of handwritten features.
factor in	to include something when you are doing a calculation, or when you are trying to understand something	… studies related to immunosuppressive factors in response to stress…
find out	to discover information or a fact	Statistical Analysis to Find out the Optimal Locations for Non Invasive Brain Stimulation
focus on	to give a lot of attention to one particular person, subject, or thing	Forensic Psychiatry: Focus on Malpractice and Risk Management
follow up	to try to find out more about something, or to do something more to deal with it	… a cohort of 123 individuals; 82 (67%) were followed up by audiology.
narrow down	to make a number or list of things smaller, by removing the things that are least important, necessary, or suitable	… reactive changes serves to narrow down the various potential causes…
point out	to tell someone about information, often because you believe they don’t know or have forgotten it	… in order to point out its possible diagnostic limitations
point toward	to show that something is true or probably true	This points toward this bacterial consortium as a mediator between early lifestyle …
put forward	to offer an idea, opinion, reason etc, especially so that people can discuss it and make a decision	… investigators have put forward a number of possible causes
rule out	to stop considering something as a possibility	… we should suspect those fractures and rule out associated injuries, fractures in other vertebral segments, and acute spinal cord injury.
result in	to cause something, or to produce something	In the United States alone, approximately 1.7 million people suffer a TBI each year, with 275,000 being hospitalized and 52,000 cases resulting in death.
set up	to make a piece of equipment ready for use	… government has set up central isolation sites for all people entering the country from abroad to be placed under medical observation.
subject to	dependent on something else to happen or be true	All organizations are subject to risk and uncertainty.
sum up	to tell (information) again using fewer words	To sum up, miR-149 silencing promoted osteogenic differentiation of MSCs …

Practice time

Choose 3 phrasal verbs and write three sentences using them.