Useful Adjectives and Adverbs for Academic Essays

You should use adjectives and adverbs more sparingly than verbs when writing essays, since they sometimes add unnecessary fluff to sentences.

However, choosing the right adjectives and adverbs can help add detail and sophistication to your essay.

Sometimes you'll need to use an adjective to show that a finding or argument is useful and should be taken seriously. Here are some adjectives that create positive emphasis:

• Beneficial
• Clear
• Effective
• Important
• Invaluable
• Main
• Major
• Persuasive
• Relevant
• Significant
• Strong
• Successful
• Unbiased
• Useful
• Valid
• Valuable

Other times, you'll need to use an adjective to show that a finding or argument is harmful or ineffective. Here are some adjectives that create a negative emphasis:

• Biased
• Controversial
• False
• Flawed
• Insignificant
• Invalid
• Irrelevant
• Limited
• Minor
• Questionable
• Unnecessary
• Unrealistic

Finally, you might need to use an adverb to lend nuance to a sentence, or to express a specific degree of certainty. Here are some examples of adverbs that are often used in essays:

• Accordingly
• Adequately
• Barely
• Briefly
• Certainly
• Completely
• Comprehensively
• Consequently
• Entirely
• Exhaustively
• Extensively
• Generally
• Hardly
• Initially
• Nearly
• Possibly
• Presumably
• Probably
• Regularly
• Respectively
• Scarcely
• Surprisingly
• Thoroughly
• Typically

Using these words will help you successfully convey the key points you want to express. Once you’ve nailed the body of your essay, it’s time to move on to the conclusion.