I say! My word! That’s how British folk talk, right? Not quite. In the 1930’s they did, and if your name is Captain Hastings in the David Suchet’s Poirot series. But seriously, of course, there are differences. In speech and more surprisingly also in writing when compared to the American lingo.
This goes for writing an essay in a British “tongue” as well. When writing your essay, you will undertake some serious localization. Thinks about it this way: your lines better look local. Readers will then feel addressed in their language. As if your text was written by an Englishman for his fellow countrymen.
Neglecting this will make your carefully crafted essay miss its goal. All that readers will focus on is how weird your writing “sounds”. To play safe we can get essay help from experienced UK writers. UK Edubirdie provides such a service. Before deciding if we are up for the task ourselves, let’s first see what we are facing, shall we?
Write a research paper wearing your bowler hat and keep your umbrella at the ready. The great bard, yes Shakespeare, inspired Sherlock Holmes when he yelled The game is afoot!
Tips on how to write a paper for a UK audience
There is no mystery involved, so no need to feel clueless. Key is to be aware of their particular style of writing. British and American vocabulary is somewhat evened out, although both evolved in time.
Three keys to writing British accents
- Americans like to get to the point. Meandering in poetically composed phrases and clauses, strung together by an abundance of punctuations, is beside from tedious and wearisome outright boring and humdrum, which all means the same, yes.
Yet, this is exactly how to engage British readers. Even if our previous paragraph is hard to read and will flash red on any editor’s screen, it’s fine to write this way.
Also: “I have two essays”, becomes in British English “I have got two essays”.
- Vocabulary: Brits are by nature, more reserved. So when stating facts or opinions in writing, this trait survives. Having said that, inhabitants of Britannia have a reputation for being somewhat cheeky. That will set the tone of the whole old thing.
And: a caravan is a trailer, biscuits mean cookies, write form instead of grade, say garden where we mean yard, …
- Spelling: Brits got it right, same as they drive on the right side of the road (tongue in cheek). Think ‘centre’ and ‘center’, ‘colour’ and ‘color’. Check your essay with a UK English Spelling & Grammar setting when using Word.
How to write with a British accent and stay plagiarism free?
When you write your dissertation, it’s tempting to “borrow” from students overseas. Humans stay humans and errare humanum est and all that. We could write many papers about the predictable outcome of that. Or do as Americans do, let’s spell it out: better is asking advice. Perhaps English friends can help.
Another challenge is using your knowledge when writing the research paper. This without copying and pasting. Research sources are treasures of information to dig up. After they inspired you… burry the source again untouched.
Your work must be unique. Inspired by predecessors, but only to kick start your own ideas. This is why writing an essay in a language style other than your own is usually better off in the hands of experts.
What about paraphrasing instead?
Paraphrasing British style then. In a way, this seems even harder to pull off.
How to write a great research paper in British style? Become a specialist
- You could do all your research using only the Encyclopedia Britannica. Just joking, no worries. Many contributors aren’t British.
- We can try the advanced search option in Google. Type in some phrases you want to review. In “Search within a site or domain”, type in .ac.uk, for British academic institutions.
Or get Essay writing help from specialists. Your goal is to produce a credible academic paper, not mastering a new language, as a matter of speaking. American and British English are two kids of the same mother. But have a different character.
The quality of your research paper and your score are at stake. So, as a final thought, consider using a professional essay writing service.
