Tips for Defining Your Terms in Academic Writing

Those who share a language cannot assume messages are understood the same way, and differences in perspective and vocabulary can lead to all sorts of communication problems. I must be aware of this as a third-grade teacher. Beginning any new unit of study, regardless of the content area, involves definitions and discussions of terms to move forward with learning about the topic at hand to be sure my students understand me as I deliver lessons and explain activities.

Even when we are communicating among adults, we cannot assume others have the same knowledge and experience we bring to the discussion, and still we must consider our audience and be sure to define and contextualize the language we use to deliver our message. This is especially true in writing, when we don’t have the opportunity to read the faces we are communicating with or insert definitions on an as-needed basis. Here are some tips about defining important terms in academic writing to best ensure your readers are on the same page and receive your intended message.

Examples Aren’t Definitions

Avoid trying to define words in the form of “X is when . . .” or “Y is where . . .” For example, “To adapt is when an animal changes to suit their hunting ground.” Examples only give instances of when a word is being correctly used. A definition explains what the word means in all instances, or at least within the context of the essay or article.

Technical Terms & Lingo

A good rule of thumb for defining terms is the more technical or content-specific your topic and the less expert and/or educated your audience, the more frequently and thoughtfully you will have to include definitions in your writing. If you think reader might not know a term, provide a definition of it the first time you use it in your essay or article. Your definition should clearly state the class/type of item your term is and provide enough detail about the term to differentiate between it and other similar things or ideas. Here are a couple of examples from my third graders’ recent lessons:

• A fraction is a numerical value (class/type of item) representing part of a whole (differentiating detail).
• A pioneer is a person (class/type of item) in a group of people who first settle and/or explore a new area (differentiating detail).
• When an animal adapts, it changes (class/type of item) its physical characteristics or behavior over time to better survive in its habitat (differentiating detail).

Define nouns/verbs using other, more common nouns/verbs. Your definition should be written using words you feel your audience will be familiar with, and if it includes more complex words, those should also be defined. In the example above, the expression “numerical value” might not be appropriate for third graders, and it might be better to substitute “number” or provide a definition for “numerical value.”

Use Different Words

Your definition should never include the word itself or words with the same root, as in the following: “An adaptation is when an animal adapts its physical or behavioral characteristics over time to better survive in its habitat.” Using the term to define itself doesn’t provide enough information for readers who don’t know the term in the first place, thus making the definition rather pointless.

Defining terms is not only important to fill gaps in your readers’ vocabularies, but also in clarifying words and expressions that may have multiple meanings, are commonly misunderstood, or that you have created.

Legal Writing

Definitions in legal writing can differ slightly because the terms may be common words, such as plaintiff, but for clarity they may need to be defined for the specific document, such as exactly who the plaintiff is. Conditions and terms of agreement must also be laid out to eliminate confusion. Legal writing typically makes a case for a particular argument, so it is imperative that all parties see the situation as similarly as possible.

Any misinterpretation can lead to failure to convince for reasons unrelated to the validity of the case. For more information about defining terms in legal writing, the North Carolina Bar Association an article on the ineffective use of defined terms you should check out.

Scientific Writing

Similarly, writing that deals with the sciences may need to define not uncommonly used terms like “eukaryote” but also terms that have a specific means in a specific context. For example, “The World Health Organization (WHO) identified principles for health care distribution, including ‘efficiency,’ meaning maximizing population health.”

This has been a glimpse at defining terms in academic writing. To see many more excellent examples of how to integrate definitions of various types into your writing, I highly recommend you check out the University of Manchester’s Academic Phrasebank’s article, “Defining Terms.“

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Sarah P.