HI227{"id":211,"date":"2020-07-28T14:17:55","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T14:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/?p=211"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:26:00","slug":"how-to-enhance-your-academic-writing-with-language-corpora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/how-to-enhance-your-academic-writing-with-language-corpora\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Enhance your Academic Writing with Language Corpora"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even if you are a talented researcher, you have to write about your research impressively to make a real impact in the ever-evolving world of science. In reality, for most, research and writing are two absolutely different skills. Even the gifted researchers struggle when it comes to writing coherently and succinctly. Naturally, it\u2019s always much more difficult for non-native English speakers. Though English is by and large the global language of science, it is also one of the most complex languages to learn. What is the difference between \u201cstand by\u201d and \u201cstand off\u201d? Do you \u201ctake\u201d a test or \u201cgive\u201d a test? When you require assistance with the English language, where do you go? A lesser-known\u2014yet comprehensive\u2014source of aid for academic writing is language corpora. Here, we will inform you how you can make the most of this powerful resource to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/\">enhance your writing<\/a> and build your overall confidence with English.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_50 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\" role=\"button\"><label for=\"item-6a0e28bd6f81b\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span style=\"display: flex;align-items: center;width: 35px;height: 30px;justify-content: center;direction:ltr;\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/label><input  type=\"checkbox\" id=\"item-6a0e28bd6f81b\"><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/how-to-enhance-your-academic-writing-with-language-corpora\/#What_is_a_Language_Corpus\" title=\"What is a Language Corpus?\">What is a Language Corpus?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/how-to-enhance-your-academic-writing-with-language-corpora\/#How_do_I_Use_Language_Corpora\" title=\"How do I Use Language Corpora?\">How do I Use Language Corpora?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/how-to-enhance-your-academic-writing-with-language-corpora\/#A_Few_Words_of_Caution\" title=\"A Few Words of Caution\">A Few Words of Caution<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_a_Language_Corpus\"><\/span><strong>What is a Language Corpus?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A language corpus is fundamentally a collection of electronic text used specifically for research purposes. Some of the popular corpora include the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.english-corpora.org\/coca\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Corpus of Contemporary American English<\/a>\u00a0(COCA), <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/ngrams\" rel=\"nofollow\">Google Books Ngrams viewer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.english-corpora.org\/coha\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Corpus of Historical American English<\/a>\u00a0(COHA),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/cgi\/c\/corpus\/corpus\" rel=\"nofollow\">Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English<\/a>,\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/hypcol.marutank.net\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Hyper Collocation<\/a>. These corpora provide a searchable collection of English used by native speakers in various contexts. In English language classes, they are used as a tool by teachers\u00a0who want to demonstrate to the students how a word is typically used by native speakers.<\/p>\n<p>What is the difference between a dictionary and a corpus? Why should non-native English speakers prefer a corpus over a dictionary for answers? First, a dictionary always gives you the meaning of a word, but it hardly ever includes several usage examples. The word \u201cextract\u201d in plain English means \u201cto remove.\u201d But if I have to explain a physical action I took during my research, will I write \u201cextract from\u201d or \u201cextract to\u201d? A dictionary may not be able to answer that question holistically, and that\u2019s where a language corpus comes in.<\/p>\n<p>Once you get familiarized with the simple corpus search functions, a new range of tools will become available to you. Corpora often allow searches for synonyms and various word forms. For instance, you can search for the verb form of \u201cextract\u201d in COCA and get \u201cextracts,\u201d \u201cextracted,\u201d \u201cextracting,\u201d and \u201cextract.\u201d You can also choose \u201ccollocates\u201d for the search string and return a list of words that are regularly found together with the word \u201cextract.\u201d Selecting the \u201chelp\u201d icon will give you a range of search function methods. For instance, if you type [=extract], you will get a list of synonyms for the word, such as remove, get, fetch, and separate.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike dictionaries, language corpora are updated a lot more frequently. A search in the Oxford dictionary in early 2020 would not have come up with a result for \u201cbioabsorbable.\u201d This word has been in use and popularized due to technological breakthroughs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biospace.com\/article\/releases\/boston-scientific-announces-scheduled-presentations-at-transcatheter-cardiovascular-therapeutics-2019\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">presented in 2019<\/a>.\u00a0It\u00a0was officially added\u00a0to Merriam Webster\u2019s in mid-2019. If you were searching for examples of how to write using this word, corpora would be there to supply you with instances of its current use.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_do_I_Use_Language_Corpora\"><\/span><strong>How do I Use Language Corpora?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Learning to search using various corpus tools can be initially confusing. But the great news is it gets easier swiftly. Let\u2019s take a look at how to select a corpus and search for words on these sites to get useful outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>You should select your language corpus, depending on what your aim is. If your goal is to know how to use a word that is not specific to your field, then COCA will be the best place to begin. Let\u2019s say you wish to find out if you should say \u201cextract from\u201d or \u201cextract to.\u201d You can select the link to COCA above and enter \u201cextract to\u201d in the text field. Then click \u201cFind matching strings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-212 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/How-to-use-language-corpora-e1595933059975.jpg\" alt=\"How to use language corpora\" width=\"750\" height=\"403\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When we execute this search, \u201cextract to\u201d returns just 52 uses and \u201cextract from\u201d returns 233.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-215 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/How-to-use-language-corpora-S2-e1595933308607.jpg\" alt=\"How to use language corpora S2\" width=\"750\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We can select \u201cContext\u201d to see how it is used. Based on the search results, we will know that \u201cextract from\u201d is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/\">correct phrase<\/a> to use when the words that follow it denote a source or material, whereas \u2018extract to\u2019 is used when \u2018extract\u2019 is a noun.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-216 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/How-to-use-language-corpora-S3-e1595933364647.jpg\" alt=\"How to use language corpora S3\" width=\"750\" height=\"595\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you want to find more discipline-specific words, you can use the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (<a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/cgi\/c\/corpus\/corpus?c=micase;page=simple\" rel=\"nofollow\">MICASE<\/a><u>)<\/u>. The benefit of MICASE is that\u00a0you can search by discipline or type of academic event.\u00a0If you are writing to prepare for a conference or presentation or are branching out into a new part of your discipline, this tool can be of great help to you.<\/p>\n<p>You may also be thinking about the differences between British and American English. The good news is there are corpora to assist you with those searches too. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.english-corpora.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">BYU Corpus site<\/a>\u00a0has links to American English and British English corpora\u2014you can search and figure out what phrases or terms are used in one style over the other. Should we say \u201cin the hospital\u201d or \u201cin hospital\u201d? A search of the corpora reveals that Americans prefer \u201cin the hospital,\u201d while the British prefer \u201cin hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Few_Words_of_Caution\"><\/span><strong>A Few Words of Caution<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>You are surely going to be excited about using this brilliant new tool. And you should be! Language corpora can be extremely helpful in supplying you with real-world examples of language that you would rarely find elsewhere. Dictionaries and Google searches provide much less detail and context that corpora do. But, there are certain\u00a0points of caution to keep in mind\u00a0when banking on corpora to enhance your writing. Remember that corpora don\u2019t inform you what is correct and incorrect; they tell you what usage is common. You can use corpora to augment your writing, but you will need to compare your data with other corpora. For example, search for \u201cextract to\u201d and \u201cextract from\u201d in COCA and MICASE. This will help solidify your decisions on grammar or vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>That said, the important aspect to keep in mind is that language is all about communication. When you try to find out how to use specific words, real-world examples are truly a great tool that can provide you a deeper understanding of the words. That is why language corpora are an outstanding tool to have, especially when it comes to strengthening your academic writing.<\/p>\n<p>Do you utilize language corpora to assist you in academic writing? Which corpus have you found to be the most helpful? What are other great resources for ESL writers to enhance their academic writing? Do share your views in the comments section below!<\/p>\n<p>If you are looking for a proven tool to enhance your writing dynamically, then try out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/\">Trinka<\/a>, the world\u2019s first language enhancement tool that is custom-built for academic and technical writing. It has several exclusive features to make your manuscript ready for the global audience.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Language corpora are searchable collections of English used by native speakers in various contexts. Teachers use them to show students typical word usage by native speakers.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[14,17],"acf":[],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wordcloud.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4814,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/4814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinka.ai\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}