学术交流中最显著的文体之一是，在可能存在少量不确定性的情况下，作者倾向于避免表达绝对的确定性，在可能存在少量例外的情况下，避免做出过度概括。
使作者与命题保持距离
It is thought that …
It is believed that …
It has been reported that …
It is a widely held view that …
It has commonly been assumed that …
According to Smith (2002), …
According to recent reports, …
According to many in the field …
Many scholars hold the view that …
Smith (2001) holds the view that …
Recent research has suggested that …
There is some evidence to suggest that …
If Smith’s (2001) findings are accurate, …
Explanations
| These frequent storms | may be/could be/might be/are almost certainly | due to climate change |
| It may be/It is likely/It could be/It is possible/It is probable/It is almost certain | the more extreme weather | is a result of climate change |
| A likely explanation/A probable explanation/A possible explanation | is that | these frequent storms are a result of climate change. |
Explaining Results
This inconsistency may be due to …
This discrepancy could be attributed to …
A possible explanation for this might be that …
This rather contradictory result may be due to …
It seems possible that these results are due to …
The observed increase in X could be attributed to …
The possible interference of X cannot be ruled out …
There are several possible explanations for this result.
There are two likely causes for the differences between …
A possible explanation for these results may be the lack of adequate …
Since this difference has not been found elsewhere it is probably not due to …
Discussing Findings
These findings cannot be extrapolated to all patients.
These data must be interpreted with caution because …
These results therefore need to be interpreted with caution.
These results do not rule out the influence of other factors in …
This account must be approached with some caution because …
It is important to bear in mind the possible bias in these responses.
Although exclusion of X did not …, these results should be interpreted with caution.
However, with a small sample size, caution must be applied, as the findings might not be …
Discussing Implications
The findings of this study suggest that …
One possible implication of this is that …
Taken together, these results suggest that …
The evidence from this study suggests that …
Initial observations suggest that there may be a link between …
The data reported here appear to support the assumption that …
The findings from these studies suggest that X can have an effect on …
Discussing Recommendations
Strategies to enhance X might involve …
Other types of response could include: a), b). …
These results would seem to suggest that the …
There would therefore seem to be a definite need for …
A reasonable approach to tackle this issue could be to …
Another possible area of future research would be to investigate why …
