In the ethos of academic writing, it is important to distinguish facts and opinions, and to distance yourself from strongly held opinions. When making your own claims, you should remember that even scientific “truths” should be considered as hypotheses awaiting refutation. You should always try to limit the extent of your generalizations and use more cautious language. This is cautious approach to claims is called hedging.
The following are some techniques for hedging:
- use modal verbs and language of probability:
- Mental illnesses may be due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- Mental illnesses are perhaps due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- Neurotic symptoms are likely (to be) due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- use quantifiers to limit the size of claims:
- Some mental illnesses, like neuroticism, are due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- use hedging verbs such as appear to and tend to, etc.:
- Some mental illnesses appear to be due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- Analysis of unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts tends to help neurotic patients control their symptoms.
- use hedging expressions:
- To some extent, mental illnesses are due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- From a certain perspective, mental illnesses can be understood as due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- use hedging adverbials
- Arguably, mental illnesses is due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- According to Freudians, mental illnesses is due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
- report/use that clauses to create distance:
- Freud argued that mental illnesses are due to unconscious psycho-sexual conflicts.
Notes:
- Not all claims need hedging:
–Freud was possibly born in Vienna in approximately 1856.
–In this essay, I may argue that psychoanalysis might sometimes be an effective treatment for mental health problems
- To make a point more definite, remove hedges, but don’t add superlatives (overgeneralization):
–HEDGED: No-one doubts that how tall one is must be in part determined by one’s genes.
–MORE DEFINITE: No-one doubts that how tall one is determined by one’s genes.
–OVERGENERALIZED: Absolutely no-one ever doubts that how tall one is is completely and totally determined in all cases by one’s genes.