This something: Clarify your “this”
Good academic writers value nothing if not clarity. To this end, every time you use a demonstrative pronoun (this, that, these, or those), use a word or a short phrase afterward to clarify what the demonstrative pronoun refers to.
Compare clarity in the following:
| Not clarified |
| The income of middle class families has fallen over the last decade, compared to the decade before. This shows that the government should research the causes of this. |
| Clarified |
| The income of middle class families has fallen over the last decade, compared to the decade before. This decrease shows that the government should research the causes of this disparity. |