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Academic English & Research vocabulary · Academic Vocabulary

Attribute

Meaning in academic english & research, with examples

/əˈtrɪbjuːt/verbCommon term

In academic english & research, attribute means: To say or believe that something is caused by a particular factor, or that a statement or work comes from a particular person.

In Turkish: bağlamak, atfetmek, yormak

How it is used

The pattern is attribute X to Y: 'The drop in scores was attributed to the change in test format.' It is also used for quotations: a remark attributed to Einstein. The noun attribution is used in both senses.

Example sentences

  1. The authors attribute the improvement to smaller class sizes.

  2. Part of the difference can be attributed to measurement error.

Common collocations

  • attribute X to Y
  • be attributed to
  • can be attributed to
  • widely attributed to
  • account forTo explain the reason for something; also to form a particular part or proportion of a total.
  • factorOne of the things that influences a situation or result, such as income, motivation or class size.
  • interpretTo explain what data, results or a text mean, especially by connecting them to theory, earlier research or the research question.
  • citationA reference to a source in a piece of writing; also each time another publication refers to a work, counted as a measure of its influence.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Academic Vocabulary

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