List of Reporting Verbs in Academic Writing

200 Reporting Verbs for Students and Academics

Here is a list of 200 verbs used to introduce ideas or quotations in academic writing. (These verbs are called "reporting verbs or "verbs of attribution.")

Reporting verbs are usually written in the present tense, most commonly in the third person singular (i.e., the "he, she, it" version), which is how they are listed. For example:
  • Albert Einstein agrees that...
    • (The reporting verb "to agree" is in the present tense, third person singular.)
  • Albert Einstein and Arthur Patschke agree that...
    • (The reporting verb "to agree" is in the present tense. This time, it is in the third person plural because the subject is two people, i.e., plural.)
The list is sortable, editable, and printable. It can be displayed as normal text or in columns (up to 4). (You can even turn the list into American English or British English.)

Just for fun, we've added game of hangman, which selects a verb from this list as the secret word. t Reporting verbs (also known as "verbs of attribution") are an essential aspect of academic writing, as they allow writers to clearly attribute ideas and information to their original sources. In academic writing, it is important to properly credit the sources of any ideas, facts, or data that are not the writer's own. Reporting verbs are verbs that indicate who said or wrote the information being presented, such as "argued," "claimed," "explained," "stated," or "suggested."

By using reporting verbs, writers can convey to their readers the credibility and authority of their sources, and make clear distinctions between their own ideas and those of others. Reporting verbs can also add sophistication and clarity to academic writing, making it easier for readers to understand the complex ideas and arguments being presented.
list of reporting verbs in academic writing
Read more about "verbs of attribution."

Sortable, Editable, and Printable List

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accentuates, accepts, accounts for, accuses, acknowledges, addresses, adds, admits, advises, advocates, affirms, agrees, alerts, alleges, allows, analyzes/analyses, announces, answers, apologizes/apologises, applauds, appraises, argues, articulates, asks, asserts, assesses, assumes, assures, attacks, aver, believes, blames, boasts, categorizes/categorises, challenges, charges, cites, claims, clarifies, comments, compares, complains, concedes, concludes, concurs, concurs with, confesses, confirms, confuses, congratulates, considers, contends, contents, continues, contradicts, contrasts, convinces, counters, criticizes/criticises, critiques, deals, deals with, debates, decides, declares, defines, denies, describes, disagrees, discards, disclaims, discounts, discourse, discovers, discusses, dismisses, disputes, disregards, doubts, echoes, emphasizes/emphasises, encourages, endorses, estimates, evaluates, examines, exclaims, exhorts, explains, expresses, extols, feels, finds, forbids, forgets, grants, guarantees, guesses, highlights, holds, hopes, hypothesizes/hypothesises, identifies, ignores, illustrates, imagines, implies, indicates, infers, informs, insinuates, insists, instructs, interprets, intimates, introduces, investigates, justifies, knows, lists, maintains, mentions, mumbles, negates, notes, objects, objects to, observes, offers, opposes, outlines, persuades, points out, posits, postulates, praises, presents, professes, promises, pronounces, proposes, propounds, proves, questions, realizes/realises, reasons, recites, recognizes/recognises, recommends, refutes, rejects, remarks, reminds, replies, reports, requests, responds, restates, reveals, says, scrutinizes/scrutinises, sees, sets forth, shows, specifies, speculates, states, stresses, studies, subscribes to, suggests, supports, supposes, tells, theorizes/theorises, thinks, threatens, underscores, understands, upholds, urges, uses, utilizes/utilises, utters, verifies, warns, whines, with, wonders, writes

Learn with Hangman!

Hangman is a classic word game. In this version, the hidden word is always a pronoun from this list. (Choose your first letter to start.)
  • Guess the hidden preposition by choosing one letter at a time.
  • If you guess a letter in the hidden preposition, then all is good.
  • If you guess a letter that is not in the hidden preposition, then the hangman starts to build the gallows.
  • If the gallows are completed, you lose.
  • Good luck!

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See Also

Parts of Speech Lists