Perhaps the first rhetorical choice a writer makes—and all writers make this choice, whether they realize it or not—is diction, or what words to use. Different words, even if they ostensibly mean the same thing, have different connotations, as the poet W. H. Auden well understood. And different audiences have different expectations about appropriate diction. Academic writing requires a more formal diction than everyday talk or journalism, and within academe writing in the natural sciences requires a more formal diction than writing in the humanities. I'm no great fan of formality in writing, but on the other hand one does need to know and respect the conventions of academe and other professional forums for serious writing:
ORIGINAL REVISION
The layers of dirt were not messed up at all.
The sedimentary levels were undisturbed.
In general, the more specialized training a profession requires, the more it develops its own jargon as a way of differentiating those who have acquired the proper training from those who have not. Twist a policeman's arm, for instance, and you still probably couldn't get him to say car or robber or gun or hit or saw: long professional training has habituated him to vehicle, alleged perpetrator, firearm, strike, and observed. This kind of Official Style diction is all around us. Students tend to learn it as the epitome of "adult" discourse, and to go too far in incorporating it into their own writing.
My general advice regarding diction is to prefer plain to fancy unless the scholarly field expects a particular word. Since appropriate choices vary within specific disciplines, and sometimes between individual scholars, my suggestion to students is to locate model authors within their chosen fields, and study those authors' diction and other rhetorical strategies. Your professors can help you find good models: ask them to recommend respected scholars who write well. There are always at least a few in every field.
ORIGINAL REVISION
The layers of dirt were not messed up at all.
The sedimentary levels were undisturbed.
In general, the more specialized training a profession requires, the more it develops its own jargon as a way of differentiating those who have acquired the proper training from those who have not. Twist a policeman's arm, for instance, and you still probably couldn't get him to say car or robber or gun or hit or saw: long professional training has habituated him to vehicle, alleged perpetrator, firearm, strike, and observed. This kind of Official Style diction is all around us. Students tend to learn it as the epitome of "adult" discourse, and to go too far in incorporating it into their own writing.
My general advice regarding diction is to prefer plain to fancy unless the scholarly field expects a particular word. Since appropriate choices vary within specific disciplines, and sometimes between individual scholars, my suggestion to students is to locate model authors within their chosen fields, and study those authors' diction and other rhetorical strategies. Your professors can help you find good models: ask them to recommend respected scholars who write well. There are always at least a few in every field.