What is meant by lack of detail?

This is similar to the vague noun category. When using words such as advantages, disadvantages, benefits and drawbacks, it is important that you clarify what these are. Consider the following sentences:

• There are a lot of advantages to owning a car
• There are several drawbacks to this approach in research

What are the advantages and drawbacks? These need to be made clear.

Why should you avoid a lack of detail in academic writing?

Academic writing aims to be precise and these terms require further clarification and precision.

How can you avoid a lack of detail?

When using terms that lack detail, provide a qualifier and details.

Consider the following changes:

• There are a number of social advantages to owning a car. These include the ability to visit family living outside of the city, and the ability to access remote places
• There are several reliability drawbacks to this approach in research. The most prevalent is interviews often result in limited data sets as not everyone can be interviewed

What these examples show is that detail can be added both by incorporating a qualifier (e.g. social or reliability) and then providing details (e.g. limited data sets).