Science comes up in IELTS from several directions. In Writing Task 2, you may be asked whether governments should spend money exploring space when there are so many unsolved problems on Earth, whether scientists should only work on research with quick practical benefits, whether animal testing is acceptable, and who is to blame when a discovery is used to cause harm. In Speaking Part 3, the examiner moves on to how far people trust scientists, how science shapes everyday life and whether everyone should study science at school. And popular science texts turn up again and again in Academic Reading.
What trips candidates up here isn’t a lack of words but too much confidence. “Scientists have proved that…” feels like the most natural way to open an argument, but in an essay it turns a cautious finding into a sweeping claim that’s easy to attack: a single study rarely proves anything. Lexical Resource rewards precision, and research suggests or there is strong evidence that is the more precise choice. The second trap is the word research itself: in the sense of scientific work it’s usually uncountable, so researches gives you away at once.
Below are 29 collocations that work in essays and Speaking answers about science and research, the mistakes learners most often make with them, and an example of how LetsWords gives feedback on a sentence you write. Gadgets, the internet and artificial intelligence are covered on our technology vocabulary page, and you’ll find every other topic in IELTS vocabulary by topic.
Science and research: words and collocations
How research is done
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| conduct research into / on | to carry out a study of something | Several universities are conducting research into the long-term effects of microplastics. |
| carry out an experiment | to do an experiment | The team carried out a series of experiments to check the original results. |
| test a hypothesis | to check whether an idea is true | A good experiment is designed to test a hypothesis, not to confirm what researchers already believe. |
| collect / gather data | to collect information for a study | Volunteers helped scientists collect data on bird populations across the country. |
| a research project | a planned piece of research | Most research projects take years before they produce anything useful. |
| a groundbreaking study | a study that changes how people understand a subject | A groundbreaking study in the 1950s changed how doctors understood smoking. |
| publish findings | to make the results of research public | Researchers are expected to publish their findings so that others can check them. |
| a peer-reviewed journal | a journal in which experts check studies before they appear | A claim published in a peer-reviewed journal deserves more trust than a blog post. |
Results and evidence
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| make a discovery | to find something that was not known before | Some of the most important discoveries were made by accident. |
| make a breakthrough | to achieve an important advance | Scientists made a major breakthrough in treating this disease last year. |
| research suggests / shows that | studies point to / demonstrate that | Research suggests that regular exercise improves memory in older adults. |
| strong / conclusive evidence | convincing / final proof | There is strong evidence that air pollution shortens life expectancy. |
| the findings indicate that | the results point to the fact that | The findings indicate that the drug works better in younger patients. |
| draw a conclusion | to decide what the facts mean | It is too early to draw any firm conclusions from a single study. |
| scientific consensus | general agreement among scientists | There is a broad scientific consensus that the climate is warming. |
Funding and priorities
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| fund research / research funding | to pay for research / money for research | Governments fund research that private companies consider too risky. |
| allocate funds to | to set aside money for a purpose | The state should allocate more funds to medical research than to space programmes. |
| basic research | research driven by curiosity, with no immediate use | Basic research rarely pays off quickly, but it creates the knowledge that applied science depends on. |
| applied research | research with a direct practical use | Applied research aims to solve a specific practical problem. |
| space exploration | exploring space with missions, probes and telescopes | Critics see space exploration as a luxury that poorer countries cannot afford. |
| yield results | to produce results | Not every expensive project yields useful results. |
| long-term benefits | advantages that appear over a long period | The long-term benefits of science are often impossible to predict. |
| a waste of taxpayers’ money | public money spent with no worthwhile return | Some people regard research with no obvious application as a waste of taxpayers’ money. |
Ethics and trust
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| raise ethical concerns | to create moral questions or doubts | Gene editing in humans raises serious ethical concerns. |
| animal testing | experiments carried out on animals | Many cosmetics brands have stopped animal testing altogether. |
| the misuse of scientific knowledge | using science to cause harm | History shows that the misuse of scientific knowledge can have terrible consequences. |
| be held accountable for | to be made responsible for | Should scientists be held accountable for how their discoveries are used? |
| public trust in science | how far people believe scientists | Conflicting headlines can undermine public trust in science. |
| a conflict of interest | a situation where personal gain may affect someone’s judgement | When a company pays for a study of its own product, there is a clear conflict of interest. |
Common mistakes
1. Research in the plural
Scientists have made many researches on this virus.
Scientists have done a lot of research on this virus.
In the sense of scientific work, research is usually uncountable: a lot of research, some research, no -es. And you do, conduct or carry out research rather than make it. When you need to count individual pieces of work, use studies: several studies have shown.
2. Research of instead of research into
There has been a lot of research of cancer in recent decades.
There has been a lot of research into cancer in recent decades.
After research, the preposition is into or on. Learners often carry over of from a study of, which is fine with study, but research of cancer is not natural English.
3. Discover or invent
Alexander Fleming invented penicillin by accident in 1928.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by accident in 1928.
You discover something that already exists: a planet, a substance, a law of nature. You invent something that didn’t exist before: the telescope, the telephone. Penicillin is produced by a mould, so Fleming discovered it.
4. “Scientists have proved”
Scientists have proved that social media causes depression.
Research suggests that heavy social media use is linked to depression.
The first sentence is grammatically correct, but in an essay it makes far too strong a claim: studies usually show a link, not prove a cause. Cautious phrases such as research suggests, there is evidence that and is linked to sound more academic and are much harder to argue with.
How LetsWords explains mistakes like these
While you’re reading a table, every word looks familiar. The mistakes appear when you write. Here’s what one task in LetsWords looks like.
You’re reviewing conduct research into. LetsWords shows you its meaning in your native language, you recall the English expression and write a sentence about science:
Our government should make more research into renewable energy.
The feedback, which LetsWords gives in your native language, points out one mistake: make → conduct. You conduct, do or carry out research; make research isn’t something English speakers say.
Our government should conduct more research into renewable energy.
A few days later, the expression comes back in review, and you use it in a new situation, for example in an answer about medicine. That’s how a collocation from a list becomes one you can pull from memory and write without a mistake.
Start practising with feedback on your mistakes
When you sign up, you choose IELTS as your goal and pick your level, and LetsWords sets up your practice. You can try the feedback before you pay.
Using these collocations in Writing Task 2
An exam-style task:
Some people believe that governments should only fund scientific research that has clear practical benefits. Others argue that research without any obvious application is just as important. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
A model paragraph covering the second view and the writer’s opinion:
Those who support basic research argue that its value often becomes clear only decades later. Many groundbreaking studies began as projects with no obvious use: researchers were simply trying to test a hypothesis about how nature works. For example, studies of how bacteria defend themselves against viruses were driven purely by curiosity, yet their findings later led to a powerful gene-editing tool. If governments allocate funds only to projects with guaranteed returns, such discoveries may never happen. In my view, research funding should therefore be divided between both types: applied projects deliver quick results, while basic science produces the long-term benefits that nobody can predict in advance.
Why this paragraph works. The first sentence states the position straight away, and what follows is an explanation and a concrete example rather than general remarks about the “value of science”. Every collocation sits where it belongs: you test a hypothesis, you allocate funds, and benefits nobody can predict in advance are long-term. The last sentence answers the “give your opinion” part of the task, and instead of repeating the argument it offers a solution. The linkers for example, yet and therefore guide the reader through the logic without padding.
Using them in Speaking
Part 3 question: Do you think people trust scientists less than they used to?
I’d say it depends on the field. Most people still trust doctors and engineers, but on topics like diet, public trust in science has definitely suffered. One week coffee is harmful, the next week it’s healthy, so people assume researchers keep changing their minds. In reality, scientific consensus forms slowly, and the media rarely explain that a single study isn’t conclusive evidence.
The answer opens with a position, then gives a real-life example and explains the cause. Three collocations from the tables sound natural rather than squeezed in for the score.
Practise for free
- do research: carrying out research, and why not make;
- carry out: carrying out an experiment, a survey or a check;
- draw a conclusion: deciding what the evidence means;
- look into: investigating a question;
- data: facts and figures, and how not to confuse it with date;
- accurate: correct and exact;
- affect vs effect: the verb and the noun;
- have an impact: having a noticeable effect.
Linkers for arguments and conclusions are collected in our guide to IELTS Writing vocabulary.
From the list to real use
In the exam, you have to recall a collocation yourself and fit it into a sentence without getting the verb or the preposition wrong. Move from the list to real use with LetsWords: work through an IELTS set for your level and add collocations from this page to your collection, such as conduct research into or draw a conclusion. You recall each expression from a prompt and write a sentence with it, LetsWords points out the mistake and explains it in your native language (Russian, Korean or Vietnamese), and spaced repetition brings the expression back until it comes naturally. Science vocabulary pays off in Writing too: the IELTS Writing section has Task 2 prompts on technology, education and health, and a full answer gets detailed feedback on all four criteria. When you sign up, you answer a few questions about your goal and level, and LetsWords sets up your practice; you can try the feedback before you pay. For other topics, see IELTS vocabulary by topic.