Abstractions are useful to academic writers, because a writer can use them to spin out an article to the desired word count without needing any definite knowledge. Here is a sentence from the Wikipedia article on Necker Island (Hawaii):

This difference in form represents an earlier iteration of Hawaiian monumental architecture that offers a unique perspective on cultural norms prior to the abandonment of Necker.

We are talking about how the temple structures on Necker Island and Nihoa differ from those on the main islands in the chain. It has the appearance of an informative sentence. But did we learn anything? Probably not. Strip away the adjectives and the modifying prepositional phrases and what do we have? A difference that represents an iteration that offers a perspective. You will notice that the cultural norms are not described, and you will have trouble finding them anywhere in the article. The difference may be offering us a unique perspective, but since we do not know what the perspective is, we cannot take it up on its offer. We do not know how this perspective differs from the perspective we might otherwise have, which was not described either. The sentence suggests two perspectives but gives us none. In effect, this sentence is twenty-six words of no information at all.

If, therefore, you find yourself in a situation, like graduate school, where you are required to turn out a large number of words to demonstrate your knowledge of a subject, remember that you are judged more by the number of words than by the knowledge. Take this sentence as your model, and you can fill any word count and meet any deadline.