A hallmark of academic writing is preferring nouns to verbs, which is known as nominalization. The problem is that your sentences become long, impeding communication and boring the readers to death!
Look at this example:
This study is an investigation of the proliferation of bacterial cells in basic culture medium and of the effect of pH on this process.
The sentence above is 24 words long and contains 08 nouns: study, investigation, proliferation, cells, medium, effect, pH, and process.
Look at what happens if we use the verbs investigate, proliferate, and affect instead of the respective nouns:
This study investigates how bacterial cells proliferate in basic culture medium and how the pH affects this process.
The sentence is now 18 words long, 03 nouns shorter, easier to read, and livelier!
Nouns are believed to act as zombies and suck the energy from the text, as illustrated in the video below. Check it out!