"Nowadays" vs "today"

Nowadays and today are both perfectly acceptable. You could also say these days, in recent times and at present or presently. If your teacher prefers that you don't use nowadays I would follow her instructions just because there are so many alternatives and she is the one grading your paper.

Based on my experiences editing academic papers and professional articles from both native and non-native speakers of English, the word "nowadays" is a signal that the writer is not a native English speaker. I see it most commonly used by Chinese speakers.

Both "nowadays" and "today" are acceptable. However, when editing, I generally remove any such term. If you're using the present tense, you imply "now."

For example: "Nowadays, people act as if they have more money than they really do." This sentence means and implies the same thing as "People act as if they have more money than they really do." Here, the word "nowadays" is redundant, resulting in loose and dull writing.

My recommendation: Rather than struggle with "nowadays" and "today," revise your sentences so that neither is needed.

I'd agree with Mark that, for this class, you should follow the teacher's direction if you hope to get good grades on your papers!

But long term, it's a tough question. "Nowadays" is not a very commonly used word any more. On the other hand, "today" is most often understood to me "in the current 24-hour period", so there could be times when using "today" to mean "the current era" could create an ambiguity. Usually the intent would be apparent from the context, but not necessarily. As I think about it, this is rather tricky. If someone said, "The stock market is falling today", I think most people would understand him to mean "in this 24-hour period". But if he said, "The economy is doing poorly today", people would understand him to mean "in the last few years".

I'd generally opt for "currently", "at the present time", "these days", etc.

The word creates a sense of awkwardness. It detracts from the intent of the statement because the reader has to stop and mull the intention of the writer. In academic writing your job is to communicate quickly and effectively. Anything that detracts from that purpose should be rewritten. Do you see this used in the article you are responding to? If you do, how is it used? When? In most cases my students can not find this usage in articles. I then walk them through a revision process to see how to make a statement stronger and clarify the meaning.

"Nowadays." while standard English, has a colloquial ring. "Today" is preferred in academic writing. Academic writing requires a more elevated register, which the adverb "nowadays" does not meet. The matter is simple: read published articles in academia and compare the frequency of "nowadays" versus "today." "Nowadays"is the common expression used by my high school students. If you adhere to the "usage reigns" approach in linguistics, then there is little more to say.