The phrase "an attempt to emulate" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when describing an effort to imitate or replicate something, often in the context of behavior, style, or performance.
Example: "The artist's latest work is an attempt to emulate the techniques of the old masters."
Alternatives: "a bid to replicate" or "an effort to imitate".
Sugar was planted in an attempt to emulate the success of the earlier settlement of Madeira.
Artificial neural networks are an attempt to emulate the processing capabilities of biological neural systems.
I took to wearing black power-suits in an attempt to emulate hard-nosed businessmen.
Nelson demonstrates that central features of modern political thought emerged from an attempt to emulate a constitution designed by God.
Such techniques are an attempt to emulate the frequent fires common in California for thousands of years.
In an attempt to emulate Greek statues of naked men, Brummel commissioned figure-hugging trousers and coats.
Will he consider an audacious attempt to emulate Pantani – the last man to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same year?
In an unfortunate attempt to emulate the social network turned over-used-punchline MySpace, Wal-Mart introduced a social page pitched to young adults called the Hub in 2006.
Mr Cameron is desperate to avoid the mistakes of his party's 2010 election campaign, in which a botched attempt to emulate Mr Blair's appeal produced a hung parliament, rather than the expected Tory majority.
Peterson comes off as a peripatetic, romantic soul who craved an outlet for eccentric self-expression; after travelling to Mexico in a failed attempt to emulate Henry Miller, he returned, depressed, to the abandoned farm (which he inherited following his father's untimely death), only to be plagued by unneighborly accusations of Satan worship.
Meanwhile, in a misguided attempt to emulate Hemmingway, Nick goes to the zoo and Schmidt wonders whether he's lost his magic touch in bed.
