Publication in a string of high-profile academic journals is the Holy Grail of a researcher’s career. Naturally, this is not an easy achievement. Not only must academics be experts in their field, they must also be able to communicate their research ideas succinctly in writing — this is a big …
Academic Writing Guides
Preparing your manuscript for journal submission is possibly one of the most nerve-wracking steps in a researcher’s publishing journey. This is also the stage where most researchers make errors that can define the fate of their manuscript. To paraphrase renowned German physicist Werner Heisenberg, an expert is someone who knows some …
While writing your research manuscript, you must have come across words with a difference in meaning so slight that it made you wonder which one to choose. In some cases, authors may not even realize there is a difference, for instance, in the words although and though. So what is …
Imagine reading a research paper that not only offers you some great insight but is written and presented in the most engaging way. The language is polished, the grammar impeccable, the punctuation perfect, and the vocabulary correct and sophisticated. What a pleasurable read it would be! But it’s not easy …
As a researcher, one of the most common fears while submitting a research paper to a top journal is having it rejected. In 2019, the editors of Elsevier’s Journal of Hydrology (EJRH) rejected almost 70% of all submitted manuscripts (40% of these being desk rejections) 1. With such a large …
There is a major difference in the use of the words affect vs. effect when it comes to using them in your research papers. We know it takes you a lot of time, effort, and resources to conduct your research and then produce a compelling manuscript. However, the presence of …
English has long been established as the language of scholarly publishing, with 95% of the research output being published in English-language journals.1 On the other hand, poor language or grammar can also distract from your research and is among one of the key reasons for manuscript rejection.2 This highlights the …
The proper use of punctuation can help to strengthen arguments made in your research paper. But knowing the English grammar rules and using these correctly can be confusing, especially for researchers with English as a second language. One of the easiest punctuation marks that you can get wrong is quotation …
Learning how to use synonyms in academic writing can aid in structuring your text and ensuring that it doesn’t sound monotonous. Here’s a guide telling you all about synonyms in detail. What are synonyms and why are synonyms important? A synonym is one of two or more words of the …
A majority of researchers wonder how to use et al. in a research paper. Et al. is one of the most commonly used Latin abbreviations, just like as, etc., versus, circa, ibid. and id., and often crops up in academic writing. While the English phrases of all these above mentioned words are acceptable, researchers use Latin …