Homophones tend to trip writers more than fascinate them – ensure and insure, though and although, advise and advice – the list of confusing words is endless. These are words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. But this doesn’t give one the excuse to use …
The question of whether or not to contact a journal editor can be a tough question for most authors. But then this is not a job application or soliciting a favor. For starters, I would check the specifications of your target journal regarding contacting the Editorial board and then ask …
Have you ever found yourself stumbling over two confusing words in English while trying to express something? Well, English is a precise language that has multiple words with similar, if not almost identical, meanings. Therefore, for any writing in English, especially in academic writing, the devil lies in the details, i.e., …
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 …
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 …
![How and when to use ‘then’ vs ‘than’ [with examples]](https://paperpal.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/pexels-olia-danilevich-4974915-1170x780.jpg)
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 …
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