academic writing tips

When conducting research for an academic paper, it is important to understand the differences between primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are original, firsthand accounts of an event or phenomenon, while secondary sources are any materials that are not primary sources, such as books or articles that analyze or interpret primary sources. This article will […]

What are figure legends in research papers? Pick up any journal and take a look at one of the articles. Without reading the main text, examine one of the figures and ask yourself, “What can I conclude from this image?” Are you able to answer this question? Based on the figure, can you guess what […]

Preparing Your Study, Review, or Article for Publication in Medical Journals The majority of social, behavioral, biological, and clinical journals follow the conventional structured abstract form with the following four major headings (or variations of these headings): OBJECTIVE(Purpose; Aim; Goal): Tells reader the purpose of your research and the questions it intends to answer METHODS(Setting; […]

What is the manuscript format for journal submission? Most journals require authors to format their paper according to very specific guidelines at initial submission (although the “Your Paper Your Way” concept has found its way into many scientific journals since its introduction in 2011). This often includes rules for font type, margin size, and number […]

Movies are a valid source of information for research papers, but you might not have heard about how to cite movies in your classes on citation practices. In this article, you will learn how to correctly reference different types of movies in all the common formatting styles. The elements that should always be included are […]

Specific rules for citing visual media (paintings, infographics, maps, etc.) in papers and formal presentations are often not included in the basic how-to guides, but they do exist and vary depending on the style guide you have to follow. Here we explain what information you need to cite and how—see below for examples in APA, […]

You are probably familiar with (or know where to look up) in-text and reference list citation rules for books, online articles, and websites, but that’s not always enough these days—how do you use a YouTube video as a source and correctly cite it? Here, we show you how to do that in all the common […]

Writing a strong doctoral dissertation or thesisis a daunting task for any student due to the difficulty of academic writing. Students face the challenge of organizing and maintaining large amounts of text across hundreds of pages. For master’s and PhD doctoral students, writing a thesis or dissertation represents the capstone to their academic career. For […]

According to Merriam Webster, a preposition is “a word or group of words that combines with a noun or pronoun to form a phrase that usually acts as an adverb, adjective, or noun”. You have probably heard explanations like this one many times. But you might still be a bit unsure what a preposition is […]

Are punctuation mistakes common? Although our client document data shows that punctuation mistakes are somewhat less common than other types of mistakes (e.g., grammar mistakes or spelling errors) in academic texts written by non-native speakers of English, these mistakes nevertheless get in the way of conveying important information about your research to your readers. These […]

Essential Guidelines for Structuring a Research Paper Lecturer: Kevin J. Heintz, M.A. English This lecture was presented at ChungAng University in Seoul, South Korea in November 2018. Wordvice/Essay Review Managing Editor Kevin J. Heintz explains how to organize and compose a research manuscript that will get your study published in top journals. Even researchers whose […]

What is an Annotated Bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of sources (books, articles, other publications) that provides an overview of the available research on a topic by summarizing, interpreting, or evaluating each entry. It usually consists of citations followed by short paragraphs of 150–250 words. Purpose of an Annotated Bibliography The purpose of […]