academic writing tips

Why Using the Correct Verb Tense is Important When writing an academic paper,writers should follow the accepted grammar and style conventions: not only to abide by the institutional and domain standards, but to communicate clearly to readers what was studied, when it took place, and from what perspective you arediscussing your research (and that of […]

Word usage errors in research papers written by non-native speakers of English are more common than other mistakes and are only topped by errors in style. Since the main purpose of academic writing is to clearly convey information, knowing how to use words correctly and effectively is absolutely crucial. Some problems with word choice stem […]

What is a DOI and what does it do? You have probably seen reference lists with citations that end in a long number preceded by the abbreviation “doi,” or been told that your list is missing those. But what does “DOI” stand for? A DOI, meaning digital object identifier, is a unique alphanumeric string that […]

A common piece of advice for authors preparing their first journal article for publication is to start with the methods section: just list everything that was done and go from there. While that might seem like a very practical approach to a first draft, if you do this without a clear outline and a story […]

Why Use In-Text Citations? When writing a journal article, literature review, convention paper, or any other academic document, authors must include in-text citations whenever they refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. In addition, every time a work is cited within a paper (in APA style, a parenthetical citation), a corresponding entry must […]

The abstract is perhaps the most important section of your research paper. Apart from the title, it may be the only part of the paper anyone reads. Whetherthey read furtherdepends in part on how good an impression your abstract makes. The abstract may also be the only part of your paper that has a word […]

English is woven from threads of many different languages and dialects. It therefore contains many easily confused words and phrases–those similar to other words and phrases and therefore used incorrectly or mixed up by non-native–and native–English speakers. Some words are spelled like other words, while other words sound just like other words. Knowing the difference […]

Different style guides have different rules regarding the formatting of headings and subheadings in a paper, but what information you should actually put into your subheadings is a different question and often up to personal taste. Here we quickly summarize general guidelines, different approaches, and what not to do when choosing headings for a research […]

The Internet has made it incredibly easy to find and copy-paste any kind of content, including academic work. And with universities and publishers gearing up for the fight against plagiarism, most students and researchers are well aware that passing someone else’s work off as their own is not only unethical–it can have severe consequences for […]

What are the best research words and phrases to use in a paper? If you are a graduate student, researcher, and/or professor, you already know that composing academic documents can be a frustrating andtime-consuming undertaking. In addition to including all the necessary study content, you must alsopresent it in the right order and convey the […]

A research paper is usually more concise and succinct than an essay, because, if it is written well, it focuses on one specific question, describes the method that was used to answer that one question, describes and explains the results, and guides the reader in a logical way from the introduction to the discussion without going on tangents or digging into not absolutely relevant topics. The conclusion section at the end of a research manuscript should therefore not start with a long-winded repetition of what was done and why and how, but rather get to the point in as few words as possible. Instead of beginning with “In conclusion, in this study, we investigated the effect of stress on the brain using fMRI…”, you should try to find a way to incorporate the repetition of the essential (and only the essential) details into the summary of the key points. “The findings of this fMRI study on the effect of stress on the brain suggest that…” or “While it has been known for a long time that stress has an effect on the brain, the findings of this fMRI study show that, surprisingly…” would be better ways to start a conclusion. 

What is Academic Writing? Academic writing communicates information and ideas to a narrow or wider academic readership.Academic writing can be descriptive (e.g., a results section), analytical (e.g., a comparison of different theories), persuasive (your own point of view), or critical (when you discuss other peoples’ points of view). This type of writing always has a […]