Full Stops in Titles, Headings and Captions As a general rule, a full stop is not used at the end of a displayed title, heading, subheading or caption in scholarly English prose. This applies whether the displayed text is the…
Using or Not Using the Serial or Oxford Comma in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using or Not Using the Serial or Oxford Comma in Your Thesis or Dissertation A serial or Oxford comma is the comma that appears immediately after the penultimate item in a series or list when a conjunction separates that item…
Perfecting Sentence Structure in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Perfecting Sentence Structure in Your Thesis or Dissertation The process of writing a thesis or dissertation in the English language tends to place new demands on the textual skills of most students, particularly those students whose first language is not…
Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation?
Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation? The short answer to that question is a resounding yes, good grammar matters a great deal, despite the fact that the validity of fussing over correct grammar seems to have…
Beginning Sentences Correctly and Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Beginning Sentences Correctly and Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation Each sentence of the scholarly English prose you write for your thesis or dissertation should start in ways that are precise and complete, and certain elements of writing should never…
Using Three Grammatical Structures Agreeably in a Thesis or Dissertation
Using Three Grammatical Structures Agreeably in a Thesis or Dissertation If you are not a native speaker of English, but are writing a thesis or dissertation in the language, you may find yourself struggling at times to establish agreement between…
Punctuating Sentences as Lists in Theses and Dissertations
Punctuating Sentences as Lists in Theses and Dissertations Lists are extremely effective tools for students who are writing a thesis or dissertation. A list can present a great deal of complicated material in a concise format that is especially clear…
Forming the Future Tenses of English Verbs for Theses and Dissertations
Forming the Future Tenses of English Verbs for Theses and Dissertations Many thesis and dissertation candidates, especially those whose native language is not English, find the conjugation of English verbs somewhat tricky. For this reason, I have written a few…
English Verbs and Their Present Tenses in Theses and Dissertations
English Verbs and Their Present Tenses in Theses and Dissertations Increasing numbers of students who are writing a thesis or dissertation in the English language are not native speakers of that language. Although they may possess excellent writing skills in…
Using the Past Tenses of English Verbs in Theses and Dissertations
Using the Past Tenses of English Verbs in Theses and Dissertations Thesis and dissertation students who struggle with writing English prose that effectively presents their research often have difficulties when it comes to conjugating verb tenses. In this post, I…
Rules for Using Relative Pronouns Correctly in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Rules for Using Relative Pronouns Correctly in Your Thesis or Dissertation The use of relative pronouns is often necessary when producing the kind of formal prose required in a scholarly thesis or dissertation, but using relative pronouns correctly can be…
Turning a Critical Eye on Language and Logic in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Turning a Critical Eye on Language and Logic in Your Thesis or Dissertation The language and more so the logic of your thesis or dissertation have probably received critical attention and undergone revisions as you drafted chapters and worked with…
Varying the Structure of Sentences for an Interesting Thesis or Dissertation
Varying the Structure of Sentences for an Interesting Thesis or Dissertation As long as the meaning is clear, the problems, concepts and details described and discussed by academics and scientists may be intellectually stimulating regardless of exactly how individual sentences…
Dashes or Rules in Academic and Scientific Writing
Dashes or Rules The most common use of en or em dashes (also called ‘rules’) in the running prose of a scholarly paper is to mark parenthetical clauses, in which case the dashes indicate a more pronounced break in the…
What Is the Difference between a Semicolon and a Colon?
What Is the Difference between a Semicolon and a Colon? Well, some might argue that there is very little difference indeed, and the careless way in which semicolons and colons are used by many authors could be used as evidence…
Using the Auxiliary Verbs Might and May Correctly in Academic Writing
Using the Auxiliary Verbs Might and May Correctly in Academic Writing English is fraught with words that seem straightforward to most native speakers, but tend to present significant difficulties for authors whose native tongue is not English. Some of these…
Therefore or However? Choosing and Using the Right Transitional Word
Therefore or However? Choosing and Using the Right Transitional Word Logical transitions are essential in writing of all kinds, but never more so than in the academic and scientific prose written to report and discuss the methods, results and implications…
What Is Parallelism and Why Is It So Important in Academic Writing?
What Is Parallelism and Why Is It So Important in Academic Writing? The term ‘parallelism’ refers to the repeated and balanced use of similar words, phrases or clauses that share a specific grammatical structure or syntactical pattern. As a writing…
Academic Writing for Non-Native English Speakers
Academic Writing for Non-Native English Speakers English has been called the language of modern science, and top-tier journals in many other scholarly fields also publish their content in the English language. Since the publication of advanced research is an important…
The Moving Parts of Speech in English: Verbs and Conjunctions
The Moving Parts of Speech in English: Verbs and Conjunctions Many educational programmes drill the parts of speech into the minds of young students, but it is all too common for such details of language to slip right back out…
Tricky Situations for Subject-Verb Agreement
Tricky Situations for Subject-Verb Agreement English can be a tricky language to write at the best of times, but certain grammatical aspects of the language are particularly perplexing, especially for those who are not native speakers. Academics and scientists who…
Using the Colon in Citations, References and Quotations
Using the Colon in Citations, References and Quotations Among the uses of the colon (:) in punctuating scholarly prose are its applications when citing sources, quoting the words of others and providing complete bibliographical references. Usage patterns are often based…
What is Grammatical Parallelism and Why It Matters
What is Grammatical Parallelism and Why It Matters Academics and scientists who publish their research probably do not need any reason beyond professionalism to ensure that they always write clearly and correctly. They are professional researchers, professional authors and, in…
The Modifying Parts of Speech: Adjectives, Adverbs and Prepositions
The Modifying Parts of Speech: Adjectives, Adverbs and Prepositions Among the various parts of English speech are those with the particular function to modify other parts of speech. Such elements of language are extremely useful for academic and scientific authors…
Using the Comma in Formal English Prose
Using the Comma in Formal English Prose The comma is used in English prose in a wide variety of ways. Personal preferences, document content and reader needs are often concerns when making decisions about comma placement, but so too are…
Varying Sentence Structure with Embedded Clauses and Phrases
Varying Sentence Structure with Embedded Clauses and Phrases Writing in a fashion that is interesting and elegant for readers is certainly the hope of most academics and scholars, but it is also imperative that scholarly prose be clear, accurate and…
Grammatical Agreement in the Scholarly Prose of a Thesis or Dissertation
Grammatical Agreement in the Scholarly Prose of a Thesis or Dissertation Establishing agreement between the subject of an English clause or sentence and the verb that tells the reader what that subject is thinking, doing, feeling and so on is…
Constructing Compound Sentences
Constructing Compound Sentences Simple sentences rarely present a problem for authors because they are commonly used in informal speech and are, well, simple. The following sentence is just such a simple sentence: ‘Teachers are worried about the rising illiteracy rates…
Grammar, Punctuation and the Danger of Global Changes in Academic Writing
Grammar, Punctuation and the Danger of Global Changes I was recently reading a novel that uses an unfortunate and incorrect punctuation pattern throughout the entire text. Well, to be honest, it uses far more than one incorrect punctuation pattern, but…
Using the Full Stop in Academic and Scientific Prose
Using the Full Stop in Scholarly Prose Although the use of the full stop in English prose is relatively straightforward, it is essential to understand and use the correct patterns to ensure clear and professional communication when writing scholarly text….
Helpful Tips for Using Coordinating Conjunctions: Or, Nor, For and So
Helpful Tips for Using Coordinating Conjunctions: Or, Nor, For and So There are seven coordinating conjunctions in the English language. Alphabetically, and in full capitals for clarity here, they are AND, BUT, FOR, OR, NOR, SO, and YET. As their…
Punctuating Adjectives before a Noun
Punctuating Adjectives before a Noun Some of the best writers in the English language will advise aspiring authors to avoid adjectives as much as possible when aiming for a clear and elegant writing style. The argument runs that the right…
Punctuating Embedded Lists in Academic and Scientific Documents
Punctuating Embedded Lists in Scholarly Documents Lists are often used in academic and scientific writing to present information in a clear and orderly fashion for readers. Whether the material a scholarly author wants to communicate is short and relatively simple…
Tips on Punctuating with a Colon in Academic and Scientific Prose
Tips on Punctuating with a Colon in Academic and Scientific Prose It is comforting to think that the association between scholarly writing and colons is based more upon the excellent use to which academics and scientists tend to put the…
Scholarly Uses of the Semicolon | Grammar Tips for Academic Writing
Scholarly Uses of the Semicolon Although some writers would do away with the semicolon, arguing that it serves no useful purpose in English prose, there can be no doubt that the semicolon performs many important functions for scholarly authors. The…
Logical Help for Clarifying Sentences in Academic and Scientific Writing
Logical Help for Clarifying Sentences in Academic and Scientific Writing When a scholarly author receives the message from readers, whether they are colleagues, mentors or acquisitions proofreaders, that his or her sentences simply are not communicating the research behind a…
Subject-Verb Agreement in the English Language: Basic Grammatical Concerns
Subject-Verb Agreement in the English Language: Basic Grammatical Concerns One of the most primary of concerns when writing successful prose is maintaining agreement between the subject of a clause or sentence and the verb that tells the reader what the…
Basic Parts of Speech in English: Nouns, Pronouns and Articles
Basic Parts of Speech in English: Nouns, Pronouns and Articles Although many academics and scientists who conduct advanced research and publish their writing in the English language are familiar with the parts of speech, many are not. Scholars who are…
Basic Sentence Patterns for Variety in Academic and Scientific Prose
Basic Sentence Patterns for Variety in Scholarly Prose When writing academic and scientific prose, the main goals tend to be the thorough and accurate communication of research-based information and the effective construction of a persuasive scholarly argument. The highest standard…
Complex Sentences Simplified in Academic & Scientific Writing
Complex Sentences Simplified Academics and scientists tend to write about difficult problems and complex research. No wonder, then, if they often need to express complex ideas and arguments with the utmost clarity. Doing so in English can be challenging, however,…
Using Appositive Words, Phrases and Clauses in English
Using Appositive Words, Phrases and Clauses in English An appositive is a word, phrase or clause that is used in juxtaposition to a noun or pronoun to identify, explain or describe that noun or pronoun. The appositive is itself a…
Coordinating Conjunctions in English: And, But and Yet
Coordinating Conjunctions in English: And, But and Yet The English language boasts seven coordinating conjunctions that are immensely useful to scholars who write to disseminate their research. In alphabetical order they are AND, BUT, FOR, OR, NOR, SO, and YET,…
Those Tricky Transitions in Scholarly Text
Those Tricky Transitions in Scholarly Text | Tips on How to Get Your Research Published Creating smooth and effective transitions is among the most challenging aspects of writing well. In fiction or poetry a transition might aim to startle or…
Using the Right Words in Academic and Scientific Writing
Using the Right Words in Academic and Scientific Writing | Tips on How to Get Your Research Published Mark Twain, in keeping with both his personality and his writing style, claimed that ‘the difference between the almost right word and…
Helpful Tips and Advice on Using Parenthetical Clauses Effectively
Helpful Tips and Advice on Using Parenthetical Clauses Effectively Contemporary advice about writing tends to prioritise simplicity, even for academic and scientific writing, so simple sentences are preferred by many publishers and online venues, including scholarly ones. As a reaction…
Using Prepositions to Specify Place with Accuracy in the English Language
Using Prepositions to Specify Place with Accuracy Prepositions may tend to be rather short words, but their functions within English sentences are extremely important. They tend to indicate grammatical and semantic relationships, often of a spatial or temporal nature. A…
A Few Tiny but Tricky Words with Similar Sounds but Different Spellings
Similar Sounds with Different Spellings and Meanings: A Few Tiny but Tricky Words Many a word in the English language sounds, when spoken, exactly like or at least deceptively similar to another word. When such pairs are spelled out in…
Miscellaneous Uses of Hyphenation in the English Language
Miscellaneous Uses of Hyphenation in the English Language In my earlier posts on the use of hyphens, I discussed patterns for hyphenating compounds and adding prefixes and suffixes to words. In this post I would like to describe a number…
Using Pronouns Clearly & Effectively In Academic & Scientific Writing
Using Pronouns Clearly and Effectively It is difficult to imagine writing scholarly prose in the English language without using pronouns. Were academic and scientific authors forced to use nouns repeatedly instead of substituting pronouns at times, their books and articles…
Using Prepositions Correctly to Specify Time in the English Language
Using Prepositions Correctly to Specify Time Prepositions are a class of words that indicate grammatical and semantic relationships, often of a spatial or temporal nature. A preposition is usually combined with a noun, pronoun or noun phrase, which is referred…
