ears of proofreading academic and scientific writing for publication, presentation, examination and grading has allowed us here at Proof-Reading-Service.com to accumulate an enormous amount of knowledge and experience about exactly what it takes to produce a successful scholarly document. We are always sharing our expertise with our clients and other visitors to our web site via blog posts that offer advice and discussions organised into thirteen different categories designed for advanced researchers.
This is our largest category, containing over five hundred individual posts dealing with every imaginable aspect of preparing, submitting and revising academic and scientific articles for publication in both traditional and open-access journals. A wide selection of posts offer advice on writing a successful research paper, with several focussing on writing in particular disciplines or subject areas and a few discussing the other kinds of articles (such as reviews and reports) that scholarly journals publish. Many deal in detail with preparing specific parts of a journal article: the title, abstract, keywords, summary, highlights, internal headings, introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, discussion, conclusion, lists, tables, figures, quotations, notes, references, appendices, acknowledgements and supplementary materials. Choosing the right peer-reviewed journal and tailoring a paper for its guidelines and audience are treated more than once, and ethical concerns are discussed with a focus on identifying and avoiding practices such as plagiarism and fraud and the temptations offered by predatory publishers. Overcoming procrastination and writer’s block is the topic of a few posts, and many others advise authors on responding to editor and reviewer requests for revisions and coping with various kinds of publisher rejection. Producing excellent academic and scientific writing, making an intellectual contribution and achieving an impact are abiding themes in these many posts, and the reader will find helpful pre-submission checklists and a variety of writing samples.
Communicating Effectively with Journal Editors
Communicating successfully with the journal editor who is considering your research paper for publication is an essential part of publishing an academic or scientific article, but it tends to be a challenging task, especially when matters become complicated. This group of posts offers advice on writing every kind of letter an academic or scientist might need to write to the editor of a peer-reviewed journal. Pre-submission inquiry letters, cover letters to accompany manuscript submissions, responses to critical comments and requests for revisions, negotiations to overturn rejections, and explanatory letters for resubmissions are all discussed. What should and should not go into such letters is explained, templates and examples are provided, and there are even notes on how to make the best use of these writing samples.
Writing a Cover Letter for a Research Paper
For this category we have gathered together blog posts focussing specifically on how to write a cover letter to introduce an academic or scientific paper submitted to a journal for publication. The need for clear communication and perfect prose is emphasised and readers are not only advised about what to include in a cover letter to the editor, but also warned about common errors that must be avoided. The cover letter templates and careful explanations of how to use them are particularly helpful, and authors are encouraged to provide a cover letter in unconventional ways when necessary.
Dealing with Journal Paper Rejection
These blog posts focus on coping with the worst kind of letter an academic or scientific author can receive from a journal editor – a letter of rejection. Various reasons for rejecting a manuscript such as problems with language, formatting and content are discussed, and constructive ways of dealing with each situation are outlined. Professional responses are encouraged as are beneficial revisions, and the importance of maintaining research integrity while resolving real problems to improve a paper is emphasised. Trusted colleagues and professional proofreaders can be most helpful when dealing with rejection, as some of these posts make clear, and alternative means of sharing research are also introduced.
Writing & Responding to Peer Reviews
Peer reviews are essential to academic and scientific publishing and journal proofreaders make extensive use of them, but surviving an extremely critical peer review and achieving publication can be a somewhat gruelling process for an author, especially when the review is adversarial or inappropriate. The role of the peer reviewer and the different types of peer review used by scholarly journals are introduced in these posts, and authors are advised about exactly how to respond to reviewer comments in productive ways, with this advice enhanced by a detailed sample letter. These posts also contain instructions on how to become an excellent peer reviewer and complete truly helpful review reports for both journal proofreaders and authors.
Perfecting Grammar in Academic Writing
Although this large category is useful for any scholar who wishes to perfect his or her formal writing, it is especially helpful for authors who are not native speakers of English, but are writing academic and scientific documents in that language. Grammatical agreement and parallelism are defined and discussed, and the correct uses of parts of speech such as verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, participles, possessives, prepositions, conjunctions and articles are explained. Many of these posts address matters of punctuation, covering stops, commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, hyphens, dashes and brackets, clarifying how and when each type of punctuation should be used, and emphasising intended meaning and consistency. Sentence structure is a major topic as well, so basic sentence patterns are outlined and authors are encouraged to perfect sentence structure by avoiding fragments, fusions and splices. Beginning sentences well, developing them logically with effective transitional words, and varying their structure to produce engaging and sophisticated prose are also recommended.
Constructing References and Bibliographies
In-text citations, lists of references and in some cases bibliographies are essential in academic and scientific writing, but they can be notoriously tricky to perfect. These posts discuss the general principles and practices associated with citing sources parenthetically, numerically and in notes, as well as providing complete bibliographical references for the sources cited. Details of a variety of different documentation methods and styles such as AMA, Chicago, Harvard, APA, MLA and Vancouver are discussed, and additional helpful resources are introduced for each style. Authors are shown exactly how to create in-text citations, quote authorities directly, provide appropriate references and write an annotated bibliography. They are also reminded that all sources used in their research must be properly acknowledged to avoid plagiarism and that references always require a careful check for accuracy. The unethical practices of citation cartels are explained, and advice on how to earn citations and intellectual influence through excellent research and writing is offered.
Using Abbreviations Correctly
Abbreviations are often a feature of academic and scientific writing, but they must always be used accurately and consistently to communicate their meanings clearly to readers. This selection of blog posts offers help with punctuating abbreviations, forming their plurals and possessives, and using articles appropriately before them. Details are provided for abbreviating bibliographical references effectively, and a number of common Latin abbreviations and their correct uses are discussed.
Writing Theses & Dissertations
This large group of blog posts is designed specifically for postgraduate students who are writing theses and dissertations. Many of the topics treated in other categories – conducting excellent research, perfecting grammar to communicate clearly in writing, adding accurate references, using abbreviations correctly, proofreading carefully and so on – are also discussed here, but always with a focus on producing a thesis or dissertation. In addition, students will find helpful advice on effective critical reading, thorough and accurate note taking, and careful preparation for meetings and examinations. The expected structure of a thesis and its individual parts are outlined to help students plan ahead, and the importance of establishing a positive and productive working relationship with thesis supervisors, mentors and examiners is emphasised. Tips for maintaining continuous progress and avoiding procrastination and writer’s block are offered, as is practical advice on transforming the best parts of a thesis into journal articles.
Career Advice for Academics & Scientists
These few blog posts will be particularly helpful for academics and scientists who are just beginning to publish their research. A couple of posts offer tips and venues for early-career publication, and another advises readers on choosing the right postdoctoral position. Deadlines and citations are discussed in relation to career development, and h-index scores are carefully explained and treated in relation to academic positions and promotions.
Professional Proofreading and Editing
Written specifically for professional proofreaders, this small group of posts discusses the workspace, tools and practices necessary for the successful on-screen proofreading of academic and scientific documents. Advice is offered on receiving, organising and backing up files, and one post explaining how to proofread like a pro may also be of interest to scholars who are proofreading their own writing or that of their colleagues.
Top 5 PRS Blog Articles
This category contains our five most popular posts. Two of them present writing samples, specifically an example letter for responding to the comments of peer reviewers and some cover letter templates for writing to journal proofreaders. Two more are ‘how to write’ posts, one offering tips for writing journal articles and the other explaining how to write the findings section of a research paper. The fifth post introduces h-index scores and discusses them in relation to academic positions.
10 Most Popular PRS Blog Articles
Our top ten blog posts obviously include the five above and five more. One of these offers sample letters for withdrawing a manuscript from a publisher. Another discusses the best length for a thesis or dissertation introduction, and still another instructs authors on how to use and how not to use the abbreviations ‘ibid.’ and ‘id.’ in scholarly references. Finally, two posts deal with punctuation: the difference between a semicolon and a colon, and the use of full stops in titles, headings and captions.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, phd thesis editing and proofreading services via our large and extremely dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals. All of our proofreaders are native speakers of English who have earned their own postgraduate degrees, and their areas of specialisation cover such a wide range of disciplines that we are able to help our international clientele with research editing to improve and perfect all kinds of academic manuscripts for successful publication. Many of the carefully trained members of our expert editing and proofreading team work predominantly on articles intended for publication in scholarly journals, applying painstaking journal editing standards to ensure that the references and formatting used in each paper are in conformity with the journal’s instructions for authors and to correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation or simple typing errors. In this way, we enable our clients to report their research in the clear and accurate ways required to impress acquisitions proofreaders and achieve publication.
Our scientific proofreading services for the authors of a wide variety of scientific journal papers are especially popular, but we also offer manuscript proofreading services and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit manuscripts in all scholarly disciplines, as well as beyond them. We have team members who specialise in medical proofreading services, and some of our experts dedicate their time exclusively to PhD proofreading and master’s proofreading, offering research students the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and dissertation proofreading practices. Whether you are preparing a conference paper for presentation, polishing a progress report to share with colleagues, or facing the daunting task of editing and perfecting any kind of scholarly document for publication, a qualified member of our professional team can provide invaluable assistance and give you greater confidence in your written work.
If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.
