Using Hyphens in Compound Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs Hyphens are often used to form compound nouns, adjectives and verbs in the English language, but not in all cases. In fact, the appearance of hyphens in compound constructions can seem unpredictable…
Finding a Place To Start Amidst the Chaos of Writer’s Block
Finding a Place To Start Amidst the Chaos of Writer’s Block Academics and scientists are not supposed to suffer from writer’s block. They are simply too busy, and once their research is done, their data organised and their analyses complete,…
How to Write an Effective Covering Letter when submitting a Journal Article
How To Write an Effective Covering Letter when Submitting an Article Although there is a great deal of information and advice out there about how to write an effective covering letter when submitting a scholarly manuscript to an acquisitions editor…
Recycling Old Writing for New Publication Venues
Recycling Old Writing for New Publication Venues There was a time when a scholarly paper rejected by a few journals or a doctoral thesis that did not find immediate publication would languish at the back of a desk drawer until…
The Gentle Art of Responding to Journal Editors’ Requests
The Gentle Art of Responding to Journal Editors’ Requests The effect of a letter (or more often these days an email message) from the acquisitions editor to whom you have submitted your scholarly writing may feel far from gentle if…
The Hyphenation Associated with Prefixes & Suffixes in Academic Texts
The Hyphenation Associated with Prefixes & Suffixes in Academic Texts There are many different uses of hyphens in the English language, and some authors might argue with justice that there is a great deal too much unpredictability in the principles…
Translating Sources and Making the Most of Your Academic Proofreader
Translating Sources and Making the Most of Your Proofreader The authors of academic and scientific documents written in the English language often need to quote passages of text from sources originally written in other languages. In some cases, the author…
Using Apostrophes in Contractions and with Letters, Numbers and Symbols
Using Apostrophes in Contractions and with Letters, Numbers and Symbols Although the most common use of apostrophes in the English language is to form the genitive or possessive case of nouns, there are other valid uses of this tiny but…
How To Improve Your Academic or Scientific Writing Skills
How To Improve Your Academic or Scientific Writing Skills The mass production of English text for online venues and in self-publishing projects of all kinds has wrought significant changes in both reading and writing. Most authors of this material would…
Documenting Your Sources with Perfect References
Documenting Your Sources with Perfect References Adding, proofreading and perfecting the list of references for a scholarly paper before submitting it to a journal for publication are activities that many academics and scientists loath. In most cases, this feeling has…
How To Revise Your Academic or Scientific Paper Efficiently and Effectively
How To Revise Your Scholarly Paper Efficiently and Effectively You have to revise the paper you submitted to an academic or scientific journal and you have to do it quickly amidst an incredibly busy term of teaching, research and administrative…
Mastering Tense in the English Language: The Present
Mastering Tense in the English Language: The Present Writing in the English language is far from an easy task, especially for those academics and scientists who are not native speakers of the language. Among the many challenges faced by authors…
Odd or Particularly Troublesome Possessives in the English Language
Odd or Particularly Troublesome Possessives in the English Language Most possessive or genitive nouns in the English language are relatively straightforward to form and use, but there are some constructions that are odd or simply difficult to use correctly. The…
Is Your Research Paper Slim and Trim for Today’s Scholarly Journals
Is Your Research Paper Slim and Trim for Today’s Scholarly Journals There was a time when the articles published in academic and scientific journals had to be a little on the hefty side to be considered truly healthy scholarship –…
The Value of a Hard Copy When Editing or Proofreading Academic Writing
The Value of a Hard Copy When Editing or Proofreading Academic Writing The question of whether comprehension and memory are better served by reading text in a traditional way on paper or via electronic media on screen remains open. Early…
Three Tricky English Verbs and How To Use Them Correctly
Three Tricky English Verbs and How To Use Them Correctly English presents many challenges for academic and scientific authors who aim to communicate with precision and sophistication. This is obviously the case for scholars who are not native speakers of…
How To Deal with a Journal Editor’s Critical Comments
Understanding the Critical Feedback Offered by Journal Editors A few weeks or maybe months ago you submitted your painstakingly researched and carefully written paper to a reputable scholarly journal whose range and specialisation seemed perfectly suited to your work. You…
Creative Academic and Scientific Writing for Modern Readers
Creative Academic and Scientific Writing for Modern Readers Carl Jung claimed that ‘the creative mind plays with the objects it loves,’ a thought that seems highly applicable to the intellectual work of modern academics and scientists. Many scholars may not…
What To Do When the Peer Reviewers Are Wrong
What To Do When the Peer Reviewers Are Wrong | Tips on How to Get Your Research Published Peer review is a valuable aspect of scholarly publication, and most peer reviewers genuinely want to help the authors and journals for…
British versus American English: Vocabulary and Phrasing Differences
British versus American English: Vocabulary and Phrasing Differences Many scholarly journals will indicate in the instructions or guidelines they provide for authors whether they prefer the use of British or American English in the papers submitted to them for publication….
Forming the Possessives of English Nouns by Adding an Apostrophe Alone
Forming the Possessives of English Nouns by Adding an Apostrophe Alone When forming the possessive or genitive case of English nouns, an apostrophe (’) is almost always necessary. For singular possessive nouns the general rule is to add an ‘s’…
To Hyphenate or Not To Hyphenate? No Simple Question
Navigating the Challenges of Effective Hyphenation There is no set of straightforward rules to govern the use of hyphens in the English language, which means that a consistent system of hyphenation can be incredibly tricky to establish in a scholarly…
How To Record Academic & Scientific References for Difficult Sources
Producing Complete Bibliographical References for Less Common Sources Most scholars have cited books and journal articles so many times that they are well aware of the various bits of information required for complete bibliographical references to these common sources. When…
How To Make the Best Use of a Professional Proofreader
Providing the Information Your Proofreader Needs Engaging the services of a professional academic or scientific proofreader is always an excellent idea, whether you struggle with constructing sentences that are clear and correct, detest fiddling with formatting or would simply like…
Academic & Scientific Writing for an International Audience
Academic & Scientific Writing for an International Audience The authors of most scholarly writing produced in the English language today anticipate or at least hope for an international audience, yet not all academic and scientific authors widen their perspective and…
British vs. American English: Spelling Differences in Academic Writing
British vs. American English: Spelling Differences in Academic Writing There are two main forms of written English – British and American – and most scholarly journals will indicate a preference or requirement for one or the other in their instructions…
How To list Multiple Sources in Author–Date Citations, Harvard System
Citing Several Sources in a Single Set of Parentheses for Author-Date References Citing a single source in a parenthetical author-date reference is relatively straightforward in most cases. Whether the source has only one author or several authors, the author name(s)…
Creating En Rules and Em Rules in Microsoft Word
Creating En Rules and Em Rules in Microsoft Word En rules (–) and em rules (—), which are also called en dashes and em dashes, are used with considerable frequency in scholarly prose. Each type of rule can be used…
Possessive Nouns in English and How To Use Them Well
Forming and Using Possessive Nouns Correctly in Academic Prose Apostrophes are used to form the possessive or genitive case of English nouns, with the standard singular possessive of a noun usually formed by adding an apostrophe and an ‘s’ (’s)…
How To Use Referencing Shortcuts Effectively
How To Use Referencing Shortcuts Effectively Very few scholars enjoy the task of adding in-text or in-note references and the complete bibliographical lists that should accompany them to their scholarly documents. In fact, many academics and scientists pass the job…
How To Punctuate and Format When Using Round Brackets
Punctuating and Formatting Correctly in Relation to Parentheses Parentheses (or round brackets) are used with considerable frequency in academic and scientific writing, but the punctuation and formatting that some scholars use in relation to parentheses are inappropriate, inconsistent and sometimes…
Providing a List of References for Your Scholarly Manuscript
Providing a List of References for Your Scholarly Manuscript The author guidelines provided by a scholarly journal or publisher will generally include some instructions on the referencing style and format required or preferred in manuscripts submitted for publication. If examples…
Affect or Effect? A Question for Academic and Scientific Authors
Affect or Effect? A Question for Academic and Scientific Authors Among the many words in the English language that prove tricky for even the most highly educated authors to use well are ‘affect’ and ‘effect,’ both of which are used…
Expert Writing Advice for Students and Scholars of History
Expert Writing Advice for Students and Scholars of History At every stage in the career of a historian, writing is an essential skill that must be acquired, nurtured and mastered. History students write essays, reviews, research papers, dissertations and theses…
Three Steps for Effectively Proofreading and Editing Scholarly Articles
Three Steps for Effectively Proofreading and Editing Scholarly Articles Proofreading and editing are necessary processes in the production of a publishable academic or scientific article, so they should never be treated lightly or skipped altogether if you wish to achieve…
The Importance of Paragraphs and How To Write Them Well
Paragraphs, Argument and Structure As units of thought that reflect and present the development of an author’s ideas and argument, paragraphs are vital to the effective structure and progression of academic and scientific documents. There are no absolute rules for…
Some Tricky Little English Words and How To Use Them Well
A Few Troublesome Words and How To Use Them Effectively English is not an easy language to master. Speaking it can certainly be challenging when it is not your native language, and writing it can be akin to a nightmare,…
Rules, Dashes and the Punctuation of Parenthetical Clauses
Using En Rules and Em Rules To Punctuate Parenthetical Clauses An em rule or em dash, which is about as wide as an uppercase M, is longer than an en rule or en dash, which is about the width of…
How To Inspire Your Readers’ Confidence in You as an Author
Earning the Confidence of Readers: Advice for the Scholarly Author It is extremely difficult to predict exactly what will win or lose the confidence readers must have in an academic or scientific author in order to consider his or her…
General Uses of Parentheses in Academic Writing
General Uses of Parentheses in Academic Writing Generally speaking, parentheses or round brackets tend to appear in scholarly writing more frequently than other brackets do. They have a number of specialised uses (in mathematical equations, for instance, or textual studies),…
How To Use Publisher Guidelines To Format References
Getting Your References Right: Reading and Following Publisher Guidelines Almost every scholarly publisher, whether it is a university press that prints academic books or a reputable journal that publishes scientific articles online, provides specific guidelines for recording references to source…
The Positive Aspects of Negative Feedback from Journal Editors
The Positive Aspects of Negative Feedback from Journal Editors Every writer has heard the old adage that any response is better than no response at all when it comes to the comments offered by readers, and given the increased ability…
Tips for Making Your Academic or Scientific Writing Eminently Citable
Tips for Making Your Academic or Scientific Writing Eminently Citable Excellent research, significant results, effective analysis and thoughtful discussion are sound ingredients for scholarly writing that will attract readers, disseminate knowledge and earn citations. However, as many authors of academic…
Archaeological Writing for Successful Journal Publication and Grades
Archaeological Writing for Successful Journal Publication and Grades It has been said that writing is as vital to archaeology as fieldwork is, and it is certainly true that artefacts and sediments do not become exciting propositions and established theories about…
Adding Corrections, Explanations and Other Comments to Direct Quotations
Adding Corrections, Explanations and Other Comments to Direct Quotations Whenever an academic or scientific author directly quotes material from a source, he or she should ensure that the content of the quotation is accurately represented and will be clearly understood…
Reviewers Comments on Research Papers and Publisher Rejection
Reviewers Comments on Research Papers and Publisher Rejection In virtually all worthwhile endeavours there is significant risk. Sharing your scholarly writing is no exception, and this is the case whether you are submitting it to a journal or press for…
How To Write for Your Readers: Three Essential Concerns
Knowing Your Readers and Tailoring Your Academic Writing for Them Although advanced scholars and business professionals tend to write for very specific groups of people much of the time, they sometimes forget just how important it is to know who…
Presenting Your Academic Research and Promoting Its Publication
Nurturing Your Conference Paper for a Long and Successful Life Although the average conference paper is presented in less than half an hour, its ideal life is much longer. From initial conception to final publication, this sort of long and…
Using Adjectives Effectively in Academic and Scientific Writing
Using Adjectives Effectively in Academic and Scientific Writing Some authors claim that adjectives are virtually unnecessary. Choosing the correct noun in any given situation is the key, they would argue, and with the right noun, who needs an accompanying adjective?…
En Rules or Short Dashes and Their Many Proper Uses
Using En Rules without Spaces Correctly and Effectively An en rule or en dash is longer than a hyphen and shorter than an em rule. It can be used closed up without any spaces around it or with spaces on…