Writing with confidence without overstating your results

Scientists can struggle to find the balance between conveying the importance of their research and findings without overstating their results. Being assertive reinforces that your research warrants attention. Generally, you want to state your results using direct and positive language. Weak language can detract from your main points and fail to attract interest in your research. Using phrases with many caveats and exceptions can sound uncertain, weakening your results. Examples of phrases to avoid are given below. Example 1 Though inconclusive, herein we review many methods……

Using hyphens and dashes and tildes in scientific writing

A common difficulty when writing science in English as a second language is appropriate use of hyphens and dashes, such as when to use a hyphen to join words together. Here, we provide a quick guide on the use of hyphens and dashes in science writing. When used in the language context, hyphens combine words that work together to form a compound adjective and appear immediately before a noun. Example 1 High density samples were collected from… High-density samples were collected from… The phrase “high-density” is a compound adjective modifying the no…

Tips on drafting cover letters

Tips on drafting cover letters for 1) original paper submission and 2) revised paper submission.   Cover letters for original and revised paper submissions are key to submission success. First, include the name of the journal editor to whom you are submitting your paper or to whom you are submitting a revised manuscript, along with their official title.   For an original submission, state the title of the paper being submitted and succinctly describe the study on which the paper is based in terms of background, study aims, key findings, and the importance of these findings to t…

Proper Comma Usage

-Use a comma when connecting two independent clauses with a conjunction such as but, for, and, or, yet, so, nor. Lack of a comma between two independent clauses separated by a conjunction is likely the most common grammar mistake.   For example: We went swimming, and we watched the sunrise.   -Use a comma to separate a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence.   For example: After we ate dinner, we played a game.   -Commas are used to separate a string of dependent clauses.   For example: The friends ate dinner, walked the dog, cleaned the yard, a…

Know Your Latin Terms

Latin was, at one time, the shared language of scholars. We still see it commonly used in scientific names (like Homo sapiens or Escherichia coli), and some appear scattered through both scientific and common English writing.   Why do we use Latin abbreviations in our writing? Scientific writing prizes conciseness, or presenting an idea with minimal words. Commonly understood Latin abbreviations replace longer English terms (like “etc.” instead of “and so on / among others”).   Style consistency   Many style guides and journals disagree about whether Latin terms should or shou…

How to Write a Scientific Abstract

Abstracts are the second thing a reader looks at when they find a paper of possible interest to their work, with the first being the title. Both the abstract and title act as careful summaries of your study. The title indicates the key findings while the abstract summarizes the study aims and rationale, as well as how the findings were obtained and interpreted. If an abstract does not succinctly describe your study’s aims, background, methods, results, and main findings, other scientists may choose not to read the paper, include it in their work, or cite it. The important scientific contr…

How to select a journal for paper submission

Selecting a journal for paper submission is difficult and requires careful thought. The four main factors to consider when deciding on a journal are visibility, cost, prestige, and speed of publication. In addition, there are two main types of journals: traditional and open access. A final factor to consider is each journal’s Impact Factor.   Open Access or Traditional https://www.aje.com/arc/making-the-choice-open-access-vs-traditional-journals/   Traditional journals require individuals or institutions to purchase a subscription to read the papers they publish. As their …

How does outstanding native-speaker editing enhance peer-reviewed journal acceptance and citation success for researchers?

Often journals will not consider papers for review that do not express their findings in expertly crafted scientific English. Further, scientists often will not cite papers that do not report results in well written scientific English. As a result, journals will recommend native English-speaking editors who can correct awkward writing before or during the peer review process.  There are many companies who provide such services, and most strive to provide low prices. eWorld Editing employs outstanding native English-speaking experts with many  years of scientific paper editing expe…

Google Scholar: A Useful Tool for Technical Phrasing

Google Scholar is a vast database of scientific literature provided by Google and is used by many researchers during the literature review process. Beyond identifying key publications and citations, it is an incredibly useful tool to ensure that you are using field-specific terms in a way that is both grammatically correct and broadly understood by others in your field.By entering a phrase or group of terms into the search bar, Google Scholar retrieves various scientific publications that include those terms. This will give you various examples of how such terms and phrases are used in context…

Five Ways to Make Your Science Writing More Concise

Conciseness, which is related to conservative word choice, is important to effective writing. A helpful way of thinking about conciseness is that it is generally better to use fewer words. Conciseness keeps your writing understandable and focused. It avoids clutter, which can be confusing even to native speakers, and emphasizes the key aspects of your research. Writing concisely is particularly important when developing abstracts and summaries or submitting to journals with strict word count limits. While it is often necessary when conveying complex ideas, including a lot of information in on…