Category Archives: Academic Editing

Why Human Proofreaders Continue to Outshine AI: The Art of Language and Nuance

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent in various aspects of our lives, including language-related tasks such as proofreading (and basic writing—we used it to create an outline for this post!). AI-driven proofreading tools do boast some impressive capabilities, from detecting basic grammatical errors to suggesting improvements in writing style. However, most journal publishers and schools are taking a hard line against the use of AI for writing and proofreading tasks related to academic output (e.g., journal manuscripts, theses and dissertations, and essays), and continuing to suggest that humans complete these tasks. There are a lot of good reasons for this.

First, human proofreaders possess a deep understanding of language that surpasses the capabilities of AI. Unlike machines, humans have the ability to interpret context, understand idiomatic expressions, and discern subtle nuances in tone and meaning. Language is inherently dynamic and nuanced, shaped by culture, context, and personal experience. Human proofreaders bring this nuanced understanding to their work, which enables them to make informed decisions about language usage, style, and tone that AI simply cannot replicate.

Moreover, human proofreaders offer a level of creativity and intuition that AI lacks. Language is not just a set of rules and patterns; it is a living, breathing entity that evolves over time. Human proofreaders have the ability to think creatively and adaptively, suggesting alternative phrasings, restructuring sentences for clarity, and ensuring appropriate tone. While AI may excel at identifying technical errors, it often falls short when it comes to capturing the artistry and subtlety of language.

Another key advantage of human proofreaders is their ability to empathize with the writer and understand their intentions. Effective communication goes beyond the mere transmission of information; it requires connection, and a genuine understanding of the audience. Human proofreaders take the time to consider the writer’s voice, audience, and objectives. They can offer valuable feedback and suggestions that resonate with the writer’s vision, helping to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of the writing.

Furthermore, human proofreaders offer a level of judgment and discretion that AI lacks. Language is not always black and white; there are often shades of gray that require careful consideration and judgment. Human proofreaders can exercise discretion in their corrections, weighing factors such as style and context to make informed decisions about language usage. This ability to exercise judgment is particularly valuable in sensitive, unusual, or complex situations where rigid rules may not apply.

Finally, human proofreaders offer a personal touch that AI cannot replicate. Working with a human proofreader fosters a sense of collaboration and trust, allowing writers to engage in meaningful dialogue and exchange ideas. Humans can provide personalized feedback, answer questions, and offer guidance, creating a supportive environment for writers to grow and improve.

In conclusion, while AI-driven proofreading tools offer impressive capabilities, human proofreaders remain indispensable for their deep understanding of language, creativity, empathy, judgment, and personal touch. The art of language and nuance is a distinctly human domain, shaped by our unique capacity for interpretation, creativity, and empathy. As technology continues to advance, it is essential to recognize and celebrate the irreplaceable role that human proofreaders play in enhancing the clarity, effectiveness, and beauty of written communication.

How to Become a Proofreader or Copy Editor

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We are delighted to announce that our CEO and founder, Jinny Hayman, has just launched a book detailing exactly how anyone with an ear for the English language can get into proofreading and copy editing.

The book breaks down the mythos surrounding the industry and details how you can launch a lucrative editing business from anywhere in the world, using just a laptop and your brain. It covers all aspects of the business, from setting up (without having to invest huge amounts of capital) to finding work and attracting repeat clients. It also includes a “crash course” that outlines all the main editing conventions, so that you can accelerate your learning curve and start generating a solid income sooner.

So if you’ve ever thought about becoming a copy editor but weren’t sure you had the right tools, or if you’ve been desperate to find work as a proofreader but had no idea how, this book is for you.

Get your copy here.

How to Write More Concisely

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Most journals, and even dissertation and thesis guidelines, have word limits in place to ensure that papers are digestible. However, good academic writing needs to be concise not just to meet those limits but also to ensure that readers can understand the complex topic at hand, and that your argument is coherent and not muddied by lots of extraneous information. Removing unnecessary words and complicated phrases will make your writing much stronger. This post offers some ways in which you can tighten up your writing to produce clearer content and more easily adhere to word count restrictions.

Remove inflated phrases

An inflated phrase is one that uses more words than necessary to convey the sense and idea. Inflated phrases can add many words to your writing, so removing them can reduce your word count significantly. Here are some examples:

   Inflated: This paper seeks to examine…

   Concise: This paper examines… (note that this is also more accurate, since the paper actually does examine the issue in question, rather than just seeking to do so).

   Inflated: …were of the opinion…

   Concise: …stated…

Once you start to identify inflated phrases, you will start to notice them everywhere. These phrases can be easily replaced by shorter ones that will save you some valuable writing space.

Avoid passive voice

Avoiding passive voice in your writing as much as possible will make your sentences more concise and clearer. This does not mean passive voice is wrong—passive voice is often necessary and helpful, particularly in scientific writing, and in fact there are occasions when passive voice makes for a clearer sentence than active voice. Using the passive voice too often, however, can make your writing unnecessarily wordy and difficult to understand.

   Passive: The interviews were conducted by three trained researchers.

   Active: Three trained researchers conducted the interviews.

   Passive: New findings were revealed by the study.

   Active: The study revealed new findings.

Remove redundancies

Text is redundant when it expresses the same idea twice. This often happens when you use words or phrases where the meaning of one of the words is already implied in the other. For example, cooperation implies working together, so the phrase “cooperating together” suffers from redundancy and you could simply use “cooperate.”

Here are two more examples:

   Redundant: In addition, we also conducted surveys.

   Concise: In addition, we conducted surveys. (Or: We also conducted surveys.)

   Redundant: We reviewed literature by knowledgeable experts in the field of management.

   Concise: We reviewed literature by experts in the field of management.

Make sure each word is necessary

If you need to cut some words, look at each part of your sentence. Is it necessary? Does it enhance your writing? Long sentences are good candidates for revision. They often contain many extra words that do not contribute to the overall meaning.

   Unnecessarily Long: Based on the results of the survey, we came to the conclusion of that most of the employees preferred working in the office rather than working from home.

   Concise: The survey results revealed that most employees preferred working from the office rather than from home.

Hopefully, these tips will enable you to stick to your word count and become a better writer. However, there are times when your draft is so far over the word limit that cutting it down sufficiently feels like an impossible task. That’s where we can take an objective view and help you meet even the tightest word limit. In fact, we relish the challenge of word count reductions and would love to help you!

The “Don’ts” of Writing an Academic Paper

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Writing an academic paper can be tricky if you aren’t familiar with the conventions and standards that are expected of articles and essays in this genre. Here, we provide some basic tips on things to avoid in this type of writing.

Don’t Skimp on the Citations

When it comes to academic writing, adequate referencing is everything. Citing your sources is an integral part of avoiding plagiarism and ensuring the academic rigor of your work. It also helps to contextualize your paper in the field, and show that you have done your background work and know which gaps your paper sets out to fill. In addition, it’s important to style the in-text citations, the reference list, and other aspects (such as figures, tables, and overall formatting) according to your school’s preferences, or the preferences of the journal you are submitting to. A professional editing company (such as ours!) can help with this aspect.

Don’t Forget to Ask Peers to Read Your Paper

One of the most common mistakes among academic writers is forgetting to ask peers in their field to look at their paper. Asking trusted colleagues and mentors to read your work is a great way to get feedback on both the content and the clarity of your paper. These readers might discover an important part of the argument that you’ve missed, notice a piece of cited research that has been discredited, or be able to suggest ways to make your study even more robust. It’s often a good idea to start a group of trusted peers who read each other’s work regularly, so you know who to turn to when you need it and are frequently exposed to other writing styles and research.

Don’t Write in a Convoluted Style

Academic writers often get caught up in the jargon of their specialized field, using complex sentence structures and overly verbose discussions that can throw the average reader off. Not only is it important to remember your audience, but writing in a clear, to-the-point style will help to ensure readers can get to the heart of your argument without having to pick through lots of unnecessary verbiage and irrelevant detail.

Don’t Skip the Professional Proofreading

Hiring a professional proofreader is a great decision when it comes to academic writing. A proofreader will check your paper for clarity, grammatical and spelling mistakes, and use of English, as well as ensuring your work conforms to the relevant style guidelines. Having your work proofread before you submit it can help to increase the readability and professionalism of your paper overall, and ensure that reviewers, editors, or professors are able to assess the work itself, rather than being distracted or even put off by clumsy writing, stylistic errors, or spelling mistakes.

Getting Your Article Published: Tips for Non-Native English Speakers

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“The volume of scientific research being published is constantly increasing, making it harder and harder to get a manuscript accepted. Language quality plays a particularly important role in guaranteeing the success of a submission.”—Elsevier

“Every year hundreds of papers are rejected due to English language editing requirements.”—Wiley

Whether you’re a student or a seasoned academic, getting your work published in a respectable journal is important in furthering your academic career. However, you might be facing frustrating barriers if you are not a native English speaker, since most top-tier English-language journals want articles to be well written, using appropriate and correct academic terminology, before they will even consider publishing them. Across the board, research shows that articles written in clear English are more likely to get published than those in another language or in poor-quality English (Di Bitetti & Ferraras, 2016). In fact, English proficiency is a good predictor of publication output in top journals, even more than total research spending (Man et al., 2004).

Below are a few tips specifically aimed at non-native English speakers, which can get you closer to seeing your work appear in your ideal journal.

Stay Patient and Be Persistent

Nobody becomes an expert in the English language overnight. Mastering a second or foreign language, especially when it comes to academic terms and jargon, takes time and effort. Be patient with yourself and don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes. Even having articles rejected from journals can be useful, as this will give you a feel for what editors think about your research and the standard of your overall communication. If you’re not getting the acceptances that you want, take a look at what the editors are saying in their feedback. Study their comments and think about how you can apply them to the next iteration of your writing.

Collaborate with Others

If you find yourself struggling to write in English, a great way to overcome this is by seeking out native English speakers to collaborate with. Reach out to colleagues or other researchers in your field and find potential ways that you can work together to publish work based on shared interests. Collaborating with other professionals is not only a great way to enrich your work overall, but also gives you the chance to learn from native speakers how to strike the right tone, and to pick up some of the terms that frequently crop up in academic writing.

Imitate the Style of Authors You Admire

There’s no better way to practice your English writing skills than to imitate those whose work you admire. Try to find some articles whose style you like and that have been published in your target journals, and examine the ways in which the author utilizes language. How do the words flow together? What tense is the writing in? How does the author structure their sentences? How is punctuation used? Studying other work you respect can help you get a better understanding of how native English functions and give you a formula that you can work from.

Hire a Professional Editing Service

You knew we would get here eventually! But we make no apologies for this point—almost all top-rated journals recommend having your paper edited by a professional prior to submission. For example, Wiley (one of the world’s leading journal publishers) state the following on their website:

“If you are not a native English-language speaker, we strongly recommend that you have your manuscript professionally edited before submission.”

Professional editing services can help to ensure that:

  • your article proceeds in a logical manner;
  • academic and statistical terms have been used correctly;
  • spelling is consistent and correct; and
  • there are no typos, grammatical mistakes, or awkward phrasing.

In other words, we can make sure that the text reads as though written by a native English speaker. We know exactly what journals are looking for when it comes to tone and academic language standards, and will also check that your work meets all journal style requirements.

Now through August 31st, we’re offering new customers $20.00 off our proofreading/copy editing services! Just enter the promo code Summerblog20 when you submit your work.*

 *Cannot be combined with any other offer, and applies to documents of at least 3,000 words. New customers only. Discount expires at midnight PST on August 31, 2019. 

How to get Published in a Journal: From Writing, to Peer Review, to Acceptance

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Getting your work published in esteemed journals (also known as “periodicals”) is a necessary and important part of academic life, but the process can seem daunting and even confusing at first. Below, we break down the broad strokes of how to get from blank screen to printed article.

First, you have to write

The first step is of course to write a credible article that adds to your field. The writing process involves gathering your research and findings and creating an article that is both informative and engaging. You might work with colleagues to help with research or even co-author your work, and you’ll need to set a definitive objective for your paper. Before you start writing the paper itself, it’s also a good idea to define the audience for your work.

Once you’ve settled on these things, you can start to identify suitable target journals. Researching the different publications in your field and that relate to your objectives and target audience is a good place to start, but you also want to make sure that you’re submitting to recognized and respected journals. The impact factor can help here, but also make sure you look for periodicals that are “peer reviewed” (more on this below).

Once you’ve selected your first-choice journal, and have written your manuscript, you’ll need to polish it up and make sure it conforms to the journal’s style guidelines.

Next, submit to your chosen journal

Once you feel confident in your writing and it meets the criteria mentioned in the section above, it’s time to submit. At this point, assuming you’ve submitted to a high-quality journal, your work will be peer reviewed.

What is peer review?

The peer review process has been around since the 1700s. It entails other academics appraising scholarly work that has been submitted for publication to confirm its quality, which endorses its legitimacy, and to weed out plagiarized or illegitimate work.

The editor of the journal will send your work to a variety of academics in your field (your peers—hence, “peer review”). These scholars will provide feedback to the editor, and, based on their comments, the editor will determine whether your work should be published at this stage. When reviewing your work, reviewers and editors typically want to see that it acknowledges and builds on other work in your field, relies on logical reasoning and well-designed research, and backs up claims with evidence. It must also be well written, conform to the journal’s style guidelines, and have a clear structure.

If you don’t get unconditional acceptance, take on board any feedback and resubmit, or try a different journal

There are several possible outcomes of the peer review stage: your work might be accepted for publication, accepted on condition that certain changes are made, rejected but with the possibility for you to resubmit pending certain changes, or rejected with no opportunity for resubmission. The idea of having your work peer reviewed—and possibly criticized—can feel intimidating, but it’s also a great chance to learn and to enhance your research. Bear in mind also that the submission process is a highly competitive one, and most journals only accept 6–8% of the work sent to them. If you do have to revise your manuscript, take this as an opportunity to strengthen your research, rather than as a personal criticism or a dead end.

If you are asked to revise and resubmit, you’ll typically need to accompany your amended manuscript with a cover letter that details the changes made in response to each point made by the reviewers. It’s important that you take this step seriously and carefully consider the feedback and comments given to you, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to incorporate or agree with all the suggestions given. If you do disagree, just be sure to explain in the letter, clearly, politely, and drawing on any relevant evidence, why you have chosen not to follow the reviewer’s advice.

If you receive a rejection, don’t just blindly submit to another journal. Take a step back and ask yourself whether your research could be strengthened in some way; if you’re confident in what you’ve written, move on to the next journal—but do make sure you make any adjustments necessary to meet the new journal’s style guidelines. This might entail, for example, changing the referencing system from APA to Harvard, or making amendments to the language used. We can of course help to make sure your article is styled for your target publication at any stage of the process.

The road to acceptance can be long and arduous; even after acceptance it can sometimes take a year for the work to actually be published. But being published in a peer reviewed journal (as opposed to one that does not incorporate peer review) is a huge accomplishment, because it signals to others that your work is legitimate, meets the standards of your field, and has been accepted and trusted by other respected scholars. Getting published in an esteemed and widely circulated periodical also means that people will read your work, study it, and further their own scholarship and careers because of it.

Don’t forget, in addition to editing your paper we can help you apply style guidelines, get your reference list into shape, and proofread your response letter to make sure it’s not only error free, but strikes the right tone. Get in touch for a quote!

Library

How to Find the Right Journal for Your Research Paper

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Once you’ve completed the final draft of your research paper and have had it edited by a professional company, you need to find it a home. Choosing the right journal for your paper is a problem both novices and experienced researchers struggle with. One of the worst mistakes you can make for your work is publishing it in an unsuitable journal—and sending it to inappropriate outlets can also be a waste of your valuable time. But how do you know if a journal is suitable for your work? Keeping in mind things like the journal’s scope, restrictions on manuscript types or topics, and the journal’s impact factor can help you find the perfect publication for your paper.

Figure out a Journal’s Aims and Scopes

You can generally find information about a journal’s aims and scopes on its homepage. This section is typically labeled something along the lines of “About the Journal,” or “Full Aims and Scope.” Here, you can assess whether the journal is a good match for your research based on topic and criteria. Some journals have a broader scope than others. For example, the Clinical Cancer Research journal has a very narrow scope: its website states that the journal prioritizes laboratory and animal studies of new drugs and molecular targeted agents with the potential to lead to clinical trials. On the other hand, PLOS ONE accepts reports of original research from all disciplines within science and medicine. Sometimes journals will also clearly state what kind of research they do not publish in their aims and scope section.

Check for Similar Research Publications

Another great way to determine whether a journal is the right fit for your paper is to read through a couple of issues and see if you can find similar research articles to yours. One way you can do this is by searching for your paper’s keywords or title in the journal’s archives. A good rule of thumb is to see whether the journal has published 3–5 works in the last five years that are similar to your paper in terms of quality and scope. Finding published research that is similar to yours is a great sign that your research topic is of interest to a journal’s particular audience, which increases your chance of review.

Watch Out for Specific Restrictions

Before you consider submitting to any journal, you should always check the publication’s restrictions. Things like word count, type of paper, and cost of publication are all important aspects to consider before submitting your research for review. You can usually find out about a journal’s restrictions and requirements in the “Information for Authors” section of its website. Submitting a research paper that goes over the word count or is in the wrong format can mean immediate rejection.

Pay Attention to the Impact Factor

A journal’s impact factor serves as a way for authors to determine its quality and reputation. There has been some controversy when it comes to using the impact factor as the only measurement of a journal’s quality; this is because the impact factor is derived from a number of criteria, not all of which are necessarily relevant to the quality of the research the journal publishes. Nevertheless, it’s worth considering the impact factor in your search for an appropriate journal. Of course, it might be tempting to only submit to journals with high impact factors, but those with a lower number may be more appropriate, particularly for your first attempts at publication. Keep an open mind, and do your research to find a journal that fits your work.

 

Finding the perfect home for your research paper can take time and effort, but putting in this work can ultimately increase its chances of being published and reaching the right audience. It also saves time and rejection-heartache in the long run!

 

 

To “s” or not to “s”: Common Statistical Terms, their Abbreviations, and how to Pluralize Them

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Ever get confused when using statistical terms? You’re not alone. In writing for the social sciences in particular, the worlds of mathematics and grammar collide. Academic authors not only have to run statistical tests, but discuss the results in a clear and cohesive way—and since you can lose marks or have a paper rejected from a journal for poor use of English, getting these terms grammatically correct is key. Below are a few common statistical abbreviations, and how they should appear in singular versus plural form.

 

Written-out Form Abbreviation/Symbol
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Cohen’s d Cohen’s ds d ds
degree of freedom degrees of freedom df dfs
F statistic or F value F statistics or F values F Fs
mean means M Ms
sample size (subsample) sample sizes (subsample) n ns
sample size (full sample) sample sizes (full sample) N Ns
p value p values p ps
r value r values r rs
R2 value R2 values R2 R2s
standard deviation standard deviations SD SDs
standard error standard errors SE SEs
t value t values t ts
z score z scores z zs
Cronbach’s alpha Cronbach’s alphas Cronbach’s α Cronbach’s αs
beta betas β βs
chi-square chi-squares χ2 χ2s
delta deltas Δ Δs

Source: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/statistics/

 

Although the above information is based on APA preferences, for some plural abbreviated forms many publishers and institutions would prefer that you write, for example, “Cronbach’s α values” rather than “Cronbach’s αs,” as the latter version could lead to confusion. If you’re not sure which to use, that’s definitely something we can help with.

When deciding between using the singular or plural form of a statistical abbreviation, it’s important to refer to the syntax of your sentence (again, we can help make sure your plurals are perfect!). When using plural abbreviated forms, add a lowercase “s” to the end of the abbreviation, but don’t add an apostrophe before or after the “s” (it’s not “Cronbach’s α’s,” for example) and don’t italicize or capitalize the “s” either—just a simple “s” will do.

Understanding how and when to correctly use statistical terms in your paper, thesis, or dissertation can be headache-inducing, so a professional academic editing service can be invaluable. At Stickler, we have over a decade of experience editing statistical analyses, and we understand the conventions expected by journals and research institutions. Contact us today and let us help you sort your ps from your SEs!

 

 

List

10 Editing Tasks all Academics Should Complete before Submitting their Work

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You’ve done the hard work—researching, putting down your thoughts, and formatting your essay or paper. Now, it’s time to edit.

“But I thought you guys were in charge of editing?” you might ask. That is of course true, but your paper will be much stronger if you edit your content yourself, to the best of your ability, before passing it on to us. You might not catch every mistake, but even thinking “This doesn’t seem right to me” about a sentence shows that you know more than you think.

Here are 10 major editing tasks you should aim to complete before submitting your work to a professional copy editor.

  1. Create an outline of the paragraphs you actually have.

Many teachers will tell you to create an outline before you start writing. However, formulating an outline of what you have actually written makes sense, too. You’ll see what you’ve already got, what’s missing, and what would be the optimal order for your paragraphs and sections.

  1. Read just for flow and logic.

Here’s one way to think about it: if a sentence raises questions, the next sentence—or, at the very latest, the next section—should answer those questions. Otherwise, you’re sure to confuse your reader.

  1. Find all clichés and re-write them.

Your initial drafts might have a lot of clichés because you weren’t writing for quality; however, clichéd writing is bloated and, worse, unexciting. Writers at The Washington Post have compiled an excellent list of clichés to eliminate in your own writing.

  1. Read your paper out loud.

This is a real favorite of writers everywhere. When you read aloud, you proceed more slowly and can hear the rhythm of your writing. As a very simple rule of thumb, if you have run out of breath before get to the end of a sentence, that sentence may be too long. If a sentence seems too complex, your reader will probably get lost reading it.

Bonus: Although we recommend looking for grammar errors once your content and logic is sound, you will also catch a lot of grammatical errors through reading aloud.

Once you have gotten your content the way you like it, you can look for grammatical errors. The following big errors can sink a paper.

  1. Check for too much passive voice.

Some people think passive voice (where the subject is acted upon—there’s passive voice right there) is never good. We think it’s needed in some contexts, but make sure active voice is used wherever possible, as it makes your paper more dynamic and keeps wordiness to a minimum.

  1. Ensure your antecedents are clear.

Antecedents are the words that pronouns refer to. For example, consider the following:

“This finding is significant, but it does not explain the anomaly cited above.”

“it” is the pronoun that refers to the “finding.” Now imagine a similar sentence:

“This finding does not explain the anomaly cited above; however, it is significant.”

Does “it” here refer to the finding or the anomoly? Sense suggests the former is most likely, but this is unclear from a grammatical perspective. At the very least, the reader might have to go over the sentence a second time to ensure they have understood you, which is far from ideal.

It’s easy to confuse your reader with “unanchored” pronouns in this manner, so make sure your antecedents and pronouns can be easily matched.

  1. Check for shifting verb tenses.

Be sure that your verb tenses do not shift unnecessarily. For example,

“These authors suggested a new theorem. They find that…

would read much better as

“These authors suggested a new theorem. They found that…”

or

“These authors suggest a new theorem. They find that…”

  1. Make sure you apply parallelism.

Parallelism, or parallel construction, involves using similar clause or phrase structures in order to create balanced sentences. For example, take the following, poorly constructed, sentence:

“We conducted our study during May–June 2016, and this involved disseminating a questionnaire, to conduct interviews, and completed observations.”

In the list of things that the authors did, “disseminating,” “to conduct,” and “completed” are all grammatically different. The sentence would be improved if it were as follows:

“We conducted our study during May–June 2016. This involved disseminating a questionnaire, conducting interviews, and completing observations.”

Here, “disseminating,” “conducting,” and “completing” are grammatically consistent.

  1. Fix comma splices and run-on sentences.

Occasionally, instead of using a period to end one sentence and begin another, some people use a comma instead. These comma splices are easily fixed by using a period to separate sentences or by using an appropriate conjunction, such as “and” or “but.” For example,

“We conducted our study in Israel, our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

is better as

“We conducted our study in Israel, and our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

or,

“We conducted our study in Israel. Our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

A run-on sentence is similar, with no punctuation defining the end of sentences. The sentence appears to “run away” without end.

“We conducted our study in Israel our sample involved an equal number of male and female participants.”

There are two full clauses or sentences in the above example. Thus, run-on sentences can be fixed in a similar way to comma splice errors.

  1. Always, always run a spell check!

We know how tedious this can be in a lengthy paper full of citations, but it is extremely important as a final step. Running a spell check will enable you to locate the most egregious errors and avoid embarrassing typos. However, you’ll have to look for subtler mistakes (two vs. too, for example) by hand—or have us do it for you!

Academic research

8 Major Mistakes to Avoid when Writing your Thesis or Dissertation

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When you begin your thesis or dissertation process, you might feel overwhelmed at first, and then relieved to be able to put anything on paper at all. However, a few common missteps are worth keeping in mind, as failing to do so can severely impact the finished product. Here are some of the mistakes we see most often as academic editors.

1. Not doing “enough” research

The amount of research you’ll undertake for a master’s thesis will be substantially more than anything you’ve done before—even more so if you’re doing your doctoral dissertation. When you have enough research, you’ll have a rich trove of ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Only then can you generate original ideas that will form the crux of your work. When your arguments aren’t backed up with adequate references, it really shows. In fact, it can undermine all the other work you’ve put in.

It’s also a mistake to perform a lot of research, but only in a very narrow way. Read widely in your field. A variety of resources lends your work credibility and lessens any appearance of bias.

2. Putting things off until the last minute

The average dissertation is between 100 and 200 pages (although, depending on the topic, a dissertation could be even longer). In any case, that’s a lot of work to leave until the last minute.

You’ll have to submit several drafts and give your supervisors and other readers enough time to digest it. You’ll also require time act on their feedback. And these will have to happen on top of the classes and other responsibilities you and they already have. If you hurry your writing, you might make careless mistakes, but more importantly, you won’t have enough time to convey a truly unique insight in your work.

Plan well and then add more cushion to that plan than you think you’ll need.

3. Choosing the wrong topic

If you choose a topic that’s not interesting to anyone but yourself, or that you’re not particularly interested in, you might have a problem maintaining others’ or your own attention after working on it for several months or even years. That’s a bad position to find yourself in when you’re trying to finish.

There are other ways to choose poorly. Don’t pick a topic that’s stereotypically “academic” in order to impress others. You’ll bore yourself and also potentially not be up to the task. Also, consider whether your specific angle is outdated or has been written about hundreds of times before.

4. Being disorganized

This applies not only to your research methodology, particularly in the sciences, but also to the writing process itself. You must have a system in place so that you can keep track of your quotes, sources, and citations. And each part of your dissertation should display a clear structure and progression of ideas. Your work can be brilliant and groundbreaking, but a lack of organization will make it completely inaccessible.

5. Providing too much information

Yes, there is a such thing when it comes to staying focused on the central ideas in your work. Giving enough background and context is essential to write a credible document, and doing a great deal of research will give you a strong base. However, tangential thinking and irrelevant ideas are distracting. They also give the appearance of being “filler.”

6. Committing plagiarism

We’ve already talked about plagiarism, but it’s worth mentioning again. Avoiding it is tied into having an organized writing process, but even the most well-meaning writer can slip up if they aren’t careful. You will put your reputation and your work at serious risk if you plagiarize, even if it’s accidental. If it doubt, use a plagiarism checking service to make sure your work is all above board.

7. Choosing readers and editors who aren’t critical enough

The successful thesis or dissertation (fortunately or unfortunately) is not just up to you. You’ll need advisors, readers, and committees to evaluate your progress, challenge you, assist you, and ultimately grade your work.

We all need encouragement, especially with tasks that are as overwhelming as the capstone research that can define your academic career. However, if readers aren’t finding anything wrong with your work, they are doing you a disservice. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone can improve their work. Be sure that the people you choose to be your readers during the various drafts give you positive feedback and constructive criticism that you can actually work with.

8. Checking the final product for grammar and spelling mistakes only

Proofreading and editing your dissertation or thesis is not just about grammar, spelling, punctuation, and typos. Whether you do it yourself or outsource this task to a professional editor, it’s essential that you check the flow and consistency of the writing as well as the coherence of your ideas. Your work should be well supported and well structured, with correct syntax and academic language. And don’t forget about formatting and citations, which vary from field to field.

Stickler Proofreading provides academic editing services for dissertations and theses, of any length and on any subject matter. Our editors are experienced with all major citation formats and formatting conventions, and will ensure your work follows your school’s style guidelines to the letter. We offer instant quotes, and no job is too big. Contact us today and get your dissertation or thesis into tip-top shape.