In this article, we look at some tips on academic writing. If you are a masters’ or a Ph.D. student, here are some tips to help your writing be better.
On-line guide to scientific publication
You must remember that in writing a scientific paper you are not a journalist or a novelist. You must adhere to strict principles not only of a layout (as we have seen) but also of style. The principles of Occam’s Razor is often cited as the approach which should be undertaken. Occam was a 14th Century philosopher who stressed the Aristotelian principle that entities must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary. In other words, a problem should be stated in its basic and simplest terms. This approach should be rigorously applied to achieve the standard of terseness, conciseness, succinctness, comprehensiveness, coherence, relevance and easy readability which must be the author’s aim throughout the paper.
Part of this process involves making sure you know the word limit of the journal you are aiming at for publication. Once you know it, stick to it. If you can’t then contact the editor to discuss. If you don’t then you run the very real risk of your manuscript being rejected without ever being read!
For the entire article check out, “On-line guide to scientific publication“.
Guide to Grammar and Style by Jack Lynch
Prof. Jack Lynch looks at a miscellany of grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on usage. He goes on to himself say that nothing is carved in stone, and many comments are matters of personal preferences. Further on, he rejects any model of linguistic decline, in which the twenty-first century speaks a decadent version of the language of some golden age.
For the complete article, check out the article on Jack Lynch’s home page.
Advice on Academic Writing
Writing an abstract or academic proposal or a scientific paper, the University of Toronto lists several guides that address relevant issues. A link to the help page can be found at “PDF Links for Students”
How to Publish in Top Journals
All of us envision to publish in the best journals of our fields. Yet, most often many are marred by rejections. Journals like Nature or Science have a very small acceptance rate. This automatically also implies huge rejections. This brief manual provides useful suggestions for today’s authors. The goal is to “foster the greatest good to the greatest number of people.” If most authors acquired the basic skills mentioned here, they would then be competing in terms of the beauty of their ideas, not in terms of cosmetic skills.
For the complete article, check out “How to Publish by Kwon Choi“