English for Writing Research Papers

Adrian WallworkEnglish for Writing Research Papers10.1007/978-1-4419-7922-3_1© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

1. Planning and Preparation

Adrian Wallwork¹  

(1)

Via Carducci 9, 56127 Pisa, Italy

Adrian Wallwork

Email: adrian.wallwork@gmail.com

1.1 Think about why you want to publish your research

1.2 Give yourself enough time to plan and write your manuscript

1.3 Choose an appropriate journal, preferably with a high impact factor

1.4 Download the instructions for authors from your chosen journal AND from a high impact journal in the same field

1.5 Read and analyze papers for your literature review, and note how they are structured

1.6 Identify what the editor is looking for

1.7 Choose one paper as a model and note down useful phrases

1.8 Think about the order in which to write the various sections

1.9 Create separate files for each section

1.10 Chat with non experts

1.11 Give mini presentations to colleagues

1.12 Decide what your key findings are and whether you really have a contribution to make

1.13 For each section, think about how you can highlight your key findings

1.14 Always have the referees in mind

1.15 Referees and English level

1.16 How to keep the referees happy

1.17 Write directly in English and find ways to improve your writing skills

1.18 Consult online resources

1.19 Summary

Abstract

Why is this chapter important? To write a well-structured paper in good clear English you need to have a method. If you don’t have a good method you may waste a lot of time having to re-plan and re-write entire sections of your paper.

Why is this chapter important?

To write a well-structured paper in good clear English you need to have a method. If you don’t have a good method you may waste a lot of time having to re-plan and re-write entire sections of your paper.

This chapter outlines some steps to follow and things to think about before you begin the writing process.

Reading this chapter should enable you to have clear preliminary ideas regarding:

what journals are looking for (also in terms of English)

standard phrases used in English in research

how a typical paper is structured in your field

what makes your research unique

what referees’ expectations may be

All these factors combined should then help you to communicate the results of your research in good clear English.

What the experts say

From note taking to publishing to teaching, language is the tool that gives sense to ­scientific activity. Whatever scientists do or observe, everything they come to know or to hypothesize, is mediated through language.

Robert Goldbort, Writing for Science

The writing of an accurate, understandable paper is just as important as the research itself.

Robert A Day, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper

Writing helps you to learn. Writing is not simply a task to be done once research or other preparation is completed - it can be an integral part of the work progress.

Nicholas Highman, Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences

1.1 Think about why you want to publish your research

You will be more motivated to write a good paper, if you have thought about exactly why you want to have your research published. One of your reasons will probably be because you believe you can make a contribution to a gap in the current knowledge base of your field. It helps if you can write down concisely what this contribution is, and then double check that your proposed contribution really is original (see Sect. 1.6).

1.2 Give yourself enough time to plan and write your manuscript

You may have spent three years doing your research. Dedicating only three days or even three weeks to your manuscript makes little sense if it means that your paper will probably be initially rejected.

Allow at least twice as much time as you think it will take.

1.3 Choose an appropriate journal, preferably with a high impact factor

If you have never written a paper before and your supervisor has not indicated a specific journal where he/she would like you to publish, it is a good idea to ask colleagues in your research group what they read and what sort of publications they aspire to publish in.

Even if you are writing a paper for the first time, it does not mean that it will only be suitable for a marginal or not very well known journal. Your progress in academia very much depends on your ability to publish in journals that have a high impact factor.

An impact factor is a measure of how prestigious a journal is. The higher the impact factor, the more widely read the journal is, and the more likely other researchers will cite your paper. Tables of impact factors which rank all the ­peer-reviewed journals in the world are available on the Net, you can use Google Scholar to help you find them.

However, given the difficulties of getting published in a high impact journal (Sect. 20.​14), you might consider opting for a short article or a ‘letter’. A literature review or a methodological text is often publishable. For instance, if you are ­studying medicine, you could consider writing a clinical review - a 2,500 word article which is essentially a review of the management of important and common ­problems. Many disciplines have such an equivalent.

When you have chosen three or four possible journals, look at their styles and think about their audience – what do the editors and readers expect from the articles (see Sect. 1.7)?

You could try to insert your paper into an ongoing discussion that is currently being covered in the journal. This approach may increase the chances of getting your paper approved by the editor.

The topic you choose to write about is obviously related to the journal where you want to publish. Occasionally it may be worth choosing the journal first (rather than your exact topic), and then deciding which angle of your research to focus on so that it will match the expectations of your chosen journal.

1.4 Download the instructions for authors from your chosen journal AND from a high impact journal in the same field

Each journal has its own requirements and style guide. These instructions tend to have different titles, for example: ‘instructions for authors’, ‘notes for authors’, ‘author guidelines’. They often appear under a page called ‘author resources’.

The guidelines include:

types of titles that are acceptable

structure of paper – for example, is the review of the literature near the beginning of the article or at the end? Are the Results included in the Discussion or in a separate section? Is there a Conclusions section?

layout (including how the Abstract should be presented – one long paragraph, or 5–6 short paragraphs)

structure of sections - some journals prescribe exactly how certain sections (most commonly the Discussion) are organized, and what subheadings should be included

use of passive rather than personal style (we, I)

how to make citations

how to arrange the bibliography

use of key words

American or British spelling

It is vital that you rigorously follow your chosen journal’s instructions to authors. So download these instructions from the journal’s website before you start writing.

If you opt for a low impact journal, you will still find it very useful to look at the instructions of an equivalent high impact journal. Higher impact journals tend to have better author resources, which are useful for all authors, not just for those in the specific field of the journal itself.

If no journals in your discipline offer such resources, then I suggest that you look on the ‘Welcome to resources for authors’ page of the website of the British Medical Journal (bmj.com), one of the world’s most prestigious journals. Even if you are not a medical researcher, the resources you will find there are very helpful.

The medical community has made a concerted effort to improve the quality of papers published in its journals. So reading one or two medical papers could help you learn techniques for clear structure and clear concise writing.

1.5 Read and analyze papers for your literature review, and note how they are structured

Once you have chosen your journal, look at the most frequently cited papers to see how the authors rationalize the various steps of their research. Try to use papers that you will probably quote in your section on the review of the literature, and which are highly relevant to your topic and/or classic papers in your general field.

For example, you could create a table with some or all of the following headings:

problem that the research addresses

background information and relevant references

elements that validate the level of innovation of the research

conceptual model, methodology or procedure that the research takes into consideration

materials, equipment and software used

method used and the operational steps that the author carried out

results achieved

analysis and interpretation of these results

strengths and weaknesses of the research, the insights demonstrated

implications for further research

Then you can fill in your table with brief notes for each of the papers you have analyzed. This analysis should help you to:

1.

write your own literature review, because after this analysis you will be very familiar with the literature

2.

identify the differences in other researchers’ approaches and results compared to your research

3.

note down the strengths and weaknesses (including possibly bias) in the work of others

These three points should enable you to understand in what ways your research is unique, innovative, interesting and useful, and how it extends what is already in the literature. Your aim is to find a knowledge gap to fill.

If you have done a very thorough literature search, then another publishing opportunity for you is to write a literature review.

1.6 Identify what the editor is looking for

Read as many papers as you can from your chosen journal. This should help you to gain a clearer picture of what the editors of the journal are looking for to enable them to keep their readership levels high. Below are some of the typical things that editors hope to find in manuscripts.

Sometimes journals have themed or special issues on specific topics. These special issues are announced many months in advance of publication. Keep a look out for an issue that covers your specific area - it may be the perfect opportunity for you.

1.7 Choose one paper as a model and note down useful phrases

Choose one paper that is close to your topic, that is written by a native English speaker, and that you enjoyed reading. Use this paper as a model into which you can ‘paste’ your own research.

Notice how your model paper is structured:

how does the author begin?

what points does s/he make in each section?

how does s/he link paragraphs together?

how does s/he connect the Results with the Discussion?

how does s/he present the Conclusions?

As you read your model paper, note down some useful English phrases that the author uses. Such phrases will help to increase the readability of your text, as they will be familiar to your readers. for a list of useful phrases see Chap. 19, and see Sect. 10.​2 for an extended example of what kinds of phrases you might like to note down yourself.

1.8 Think about the order in which to write the various sections

There is no standard order in which you should write the various sections of your paper. You should choose the order that suits you best. This may involve writing several sections simultaneously.

Many authors start with the Methods, which is often the easiest section to write because this is the part that will usually be clearest in your mind. Beginning with the Methods will also give you the confidence and impetus you need to move on to the other sections of the paper.

In reality, it is best to start with the Abstract as this will help you to focus / orient your ideas on what are the key aspects of your research. In any case, if you are going to present your work at a conference, the organizers will ask you to submit an abstract before you write the related paper - you can still change the Abstract when you have finished writing the actual paper.

You might find it useful to look at the scientific study protocol that you wrote when you outlined the aims of your research at the beginning of your PhD or before you began your current project. Here you should have written out your goals very clearly, and this will help you to write your Abstract.

The hardest part for most authors is the Discussion where you have to interpret your results and compare them with other authors’ results. While you are writing the Discussion, you may find it useful to draft the Introduction, as some of the authors you mention will appear both in the Introduction and the Discussion.

A typical order for writing the various sections is thus:

Abstract (very rough draft)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Introduction

Conclusions

Abstract (final version)

It is a good idea to write the Results and Discussion before the Introduction. This is because you will only truly understand the significance of what you have done after you have written these two sections. Laying the background foundations on which you can highlight the significance of your research is a major part of the Introduction.

1.9 Create separate files for each section

If you decide to write several sections simultaneously, it helps to create files for each section. Then for each file write down a list of the key concepts you want to cover. You can write these down as notes in a random order. Often, as you are writing one section you will think of things that you need to put into other sections. Consequently, it may help to have all the files open so that you can quickly add to them whenever you need to.

Depending on the software you are using, you may have a References or Bibliography file that contains a list of papers, books and documents that you have cited before. So, if you are writing in LATEX for example, you can directly cite existing knowledge and previous findings and append any new references. Depending on your field of research, you may also have an appendix in which you have a code/program or some theorems with their proofs.

1.10 Chat with non experts

Some researchers find it hard to write the first words of a new paper. This is often because you don’t have clear ideas in your head. So it may be useful simply to talk about your research with a friend or member of your family. To explain your research to such non experts really forces you to think about what is and is not important about your methodology and findings. After you have had this non-technical ‘chat’, you can write down some notes, which you can then insert into the relevant section files (Sect. 1.10).

Chatting with friends and family also gives you some idea about how hard or easy it is for non-experts to understand your subject. You can then think of ways to make your paper more accessible for people whose knowledge of your topic is less than yours.

1.11 Give mini presentations to colleagues

Before you begin writing, give an oral presentation of your methods and results to your colleagues. These colleagues can then give you useful comments and criticisms. They may be able to give you alternative interpretations, help you understand your anomalous findings, reassure you that it is OK to include your negative findings, and bring to your attention anything that you may have missed out. This will also help you to focus on highlighting your key findings. If you do your presentation in English, it may then help you to formulate phrases that you can then use in the paper.

1.12 Decide what your key findings are and whether you really have a contribution to make

One of my students once received the following comment by a referee as a justification for rejecting her paper: Not acceptable. No new knowledge, science or ­discovery is presented. This kind of comment may reach you even six months after you have sent your paper for review. For you, it represents a considerable waste in time and energy spent on a paper.

So, before you start writing you need to have an absolutely clear idea of:

what your research goal was

what your most important findings are and how you can demonstrate that they are true

how these findings differ from, and add to, previous knowledge

You know implicitly what the importance of your findings are - after all, you may have been working for months and years on the project.

But the reader does not know.

You must give the reader a clear message.

Analyzing the literature (Sect. 1.5), and discussing and presenting your findings to colleagues (Sects. 1.10 and 1.11) should help you to identify what your key ­findings are.

Make a list of your key findings and choose the most important ones to fit the space you have available (i.e. the total word count allowed by your chosen journal). For each key finding decide if there is another possible explanation for what you have found. You can do this by looking in the literature again. Make sure you have not inserted any bias in your explanation of your findings. Next, write an explanation saying why you think each key finding is true. However, write your explanation in a way that shows you are open to other interpretations.

The above suggestions should also help you to decide whether your planned paper really will have a contribution to make.

1.13 For each section, think about how you can highlight your key findings

While you are planning what to put in each section, think of where and how you can highlight your contribution. It may help you to imagine that the reader has asked you these questions:

1.

what problem are you trying to solve / investigate?

2.

how did you solve / investigate it?

3.

how does your solution / investigation differ from previous approaches?

4.

what did you discover?

5.

how do your findings differ from what is already in the literature, and what do they mean?

Readers generally read the Title and Abstract of a paper first, followed by the Discussion; though some may just look at your figures and tables! However, you cannot be sure at which section your readers will begin reading, so they need access to the answers to these questions in most or all the sections. Look at other papers in your chosen journal (Sect. 1.5) and at your model paper (Sect. 1.7) to see how the authors deal with such questions. Clearly, the emphasis you put on answering the questions will vary from section to section, and is likely to be greatest in the Abstract and Discussion, but consider covering it in the other ­sections too.

When you revise your paper if you think you have done too much highlighting, then you can always remove a few sentences. But while drafting your paper if you constantly try to highlight your contribution, this will give you extra focus.

Think of your paper as a product that you are trying to sell to the referee and journal. The clearer and more convincing you are, the more likely a journal will ‘buy’ your manuscript.

For more on underlining your contribution see Chap.​ 8.

1.14 Always have the referees in mind

It is crucial to write your paper with the referees in mind. They are the ones that decide the fate (outcome) of your paper.

Referee 1 (R1): Top experts currently working in your field

These are the ones to whom most journal editors try to send manuscripts for review. They are the experts that know most about the topic and are therefore most suitable to carry out a peer review of your paper. They are also the ones who may have the least time and inclination to do such reviews, particularly as they may receive up to 10 requests per month for their services. Such referees tend to be most interested in whether the paper makes sense from a scientific point of view. They may be less concerned with language errors, provided such errors do not impede on their understanding your paper. They do not normally have time to make a detailed analysis of every sentence you write.

Referee 2 (R2): Retired experts

These referees are like R1s, but they have a lot more time on their hands, because they are no longer officially working. Because they have more time, they tend to enter into much greater detail, both from a scientific and language point of view.

Referee 3 (R3): PhD students

With the advent of so many online journals, more and more papers are being published every day. This means that top experts are in great demand. Rather than refusing an editor’s request for them to do a review, they sometimes ask permission to pass the paper on to one of their PhD students. This is often the case when reviews are requested for low impact / low ranked journals. Clearly, a PhD student’s knowledge of your topic maybe less than your own, though this does not mean that they are unable to make a good evaluation of your work.

You need to keep all these types of referee happy!

1.15 Referees and English level

It is possible to write a paper in completely accurate English, but still have a paper rejected for poor writing skills - which is what happens even to native English researchers. On the other hand, a paper that is constructed well, and is easy to read, may be accepted (perhaps with some requests for minor revisions) even if the English is not totally accurate.

In my experience native referees tend to be more interested in how the paper flows and how easy it is to read. Non-native referees seem to focus more grammatical and vocabulary mistakes, so very accurate English is important in order to keep them satisfied too.

All referees will appreciate it if you use simple language. In a survey of students at Stanford University, 86.4% said they use complicated language when writing scientific papers just to make themselves sound more knowledgeable and intelligent. Referees, on the other hand, tend not to equate unnecessarily complex language with a high IQ.

There are no journals, as far as I know, that are easier to write for in terms of level of English required.

1.16 How to keep the referees happy

(1)

Remember that a referee has no obligation to review your paper

Referees review manuscripts in their own time and have no direct financial reward for doing so. So do everything you can to make the referee’s work easier and more pleasurable – clear English, clear layout, clear tables etc. By doing so you will increase the chances of your paper being accepted.

(2)

Write in a way that a non-expert or less experienced person can understand

Research is becoming increasingly more specialized, so that even two people with the same degree may not be able to understand each other’s papers. Also, due to the fact that research groups cannot always get the funding they need for research in their specific field, they may have to shift their interests to a related field where funds are available. This entails them reading the literature from this new field. The clearer the literature is, the more they will understand.

This means that when you begin the writing process, you need to bear in mind that your reader may not be as expert as you are.

(3)

Make your paper interesting enough for an expert

Try to ensure enough meat (i.e. scientific substance) for the experts. This does not mean you have to write in a more complicated way, but just that you include enough details get experts interested.

(4)

Look at the forms used in referees’ reports

Every journal has a standard form for use by referees when writing their reports, which the editor then uses to judge whether your paper is suitable for publication or not. Through your professor and colleagues, try to find as many such forms as you can, and preferably the one for your chosen journal.

You can use the questions in the forms as guidelines for your writing. Here are some examples:

Is the research novel and of international relevance?

Does the article fit the aims and scope of the journal?

Is the paper written grammatically and clearly?

Is the writing style succinct and appropriate to the work?

Is the title appropriate to the content?

Does the abstract accurately describe the content?

Are the conclusions borne out by the evidence and arguments?

It will help you considerably if you think about all these questions while you are writing your paper. Also, when you have finished, you should check that the answer to each question is ‘yes’.

1.17 Write directly in English and find ways to improve your writing skills

Write directly in English rather than in your native language. This may be hard at the beginning. But with a model paper written by a native English speaker in front of you, which you can follow step by step, it should be quicker than translating from your own language. From an English point of view, it should also be more reliable and accurate because you will be using some standard phrases that you have lifted directly or adapted from your model English paper.

Some researchers find it much easier to write a paper if they have already written notes in English throughout the research project. This means that you will already have much of the content you need when you finally start writing your manuscript. It also means that you will get a lot of practice in writing in English and may help you to discover any gaps in your understanding of your topic.

It might also be worth finding a native speaker to correct your written English for you whenever you write notes during the research. This might be a useful alternative to following a general English language course as it will be much for focused and also tailored to your particular needs. However, if your department or institute offers writing courses these are obviously well worth attending.

With your colleagues you could set up a writing group within your academic department. This would enable you to practice your own English writing skills and evaluate those of others in a mutual learning process.

One way of improving your writing skills and raising your profile in your area of expertise is to consider writing letters. Journals generally publish letters that offer a short critical review of the research of others. Such letters tend to be about 300 words long, so the same as or a little longer than an abstract. You can also write online rapid responses to letters in print journals.

1.18 Consult online resources

This book contains advice for all types of papers. You can find more specific advice for your specific field by searching on the web. To do this you simply type in, for example, how to write the discussion section + medicine (i.e. your specific field) and this should provide you with useful articles.

In Part 2 of this book I have used comments and materials from various excellent websites, which highlight the top quality materials that are available on the web.

1.19 Summary

Consult with your professor and colleagues about the most appropriate journal where you can publish your research

Match your topic to the journal, or vice versa

Download the guidelines for authors – these will tell you about the style and structure of your paper

Choose frequently cited papers in the journal to see how other authors construct their argumentation, and note down ways in which your research is different and innovative with respect to theirs

Choose one paper as a model onto which to map your research, imitating the style and organization. This model should be written by a native English speaker

Note down useful / standard phrases from your model paper which you can then use in your own paper

Decide on the best order to write the various sections of your paper. It is generally best to start with a very rough draft of the Abstract, and then whichever section is clearest in your head (generally the Materials and Methods)

Consider having separate documents for each section. This enables you to work on several sections at the same time

Make sure your unique contribution to your community is very clear in every section, not just in the Abstract

Write in a way that even a non-expert can understand

Referees work for free and often outside working hours – never submit a carelessly written manuscript

Access referees report forms to understand the ways that referees will evaluate your work

Write directly in English, and use every opportunity for improving your writing skills

Use online resources

Adrian WallworkEnglish for Writing Research Papers10.1007/978-1-4419-7922-3_2© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

2. Word Order

Adrian Wallwork¹  

(1)

Via Carducci 9, 56127 Pisa, Italy

Adrian Wallwork

Email: adrian.wallwork@gmail.com

Abstract

Why is this chapter important? Just two or three badly constructed sentences may be enough for referees to initially recommend rejecting a paper and suggest having the English revised.

Why is this chapter important?

Just two or three badly constructed sentences may be enough for referees to initially recommend rejecting a paper and suggest having the English revised.

This chapter focuses on putting words in a sentence in the correct order. This correct order may be very different from the syntax of your own language.

Typical complaints of Referees

There were several sentences that I was simply unable to parse. I failed to work out what the subject was and what verb related to it, nor could I identify what adjective or what adverb modified what noun or verb. At times it was like trying to decipher a doctor’s handwriting. I am of the opinion that one should be able at least to identify the various components of a sentence and how they relate to each other, even if one does not understand the precise meaning of each component.

Although it is well-structured, it is extremely difficult to read because of the somewhat labored English.

I was often only able to understand the logic of the sentence when I read the last word. The authors need to rearrange the components of their sentence so that the reader immediately understands the build up of the logic.

2.1 Basic word order in English

English has a strict order in which words can appear in a sentence. S1 shows an example of this order.

S1.

The researchers sent their manuscript to the journal.

This order is rarely altered. It is:

1.

subject (the researchers)

2.

verb (sent)

3.

direct object (their manuscript)

4.

indirect object (the journal)

The key is to keep the subject, verb, direct object and indirect object as close to each other as possible. This is illustrated in S2, which maintains the exact order of S1.

S2.

Last week the researchers sent their manuscript to the journal for the second time.

S3.

* The researchers last week sent for the second time to the journal their manuscript.

S3 is incorrect English. The position of last week and for the second time is wrong, and the indirect object comes before the direct object.

2.2 Compare word order in your language with word order in English

Native English-speaking readers are accustomed to finding the various parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective etc.) in the order given in Sect. 2.1. If these parts come in a different order, this requires more effort by the native reader to understand the whole meaning.

Even very banal differences in word order can affect readers. White and black, for instance, sounds strange to a mother tongue English person, the correct order is black and white. It would also sound strange to someone who speaks, for instance Chinese, Hungarian, Polish or Tamil, as in this case they use the same order as in English. But it is likely to sound far more normal to a Hindi, Italian or Spanish speaker, where white comes before black.

You can improve the order in which you put words and information in an English sentence if you analyze how you do it in your own language and then ­analyze the differences with English. Here are two examples, with which your language may share some similarities.

Germans don’t like to begin sentences with the subject. For example, instead of We have received your letter they prefer Your letter has reached us. German syntax dictates that the verb sometimes goes at the end of the clause or sentence, also making you wait for the main thrust of the sentence.

Russians have difficulties with constructing correct English sentences because unlike in English, there are no strict rules for word order. For example, in Russian a simple tongue twister that translates as the mother was cleaning the window would mean exactly the same thing if mother and window switch places. In English, it would of course make no sense.

2.3 Choose the most relevant subject and put it at the beginning of the sentence

Clear English requires that you put the subject at the beginning of the sentence, however you may have a choice of possible subjects.

X was elicited by Y.

Y elicited X.

In the simple example above, your choice will depend on whether you want to emphasize X or Y. The one you want to emphasize should be put as the subject.

As readers, we tend to focus on the areas of a sentence that come immediately before and after a full stop. This is because there is extra white space between one sentence and another, which acts as a restful pause for the eye. Our eyes are also drawn to the capital letter that begins each sentence. These are the moments where you potentially have the reader’s attention, so don’t waste them. If the first few words routinely contain no useful or new information, then it becomes very tedious. So the best solution is to shift ‘no value added’ phrases to later on in the sentence and preferably reduce them to one word. Otherwise you are encouraging readers to skim the whole time.

The sentences below (S1–S4) come from a paper