All Questions
3,640 questions
257
votes
8
answers
385k
views
How do you cite a Github repository?
I am working on a honours thesis and have developed a Fortran library that I would like to cite in it.
In some places they suggest to quote the documentation of the project but this is something I ...
- 2,673
167
votes
7
answers
18k
views
My paper is being cited in vaccine misinformation. What do I do?
I have recently discovered that anti-vaxxers have been citing one of my papers on Twitter and elsewhere as evidence of a specific 5G-related conspiracy theory surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. Of ...
- 1,029
145
votes
14
answers
32k
views
How do I handle a colleague's gender change when citing their paper?
We are currently working on a conference paper where we plan to cite and discuss a paper as a related work. It was written by a colleague at the same university who has kindly offered to help us ...
- 1,376
141
votes
7
answers
35k
views
Choice of personal pronoun in single-author papers
Which personal pronoun is appropriate in single-author papers - 'I' or 'we'? Could the use of 'I' be considered egotistical? Or will the use of 'we' be considered to be grammatically incorrect?
- 23.2k
128
votes
17
answers
147k
views
Software to draw illustrative figures in papers
I would like to have suggestions of good software for drawing illustrations in research papers. I already know about Xfig, but this works only on Linux and is at times, clunky when it comes to text. ...
113
votes
15
answers
33k
views
Why are research papers written in language that's difficult for undergraduate students?
As an undergraduate student, I find it hard to understand research papers on any particular subject.
Why don't researchers use simple language for their reports, so that everyone would understand?
user93085
97
votes
9
answers
19k
views
Do authors have to be politically correct in article-writing?
My colleagues and I have recently submitted an article in a biology-oriented journal about a new technological system. While describing the interaction between the different modules of the system, we ...
- 1,013
94
votes
13
answers
16k
views
Is it OK to refuse to cite paywalled papers?
I wonder how reviewers would react if authors of a submitted paper refuse to cite paywalled papers. Is it a valid reason to refuse citing some papers?
I am mostly interested in the field of computer ...
- 34.1k
94
votes
7
answers
53k
views
Use of first person in a PhD Thesis
Is there a non written rule to which person to use in the PhD thesis, 5 years of using "We" in the papers have brought me to the innate necessity to do it every time I describe something.
Recently, ...
- 12k
94
votes
4
answers
121k
views
How do I reference the Python programming language in a thesis or a paper?
I'm writing a scientific article and a dissertation in biology, for which I used Python for simulations. Some people in our department, especially the "non-computer-people", don't know what Python is, ...
- 2,202
92
votes
25
answers
18k
views
How to respond to "unfair to write English" comments?
I teach mathematics and computing; for example, our department's discrete mathematics course. As is customary for that course, it's used as the first foray into formal mathematics, including a heavy ...
- 40.7k
91
votes
3
answers
11k
views
Counter strategy against group that repeatedly does strategic self-citations and ignores other relevant research
There is a group in our small field that almost exclusively cites themselves. Their latest paper has 35% self-citations, which is 80% of the citations within the field. They only reference their own ...
- 758
89
votes
10
answers
56k
views
What are the advantages or disadvantages of using LaTeX for writing scientific publications
What are objective advantages or disadvantages of using the markup language LaTeX instead of a WYSIWYG word processor like MS Word or LibreOffice Writer?
Please use objective arguments to prevent a ...
- 8,662
89
votes
11
answers
11k
views
How to train students to write high-quality research papers?
As someone supervising postgrad students, I wonder what is the best way to train these students to write high-quality research papers?
The best way seems to be through coauthorship but ...
On the ...
- 13.8k
88
votes
15
answers
15k
views
Why are some professors critical of even casual use of Wikipedia?
Many of the professors and lecturers I come across are very critical of Wikipedia, but they never give proper support for their claims of "Wikipedia is bullshit!". And they threaten "Do not use ...
- 819
86
votes
8
answers
16k
views
Citing paywalled articles accessed via illegal web sharing
There are a few sites which offer paid articles for free. It’s something unethical, especially for those who upload to that site, but for me, it’s good for expanding knowledge.
As a readers, can we ...
- 957
86
votes
3
answers
221k
views
Are citations in abstracts considered bad style?
I'd like to know your opinion on citations in abstracts.
At my university, there is no rule on that matter so it's basically a
question of preference.
Do you think it's okay to have citations in an ...
- 963
85
votes
8
answers
31k
views
Free, open-source substitutes for Mendeley?
Mendeley is (mainly) a proprietary social network to share basic citation data and research papers. see also
Are there any free and open source substitutes for this service?
A technical possibility:...
- 1,669
84
votes
10
answers
12k
views
Do Asian authors have a different style of academic writing from European authors?
I'm an Asian student working with a European prof. My adviser told me several times that when he read my writings (our papers), he just wanted to rewrite it.
He told me that my English was rather OK, ...
- 17.7k
84
votes
3
answers
58k
views
What's the point in "the paper is structured as follows"?
Inspired by the recent question on list of figures: what is the point of ending your introduction with a paragraph saying "The paper is structured as follows: in Section 1 we do BLAH, then in Section ...
- 47.4k
83
votes
13
answers
19k
views
Why is it bad to judge a paper by citation count?
I hear a lot from the experts that citation count is a bad idea as a measure of judging a paper. This seems simply counter-intuitive to me. I would like to know if any study has been done in this ...
- 990
82
votes
12
answers
21k
views
Is it acceptable to use non-English references in a computer science paper?
I am currently reviewing an interdisciplinary computer science paper which is heavily based on previous works in logistics and process engineering that have been unfortunately published only in German ...
- 887
80
votes
6
answers
21k
views
Is it okay to mention we're citing an article only because a reviewer told us to?
In a recent review, one reviewer said we must rework the paper in light of two other papers. One paper was a highly valuable suggestion, and we've enthusiastically taken it on board. However, the ...
- 10.1k
80
votes
17
answers
15k
views
Should I learn to use LaTeX to write up a History Masters Thesis?
So I reviewed the "What are the advantages or disadvantages of using LaTeX for writing scientific publications?" question on this forum and am sitting on the fence at the moment whether or not to use ...
- 5,985
79
votes
7
answers
51k
views
Are TED presentations academically credible?
Many people, including myself, are fascinated by TED speakers. They provide us a new perspective. For example, see the TED talk The best stats you've ever seen by Hans Rosling.
However, when I talked ...
- 8,292
79
votes
13
answers
24k
views
How to get work done whilst feeling crippling shame?
In academic work, when we are writing or have written a paper for example, there might be strong feelings of shame about the work done or to be done. These feelings can get in the way of finishing or ...
- 1,197
78
votes
20
answers
30k
views
Is it acceptable to have a research paper with no references?
I (an undergrad) and 2 other profs from my department have been working on something and we were thinking of submitting our work to a conference (a pretty well known one) this week. The fact is there ...
- 1,630
78
votes
6
answers
17k
views
Do you need to read a whole article before citing it?
During writing my academic paper, I need to cite a definition in a scientific paper. The other part of the paper, is irrelevant to my work.
I have been advised that if you will cite a paper, you ...
- 941
77
votes
11
answers
31k
views
Is it unethical to cite a paper or book that you have never looked at?
Suppose I see that Book X is cited by several papers with reference to some particular Fact Y. I wish to cite Fact Y. As far as I know, Book X is the only reference for Fact Y.
I have never looked ...
user10885
77
votes
4
answers
10k
views
Should I do anything if I am cited for something that wasn't in my paper?
I’ve just read a paper in which a previous paper of mine has been cited. The line in which the citation happens is something like:
It has been shown that technique X is successful in this problem [...
- 9,848
76
votes
7
answers
51k
views
Is it acceptable to write a reference letter for yourself?
If a student needs a reference letter for graduate admissions or that sort of thing, some profs will ask the student to write a reference letter for themself before sending it off to the prof for ...
- 1,052
76
votes
5
answers
148k
views
How to write a strong introduction into a research paper?
How does one write a strong (good) introduction into a research paper? Some introductions make me really curious about the rest of the paper while others do not. Although it is relatively easy to say ...
- 2,175
75
votes
6
answers
12k
views
How can I deal with low-key plagiarism?
I am relatively new to academic publishing. However, there is an uncomfortable situation which I have already encountered multiple times by now (about five). It is what I would call "low-key ...
- 1,138
75
votes
10
answers
6k
views
How to write an academic paper for the first time?
While writing an answer to that question, I realized I don't really have a good list of resources that could be useful to first-time authors, like MSc or PhD students who write their first paper. I ...
- 74.1k
74
votes
12
answers
23k
views
Is it OK to generate parts of a research paper using a large language model such as ChatGPT?
Large language models (LLMs) are complex neural networks that can capture and represent world knowledge present in the human-generated text as their weights. LLMs are trained on a large collection of ...
- 864
72
votes
10
answers
14k
views
Graduate student with abysmal English writing skills, how to help
I am a math professor at an R1 university. I have taken up a new graduate student (my n'th for n<=10), who is mathematically quite strong, but whose writing skills are a couple notches below what I ...
72
votes
7
answers
15k
views
Why use version control systems for writing a paper?
I am following the advice of @Piotr Migdal in Is there an internet Git-like repository for collaboration on a paper?, and I want to ask about version controls: how beneficial are they (specially under ...
- 13.9k
71
votes
6
answers
78k
views
Is there such thing as too many references for one paper?
I'm currently reviewing a paper that has an uncommonly large number of references compared to the average number for that particular venue (more than 60 versus around 30). This is a regular paper, not ...
user102
66
votes
8
answers
203k
views
What is the difference between Abstract, conclusion and summary?
The above question is self explanatory, still I would like to break it into two parts.
Q1. What is the difference between abstract and summary/conclusion?
Q2. What is the difference between summary ...
- 1,281
65
votes
11
answers
14k
views
Are there instances where citing Wikipedia is allowed?
For example, suppose you're writing an article about triangles, and you want to include a short proof of Pythagoras' theorem, but you can't quite remember how to derive it, so you pop over to: https://...
- 761
65
votes
5
answers
18k
views
Should I cite all R packages I used?
Intro: R is a open-source software tool for statistical analyses and graphics, which is heavily used in different science disciplines and which is becoming more and more popular (although it is ...
- 775
65
votes
2
answers
21k
views
In what tense (present/past) should papers be written?
That is, should it be present tense or past tense?
Should there be a difference between the abstract, main body and the conclusion?
Does the field of publication have any impact?
- 2,260
64
votes
13
answers
11k
views
Colleague blames me for not spotting typos when I only reviewed the structure and content
I am a graduate student (PhD) in a STEM program. A fellow lab mate of mine asked me to review a chapter (basically the background/history of their project) of their graduate thesis a couple months ...
- 671
64
votes
6
answers
8k
views
How should I communicate that I do not hold the views expressed in a paper I wrote
I am writing a paper for a class that requires me to write from a perspective I disagree with. To an external observer it may not be clear that I am not allowed to disagree with the premise of the ...
- 1,094
63
votes
11
answers
15k
views
How can I avoid overuse of words like "however" and "therefore" in academic writing?
I am in the field of computer science (more specifically robotics), and as I am writing, I must actively avoid using the words "however", "therefore", etc... every few sentences. ...
- 1,084
63
votes
5
answers
5k
views
How to substantiate the claim that something is not known?
I am writing a master's thesis (in Number Theory) and there are multiple places where I need to claim that something is not yet known. Since I am not an expert (and even if I were) I would like to ...
- 643
63
votes
11
answers
18k
views
Co-author uses ChatGPT for academic writing - is it ethical?
I am writing a paper with a co-author. I spent a considerable amount of time (several months) writing a first draft of the paper. I then sent it to co-author asking them to revise the draft and add ...
- 56.8k
63
votes
3
answers
11k
views
How to acknowledge a MathOverflow user?
I am writing a research paper. A small but important idea for the paper was found on MathOverflow. I know the real name of the user. I tried contacting him and offered him co-authorship, but I got no ...
- 621
62
votes
12
answers
22k
views
Using nonstandard gender-neutral pronouns to refer to myself in academic writing
I am currently preparing my first formal work for publication, which I am the sole author on. While working through final edits, I've come across a few places where I refer to myself and would prefer ...
- 767
61
votes
6
answers
9k
views
Access to scientific articles that cite mine after leaving academia
I used to work in academia. I was lucky enough to publish important papers in peer reviewed journals that now regularly get cited by other papers in peer reviewed journals. I have left academia to ...
- 649