Questions tagged [writing]
For questions on the process of writing. For questions on the content of writing, use [writing-style].
1,216
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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?
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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
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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?
...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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81
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Quoting a book whose title contains a racial slur
I'm writing a paper on the Front de Liberation du Quebec; a homegrown Quebec terrorist organisation in the 1960s. As research, I've extensively studied a book by one of the intellectual leaders of the ...
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How to deal with my PhD supervisors rudely critiquing all my draft papers?
I'm a PhD candidate in biology about three semesters in. I am co-advised by two young married principal investigators (PIs), who are just about to get tenure. Things were going great initially, as I ...
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How to make thesis-writing feel less tedious?
I'm about to finish my master's thesis on a TCS topic (algorithms). I'm quite happy with my results; the most engaging part of the thesis was grappling with getting up to speed on the state of the art,...
- 721
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8
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Co-author keeps rewriting the article in poor English
I am writing an article with a senior colleague. Although English is not their first language, they keep re-writing the entire article in their own words.
I would not normally care, but the way he re-...
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Is using the phrase "... is left as an exercise for the reader" considered good style in academic papers/theses?
Possible arguments:
Pro
For brevity for trivial deductions
Contra
Looks like the writer could not be bothered to write an extensive explanation
Definition of what is trivial to which reader and ...
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How to avoid the repetition of "I" while writing a cover letter for an academic job?
I use active voice for cover letter and while doing that I end up with too many "I" and most of the sentences in my letter also begin with "I". This makes my letter quite boring. I would appreciate if ...
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votes
7
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How do I overcome fear of rejection when writing academic papers?
I don't know how to put it. I have never published before. Previously my one paper was rejected, that was because the experiments were not ready and my advisor asked me to still submit it just to have ...
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How do I improve my rewriting and editing skills?
When writing academic papers, I am really bad at improving what I have already written. I have heard that most of the time writing should be allotted to revisions. I know a few academics who are ...
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Should non-native speakers get extra time to compose exam answers?
Today I met with a student who had plagiarized answers on an exam from online sources. She explained to me with apparent honesty that she had spent too long answering the first two questions and then ...
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4
answers
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Simplest way to jointly write a manuscript?
As with many papers in the sciences, there are multiple authors who aren't physically close to each other. I was curious about the most efficient and simplest way to technically share the writing. On ...
- 4,735
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Is it mandatory to include the registered trademark symbol ® next to the name of a computer program?
Suppose you write a paper and you use Wolfram Mathematica to do calculations. In the article, should the program be mentioned with the registered-trademark symbol immediately following the name and in ...
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Any place for people with fear of writing?
This isn't the best moment to ask the question, since I should be writing an overdue document and presentation.
However, is there any place where a person with fear of writing can work? I am ...
- 1,053
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The use of words such as "clearly", "obviously" etc. in a technical paper
Is there any hidden rule for using the words "clearly", "obviously" or similar ones in a technical paper? It can be offensive to the readers in many cases (especially in mathematical proofs), since ...
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Writing papers in language X and translating to English vs. writing papers in English to begin with?
I'm working with a group in China, and we were discussing the following question, which I would like to ask here too:
Question: Is it better to write a paper in Chinese, then translate it into ...
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Should I write a paper on open-source software I've built?
I have been fairly active in the open-source software community with a few projects that have gotten some attention. However, my reputation in the academic/publications world is a little bit low and I'...
- 1,157
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How generous should I be with citations?
I am wondering if it is a bad thing to cite a paper in a scientific publication for a trivial or irrelevant reason.
The specific instance I have in mind is the usage of certain terminology. I ...
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How can we promote better writing skills in academic education?
This question may be too wide or in some perspective perceived as unclear but covers a key issue (for me) in academia, namely, academic writing.
Students start their academic career with varying ...
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Is there an internet Git-like repository for collaboration on a paper?
I've just started using git for tracking changes in a LaTeX paper I'm writing, and for collaboration with co-authors.
However, I cannot find easily private git repositories with reasonable plans for ...
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Collaborative paper-writing with non-LaTeX-using colleagues
Background: I work in a field where the use of LaTeX is common but still far from universal. So far I have been lucky in that all my coauthors in the past have been fellow LaTeX users, so ...
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How to find ways to proofread English in papers
As a non-native speaker of English, it can often be hard to spot some of the errors that a native speaker would find. For a long time, I've been thinking about getting a native speaker to help me with ...
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Is it wrong to start your abstract with a question?
My abstracts starts with three specific questions that my proposed research will answer. But when my friend saw this, he said: "I will never start an abstract with questions, and I will never read ...
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Is "flowery language" frowned upon in engineering and STEM related research?
I work in an engineering field (related to AI, machine learning, etc.) and something I found interesting is whenever I use "big words" or even long words like "substantiate" or &...
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Does writing matter a lot in research?
I am a PhD student (mid stage) and my work includes the use of mathematics. I try to learn as much as possible. I am facing a problem: I spent enough time on the mathematics required for my research, ...
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What to check when examining paper proofs?
When you receive a paper proof and review it prior to publication, what exactly should you be looking for?
The things that come to mind are any changes in the annotation of author list and the ...
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How to write papers efficiently when English isn't my first language?
I am a PhD student from China. I can read papers relatively fast and get the main point. The problem is that I cannot write efficiently. I don't know how to express myself or I forget the appropriate ...
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What suggestions should I make when reviewing a poorly written paper?
Since I need a break from the reviewing...
Often in my field I review papers from researchers in Asia (reviews are not double blind) which are poorly written. By poorly written, I don't mean that the ...
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