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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Can I use contractions in my thesis?
I am writing my thesis (in Computer Science, if that's relevant) and I am thinking about the style, especially about using contractions.
I realize that thesis is a formal text and contractions like “...
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23
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How can I encourage my advisor to adopt better work practices?
I'm a second year PhD student. In general I love my advisor, but recently we've run into some small bumps in the road while working on a paper together. He's controlling the "master" copy and I send ...
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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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Can I reuse part of a paper for my thesis?
I am finishing writing my master's thesis (~100 pages) and I also just submitted a paper (8 pages) to a conference. Since both are on the same subject and I am an author on both, is it ok if I reuse ...
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Dissertation acknowledgements
I'm at the stage in writing my dissertation where most of the substantive aspects are finished and the only tasks left are more or less administrative. However, one thing that I've been avoiding is ...
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How to reference different sources in a list?
I am writing my master thesis and I am not sure how to reference/cite different sources in a list.
I have a small list like:
The benefits of an "incredibly interesting topic" are:
benefit ...
- 183
18
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2
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429
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Abbreviations in journal papers
Do I expand abbreviations at their first use per section or per paper?
This is an IEEE publication, but I haven't come across any specific instructions.
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At what point in the writing process should one contact an academic book publisher?
Is it better to contact a publisher early in the writing process so that the editor can be involved in shaping the project, or is it better to submit a full academic book manuscript? In my case, this ...
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When and why a scientific technical report is written?
While making some paper search in my scientific field, sometimes I find articles that are not published in journals or conference proceedings, but as technical reports.
In my experience, I've never ...
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4
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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 ...
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How formal should figures in a thesis be?
I am currently writing my masters thesis. I include in it a screenshot of a webpage, in which I want to point at some components and explain what each of them does. What I did so far is that I draw ...
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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. ...
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How do you "grow your own" post doc opportunity?
I am a finishing doctoral student (graduation in ~7-9 months) and I would love to get an year or so of postdoctoral experience. I've come to understand that a postdoc is generally paid by funds ...
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How to improve technical writing
Whenever I write an article, I feel the result is not good enough. Although every theorem is solid and correctly proven, something is always "squeaky".
The main evidence for my feeling shows itself ...
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How common is it to write out a script for a talk? What are the benefits?
I have never written a verbatim script for a talk. I have at times written notes or outlines, but I never read from them when presenting (and rarely when practicing). With enough (weeks) of practice, ...
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How much should I worry about British spelling when submitting to a U.K. journal?
I'm in the U.S. and have always written in American English. I will be submitting a paper to a U.K. journal for the first time. To conform to British spelling, I've changed the Microsoft Word ...
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