All the talk about applications to colleges focuses on obvious things such as grades and test scores, activities outside of class, because they jump out at you. They matter. But there’s something else running through everything a student sends off…
It’s not unusual for some people in our field to be hesitant to reach out until they’ve been working on something and are several months away from submitting a piece of writing. If one has written most of a Ph.D.,…
For most PhD students and early career researchers it is only much later on they discover just how long the journey can be between finishing the research study and having an accepted article published as part of print or electronic…
Key Takeaways Most research papers follow the IMRaD structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each section has a specific purpose and a predictable content. The introduction sets up the problem. The methods describe what you did. The results present what…
Key Takeaways “Respectively” means “in the order already mentioned.” It links two parallel lists so the reader knows which item corresponds to which. Both lists must have the same number of items and appear in the same order. If the…
Key Takeaways “Data” is traditionally plural in academic English. The singular form is “datum.” Most academic style guides treat “data” as plural: “the data were analysed,” “these data suggest.” Some modern style guides and journals accept “data” as singular (mass…
Key Takeaways A systematic literature review (SLR) follows a transparent, reproducible method: define research questions, set inclusion/exclusion criteria, search databases systematically, screen results, extract data, assess quality, and synthesise findings. An SLR is not the same as a traditional narrative…
Key Takeaways In academic English, a sentence should not begin with a numeral. “200 participants” at the start of a sentence is incorrect. Write “Two hundred participants” or rephrase the sentence. The two solutions are: spell out the number (“Thirty…
Key Takeaways A PhD research proposal is a plan for your research, not a summary of it. It must convince the committee that your topic is significant, your approach is feasible, and you are capable of completing it. The standard…
Key Takeaways Define every abbreviation on first use by writing the full term followed by the abbreviation in parentheses: “the World Health Organization (WHO).” Only abbreviate terms that appear three or more times. Abbreviating a term used once or twice…
