Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [academic-writing]

Writing texts in a scientific or educational setting: peer-reviewed articles, theses, text books, and others. Use the tag [scientific-publishing] in addition, if relevant.

Academic writing entails written communication of knowledge for educational purposes. Common examples are peer-reviewed articles for publication in scientific journals, theses (Master, PhD, etc.), and text books. Often, there are very specific sets of rules that set apart academic writing from writing other kinds of non-fictional texts.

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Why are papers printed in a two column format?

Is there a reason or is it arbitrary/tradition?
juan
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Is elaborating the opposite case in brackets acceptable and clear?

Is Sentence A an acceptable and clear way of shortening Sentence B? Sentence A: A firm outperforms (underperforms) the industry when expression (1) results in a positive (negative) value. Sentence B: A firm outperforms the industry when…
Bento
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How to improve my skill at writing a question?

I'm a member of some SE sites, like SO and CSTheory. In those sites I'm an active member, I'm reading Q&A and also answering some questions or asking questions, but I think my writing is poor. I like to write letters without thinking about grammar…
Saeed Amiri
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When is it acceptable to refer to an undefined group of people in academic writing?

Within my students' college writing, I found much writing referring to essentially imaginary, or not well-defined groups of people. Here are some examples: These days, more and more people carpool to work. Some people asked which method is best. I…
Village
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How to write a "state of the art" chapter

I am an engineering student in a non-English speaking country and I'm writing my master's thesis in English, as well as all related articles. I can't use the country's language nor my first language (I was raised in another country) because my…
morcillo
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Is it bad to overuse the words 'that' and 'which', and how can you avoid doing so?

Currently, I am working on a paper. While writing, I noticed a problem. I used the word 'that' 78 times and 'which' 68 times in 32 pages. Will using these words so frequently affect the quality of my paper? What could be done to improve it? I feel…
Benji
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Structure for a summary of a thesis/research paper

When asked for a 15-page summary of the thesis/research paper, should I write it by chapter (Introduction, Methodology, etc) ? The only guideline given is to include introduction, research objectives, methodology, etc. But no specific format was…
mich
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Introduction Techinques

What types of methods can be used in writing a scientific research paper introduction? I have read articles on a particular topic (COVID-19), and they are peer-reviewed scientific journals. My professor says my introduction should be 3-4 pages. I…
EnlightenedFunky
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How should I present the original paper I am recreating when writing the methodology chapter of my Thesis?

Part of my undergraduate thesis experiment was recreating another experiment, just with slight tweaks. In my lit review I discussed the original work, but not in methodological detail. I am trying to write the Methodology chapter now (I have not…
Kalen Goss
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Explaining a major-studies change

I am an engineering student trying to write a statement of purpose for graduate school and I am having trouble properly introducing in writing why I'm applying for a particular subject when most of my work has been in a different field of study.…
user15413
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Can a section have the same name as the chapter?

I am writing a proposal for my PhD. In the proposal I have included a chapter titled “Actuator Design”. Within that same chapter, can I include a section with the same name as that chapter, meaning the very same “Actuator Design” as I’ve already…
Shashank Sawant
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Are there any books on academic paper writing?

I currently have a job doing research, but since writing was not a part of my education curriculum (I studied engineering and mathematics) no one really taught me how to write these sorts of papers, and the papers I have written for review by my…
Ryan Folks
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Good techniques to keep track of error-freeness without ending up having to proof-read all of a long finished text?

Good techniques to keep track of error-freeness without ending up having to proof-read all of a long finished text? This is a problem that I've had, but I assume that it's in fact quite common problem. The problem is: You write your text (e.g. a…
mavavilj
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Writing a Thesis paper

What to do if you feel stuck while writing? Feels like you cant write a single fresh line. I don't know much words and also I have grammatically issue as well. Now that I am writing my discussion chapter I feel that I am totally stuck and I have no…
Benji
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Gerund vs noun in academic writing

I wonder what is the best way to describe things in an academic manuscript writing. for example, I have a sentence therefore, passivation of the surface or the introduction of additional interlayers between perovskite and ZnO improves the stability…
Sergey Tsarev
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