Need To Write a Research Paper?

Avoid These Grammar Mistakes

Writing your research paper is not easy to do, but as long as you know the basic mistakes that
you should avoid, you can easily write an A research paper. First of all, you need to know
that writing a research paper takes time and a lot of attention. Although you might feel
overwhelmed by the amount of work you need to make for it, you still need to pay attention
to some of the most common grammar mistakes that would affect your grade. So, here are
some advice you can use to help you write a great research paper.
Five Main Grammar mistakes to avoid in the research paper and how to avoid them
The five most common grammar mistakes to avoid are:
1. Pronouns
Pronouns are commonly used elements in speech, as they can take the functions of nouns.
Here are some advice for you when using pronouns:
Proofread your paper to see whether there are any pronouns that you did not agree with the
linked nouns
Don’t overuse pronouns
2. Nouns
Nouns accomplish the functions of objects and subjects. In what regards the use of nouns,
here is what you need to know:
Make sure all the uncountable nouns in your paper are used in singular
Make sure all your countable nouns are used with the correct determiners
3. Verbs
The use of auxiliary verbs is important and when used correctly, it adds grammatical or
functional meaning to a clause. Auxiliary verbs accompany a main verb and they are
typically used to help express aspect, mood and voice. Here are some things to keep count on:
Check whether you used all the auxiliaries and the modal verbs correctly
4. Subject-Predicate Agreement
How to check if you correctly agreed the subject with predicate:
Check all of your sentences to see whether the subject and predicate agree in person and
number
5. Expressing possession
Checking that you correctly expressed possession:
Ensure that you used the correct possessive forms in all of your sentences.
Grammar Rules to Follow when Writing your Research Paper
Additionally to these grammar mistakes, you should also pay attention to the following rules,
in order to make your research paper be grammatically correct:
 Write in complete sentences. In English language, a complete sentence is one that includes
a verb and a subject.
Match your tenses. Don’t change the tenses throughout the course of your writing, but
make sure that both the subject and the verb are used in the same tense, whether it is past or
present.
Know when to use Me and when to use I. You need to pay attention to the sentence in
order to determine whether it is correct to use “me” or “I” in your sentence.
Don’t use double negatives. For example, instead of writing “I’m not watching nothing”,
you must write “I’m not watching anything”.
Using “well” and “good”. “Well” describes an action, while “good” describes a noun.
Who versus Whom. “Who” is a subjective or nominative pronoun that is used when the
pronoun performs as the subject of a clause.“Whom” is an objective pronoun used when the
pronoun performs as the object of a clause.
Which versus That. “Which” introduces a relative clause and its meaning is more flexible,
so that it can be used in restrictive clauses. “That” is a restrictive pronoun and it is important
to the noun to which it refers.
Lay versus Lie. “Lay” is a transitive verb that requires a direct subject and at least one
object. “Lie” is an intransitive verb and it needs no object.
May versus Might. “May” refers to a possibility, while “Might” refers to a more
uncertainty.
Whether versus If. “Whether” expresses a condition in which there are at least two
alternatives. “If” expresses a condition with no alternatives.
Bring or Take. “Bring” is used when the object is moved toward the subject, while “Take”
is used when the object is moved away from the subject.
Few or Less. “Few” is used for things that can’t be quantified, while “Less” is used for
hypothetical quantities.
The use of Nor. “Nor” expresses a negative condition and its meaning is “and not”. You
must use “nor” if your sentence expresses a negative and it is followed by another negative
condition.
Many students make grammatical errors when they write their research papers and the
grammatical errors affect the grade they get in their papers. For this, it is very important to
learn how to recognize the most common grammar mistakes, in order to be able to avoid
them in your future research papers. Remember to always proofread your research paper in
order to correct any possible grammar mistakes that you might have done in it.

Common English Grammar Mistakes to Avoid While Writing Your Next Research Paper
Professional English language editing services will check your paper for all possible
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Editage offers 3 levels of English language editing services. The core of all three editing
services is a comprehensive English grammar check. For a document to correctly convey the
author’s intended message, it must follow the rules and principles of English grammar. A
high-quality research paper comprises novel research presented in grammatically correct,
error-free writing.

Grammatical errors are a sign of negligence. Simple English grammar mistakes or

proofreading errors can detract from the overall quality of your paper. Needless to say,
grammatical mistakes can affect your credibility as an author.

Here’s a list of 5 common grammar mistakes you can avoid while writing your next research
manuscript.

Subject-verb disagreements:

The subject of a sentence is the noun that performs the action described in the sentence. If
the subject is singular and the verb is plural, the subject and verb of that sentence are in
disagreement. The rules of English grammar dictate that the subject and verb must agree with
each other in number, i.e., they both should either be singular or plural.

- Singular subjects should have singular verbs

e.g.: The table is red.
- Plural subjects should have plural verbs.
e.g.: The tables are red.
Missing introductory commas

In sentences that begin with an introductory phrase, word, or clause, use a comma to
separate the introductory text from the rest of the sentence. This comma is called the
introductory comma and it tells the reader to pause slightly.

E.g. However, Jim had left by then.

 Or
In this study, we were unable to include red blood cells.

Nominalization of verbs

Nominalization is the use of parts of speech that are not nouns, such as verbs, as nouns.
Some authors tend to overuse nominalized verbs and make their writing stodgy and wordy.
Such nominalized verbs are also called smothered verbs. They weaken the quality of writing.
In the example given below, the verb “discuss” is used as a noun. This makes the sentence
unnecessary lengthy.
Incorrect: We had a discussion about the issue.

Omitting the weak smothered verb and using the verb in its original form makes the
sentence terse and crisp. It also increases the impact of the sentence. Such a style is preferred
in academic writing.
Correct: We discussed the issue.

Use of the adverb “respectively”

The adverb respectively means “in the order given”. In sentences that attribute one list of
items to corresponding items on another list, the term “respectively” can be used for clarity
and conciseness.

Original sentence: Jim is 8 years old, John is 9 years old, and Joe is 10 years old.
(This sentence, although grammatically correct, is long and repetitive.)
Concise form: Jim, John, and Joe are 8, 9, and 10 years old, respectively.
(This sentence construction is concise and eloquent.)

Lack of parallelism

Parallelism, also known as parallel structure, is achieved when grammatically similar

components or phrases and clauses with similar grammatical structure are used in a sentence.
It is used to balance nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, clauses with clauses, and so on.
Parallel structure enhances the clarity of the text and makes the text easy to read.
 Incorrect: Tina likes reading, painting, and to cook.
Correct: Tina likes reading and cooking.
Or
Tina likes to read, paint, and cook.

Tips for Writing Technical Papers

Jennifer Widom, January 2006

Running Example
As a running (fictitious!) example, suppose you've designed and run experiments with a
new algorithm for external multipass merge-sort. Your algorithm reduces the complexity
from O(n log n) to O(n), under the premise that it's acceptable to have some bounded
"unsortedness" in the result. You plan to write up the results for submission to a major
conference.

Note: This example was used throughout the live presentation but I haven't followed
through much in these notes. Thus, the notes include several exercises for the reader.
Paper Title
Titles can be long and descriptive:

Linear-Time External Multipass Sorting with Approximation Guarantees

or short and sweet:

Approximate External Sort

Here's a middle-of-the-road length, plus a cute name that sticks in people's minds:

Floosh: A Linear-Time Algorithm for Approximate External Sort

 The Abstract
State the problem, your approach and solution, and the main contributions of the paper.
Include little if any background and motivation. Be factual but comprehensive. The material
in the abstract should not be repeated later word for word in the paper.

(Exercise: Write an abstract for the multiway sort example.)

The Introduction
The Introduction is crucially important. By the time a referee has finished the Introduction,
they've probably made an initial decision about whether to accept or reject the paper -- they'll
read the rest of the paper looking for evidence to support their decision. A casual reader will
continue on if the Introduction captivated them, and will set the paper aside otherwise. Again,
the Introduction is crucially important.

Here is the Stanford InfoLab's patented five-point structure for Introductions. Unless
there's a good argument against it, the Introduction should consist of five paragraphs
answering the following five questions:

What is the problem?

Why is it interesting and important?
Why is it hard? (E.g., why do naive approaches fail?)
Why hasn't it been solved before? (Or, what's wrong with previous proposed solutions?
How does mine differ?)
What are the key components of my approach and results? Also include any specific
limitations.

(Exercise: Answer these questions for the multiway sort example.)

Then have a final paragraph or subsection: "Summary of Contributions". It should list the
major contributions in bullet form, mentioning in which sections they can be found. This
material doubles as an outline of the rest of the paper, saving space and eliminating
redundancy.

(Exercise: Write the bullet list for the multiway sort example.)
Related Work
 The perennial question: Should related work be covered near the beginning of the paper or
near the end?

Beginning, if it can be short yet detailed enough, or if it's critical to take a strong
defensive stance about previous work right away. In this case Related Work can be either a
subsection at the end of the Introduction, or its own Section 2.

End, if it can be summarized quickly early on (in the Introduction or Preliminaries), or if

sufficient comparisons require the technical content of the paper. In this case Related Work
should appear just before the Conclusions, possibly in a more general section "Discussion
and Related Work".

The Body
Guideline #1: A clear new important technical contribution should have been articulated by
the time the reader finishes page 3 (i.e., a quarter of the way through the paper).

Guideline #2: Every section of the paper should tell a story. (Don't, however, fall into the
common trap of telling the entire story of how you arrived at your results. Just tell the story
of the results themselves.) The story should be linear, keeping the reader engaged at every
step and looking forward to the next step. There should be no significant interruptions --
those can go in the Appendix; see below.

Aside from these guidelines, which apply to every paper, the structure of the body varies a
lot depending on content. Important components are:

Running Example: When possible, use a running example throughout the paper. It can
be introduced either as a subsection at the end of the Introduction, or its own Section 2 or 3
(depending on Related Work).

Preliminaries: This section, which follows the Introduction and possibly Related Work
and/or Running Example, sets up notation and terminology that is not part of the technical
contribution. One important function of this section is to delineate material that's not original
but is needed for the paper. Be concise -- remember Guideline #1.

Content: The meat of the paper includes algorithms, system descriptions, new language
constructs, analyses, etc. Whenever possible use a "top-down" description: readers should be
able to see where the material is going, and they should be able to skip ahead and still get the
idea.

Performance Experiments
We could have an entire treatise on this topic alone and I am surely not the expert. Here are
some random thoughts:

Many conferences expect experiments.

It's easy to do "hokey" or meaningless experiments, and many papers do.

It's easy to craft experiments to show your work in its best light, and most papers do.

What should performance experiments measure? Possiblities:

Pure running time
Sensitivity to important parameters
Scalability in various aspects: data size, problem complexity, ...
Others?

What should performance experiments show? Possibilities:

Absolute performance (i.e., it's acceptable/usable)
Relative performance to naive approaches
Relative performance to previous approaches
Relative performance among different proposed approaches
Others?

The Conclusions
In general a short summarizing paragraph will do, and under no circumstances should the
paragraph simply repeat material from the Abstract or Introduction. In some cases it's
possible to now make the original claims more concrete, e.g., by referring to quantitative
performance results.
Future Work
 This material is important -- part of the value of a paper is showing how the work sets new
research directions. I like bullet lists here. (Actually I like them in general.) A couple of
things to keep in mind:

If you're actively engaged in follow-up work, say so. E.g.: "We are currently extending
the algorithm to... blah blah, and preliminary results are encouraging." This statement serves
to mark your territory.

Conversely, be aware that some researchers look to Future Work sections for research
topics. My opinion is that there's nothing wrong with that -- consider it a compliment.

The Acknowledgements
Don't forget them or you'll have people with hurt feelings. Acknowledge anyone who
contributed in any way: through discussions, feedback on drafts, implementation, etc. If in
doubt about whether to include someone, include them.
Citations
Spend the effort to make all citations complete and consistent. Do not just copy random
inconsistent BibTex (or other) entries from the web and call it a day. Check over your final
bibliography carefully and make sure every entry looks right.
Appendices
Appendices should contain detailed proofs and algorithms only. Appendices can be crucial
for overlength papers, but are still useful otherwise. Think of appendices as random-access
substantiation of underlying gory details. As a rule of thumb:

Appendices should not contain any material necessary for understanding the
contributions of the paper.
Appendices should contain all material that most readers would not be interested in.

Grammar and Small-Scale Presentation Issues

In general everyone writing papers is strongly encouraged to read the short and very useful
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Here's a random list of pet peeves.

Just like a program, all "variables" (terminology and notation) in the paper should be
defined before being used, and should be defined only once. (Exception: Sometimes after a
long hiatus it's useful to remind the reader of a definition.) Global definitions should be
grouped into the Preliminaries section; other definitions should be given just before their first
use.

Do not use "etc." unless the remaining items are completely obvious.
Acceptable: We shall number the phases 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.
Unacceptable: We measure performance factors such as volatility, scalability, etc.

(Exercise: The above rule is violated at least once in this document. Find the violations.)

Never say "for various reasons". (Example: We decided not to consider the alternative,
for various reasons.) Tell the reader the reasons!

Avoid nonreferential use of "this", "that", "these", "it", and so on (Ullman pet peeve).
Requiring explicit identification of what "this" refers to enforces clarity of writing. Here is a
typical example of nonreferential "this": Our experiments test several different environments
and the algorithm does well in some but not all of them. This is important because ...

(Exercise: The above rule is violated at least once in this document. Find the violations.)

Italics are for definitions or quotes, not for emphasis (Gries pet peeve). Your writing
should be constructed such that context alone provides sufficient emphasis.

(Exercise: The above rule is violated at least once in this document. Find the violations.)

People frequently use "which" versus "that" incorrectly. "That" is defining; "which" is
nondefining. Examples of correct use:
The algorithms that are easy to implement all run in linear time.
The algorithms, which are easy to implement, all run in linear time.

Mechanics

Always run a spelling checker on your final paper, no excuses.

 For drafts and technical reports use 11 point font, generous spacing, 1" margins, and
single-column format. There's no need to torture your casual readers with the tiny fonts and
tight spacing used in conference proceedings these days.

In drafts and final camera-ready, fonts in figures should be approximately the same font
size as used for the text in the body of the paper.

Tables, figures, graphs, and algorithms should always be placed on the top of a page or
column, not in the body of the text unless it is very small and fits into the flow of the paper.

Every table, figure, graph, or algorithm should appear on the same page as its first
reference, or on the following page (LaTex willing...).

Before final submission or publication of your paper, print it once and take a look -- you
might be quite surprised how different it looks on paper from how it looked on your screen (if
you even bothered to look at it after you ran Latex the last time...).

Versions and Distribution

Many papers have a submitted (and later published) conference version, along with a
"full paper" technical report on the web. It's important to manage versions carefully, both in
content and proliferation. My recommendation is, whenever possible, for the full paper to
consist of simply the conference version plus appendices. The full paper should be the only
public one aside from conference proceedings, it should be coordinated with latest (final)
conference version, and modifications to the full paper should always overwrite all publicly
accessible previous versions of it.

I believe in putting papers on the web the minute they're finished. They should be dated
and can be referenced as technical reports -- it's not necessary to have an actual technical
report number. Never, ever put up a paper with a conference copyright notice when it's only
been submitted, and never, ever reference a paper as "submitted to conference X." You're
only asking for embarrassment when the paper is finally published in conference Y a year or
two later.